Did France’s Secrecy Cause a Nuclear Submarine Collision?
TIME by Eben Harrell 17 Feb 09
A collision between a British nuclear-powered submarine carrying multiple nuclear warheads and a French nuclear submarine armed with a similar payload may have been the result of lack of communication between France and NATO nations, according to a former British submarine commander whose revelations were partially corroborated by an official at the French navy.
Sometime on Feb. 3 or 4, the British HMS Vanguard and France’s Le Triomphant collided in the mid-Atlantic. The accident probably happened because the two submarines were not aware of each other. NATO operates a traffic control system that alerts allied nations to the deployment zones of friendly submarines. The system is designed to avoid collisions. But because France is not part of NATO’s military command structure, it does not provide information on the location of its mobile nuclear arms to that system,………………………….French are particularly secretive due to their position outside NATO’s command structure. And past policy-level discussions suggest a concern over a lack of communication…………………………………While the intersection of two sonar-equipped nuclear submarines in a vast ocean may seem an unlikely event even without communication, there are environmental anomalies in the Atlantic that make a collision more likely……………………………………
…………..had a nuclear reactor been damaged on either boat, it could have poisoned the crew and spread radioactive waste for miles across the Atlantic………………………
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1879777,00.html?iid=tsmodule
UK scraps advisory body that warned of nuclear risks
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) disbands nuclear body that warned of risks
The Guardian Rob Edwards and Terry Macalister 17 Feb 09
An expert advisory committee has been quietly scrapped after it warned that the safety of Britain’s ageing nuclear plants was being put at risk by poor performance, delays and budget cuts.
The Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee (NuSAC), which has been offering critical advice to Britain’s health and safety watchdog for nearly 50 years, was disbanded without any public announcement.
Former members of NuSAC are now worried about the lack of independent safety advice at a time when the government is embarking on a big expansion and clean-up of nuclear power.
Some former members privately suspect that NuSAC was shut down in October because it could have hampered government plans for a new programme of nuclear reactors. “This was just the time to get rid of a potential pest and spanner in the works of the brave new world of nuclear regulation and build,” said one.
Some of NuSAC’s recent criticisms, particularly on potential shortfalls in the funding of nuclear decommissioning and radioactive waste management, were forthright………………………NuSAC consisted of 19 safety experts, including scientists, academics, trade unionists and business executives, none of whom were paid. It reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and was chaired for the past four years by Stephen Vranch, a chemical engineer from Jacobs Engineering……………………………
In an unpublicised report last July, NuSAC warned that programmes to deal with radioactive waste from decommissioning the Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria and other old nuclear plants had suffered “substantial slippages”.
The slippages were caused by the “poor performance” of nuclear plants, delays in developing waste processing and budget restrictions, the report concluded. “There remains a lack of confidence that the high hazards are being tackled to a robust programme,” it said.
Japanese firms played key role in Pakistan’s nuclear programme
| Press Trust of India 17 Feb 09 | |||||||
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This supply “knowingly or unknowingly” helped Islamabad to acquire nuclear capability and were incorporated in its supply framework, it emerged today.
“Japanese companies played a key role in supplying equipment used for Pakistan’s nuclear development,” Japan’s Kyodo News reported, quoting the outcome of its investigations in Islamabad and Tokyo.
Comments by Khan and former employees of the companies reveal in detail for the first time how leading Japanese manufacturers knowingly and unknowingly helped Pakistan acquire nuclear capability and were incorporated into its supply framework.
Investigations revealed that both Khan and the head of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission visited Japan at least once in the 1980s to shop for their respective programmes.
Khan, dubbed the “father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme,” told Kyodo in a written interview that Khan Research Laboratories acquired a wide range of machines, laboratory equipment and metal products from Japan. PTI
Areva Fails to Block Television Exposé
Areva Fails to Block Television Exposé
Beyond Nuclear 14 Feb 09 Areva was unsuccessful in its attempt to block the transmission of a television expose that revealed high levels or radioactive contamination around France’s abandoned uranium mine sites. The program – Uranium, the scandal of contaminated France – aired on France 3 and featured the findings of the CRIIRAD independent laboratory led by Dr. Bruno Chareyron.
