IG report finds Pentagon failed to account for more than $1B in weapons sent to Ukraine
Pentagon finds nearly 40,000 weapons sent to Ukraine were not properly tracked
By Danielle Wallace , Liz Friden Fox News, 11 Jan 24
A new Department of Defense Inspector General report released Thursday finds more than $1 billion worth of weapons sent to Ukraine were not properly tracked by U.S. defense officials.
The DOD IG has personnel stationed in Ukraine and is investigating with its Defense Criminal Investigative Service allegations of diversion of weapons. For now, the IG says, “It was beyond the scope of our evaluation to determine whether there has been diversion of such assistance.”
The weapons in question are small and include shoulder-fired missiles, one-way attack drones and night-vision devices.
“From a monetary perspective, the delinquent serial numbers account for more than $1.005 billion of the total $1.699 billion (59 percent of the total value) of EEUM‑designated defense articles as of June 2, 2023,” the report says. “Until those challenges are resolved, the DoD will not be able to fully account for all of the more than $1.699 billion in EEUM‑designated defense articles provided to Ukraine.”
As Congress weighs sending more U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, a growing number of lawmakers are demanding greater oversight. ……………………………………………….. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ig-report-finds-pentagon-failed-account-more-1b-weapons-sent-ukraine
Ayrshire radiation highlighted as Labour’s nuclear support attacked
12th January
SCOTTISH Labour have been called out for their support of nuclear energy as
an MP warned of the risks of radioactivity in parts of the country. Allan
Dorans, the MP for Ayr said parts of his constituency were being
contaminated by radioactive waste from the Sellafield reprocessing plant in
Cumbria.
He highlighted research which found that shellfish caught off the
Ayrshire coast at Maidens, in the extreme west of his constituency,
contained radiation at a level which would mean it would be illegal for
sale in Japan.
It comes as the Government yesterday unveiled new plans for
what it called the “biggest nuclear expansion in 70 years”. Catches,
including the shells of mussels, cockles and winkles made off the Ayrshire
coast, which is downstream from Sellafield, were found to contain
“significant” levels of radiation in a 2015 study.
Labour are committed
to nuclear energy, with party leader Keir Starmer using a speech last
summer to slam the Government for stalling the UK’s progress on setting up
new atomic power plans and to pledge if in power he would invest in the
energy source. But concerns have been raised about its safety, with critics
pointing to the possibility of leaks or major breakdowns like Chernobyl or
Fukushima.
The National 12th Jan 2024
Allan Dorans: Scottish Labour’s support for nuclear fuel poses a risk
THE Labour candidate for the Central Ayrshire constituency at the next
General Election is supported by the GMB Scotland trade union. The GMB is a
champion of the nuclear fuels industry and of nuclear weapons.
The Labour candidate for my constituency of Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock will follow the
UK Labour Party line which supports Trident and is calling for new nuclear
power stations in Scotland.
My party, the SNP, is firmly opposed to both.
Just last month, The Guardian released a video explaining why the
Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria, a short distance down the
coast from my constituency and upstream from it, is “Europe’s most
dangerous industrial site”, pointing out that Sellafield has failed to
contain numerous threats, including a cybersecurity breach by groups linked
to Russia and China and of growing physical cracks in its “most hazardous
facility”. In 2016, researchers at Glasgow University reported
“enhanced” radioactivity levels, in shellfish catches, at a number of
coastal locations in Cumbria, near the Sellafield plant, and on the west
coast of Scotland, including the village of Maidens, in my Ayrshire
constituency.
The National 12th Jan 2024
UK’s Nuclear Roadmap is Pure Fantasy
11th January 2024, http://stophinkley.org/press-releases/nuclear-roadmap-is-pure-fantasy/
The Stop Hinkley Campaign has described the Government’s so-called Nuclear Roadmap as “pure fantasy”.
The Roadmap majors on plans to explore the possibility of building another large-scale power plant as big as Hinkley Point C. Anglesey and Cumbria are suggested as possible sites. But these sites were designated twelve and a half years ago and have come to nothing. The problem is finding somebody willing to invest the huge sums of money required for these risky projects. SSE, Iberdrola, Engie and Toshiba have already rejected the idea of investing in Moorside in Cumbria. And RWE, Eon and Hitachi have given up on Wylfa on Anglesey.
The Financial Times reports today that the Government and EDF might be able to raise £20bn to fund Sizewell C by end of this year. This looks as though it will probably include investment from the United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth fund. So, we have basically jumped out of a Chinese frying pan into a UAE fire.
