Why France’s Emmanuel Macron is courting Central Asia
French President Emmanuel Macron is in Central Asia, on a visit that
highlights the region’s increasing importance to Europe’s supply of nuclear
and fossil fuels. The trip is partly an attempt to drum up business and
foster links with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, but the key to understanding
the presidential visit dates back to July.
A military coup in the West
African country of Niger raised the prospect that supplies to France’s
vital nuclear industry might be in jeopardy. In reality, the fears were
overblown. Last year, Niger was only the second supplier of uranium to
France. The first was the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan.
BBC 2nd Nov 2023
Storm Ciarán: Hinkley Point C workers transported off site
HINKLEY Point C workers are set to be transported off site imminently as
works have been paused due to the threat posed by Storm Ciarán. A bus
fleet will work to relocate the majority of the 10,000 workers on site, as
all but essential works have come to a halt as a result of the adverse
weather conditions. The office-based staff will continue working as normal,
and the nightshift is expected to continue as scheduled. A spokesperson for
the Hinkley Point C project said: “We will continue to monitor the
situation closely.”
Bridgwater Mercury 2nd Nov 2023
https://www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk/news/23897372.storm-ciaran-hinkley-point-c-workers-transported- #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes #climatechange
Together Against Sizewell C wait on outcome of battle with government over new nuclear power plant
https://tasizewellc.org.uk/press-release-tascs-high-court-appeal-1st-2nd-november/
On 1st and 2nd November, the Court of Appeal heard Together Against Sizewell C’s challenge to the development consent for the Sizewell C nuclear power station. The issues of the case are whether the Secretary of State should have assessed the environmental impacts of the power station together with its potable water supply as a single project or, failing that, whether he should have assessed the cumulative effects of the two projects.
TASC Chair, Jenny Kirtley said “As one of the Justices pointed out during one and a half days of legal arguments, in a worse case scenario Kwasi Kwarteng’s decision to grant Sizewell C development consent without identifying or assessing its essential potable water supply could result in a brand new £30 billion+ ‘gleaming power station’ on Suffolk’s Heritage Coast which may never be able to operate. How can granting Sizewell C consent, on the hope that a sustainable and environmentally acceptable supply will someday be found, be lawful?”
Paul Collins, Chair of Stop Sizewell C said “Given the uncertainties that remain around Sizewell C, not only its water but other aspects of the project too, it’s nothing short of scandalous that it has already sucked up over a billion pounds of taxpayers’ money. Potential investors should stay well clear and the government should cut its losses and not waste any more of our hard-earned cash on this risky, damaging project.”
Rachel Fulcher from Suffolk Coastal Friends of the Earth said Rachel Fulcher of Suffolk Coastal Friends of the Earth said: “Our members are heart-broken that Sizewell C Co. is continuing to clear hundreds of acres of the site and its environs, thereby destroying irreplaceable wildlife habitats, even before the outcome of the legal challenge is known.” #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
NewsReal: Ukraine War Ends, Mid-East War Begins? Why America is Shifting Gears
Sott.net, Sun, 05 Nov 2023
Anglo-American legacy media this week “quietly” announced an “end” to the Ukraine War, informing – correctly, for the first time since February 2022 – Western audiences that Kiev doesn’t stand a chance militarily against Russia, that Zelensky is “deluded” and “messianic” about recovering the four provinces lost to Russia, and that American and European leaders have begun pushing him to enter negotiations with Moscow.
So, peace on Earth?!
Given current events in the Middle East, not least the Israeli obliteration of Gaza and the major deployment of US warships and forces in Israel and on the surrounding seas, it’s more likely that the US Empire is ‘pivoting’ from Ukraine only because it considers the job there ‘done’ and now has bigger goals in sight………. more https://www.sott.net/article/485737-NewsReal-Ukraine-War-Ends-Mid-East-War-Begins-Why-America-is-Shifting-Gears# #Ukraine #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes #Israel #Palestine
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Court of Appeal: Together Against Sizewell v Sec of State for Energy Security
It could be some time before we know the outcome of the one and a half day
hearing on Sizewell C. Together Against Sizewell C’s KC, David Wolfe, gave
a strong performance and we recommend watching his summing up, 25 minutes
before the end – accessed through the latest of the three videos of this
case. The lead Justice concluded by saying “you’ve given us a lot to think
about”.
