Australian investigative journalist exposes Guardian/New York Times betrayal of Assange — Rise Up Times
The papers leaked by Manning documented at least 200 civilian deaths at the hands of US and allied forces that had previously been hidden from the public, along with clear evidence of war crimes, including the existence of a secret “black unit” within the US military, tasked with carrying out illegal assassinations.
August 13 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Big Utilities Stall On Clean Energy Transition, Despite The Economics” • It seems clear to us that Australia’s gen-tailers, the utilities that dominate both electricity generation and retail, won’t decarbonize their portfolios any faster than policy makes them, despite the favorable economics. They have hit the pause button on development. [RenewEconomy] Science and […]
Melting Ice Everywhere — Arctic Sea Ice Extent Hit New Record Lows in Late July and Early August — robertscribbler
If there is one word I’d use for the summer of 2019 it would be awakening. Awakening to a general public awareness of a climate crisis driven by fossil fuel burning we are now entering the throes of. (According to NOAA, July of 2019 was the hottest July on record for the state of Alaska. […]
Saudi Arabia wind farm claims world record low energy cost — RenewEconomy
First major wind farm in Saudi Arabia claims world record low cost of electricity at under 2c a kilowatt hour. The post Saudi Arabia wind farm claims world record low energy cost appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Saudi Arabia wind farm claims world record low energy cost — RenewEconomy
Wind power costs and prices driven to new lows in US — RenewEconomy
US wind power prices driven below $20/MWh as the end of Federal tax credits and Trump’s trade war looms over US energy economy. The post Wind power costs and prices driven to new lows in US appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Wind power costs and prices driven to new lows in US — RenewEconomy
‘Dirty bomb’: Mystery Russian ‘superweapon’ kills five
An on-board reactor would give an engine almost unlimited range. In the case of a guided cruise missile, it could circle the world before receiving orders to attack from out of the blue.
But they’re not easy to control.
They operate at extremely high temperatures. They use explosive fuels, such as liquid hydrogen. And any accident could have devastating, long-lasting effects.
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‘Dirty bomb’: Mystery Russian ‘superweapon’ kills five https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/dirty-bomb-mystery-russian-superweapon-kills-five/news-story/c3f85442bc12c6fea43cc4cf67df392e 13 Aug 19It was an explosion, played down by Russian officials — until they were forced to admit five people were dead and many more are at risk.
Jamie Seidel When an experimental missile exploded at a secret Russian base, things were immediately odd. Children from the nearby city of Severodvinsk were sent home from school. Its 185,000 residents were told to stay indoors. Doses of Iodine were distributed. All shipping was barred from the area for at least 30 days. What could cause such a reaction? How could a relatively small explosion cause such confusion? Russia’s nuclear energy agency Rosatom eventually stepped forward: It explained that a missile testing an “isotope power source for a liquid-fuelled rocket engine” had misfired. Rosatom conceded the accident on Thursday night had killed five, and three were being treated for burns. Russian officials said elite scientists Alexey Vyushin, Yevgeny Koratayev, Vyacheslave Lipshev, Sergey Pichugin and Vladislav Yanovsky — were killed during tests on a liquid propulsion system Little else is officially known. But military analysts have been speculating. Was it some sort of “dirty bomb”, with a radioactive warhead? Could it have been a failed launch from a nuclear-powered submarine? Suspicion has also fallen on one of President Vladimir Putin’s vaunted new “superweapons”. STORMY PETREL The idea of using a nuclear-reactor powered ramjet isn’t new It appears to have been thought up by Nazi rocket scientists during the dying days of World War II. With the fall of Berlin, these experts were divided up between the United States and the Soviet Union. Both nations embarked upon experimental nuclear-powered missile projects in the 1950s. It was quickly recognised the radiation-spewing technology was far too perilous to be practical. But a boisterous President Putin revealed what he called the 9M730 Burevestnik (Petrel) early last year as one of six new “superweapons”. NATO calls it the SSC-X-9 “Skyfall”. “Since its range is unlimited, it can manoeuvre as long as you want. No one in the world has anything like that,” Mr Putin boasted. “It may appear some day, but by that time we will develop something new.” The accompanying presentation showed the missile weaving its way between radar stations in the mid-Atlantic, passing around South America’s Cape Horn and worming its way up towards Hawaii. Mr Putin said the missile was successfully tested in late 2017 and was “invincible against all existing and prospective missile defence and counter-air defence systems”. “I want to tell all those who have fuelled the arms race over the last 15 years, sought to win unilateral advantages over Russia, introduced unlawful sanctions aimed to contain our country’s development: Aall that you wanted to impede with your policies have already happened,” Mr Putin declared. “You have failed to contain Russia.” But things don’t appear to be going to plan. EXPLOSIVE POTENTIAL Nuclear propulsion is promising — but also problematic. Continue reading |
Russia says small nuclear reactor blew up in deadly accident
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August 13, 2019 The failed missile test that ended in an explosion killing five scientists last week on Russia’s White Sea involved a small nuclear reactor, according to a top official at the institute where they worked.