Stop Hinkley Spokesperson Roy Pumfrey said:
“This plan is yet another vague wish-list from the Government. It is pure fantasy. Many people will be tempted to echo Beryl from Bristol’s famous phrase “Not another one!” There is nothing here which get us any closer to the important target of zero carbon electricity by 2035. We need to rapidly ramp up energy efficiency and home refurbishments – something we could be doing right now that would save people money.
Global renewable energy capacity grew by the fastest pace recorded in the last 20 years last year, but it’s still not fast enough. Britain is fast losing its lead in this area, thanks to Government bungling and too much focus on fantasy nuclear projects.”
He continued:
“The two reactors being built at Hinkley Point C are now unlikely to be generating electricity until 2028 and 2029 at the earliest and the cost is likely to reach £33bn. Our climate simply doesn’t have the time to wait around for these expensive white elephants to come on-line.
We need to get on with energy efficiency and renewable developments right now.”
Sizewell C: UK and France-owned EDF look to raise £20bn for Suffolk nuclear site
The UK government and EDF energy has announced its bid to raise £20bn for an extension to EDF’s nuclear facility in Suffolk.
The British government and the French-owned energy company EDF plan to build the UK’s second-largest power station, Sizewell C, on the Suffolk site.
They hope to raise the money by the end of 2024, the energy minister responsible for the sector told the Financial Times.
Ministers approved the construction of the building in 2022 after a decade of consultations. It is expected to take a further decade to build, although delays and high costs at sister plant Hinkley Point C suggest that it may take even longer.
“It’s a phenomenal sum of money but we are genuinely very pleased and very positive about the reaction we have had through the capital-raising process so far,” Andrew Bowie told the Financial Times. “We are very much on track.”
The UK government has already committed £1.2bn to the project, while a UAE sovereign wealth fund is among several potential investors.
On Thursday, the UK government launched its £300m civil nuclear road map in the “biggest expansion of nuclear power for 70 years”, which restates its aim to build up the UK’s supply of nuclear energy to 24GW by 2024…………………… more https://www.cityam.com/sizewell-c-uk-and-france-owned-edf-look-to-raise-20bn-for-suffolk-nuclear-site/
UK Government’s nuclear power expansion plans branded hot air
12 Jan 24 https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-nuclear-power-expansion-plans-branded-hot-air
NEW government plans for “Britain’s biggest nuclear power expansion in 70 years” were dismissed today as “unevidenced” hot air.
Unite and Greenpeace poured doubt over ministers’ latest “grandiose” promises of cheap energy provision amid faltering nuclear output and project delays.
The government has published a roadmap recommitting itself to building a series of nuclear reactors capable of producing 24 gigawatts — a quarter of national electricity demand — by 2050.
Approval would be given for one or two new reactors every five years from 2030 to 2044, alongside backing for another large-scale reactor in addition to Hinkley Point C and the planned Sizewell C.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed the announcement as “the next step in our commitment to nuclear power, which puts us on course to achieve net zero by 2050 in a measured and sustainable way.”
But Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The government’s announcement to expand nuclear power sounds like a lot of hot air.
“We have had years of time wasting and underinvestment by ministers in this industry, which is vital to achieving energy security and net zero.”We have had years of time wasting and underinvestment by ministers in this industry, which is vital to achieving energy security and net zero.
“If they now want to be taken seriously we need to see far more detail and clarity. Any plans for nuclear need to include small modular reactors as part of Britain’s balanced energy mix.
“It is also essential that we don’t just hand over government funding to private companies and hope for the best.”
French energy giant EDF said the cost of Hinkley Point C has spiralled to £33bn, a 30 per cent increase from 2015 when it forecast the cost at £25-£26bn.
Hinckley Point C’s planned successor project at Sizewell C in Suffolk, which has been planned for the past 12 years, is yet to receive a final investment decision.
Greenpeace UK chief scientist Doug Parr said: “Every few months the government makes a grandiose public announcement about future nuclear in the hope that a big investor will believe the hype and step up to fund this 20th century technology, but it isn’t working.
“The energy industry knows that the economic case for slow, expensive nuclear just doesn’t add up, and the future is renewable.
“This vague, aspirational announcement with its unevidenced claims of cheap energy is unlikely to change their minds when there are real reactors overshooting their massive construction budgets and showing them the truth.”
Mini nuclear plants to be built almost anywhere in UK
Mini-nuclear power plants will be allowed almost anywhere outside built-up
areas, as ministers relax planning rules to allow a “reawakening” of
atomic electricity.