Court of Appeal 3rd Nov 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odppDe_GO3Y
Defense Department announces $425M aid package for Ukraine, cleaning out USA’s long-term assistance fund
By Tony Bertuca / November 3, 2023 https://insidedefense.com/insider/dod-announces-425m-aid-package-ukraine-cleaning-out-long-term-assistance-fund
The Pentagon today announced a $425 million military aid package for Ukraine, with $125 million accounting for immediate weapons transfers from U.S. stocks and the remaining $300 million exhausting what is left of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative meant for long-term defense needs.
The weapons transfer package funded via presidential “drawdown” authority includes:
- Additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS);
- Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
- 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds;
- Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
- Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems;
- More than 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades;
- Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing;
- M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel munitions;
- 12 trucks to transport heavy equipment;
- Cold weather gear; and
- Spare parts, maintenance, and other field equipment.
The USAI portion of the package, which includes contracts for “additional laser-guided munitions to counter Unmanned Aerial Systems,” makes use of $300 million provided under a continuing resolution that Congress recently passed and “exhausts the remaining USAI funds currently available to support Ukraine,” according to the Pentagon.
Senior defense officials said the department’s weapons transfer authority is also nearly spent.
“The administration continues to call on Congress to meet its commitment to the people of Ukraine by passing additional funding to ensure Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself against Russia’s brutal war of choice,” the Pentagon said.
Congress, meanwhile, has not yet approved additional aid for Ukraine as some House Republicans oppose it. #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes #Israel #Palestine
UK poised to brand dissent as ‘extremism’ – Guardian
Rt.com 5 Nov 23
Anyone who “undermines” the country’s institutions or values could be targeted under controversial proposed regulations
The UK is considering adopting a new definition of “extremism” that includes anyone who “undermines” British institutions or values, The Guardian reported on Saturday, citing internal government documents.
“Extremism is the promotion or advancement of any ideology which aims to overturn or undermine the UK’s system of parliamentary democracy, its institutions and values,” reads the new definition, reportedly drafted as part of a national counterextremism plan announced by cabinet minister Michael Gove’s Department for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities earlier this year.
The source documents, marked “official – sensitive,” trumpet its potential to “frame a new, unified response to extremism.” The lack of public debate or consultation regarding the new definition has worried activists, who fear it will effectively criminalize dissent.
Index on Censorship editor Martin Bright called the move “an unwarranted attack on freedom of expression [that] would potentially criminalize every student radical and revolutionary dissident.”
Even government officials are reportedly concerned the new definition constitutes “a crackdown on freedom of speech.” One unnamed Whitehall official told The Guardian, “The definition is too broad and will capture legitimate organizations and individuals.”
Amnesty International UK racial justice director Ilyas Nagdee pointed out that a similar definition was already in use under the government’s counterterrorism project Prevent, where it was already hampering attempts to organize.
Prevent, which defines extremism as the “active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs,” has been criticized as both Islamophobic and soft on Islamic extremism………………………………………………………..
As thousands of Britons took to the streets last month to demand Israel halt its bombardment of Gaza, Home Secretary Suella Braverman denounced the pro-Palestinian demonstrations as “hate marches,” demanding police officers re-examine whether waving Palestinian flags or chanting slogans could constitute hate crimes. On Friday, two women were charged under the Terrorism Act 2000 for carrying signs depicting paragliders like those used by Hamas to enter Israel. https://www.rt.com/news/586636-uk-redefines-extremism-dissent-protest/ #Israel #Palestine
Worldwide protests against Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Palestine
BY OLEG CETINIC AND FATIMA HUSSEIN, 10, November 5, 2023
WASHINGTON (AP) — From Washington to Milan to Paris, tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched Saturday, calling for a halt to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
The marches reflected growing disquiet about the mounting civilian casualty toll and suffering from the Israel-Hamas war. Protesters, particularly in countries with large Muslim populations, including the U.S., U.K. and France, expressed disillusionment with their governments for supporting Israel while its bombardments of hospitals and residential areas in the Gaza strip intensify.
The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 9,448, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In Israel, more than 1,400 people have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the war.
In the U.S., thousands converged on the nation’s capital to protest the Biden administration’s support of Israel and its continued military campaign in Gaza. “Palestine will be free,” demonstrators donning black and white keffiyehs chanted as an enormous Palestinian flag was unfurled by a crowd that filled Pennsylvania Avenue — the street leading up to the White House.