The institute is working on small-scale power sources that use “radioactive materials, including fissile and radioisotope materials” for the Defence Ministry and civilian uses, Vyacheslav Soloviev, scientific director of the institute, said in a video shown by local TV.
The men, who will be buried on Monday, were national heroes and the “elite of the Russian Federal Nuclear Centre,” institute Director Valentin Kostyukov said in the video, which was also posted on an official website in Sarov, a high-security city devoted to nuclear research less than 400 kilometers east of Moscow.
The blast occurred on August 8 during a test of a missile that used “isotope power sources” on an offshore platform in the Arkhangelsk region, close to the Arctic Circle, Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom said over the weekend. The Defence Ministry initially reported two were killed in the accident, which it said involved testing of a liquid-fuelled missile engine. The ministry didn’t mention the nuclear element.
Rosatom declined to comment on the incident on Monday and a spokeswoman for the Sarov institute couldn’t immediately be reached.
Russian media have speculated that the weapon being tested was the SSC-X-9 Skyfall, known in Russia as the Burevestnik, a nuclear-powered cruise missile that President Vladimir Putin introduced to the world in a brief animated segment during his state-of-the-nation address last year.
The incident comes after a series of massive explosions earlier last week at a Siberian military depot killed one and injured 13, as well as forcing the evacuation of 16,500 people from their homes. Russia’s navy has suffered numerous high-profile accidents over the years. In July, 14 sailors died in a fire aboard a nuclear-powered submarine in the Barents Sea in an incident on which officials initially refused to comment. A top naval official later said the men gave their lives preventing a “planetary catastrophe.”
Russia’s worst post-Soviet naval disaster also occurred in the Barents Sea, when 118 crew died on the Kursk nuclear submarine that sank in after an explosion in August 2000. https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/russia-says-small-nuclear-reactor-blew-up-in-deadly-accident-20190813-p52gfm.html
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To August 12 – nuclear news this week
NUCLEAR. This week , the spotlight has been on Russia, as conflicting and ambiguous reports come out, about a Russian rocket test explosion that caused radiation levels to spike in the Arkhangelsk region. The Russian nuclear agency Rosatom finally admitted its involvement. Russia honours as ‘national heroes’ the 5 nuclear scientists who died in this suspected secret testing of a nuclear-powered cruise missile.
CLIMATE. While governments and the older generation in general continue on their merry way with business as usual, young people are ever more concerned about climate change. It’s THE issue at this week ‘s International Congress of Youth Voices, in Puerto Rico. High school students are organising Youth Climate Strikes. Why stay in school if our planet will die?
How the viewing public was ‘protected’ from seeing what the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombing did to people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uas1WtocwOo Hiroshima nuclear bombing, and the birth of the Doomsday Clock.
Another expensive nuclear weapons race about to take off. Putin And Trump are ‘normalising’ the increasing numbers, and the use, of nuclear weapons.
Wildfire cloud study sheds light on the processes of ‘nuclear winter”
Harm to astronauts’ brains from space radiation.
Even the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is concerned about radioactive trash management from Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.
JAPAN.
- Fukushima’s ticking time-bomb, as space is running out for radioactive water storage.
- Olympic Games designed to downplay the nuclear crisis in Fukushima.
- Tepco, Chubu Electric Power Co., Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corp to join up to build nuclear power plant in Aomori?
- Nagasaki observes 74th anniversary of A-bombing. It kills slowly, painfully – A Nagasaki survivor speaks about nuclear radiation.
- Malaysian President urges Japan to lead the world in rejection of nuclear weapons.
RUSSIA.
Putin’s silence on mysterious radiation accident. Test rocket explosion causes radiation spike in northern Russian city. Two accidents involving Russia’s military. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK_WDxjhu0Y Nuclear fuel carrier “Serebryanka” is still at anchor near Russian military test site. Naval base is on mysterious lockdown after an accidental missile explosion Scientists found evidence that Russia covered up – a major nuclear accident in 2017.
Barents Observer report on Russian nuclear reactors in the Arctic. Russia’s planned dangerous expansion into the Arctic with nuclear icebreakers, Rosatom in control, increasing climate change.