Under plans to quadruple capacity in the next quarter
of a century, ministers want a fleet of “small modular reactors” to be
built across Britain alongside large power plants. Unlike conventional
plants, small modular reactors do not need to be built on the coast and the
government wants to open up far more areas as potential sites, in a
developer-led approach that will replace rules that allow nuclear power
stations only in eight named locations.
Rishi Sunak argues that “nuclear
is the perfect antidote to the energy challenges facing Britain”, helping
meet net zero goals with reliable, domestically produced power. A
consultation on overhauling planning rules published on Thursday says that
rather than ministers specifying sites, developers will be asked to
identify locations for such reactors based on a new list of safety and
environmental criteria. Only “population density” and “proximity to
military activities” will rule out nuclear plants, meaning they cannot be
built in areas with more than 5,000 people per square kilometre. This would
rule out cities and most towns, and is designed to “minimise the risk to
the public” in the event of a radioactive spill.
All other criteria will
be discretionary, including size, flood risk, proximity to civil airports,
the natural beauty, ecological importance or cultural heritage of the site.
“Sites may still be considered suitable for nuclear deployment even where
they fail to fully meet individual discretionary criteria, although not
fully addressing multiple discretionary criteria may cumulatively lead to a
site being considered unsuitable,” the consultation says. Officials
believe developers are likely to want to site plants near industrial
estates needing power and heat, or in areas that have skilled workers and
grid connections. “The government particularly encourages applications to
develop on former industrial and brownfield land,” the consultation says.
Times 11th Jan 2024
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nuclear-power-plants-built-uk-plans-2024-rv5qxhzg2
No to nuclear power: stop the expansion
The UK government hopes to plough ahead with its biggest expansion of nuclear power for decades, despite major concerns over safety, cost, the legacy of nuclear waste, and its link to nuclear weapons.
A long-awaited plan was unveiled by ministers on Thursday and follows a commitment made at COP28 last November to triple nuclear power production by 2050. The roadmap includes plans by government and the nuclear industry to cut red tape in order to “accelerate new nuclear projects,” build another nuclear reactor in addition to Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, and make investment decisions on new nuclear projects every five years from 2030 to 2044. £300 million has also been made available to launch a high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) programme – making Britain the only country in Europe after Russia to commercially produce such a fuel.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lauded his nuclear plan as the “perfect antidote to the energy challenges facing Britain” adding “it’s green, cheaper in the long term and will ensure the UK’s energy security for the long-term.” But is it?
Britain’s two existing nuclear projects – Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C – have been beset with problems since the beginning. A 2015 forecast of Hinkley Point put the project at around £25 billion. These costs have since spiralled by 30 percent to £33 billion and the start date for the plant is likely to be in the early 2030s instead of 2027. Sizewell C is also struggling to attract private financing and the government has already spent over £1 billion on the project. Energy consumers too will pay more: a Regulated Asset Base (RAB) funding model proposed to help fund the project will add a levy to customer bills years before the plant ever starts to generate electricity.
Safety standards within Britain’s nuclear industry have also been under the spotlight recently. The Guardian’s Nuclear Leaks investigation revealed a litany of safety concerns at the Sellafield nuclear waste site including: crumbling infrastructure at some of the site’s most dangerous areas; security breaches; and a toxic workplace culture including harassment of whistleblowers. The scandal has already led to senior management leaving.
Sellafield remains Europe’s most toxic nuclear site and efforts to build a new underwater nuclear waste dump in Cumbria or Lincolnshire have so far failed to achieve community support.
CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said:
“The nuclear lobby was an obvious presence at last November’s COP28 summit and the UK government is working overtime to sell to the public the myth that nuclear power is the answer to the climate crisis and Britain’s energy needs. The evidence points in the opposite direction as renewables are cheaper, faster to deliver, and cleaner. Meanwhile, Hinkley Point C is seriously delayed and overbudget and the government thinks it’s ok to bill consumers twice for Sizewell C: once through taxation and again through a levy on consumer bills. Even if these projects were brought in on time and on budget, it still doesn’t solve the issue of Britain’s shocking record when it comes to safety, as shown in the recent Sellafield Leaks, or with what to do with nuclear waste. We must also bear in mind the main reason this government is so in favour of nuclear power: it helps to normalise Britain’s nuclear weapons and ensures a steady stream of skilled personnel to maintain and manufacturer them. Anyone who tells you any different is living in Cloud Cuckoo Land.”
