Swedish and Finnish NATO deal with Turkey triggers fears over Kurdish deportations
Opponents of President Erdoğan in Sweden and Finland worry the deal will bolster efforts by Ankara to extradite them to Turkey, https://www.politico.eu/article/sweden-finland-nato-deal-turkey-trigger-fears-kurdish-deportations/—
BY CHARLIE DUXBURY June 29, 2022,
STOCKHOLM — Relief over Tuesday night’s deal with Turkey unblocking the NATO accession process for Sweden and Finland was palpable on Wednesday, but there were also fears that the two Nordic states could have conceded too much to Ankara over deportations.
Political adversaries of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan based in Sweden were quick to label the deal as a sellout, which could strengthen Turkey’s efforts to secure extraditions of Kurdish rights activists and other opponents.
“This is a black day in Swedish political history,” said Amineh Kakabaveh, an independent Swedish lawmaker and longtime advocate for Kurdish rights. “We are negotiating with a regime which does not respect freedom of expression or the rights of minority groups,” Kakabaveh, a former fighter with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iran, told the SVT Nyheter television channel.
Since mid-May, Turkey has threatened to veto the NATO applications from Sweden and Finland unless the two states complied with, among other things, its demands to crack down on groups Ankara regards as terrorists.
This has caused political tension because Stockholm and Helsinki don’t agree that all the groups on Ankara’s list are terrorists. For example, all three regard the PKK as terrorists but only Turkey sees the Syria-based Kurdish groups the YPG and PYD as terrorists.
Over the past two months, officials from the three states, as well as from NATO headquarters, have sought to secure a compromise that would allow Erdoğan to claim a diplomatic victory while not undermining Swedish or Finnish human rights laws.
The 10-point deal published late Tuesday ahead of a key NATO summit in Madrid was that compromise.
The most sensitive element was arguably point eight, which included a commitment by Sweden and Finland “to address Türkiye’s pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly.”
Loose wording
While loosely worded, and arguably vague enough to be potentially insignificant, that clause rattled some Kurds in Sweden. ………………….
a raft of opposition lawmakers, including from longtime NATO membership opponents the Left Party, weren’t reassured.
Håkan Svenneling, the party’s foreign policy spokesperson, said Sweden had made “shameful concessions.”
“Selling us out to Erdoğan went quickly,” said Ulla Andersson, the Left Party’s former economic policy spokesperson.
In Finland, the reaction to the deal seemed notably more muted with the focus more squarely on the brighter prospects for NATO accession the Turkish deal entailed, rather than any eventual damage to human rights the agreement might cause.
This was in part a reflection of the broader parliamentary consensus in Finland behind applying to join NATO than had been achieved in Sweden.
In Sweden, the Left Party and the Green Party remain vocal critics of the NATO membership application, and Green Party joint-leader Märta Stenevi on Wednesday called on Sweden’s foreign minister to explain to the parliament’s foreign affairs select committee what she called “very worrying” developments regarding extraditions to Turkey.
For her part, Kakabaveh, a former member of the Left Party, said she might launch a vote of no-confidence against Foreign Minister Linde.
It was unclear how much support such a move would command in parliament, but a similar vote targeting Justice Minister Morgan Johansson in early June almost brought down the Swedish government, three months ahead of scheduled general election.
Kakabaveh struck a deal with Prime Minister Andersson’s governing Social Democrats as recently as last November guaranteeing more support for the Syria-based PYD and its military affiliate, the YPG.
But Tuesday’s 10-point deal with Turkey said the Swedish and Finnish governments had agreed not to provide such support leaving the Social Democrats’ deal with Kakabaveh on an unclear footing.
Kakabaveh said she hoped the Left Party and the Green Party would join her in seeking to apply pressure to the Swedish government over its concessions to Turkey.
“This is not just about the Kurds, this is about Sweden not bowing to a regime like Erdoğan’s,” she said.
Will Sweden throw the Kurds under a bus, in order to get Turkey to agree to Sweden joining NATO?
Sweden’s Kurds fear they may pay price for NATO bid as Turkey fumes, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedens-kurds-fear-they-may-pay-price-nato-bid-turkey-fumes-2022-06-28/1 June 28, 2022, By Simon Johnson,
- Turkey says Sweden supports Kurdish militant groups
- Sweden caught between security worries, support for minorities
- Erdogan wants steps to assuage security concerns
STOCKHOLM, June 28 (Reuters) – Kurds in Sweden’s large diaspora are worried they will become a pawn in the negotiations over Stockholm’s ambition to join NATO if the West makes concessions to win Turkish support.
Sweden, along with Finland, applied for NATO membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with their bids warmly welcomed as a “historic moment” by alliance chiefs.
But they have faced opposition from Turkey, which has been angered by what it says is their support for Kurdish militants and arms controls on Ankara over a 2019 incursion into Syria.
“We don’t want the Kurds to be on the negotiating table,” Shiyar Ali, the Scandinavian representative of the mainly Kurdish regions of northern Syria, said.