KASHMIR. India and Pakistan on Hair-Trigger Nuclear Alert Over Kashmir. Pakistan on the brink again, as India abolishes self-rule for Kashmir.
ARCTIC. Anxiety over Russian nuclear power plant afloat in Arctic.
MURUROA. Health research on descendants of Pacific nuclear veterans.
NORTH KOREA. It’s realistic to accept North Korea as a nuclear state.
USA.
- Trump praises ‘very beautiful’ letter from Kim Jong Un amid frozen nuclear talks, tension over military exercises. America’s nuclear-weapons policy isn’t what you think—it’s much worse.
- Catholic peace activists may face 25 years’prison, for breaking into a nuclear submarine base.
- The connection between indigenous and nuclear issues.
- The saga of Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant AND what happened to the Grand Jury documents??
- Removal of one metric ton of plutonium from Savannah River Site South Carolina. Holtec International Tricked The TVA Nuclear Employee Who They Bribed According to OIG Report
UKRAINE. Chernobyl ‘sarcophagus” on the verge of collapse.
CHINA. China’s nuclear policy. China buried nuclear waste in Sudan desert.
UK. Three British nuclear submariners sacked over cocaine use.
THAILAND. Government under pressure with growing opposition to nuclear reactor plan.
AUSTRALIA Three Parliamentary Nuclear Inquiries are now underway, with short deadlines for submissions. (You can bet that the nuclear lobby’s well-paid shills have sent theirs in already.) National Radioactive Waste Management Facility Taskforce’s heavy-handed, repressive, approach to community consultation. It’s even more undemocratic than the one in Wales
GERMANY. Tower of German nuclear station demolished. The plant was on line for only 13 months.
Fukushima’s ticking time-bomb, as space is running out for radioactive water storage
IN THREE YEARS, FUKUSHIMA COULD OVERFLOW WITH RADIOACTIVE WATER, https://futurism.com/the-byte/fukushima-overflow-radioactive-water AUGUST 9TH 19__DAN ROBITZSKI_
Ticking Clock
The effort to safely decommission Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant just got hit by a looming deadline.
In about three years, the plant will run out of space for the massive quantities of treated but still-radioactive water that officials have been storing there, according to The Associated Press. While a government panel came up with a few possible courses of action, the 
most feasible one at the moment is to simply dump the water into the Pacific — a bleak sign for nuclear disasters in the future.
Maximum Capacity
At the moment, Fukushima has over 1 million tons of water stored in almost 1,000 on-site tanks, the AP reports. Plans are in place to build enough to store nearly 1.4 million more tons, but that even those will reach capacity by mid-2022.
Local fishers and residents of the area say that dumping the water would devastate the area’s fishing and agriculture industry, per the AP. Other options considered by the panel include vaporizing the radioactive water or injecting it deep underground.
“When we talk about Fukushima’s reconstruction, the question is if we should prioritize the decommissioning at the expense of Fukushima people’s lives,” University of Tokyo professor of disaster social science Naoya Sekiya told the AP. “The issue is not just about science.”
Putin’s silence on mysterious radiation accident
Russia nuclear leak: Mysterious footage of hazmat officials escalates radiation panic https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1164125/Russia-nuclear-leak-radiation-Putin-iodine-hazmat
CHILLING footage from Russia has intensified fears of a nuclear radiation accident after ambulances were spotted lined with protective chemical sheets and hospitals workers were seen wearing hazmat suits.
Rostam added that the explosion took place during the testing of an “isotope power source”.
The official said five of its employees had died as a result of the accident and three more were being treated for burns.
However, the extent of the incident and threat of radiation has not been disclosed, amid growing global concern.
The Archangelsk naval base has been placed under emergency lockdown for a month, with the nearby White Sea also closed to commercial shipping.
A sudden radiation spike detected in the region following the explosion prompted the initial speculation that the incident was related to a nuclear missile test.
The radiation level was recorded as 20 times higher than the normal level in the nearby city of Severodvinsk.
This has been reinforced by chilling footage filmed in the aftermath of the incident.
One video showed hospital workers wearing hazmat suits while they loaded the injured into an ambulance. Another terrifying video revealed a security escort of ambulances transporting the injured to Moscow.
In this footage, one of the ambulance is clearly coated in a chemical protection film.
A defence ministry source said that the worker’s clothes had been burned as soon as they were hospitalised with suspected radiation. Experts have linked the incident to the testing of the new nuclear-powered cruise missile Burevestnik mentioned during a speech by Vladimir Putin last year.
Local people have reportedly been urged to take precautions against radiation, with children from local kindergartens taken indoors after the blast.