Nuclear Free Local Authorities question the Chief Constable on alleged misconduct among Civil Nuclear Constabulary
Following the December 2023 revelations in The Guardian alleging misconduct
amongst some officers of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and a ‘toxic work
culture’ amongst police and civilian staff employed at the Sellafield
nuclear complex, the Chair of the UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities
wrote to the Chief Constable outlining our concerns and offering him an
‘opportunity’ to respond. The letter sent 3 January and the response of 8
January are reproduced below.
NFLA 10th Jan 2024
Ministers told to say how Sizewell C will be funded as new nuclear plan launched.
Government announced plans to build third new nuclear plant, even
though existing plan for reactor yet to be decided. Ministers are facing
demands to reveal the timetable for a final investment decision in Sizewell
C before a general election is called after the Government committed to
building a third major nuclear plant.
The Government announced plans to
build a new large scale nuclear power station that will be able to provide
energy to more than six million homes, even though the final funding for an
existing proposal in Suffolk has yet to be secured. Energy minister Andrew
Bowie faced calls from Labour to reveal the timetable for a final
investment decision in the Suffolk power station before the end of
Parliament.
Shadow business minister Sarah Jones insisted it was “all
well and good talking about commitments to new stations in the next
Parliament” before demanding what the timetable is for the Sizewell C
investment decision. Ms Jones urged Mr Bowie to give a “categorical
promise” that the final decision will come before the election, adding:
“Time is running out.” Mr Bowie replied: “We remain committed to
making that decision by the end of this Parliament, and in fact on Hinkley
Point C we are very proud of the progress that is being made.” The new
station is expected to be built at Wylfa in Anglesey, north Wales, with
firms from South Korea, the US and France expected to bid for the scheme.
Government sources said that Chinese firms will be blocked from any bidding
process, to avoid any risk to the country’s critical infrastructure.
iNews 11th Jan 2024
Ukrainians will benefit from Zelensky’s fall – exiled opposition leader
Signs of The Times (SOTT) 10 Jan 2024
President Vladimir Zelensky is doomed to be ousted this year, having antagonized all of his domestic and foreign allies, exiled Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk has said. Zelensky’s demise, however, will be good for the Ukrainian people, he added.
Medvedchuk was the leader of the Opposition Platform – For Life party, which Zelensky’s government banned for allegedly being “pro-Russian.” He was arrested and forced out of Ukraine in a prisoner exchange with Moscow.
The politician has since been promoting a project, which would make his home nation a neutral state, prioritizing national interests, as opposed to being a Russian enemy.
In a column published on Wednesday, Medvedchuk blasted the incumbent Ukrainian president, branding him an “unfunny parody of a dictator,” whose weakness sends a signal to all “political predators to eat him.”
“Zelensky has antagonized everyone he could: big businessmen, whom he blacklisted as traitors and oligarchs, professional Nazis, who see his cowardice, the military, who sees his incompetence, and last but not least the people, who see his indifference and cruelty.”
Ukraine is in a deep crisis that is bound to lead to a national disaster once Western funding for the proxy war against Russia is reduced, he claimed.
Ukrainian citizens need to realize that Zelensky’s downfall “does not necessarily mean a defeat of the Ukrainian people.”Instead, the opposite is true, according to Medvedchuk. It will be a victory for them, since the president “has long betrayed them and is selling them out for cannon fodder.”
The column predicted hard times for the US, which Medvedchuk believes has lost its direction, and the EU, which he expects to be sacrificed by Washington to support the American economy.For Ukraine, it means no EU membership, and its citizens should know that “Europeans will have to give their financial goodies to the American elites, not Ukrainian refugees.”………………………………………………………………………………….https://www.sott.net/article/487699-Ukrainians-will-benefit-from-Zelenskys-fall-exiled-opposition-leader
Unplanned nuclear power outages are reducing UK’s electricity output
Unplanned outages at Hartlepool nuclear power plant’s two 620-MW reactors
are set to last until Feb. 4 and Feb. 6, UK operator EDF Energy said in
transparency notes Jan. 8. Production at the County Durham site in
northeast England had ceased Jan. 6 “for maintenance activities”, EDF
Energy said. No further details were available.
The outage at Hartlepool
compounds UK nuclear problems in the new year after an unplanned outage at
Heysham nuclear plant Dec. 29 took another 585-MW reactor out of service.
Failure of a steam valve at reactor 1 at Heysham 1 saw reactor 2 taken
offline for inspections. Reactor 1 is due back Jan. 24, EDF data showed.