Leveling direct criticism of President Joe Biden, Renad Dayem of Cleveland said she made the trip with her family so her children would know “the Palestinian people are resilient — and we want a leader who won’t be a puppet to the Israeli government.”
Dozens of small white body bags with the names of children killed by Israeli missiles lined the street and demonstrators held signs calling for an immediate cease-fire……………………. more https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-palestinians-protests-europe-193a9aaca97df2c5c6a515f756a40a34 #Israel #Palestine
Russia test-fires ballistic missile from new nuclear sub
9 News, By Associated Press, Nov 6, 2023
The Russian military has reported a successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear warheads from a new nuclear submarine.
The report comes as tensions are soaring between Russia and the West over the fighting in Ukraine.
Adding to those tensions, President Vladimir Putin last week signed a bill revoking Russia’s ratification of a global nuclear test ban in a move that Moscow said was needed to establish parity with the United States…………………… more https://www.9news.com.au/world/russia-says-it-testfired-an-intercontinental-ballistic-missile-from-a-new-nuclear-submarine/34b2c5e9-8dfb-4455-92d9-910ce20d205e #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
Dounreay: New two radioactive particles found at Sandside beach
Two new radioactive particles have been found at Sandside beach near
Dounreay. The discoveries, reported this week, were found on September 27
and October 16, and are categorised as “minor”. The depth of the
earlier find could not be ascertained due to tides, but the more recent
particle was at a depth of 8cm. The total number of finds at Sandside in
2023 now stands at five. Dounreay says that “an important part of the work
to close down Dounreay is to address the legacy of radioactive particles in
the marine environment around the site”.
John O’Groat Journal 1st Nov 2023
https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/dounreay-new-two-radioactive-particles-found-at-sandside-be-331553/ #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes #radiation
Sizewell C campaigners wait for ruling on latest court fight over nuclear plant
Campaigners opposed to the building of a new nuclear power plant near
Sizewell in Suffolk are waiting to see if they have won the latest stage of
a legal battle with the Government.
Protest group Together Against Sizewell
C objects to a decision, made in 2022 by then business secretary Kwasi
Kwarteng, to give the development the green light. The group lost a High
Court fight in June and has now asked three Court of Appeal judges to
consider its concerns. Sir Keith Lindblom, Lady Justice Andrews and Lord
Justice Lewis on Thursday finished overseeing a Court of Appeal hearing in
London and said they would deliver a ruling on a date to be fixed.
Lawyers representing the group told judges the central issue relates to whether a
“development consent order” was lawful “without any assessment” of
the environmental impacts of an “essential” fresh water supply. A
spokesman for Together Against Sizewell C said in a statement outside
court: “It is clear that the business secretary needed to guarantee how a
permanent water supply of two million litres per day for Sizewell C would
be obtained, before giving consent.
Belfast Telegraph 2nd Nov 2023
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/uk-world/sizewell-c-campaigners-wait-for-ruling-on-latest-court-fight-over-nuclear-plant/a781818743.html #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
Russia Says Intends to Continue Nuclear Test Moratorium
Moscow Times, 3 Nov 23
Russia intends to stick to a nuclear test ban moratorium despite withdrawing its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
“We intend to keep the moratorium that was introduced more than 30 years ago in place,” said a ministry statement.
But any nuclear tests by the United States would “force us to do the same,” it added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed off on a law revoking Russia’s ratification of the treaty.
The 1996 treaty outlaws all nuclear explosions, including live tests of nuclear weapons, though it never came into force because some key countries — including the United States and China — never ratified it……………………………………………………………
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) has urged Russia to continue its commitment to the treaty, including the use of monitoring stations capable of detecting the slightest explosion in real-time. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/11/03/russia-says-intends-to-continue-nuclear-test-moratorium-a82998
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‘Nobody Believes in Our Victory Like I Do.’ Inside Volodymyr Zelensky’s Struggle to Keep Ukraine in the Fight
Public support for aid to #Ukraine has been in decline for months in the U.S., and Zelensky’s visit did nothing to revive it.
Despite the recent setbacks on the battlefield, he does not intend to give up fighting or to sue for any kind of peace. On the contrary, his belief in Ukraine’s ultimate victory over Russia has hardened into a form that worries some of his advisers. It is immovable, verging on the messianic. “He deludes himself,” one of his closest aides tells me in frustration. “We’re out of options. We’re not winning. But try telling him that.