Los Alamos Lab Missing Almost 100 Computers
Los Alamos Lab Missing Almost 100 Computers eweek.com By Roy Mark2009-02-12 The nation’s primary nuclear weapons testing lab is again involved in an embarrassing security gaffe. Watchdog group reveals the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has lost 13 computers in 12 months and that 67 other computers are currently missing.
US using British atomic weapons factory for its nuclear programme
US using British atomic weapons factory for its nuclear programme guardian.co.uk 9 feb 09 Joint warhead research carried out at Aldermaston• Work breaches nuclear treaty, campaigners warn
The US military has been using Britain’s atomic weapons factory to carry out research into its own nuclear warhead programme, according to evidence seen by the Guardian.
US defence officials said that “very valuable” warhead research has taken place at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire as part of an ongoing and secretive deal between the British and American governments.
The Ministry of Defence admitted it is working with the US on the UK’s “existing nuclear warhead stockpile and the range of replacement options that might be available” but declined to give any further information.
Last night, opposition MPs called for a full parliamentary inquiry into the extent of the collaboration at Aldermaston and campaign groups warned any such deal was in breach of international law. They added that it also undermined Britain’s claim to have an independent nuclear weapons programme and meant British taxpayers were effectively subsidising America’s nuclear programme…………………………….
Congress has stopped funding research into RRW but campaigners believe the US military may have used facilities in the UK to get around the restrictions at home.
“Billions of pounds have been poured into the Atomic Weapons Establishment over recent years to build new research facilities,” said Hudson. “If these are being used to support US programmes outside Congress’s controls on spending, it raises even more serious questions about why the British taxpayer is paying for a so-called ‘independent deterrent’.”
US using British atomic weapons factory for its nuclear programme | World news | The Guardian
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
U.S. seeks assurances from Pakistan over A.Q. Khan
U.S. seeks assurances from Pakistan over A.Q. Khan By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – The United States has sought “solid” assurances from Pakistan it will take steps to prevent freed nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan from nuclear proliferation in the future, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.
U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson met Pakistani government officials on Sunday to express U.S. concern over the Pakistani High Court ruling on Friday that declared Khan a free citizen, said a senior State Department official.
Khan, revered by many Pakistanis as the father of the country’s atomic bomb, confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya in 2004 but was immediately pardoned by the government. His movements were restricted to effective house arrest before last week’s court ruling.
U.S. seeks assurances from Pakistan over A.Q. Khan | Reuters
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
Is the BNPP safe?
Is the BNPP safe?By Roland G. SimbulanPhilippine Daily Inquirer 2 Feb 09
Just when we all thought that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) had been permanently laid to rest after it was mothballed in 1992, now comes the proposed BNPP Commissioning Act seeking to revive and operate the controversial plant that had become the symbol of corruption and folly of the Marcos dictatorship.
Despite the BNPP’s total cost of roughly $2.3 billion, including interest, two previous post-Marcos administrations decided to permanently mothball the nuclear plant after a comprehensive scientific and technical audit that reviewed the condition of the plant from 1986 to 1990 found that the safety and health of the Filipino people would be at grave risk should the plant be put into operation……………
………………Of course, the nuclear scientists and engineers who rely on the nuclear industry for a living will tell us that science and technology will take care of everything. But they know that even up to now decommissioning a nuclear plant with a normal life span of only 30 years will cost more than its construction, as a decommissioned nuclear plant with its radioactive wastes will continue to pose risks to the health and safety of the people and threaten the environment. We will need at least 20-25 years to develop the necessary scientific and technological infrastructure and national capability to operate a commercial nuclear power plant to respond to nuclear accidents, plant upgrades, repairs and maintenance, nuclear waste disposal and other related problems.