An inspection of similar valves at reactor 2 at Heysham 1, meanwhile, is
expected to keep the unit offline until Jan. 16. Meanwhile, reactor 7 at
Heysham 2 has been offline since early December for planned refueling, due
back Jan. 27, with only reactor 8 (624 MW) currently online at the
Lancashire site on the northwest coast of England.
S&P Global 8th Jan 2024
Analysis: Record opposition to climate action by UK’s right-leaning newspapers in 2023
Last year saw a record number of UK newspaper editorials opposing climate
action – almost exclusively from right-leaning titles – new Carbon
Brief analysis shows.
The analysis is based on hundreds of UK national
newspaper editorials, which are the formal “voice” of the publications.
The 354 editorials published in 2023 relating to energy and climate change
add to thousands more collected in a long-running project started by Carbon
Brief. Newspapers such as the Sun and the Daily Mail published 42
editorials in 2023 arguing against climate action – nearly three times
more than they have printed before in a single year.
They called for delays
to UK bans on the sale of fossil fuel-powered cars and boilers, as well as
for more oil-and-gas production in the North Sea. In response to such
demands, prime minister Rishi Sunak performed a “U-turn” in September
on some of his government’s major net-zero policies. Last year also saw a
surge in hostility towards climate protesters, with editorial attacks
doubling compared to recent years.
Carbon Brief 9th Jan 2024
UK’s dwindling nuclear fleet – four ageing reactors to be kept going beyond their planned closure date.
EDF looks to delay closure of four UK nuclear power plants
Four of Britain’s dwindling fleet of nuclear power plants look set to
remain on stream for at least a further two years, EDF Energy announced on
Tuesday, as the French state-owned operator said it aimed to halt seven
years of declining output.
The UK’s nuclear generating capacity has
fallen rapidly since the start of the decade as three of the country’s
eight ageing power stations closed. But EDF, which owns the country’s
nuclear fleet via a joint venture with Centrica, said it now planned to
explore keeping two of the power stations — Heysham 2 and Torness —
open beyond their planned closure date of 2028.
This follows an
announcement last year by the company of similar plans to keep the two
other power stations that use the same reactor design — Hartlepool and
Heysham 1 — open for at least two years beyond their scheduled closure
date of 2024. The company said a decision on the planned extensions for
Heysham 2 and Torness power stations, which have a joint generating
capacity of 2.4GW, will be taken by the end of the year, subject to plant
inspections and regulatory approvals.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation
said in a statement: “Several safety cases for the stations are likely to
require updating to achieve EDF’s stated ambitions, together with
investment in plant to sustain equipment reliability, all while ensuring
that the necessary people and skills are on site.” Other nuclear power
plants based on the same design as Hartlepool and Heysham have been forced
to close earlier than planned because cracks were found in the reactors’
graphite cores. But EDF said in 2022 that the graphite at both Hartlepool
and Heysham 1 remained intact, and regular inspections have continued since
then.
FT 9th Jan 2024
https://www.ft.com/content/06f524ac-2515-432c-97a1-e71aa25189e6
Housing unaffordability – implications for Somerset with huge increase in nuclear workers for Hinkley Point C
EDF Energy is once again in talks with Somerset Council to negotiate an
increase in workers on the site. Cllr Leigh Redman, Bridgwater Town Council
spokesperson for Nuclear Issues, said that the original development consent
order (DCO) signed by the secretary of state, indicated that at peak the
number of workers on site would be 5,600.
This number was since raised to
8,600 due to the conversion of Pontins in Brean to become an accommodation
site for Hinkley Point C workers, which is now full. Back in November 2023,
EDF Energy approached the council to bring the workforce to over 10,000 as
the project entered its ‘peak construction phase’.
There are now over
11,000 workers at Hinkley Point C, and EDF plans to bring in more staff in
the near future. Cllr Redman said that although he appreciates the good
things EDF Energy has brought to Bridgwater, he feels people are losing out
on housing due to the company’s ‘disregard for limits set and agreed’. The
Bridgwater Town Councillor also explained that he frequently receives
messages from people struggling to find affordable properties to rent
locally, including one family of three squashed into a third floor flat
with nowhere to go.
Bridgwater Mercury 9th Jan 2024
https://www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk/news/24036533.edf-talks-somerset-council-workforce-increase/
Somerset 9th Jan 2024
https://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/24036578.edf-talks-somerset-council-workforce-increase/
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