The cold will also make military advances more difficult, locking down the front lines at least until the spring. But Zelensky has refused to accept that.
with the outbreak of war in Israel. The focus of Ukraine’s allies in the U.S. and Europe, and of the global media, quickly shifted to the Gaza Strip………………. on its own, Ukraine aid no longer stands much of a chance in Washington.
At the start of the Russian invasion, Zelensky’s mission was to maintain the sympathy of humankind. Now his task is more complicated. In his foreign trips and presidential phone calls, he needs to convince world leaders that helping Ukraine is in their own national interests, that it will, as Biden put it, “pay dividends.” Achieving that gets harder as global crises multiply.
BY SIMON SHUSTER/KYIV, NOVEMBER 1, 2023 , ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: OCTOBER 30, 2023 https://time.com/6329188/ukraine-volodymyr-zelensky-interview/
Volodymyr Zelensky was running late.
The invitation to his speech at the National Archives in Washington had gone out to several hundred guests, including congressional leaders and top officials from the Biden Administration. Billed as the main event of his visit in late September, it would give him a chance to inspire U.S. support against Russia with the kind of oratory the world has come to expect from Ukraine’s wartime President. It did not go as planned.
That afternoon, Zelensky’s meetings at the White House and the Pentagon delayed him by more than an hour, and when he finally arrived to begin his speech at 6:41 p.m., he looked distant and agitated. He relied on his wife, First Lady Olena Zelenska, to carry his message of resilience on the stage beside him, while his own delivery felt stilted, as though he wanted to get it over with. At one point, while handing out medals after the speech, he urged the organizer to hurry things along.
The reason, he later said, was the exhaustion he felt that night, not only from the demands of leadership during the war but also the persistent need to convince his allies that, with their help, Ukraine can win. “Nobody believes in our victory like I do. Nobody,” Zelensky told TIME in an interview after his trip. Instilling that belief in his allies, he said, “takes all your power, your energy. You understand? It takes so much of everything.”
It is only getting harder. Twenty months into the war, about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory remains under Russian occupation. Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed, and Zelensky can feel during his travels that global interest in the war has slackened. So has the level of international support.
Continue reading“Enhanced regulation” as Aurora – new £2.5bn plutonium facility – is added to UK”s AWE Aldermaston
Project Aurora, a new plutonium manufacturing facility at AWE Aldermaston
was added to the government’s 2023 list of major projects, and is
currently estimated to cost between £2bn and £2.5bn. The facility, which
was originally planned as part of the Nuclear Warhead Capability
Sustainment Programme (NWCSP) at AWE, will likely replace the current A90
facility at Aldermaston, which was built in the 1990s.
Nuclear Information Service 31st Oct 2023
The Chief Nuclear Inspector’s 2023 annual report has revealed that AWE
Aldermaston and the Devonport Royal Dockyard (DRDL) are to remain under
enhanced regulatory attention. Aldermaston has been under enhanced
attention since 2013 and Devonport since 2014. Of the three categories of
regulatory attention used by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR),
enhanced is the second highest. The highest category is used only for the
four most hazardous facilities at Sellafield. ONR said that for both sites
the decision for them to remain in this category was due to “longstanding
issues”.
Nuclear Information Service 31st Oct 2023 #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes #plutonium
Magnox rebrands to Nuclear Restoration Services as its decommissioning portfolio expands
Magnox has become Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS) ahead of taking
ownership of closing EDF nuclear sites. NRS, part of the UK’s Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority (NDA) group, is responsible for safely
decommissioning first generation nuclear reactor and research sites across
the UK and restoring them for future use.
As Magnox, the company was
responsible for safe and secure cleanup of 12 nuclear sites. In April, it
additionally took on the decommissioning of the Dounreay nuclear site in
Scotland when it merged with Dounreay Site Restoration (DSR).
The site is owned by NDA, but DSR was contracted to deliver its decommissioning
programme. Two years ago, it was agreed that NDA would become responsible
for decommissioning EDF’s seven advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs), once
power generation had ended and defueling had been completed. Hunterston B
was the first AGR to come offline in January last year, followed by Hinkley
Point B in August 2022. EDF expects all the sites will stop operating by
2028. Ownership of Hunterston B is expected to transfer in 2026, with the
others to follow on a rolling basis over the next decade.
The Chemical Engineer 2nd Nov 2023
https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/news/magnox-rebrands-to-nuclear-restoration-services-as-its-decommissioning-portfolio-expands/ #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNuke
1 This Month
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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