Is the BNPP safe? – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
Letter: Data withheld on nuclear waste storage
Data withheld on nuclear waste storage The Guardian Hugh Richards 3 February 2009 We as taxpayers are being asked to take responsibility for significant amounts of spent fuel – something omitted by Rivaz. Spent nuclear fuel contains most of the radioactivity from the new reactors, but neither government nor its regulators have assessed its “disposability”, or the health effects of managing it. The Nuclear Industry Association says a repository dealing with legacy wastes could readily accommodate the smaller volumes of easier-to-handle wastes from the new nuclear plants.
But the spent fuel from EDF’s planned European pressurised reactors in England would be hotter and more radioactive than that from the EPR at Olkiluoto, in Finland. There are serious doubts it could be disposed of in the deep geological repository for legacy waste, but the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has only recently received the detailed information from EDF that will allow it to make the assessment. Having asked for a copy of that information, I have been told by the NDA that it was submitted in confidence under contractual arrangements, and agreement to the release of the information has not been granted. Thus data directly relevant to independent assessment of health detriments during the storage, retrieval, encapsulation, emplacement and subsequent abandonment of spent fuel, is being withheld by the company concerned……………………………..I have asked the energy department to publish the data, but the secretary of state is busy promoting nuclear power by “reducing regulatory risks for investors”. He is also the “sole justifying authority” that will decide whether benefits from new reactors outweigh any health detriments, a somewhat dangerous conflict of interests.
Letter: Data withheld on nuclear waste storage | Environment | The Guardian
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
British nuclear scientist fled test zone but left troops to face the blasst
British nuclear scientist fled test zone but left troops to face the blast Mirror News UK 26 Jan 09
The chief scientist at Britain’s controversial nuclear tests FLED the danger zone… while thousands of troops were left behind to be nuked.
Dr William Penney’s own RAF batman (personal assistant) says he and top military brass left the area before the biggest bomb exploded in the South Pacific because, scientists admitted, they “didn’t have a clue what would happen”.
“Penney scarpered somewhere safe and only came back in the evening, hours after the bomb,” said Ralph Gray, now 73.
At the same time several thousand servicemen – not told of the dangers – were ordered to stand and watch the detonation from only a few miles away.
The revelation comes as 1,000 veterans of the tests press their demand in court for the Ministry of Defence to compensate them for rare illnesses, cancers and birth defects in their children.
The judge in the case, which began at the High Court in London on Wednesday, has been given documents showing Penney demanded insurance policies for his scientists, while the troops were treated as guinea pigs to test the effects of radiation.
The Sunday Mirror has seen some of a bundle of 250,000 formerly top-secret papers handed to the court by the MoD, which include proof that: /Premier Anthony Eden, told troops would be irradiated, said it was “a pity, but we cannot help it”……………………………..
After they came home the men developed blood, skin and bone disorders, aggressive cancers, thyroid and fertility problems.
Their wives had high rates of miscarriage, and their children were 10 times more likely to be born deformed. New tests have shown they may have suffered DNA damage which can be passed down their bloodline.
British nuclear scientist fled test zone but left troops to face the blasst – mirror.co.uk
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Officials blast handling of nuclear secrets case
Officials blast handling of nuclear secrets case
swisinfo.ch January 22, 2009
Parliament has strongly criticised the government for ordering documents destroyed in a case of Swiss engineers suspected of involvement in a nuclear smuggling ring.A delegation looking into the matter said that the reasons the government gave for doing so were not convincing and that briefings given to members of parliament were not sufficient. Destroying the documents had also compromised an investigation.Urs and Marco Tinner, along with their father, were arrested starting in 2004 on suspicion of aiding Libya’s atomic ambitions through a trafficking ring run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear programme.In November 2007, the cabinet ordered the case documents destroyed, saying it was in the interests of international security. The documents reportedly included designs for nuclear warheads. …………..
………….It is widely believed the Tinners worked as undercover agents for the United States intelligence service and that Washington asked Bern to destroy the documents.
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Feds: Audit of SC nuclear complex whitewashed
Feds: Audit of SC nuclear complex whitewashed Associated Press By BEN EVANS 21 Jan 09 WASHINGTON – A company managing South Carolina’s Savannah River Site nuclear complex altered findings in a 2007 financial audit to justify expenses to the government, federal investigators said in a report released Wednesday.