There has also been a rush to buy iodine in Russia’s far north.
Russian expert Dr Mark Galeotti said the incident was “clearly a bigger issue than the Russians are letting on”.
He told the BBC: “Despite what the Kremlin have said, there must have been some sort of radiation leak – and they want people to not just stay out of harm’s way, but also don’t want people coming to the site with Geiger Counters.”
India and Pakistan on Hair-Trigger Nuclear Alert Over Kashmir
Hair-Trigger Nuclear Alert Over Kashmir, Common Dreams, India and Pakistan, where people starve in the streets, waste billions on military spending because of the Kashmir dispute. Now some of India’s extreme Hindu nationalists warn they want to reabsorb Pakistan, Bangladesh, and even Sri Lanka into Mother India. by Eric Margolis 11 Aug 19
Kashmir has been a flashpoint since Imperial Britain divided India in 1947. India and Pakistan have fought numerous wars and conflicts over majority Muslim Kashmir. China controls a big chunk of northern Kashmir known as Aksai Chin.
In 1949, the UN mandated a referendum to determine if Kashmiris wanted to join Pakistan or India. Not surprisingly, India refused to hold the vote. But there are some Kashmiris who want an independent state, though a majority seek to join Pakistan……
What makes this confrontation so dangerous is that both sides have important tactical and nuclear forces arrayed against one another. These are mostly short/medium-ranged nuclear tipped missiles, and air-delivered nuclear bombs. Strategic nuclear weapons back up these tactical forces. A nuclear exchange, even a limited one, could kill millions, pollute much of Asia’s ground water, and spread radioactive dust around the globe – including to North America. ….https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/08/11/hair-trigger-nuclear-alert-over-kashmir
Health research on descendants of Pacific nuclear veterans.
Pacific nuclear veterans’ descendants sought for study. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/pacific-nuclear-veterans-descendants-sought-study A search is underway for descendants of service personnel who witnessed a nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll to take part in a nationwide study.A Mururoa Nuclear Veterans Group wants all veterans who were deployed to Mururoa Atoll in 1973, and their families, to be part of a study as it’s believed their children may have been affected by their parents’ exposure to radiation.
The then Labour government sent a frigate to Mururoa Atoll, including then Cabinet Minister Fraser Colman, to protest against French nuclear testing there.
Mururoa Nuclear Veterans Group wants all people on the frigate, and their families to be part of a study as it’s believed their children may have been affected by their parents’ exposure to radiation. The group, which was established in 2013 to press the government to help families with nuclear related illnesses, had 135 members who served at the protest. Of those, 56 had children or grandchildren with unexplained medical conditions.
University of Otago associate professor David McBride, has been tasked with conducting the first medical testing of veterans’ children and grandchildren.
To establish whether genetic transfer of illnesses are related to exposure to nuclear radiation and create a registry “would be difficult but not impossible,” Mr McBride said.
Mururoa Nuclear Veterans Group vice-president, Tony Cox, was concerned veteran’s offspring could be more susceptible to conditions like leukaemia and auto-immune diseases.
“If we don’t do it now, when we die no one else is going to care. Their sickness and problems we consider is directly attributable to our service,” Mr Cox said.
“Be it Operation Grapple, Christmas Island, Mururoa, anywhere else … widows and children especially we are looking for.” The University of Otago will carry out the study from October or November this year, but a registry needs to be created for the study to work.
Mr Cox encouraged anyone with a nuclear testing background to come forward to take part in the study or identify themselves in order to be included in the registry.
It’s realistic to accept North Korea as a nuclear state
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Accept Reality: North Korea Will Remain a Nuclear State. U.S. policy toward North Korea always has been one of second-best options. Preparing for a world with North Korea as a nuclear power is a necessity for the future. National Interest President Donald Trump has discovered that nations around the world will not readily submit to his will. His administration has increased sanctions on and made military threats against Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, Iran and North Korea. So far, none of them have surrendered to Washington. Only the Democratic People’s Republic has come to the negotiating table. The president’s willingness to talk with North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un deserves praise, despite complaints from the warmongering Right and partisan Left. However, his demand for instant and complete denuclearization was never realistic. Alas, negotiations in which the president placed so much hope have ground to a halt. Most recently, North Korean diplomats skipped the ASEAN summit, where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had expected to meet with North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong-ho. Said Pompeo: “We stand ready to continue our diplomatic conversation with the North Koreans,” but, he added, “I regret that it looks like I’m not going to have an opportunity to do that while I’m here in Bangkok.” Indeed, the bilateral relationship is deteriorating. The United States and the Republic of Korea are conducting military exercises, despite bitter attacks by Pyongyang. The DPRK is conducting short-range missile tests, embarrassing the Trump administration and unnerving both the ROK and Japan. The president continues to express his confidence in Kim’s commitment to denuclearize, but the former might find that position harder to defend in the face of Democratic Party attacks as the 2020 presidential campaign accelerates.The North is forever unreasonable and obstructionist. That is unlikely to change. But in this case Pyongyang’s position is logical, reflecting the interests of the Kim family regime. After all, Kim is supposed to abandon his leverage in return for vague promises of positive benefits in the future. However, the United States routinely coerces governments on its enemies list, such as Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Notably, none of those countries had a nuclear deterrent…….
the president should clearly reject belief that the alternative to denuclearization is war. The threat of attack, if credible, might offer negotiating leverage, but also would raise tensions and make the North more likely to preempt military action it believed to be imminent. After all, given United States conventional superiority, the North must use or quickly lose its military capabilities and would be forced to respond almost instantly to any assault by Washington. …..
a DPRK nuke would not really threaten America. There is no evidence that Kim or anyone else in Pyongyang’s ruling elite is suicidal…….https://nationalinterest.org/feature/accept-reality-north-korea-will-remain-nuclear-state-72296
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Stifling democracy- Australia’s National Radioactive Waste Management Facility Taskforce is even more repressive than UK’s
Cumbria Trust 11th Aug 2019 The Guardian has reported that residents in Southern Australia, who face having a nuclear waste storage facility imposed on them, are being forced
to sign an excessively restrictive code of conduct if they wish to attend
community meetings. This prevents them from taking notes, repeating certain
views expressed in the meeting, or trying to take part in the committee
discussions.
This appears to go well beyond the steps required to maintain
an orderly meeting, and serves to suppress democratic accountability. While
the last search process in Cumbria, MRWS, didn’t go to such extreme
lengths, there were some unnecessary restrictions which obstructed local
democracy. Specifically, executive members of the borough councils, and
cabinet members of Cumbria County Council, were told that they could not
give any public indication of whether they were minded to vote for the
process to proceed to the next stage. This ‘predetermination’ rule
allowed senior councillors to completely avoid public scrutiny on the
matter.
https://cumbriatrust.wordpress.com/2019/08/11/australian-troubles-with-community-engagement/
Even the IAEA is concerned about radioactive trash management from Small Modular Nuclear Reactors
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Small Modular Reactors: A Challenge for Spent Fuel Management?, From the IAEA Bulletin, , Small modular reactors (SMRs) have been the talk of scientists and researchers in the nuclear industry for many years — but to what extent will their debut, expected next year, create challenges in spent fuel management? It depends, say experts, on the particular SMR design and a country’s existing spent fuel management practices……
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1.This Month
How the viewing public was ‘protected’ from seeing what the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombing did to people
Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the cutting room floor https://thebulletin.org/2019/08/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-on-the-cutting-room-floor/ By Thomas Gaulkin, August 5, 2019 Seventy-four years after nuclear weapons were first and last used in war, it can be challenging to conceive of the devastation they cause. But even in the immediate months after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, news accounts offered a view of ingenuity and destruction that often elided the human cost.
The newsreels below [on original] were mainly screened to audiences in 1946 and 1947 and detail the destructive force of the explosions almost entirely through excited accounts of the structural damage to the cities. There’s occasional mention of the lost city populations and the scientific knowledge to be gained from studying their casualties, but hardly any description of what people actually suffered, let alone personal accounts. It’s instructive to look at and listen to these reports today, and contemplate what is missing.
The 12-minute reel below was produced by the US War Department in 1946. “Tale of Two Cities” makes selective use of film that was confiscated from a Japanese filmmaker, Akira Iwasaki—though you wouldn’t know that from the narration, which boasts that “army cameramen have found and filmed pictorial evidence that tells in twisted steel and stone the effect of death-dealing atomic power.” (Some twenty years later, historian Eric Barnouw obtained more of Iwasaki’s footage and produced a remarkably different narrative that documented the horrible physical impact of the attacks on Hiroshima’s citizens.)
Contrasted with the triumphant tone of the news/propaganda made for 1940s audiences, silence changes everything. Made public only decades later, the two films below —one beginning with footage of wounded victims, the other, a full-color glimpse of survivors picking up the pieces of the ruined city—report what those above do not, without a single word.
Nagasaki And Hiroshima (1945)
Harrowing Accounts from Hiroshima Survivors
Hiroshima Bomb to Today | Tour around the Atomic Hypocenter
PETITION
Free Julian Assange, before it’s too late. Sign to STOP the USA Extradition
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