Feds: Audit of SC nuclear complex whitewashed – MSNBC Wire Services- msnbc.com
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Damage Apparently Kept Secret at German Nuclear Waste Site | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 16.01.2009
Damage Apparently Kept Secret at German Nuclear Waste Site Deutsche Welle 16 Jan 09
The heat has been turned up on Germany’s radiation protection office after it was revealed that an old salt mine in the German state of Lower Saxony, where nuclear waste is being stored, has sustained damaged.
The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) had learned late last year that pieces of the ceiling of the 750-meter (2,500-foot) deep chamber were unstable and could collapse on top of the 6,000 radioactive waste drums below.
The information about the Asse nuclear waste site was posted discreetly on the radiation office’s Web site late Wednesday, Jan. 14.
Lower Saxony Environment Minister Hans-Heinrich Sander said he was only informed of the damage to the storage site Thursday, but the radiation office said the ministry had been informed all along.
The BfS said it could not rule out damage to the waste containers should the Asse site ceiling collapse,
Damage Apparently Kept Secret at German Nuclear Waste Site | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 16.01.2009
US blacklists father and son over alleged nuclear racket
US blacklists father and son over alleged nuclear racket
The Guardian, Ian Traynor, 13 January 2009Two British businessmen, a father and son, were yesterday blacklisted by the US government for their alleged involvement in the world’s worst illicit nuclear proliferation racket.
Peter Griffin, a 73-year-old believed to be living in the south of France, and his son, Paul, 44, were among 13 individuals and three companies named by the US state department and treasury for involvement in the nuclear smuggling network headed by the disgraced Pakistani metallurgist, Abdul Qadeer Khan.
The Khan network supplied much of the technology and knowhow for Iran’s clandestine nuclear projects which were discovered in 2003, triggering a major, inconclusive, international crisis that looks like being one of the toughest problems confronting the incoming Obama administration………………The Griffins were joined on the blacklist by several other engineers and businessmen from Germany, Switzerland, and South Africa, as well as Sri Lanka, Turkey and the Middle East, where Khan’s network was based in Dubai. Several of those named have been jailed.
US blacklists father and son over alleged nuclear racket | World news | The Guardian
Report: International Energy Agency Deliberately Undermined Growth Potential of Renewable Energy : Red, Green, and Blue
Report: International Energy Agency Deliberately Undermined Growth Potential of Renewable Energy : Red, Green, and Blue Mridul Chadha 11 Jan 09 A group of scientists and politicians has accused the International Energy Agency of publishing false data about the growth potential of the renewable energy in the future. The Energy Watch Group said that the IEA “consistently underestimated the amount of electricity generated by wind power while advising various governments.” The group holds IEA’s close ties to oil, gas and nuclear sectors responsible for the its “ignorance and contempt” towards renewable energy.
The International Energy Agency is an intergovernmental organization which publishes reports about future trends of energy generation and use which help governments across the world to chalk out energy production plans. The Energy Watch group says that the IEA reports glorify fossil fuels deeming them irreplaceable by renewable energy
sources.
The group compared the production projections of wind energy that the IEA presented in the past
In 1998, the IEA predicted that global wind electricity generation would total 47.4GW by 2020. This figure was reached in December 2004. In 2002, the IEA revised its estimate to 104GW wind by 2020 – a capacity that had been exceeded by last summer.
In 2007, net additions of wind power across the world were more than four-fold the average IEA estimate from its 1995-2004 predictions.
The IEA report predicts a five-fold increase in wind energy from 2006-2015 but then assumes an abrupt & unexplained downturn in production. A Swiss parliament member also notes that IEA derives most of its employees from the oil industry and raised questions about its intent regarding the energy outlook reports.
One has to question the wind energy growth numbers that IEA puts in its reports. Investments in renewable energy have grown tremendously around the world. The European Union has been very open about its huge investment plans in renewable energy keeping with the emissions reduction targets and the clean energy targets it has set for 2010 and 2020. China has become the largest investor in clean energy, pumping in billions of dollars in building some of the biggest wind and solar energy plants in the world.
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive, renewables
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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