Any bid to join NATO, which holds a three day summit this week, requires backing from each of its 30 members. Turkey has been a NATO ally for over 70 years.
Sweden’s 100,000-strong Kurdish diaspora and Stockholm’s support for Kurds’ rights has long been points of friction in relations with Ankara.
“Sweden has been a thorn in Turkey’s side, criticising Turkish human rights abuses, there is a strong and vibrant Kurdish diaspora in Sweden, parts of which is sympathetic to the PKK,” Paul Levin, director at the Institute for Turkish Studies at Stockholm University, said.
“All these things fly in the face of the Turkish perspective on these issues that the PKK and their affiliates are an essential national security threat to Turkey.”
The PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) has been waging an insurgency in Turkey since 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.
Sweden has long outlawed the PKK and says it only provides humanitarian aid to Syria and refugees in the region, mainly through international organisations.
At the same time as the NATO talks, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has threatened a launch a fresh incursion into northern Syria to recapture towns held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which are backed by Washington. read more
The Kurdish YPG militia are a key part of the SDF that controls large parts of north Syria and is regarded by Washington as an important ally against Islamic State. Ankara sees it as an extension of the militant PKK, branding it a terrorist group, while Western governments do not.
Aside from its anger with the two Nordic countries, Turkey has long been infuriated by other support for the YPG, notably from the United States, France and Germany.
UNCERTAIN ROAD
All that has worried some Kurds, who fear they may pay the price to placate Turkey and secure Sweden’s place in NATO.
Facing a prison sentence, Osman Aytar, an ethnic Kurd, fled Turkey for Sweden in the 1990s.
“Kurds have been betrayed many times in history,” said Aytar, a 62-year-old associate professor in social work at the Malardalen University in eastern Sweden.
“Maybe Erdogan is betting that he can invade new parts of Rojava (the mainly Kurdish regions of northern Syria) and the West will be quiet just because of this NATO membership issue. If the West just shuts its eyes, he will be happy.”
Sweden’s government declined to comment on ongoing talks with Turkey. Ankara’s embassy in Stockholm also declined to comment. NATO has said the security concerns raised by Turkey are legitimate. read more
The complex web of issues has put the Sweden government – admired around the world for its promotion of human rights and support for minorities – in a tough spot.
Only this month, the government survived a no-confidence vote with the help of a former Kurdish peshmerga fighter, who has demanded continued support for Kurds, further angering Ankara. read more
A lengthy and uncertain road to NATO membership would undermine Nordic security and weaken the alliance’s hand in the Baltic. read more
But meeting Turkey’s demands – which remain unclear – would damage Sweden’s reputation and could complicate the fight against Islamic State. read more
“We are worried that the Kurds become victims of the politics,” Ahmed Karamus, the Swedish co-chair of the Kurdistan National Congress, a Kurdish umbrella group, said.
While the Swedish Kurds spoken to by Reuters are confident the government will stand up to Turkey, the negotiations are an uncomfortable reminder of that the security of the autonomous area is dependent on the goodwill of others.
“I hope and I believe that Sweden will not make concessions that we will be ashamed of later,” Aytar said.
NATO Summit – Facing the New Reality – a view from Hungary
Hungarian Community for Peace, 29 June 22, Leaders of NATO’s thirty member states are preparing to approve a new strategy to halt change in the world and delay the twilight of Western civilization, an analyst at the Hungarian Community for Peace evaluated the NATO summit beginning in Madrid on Tuesday.
Due to the failure of its eastern expansion, NATO is forced to face the fact that the Russians are turning its own expansion strategy against it. Russian roll back replaced the American. NATO would be forced into defensiveness if America gave up its aggression.
All that is already known about the new “strategic concept” is that it marks Russia as its main enemy and considers military conflict in the territory of the bloc countries to be a real threat. Therefore, they want to deploy more than 300,000 troops to Eastern European countries, approx. eight times as many as are currently there. The other main enemy is marked in China. But NATO is not strong enough to establish a circular defense against both of them and their allies. NATO has to decide what is more important. Both for America and neither for other allies.
Why should Europe be afraid of America’s losing dominance over the world, when its prosperity, and even its mere existence, is increasingly dependent on Russian energy and Chinese trade? Why should Eastern Europe get into a war with Russia when peaceful cooperation only benefits?
Today, not only Hungary and Turkey give different answers to the questions than their big brother, but the French and Germans are also looking for other ways. However, they have not yet come to oppose America openly, as there is a common interest in maintaining a common system. But strategy here, strategy there, the common interest in maintaining the system is crossed by a multitude of national interests. Economic interests are different. Market competitiveness, social stability, development depend on who and to what extent adapts to the new conditions and fits into the nascent new world order.
It is possible to force the old and even try to restore an even older one, but if it fails, the Sun may fall even faster over the system, the days of which are numbered without it.
Russia and China may be called the number one public enemy, but the consequences cannot be ignored. The more they miss the possibility of a compromise with Russia, the more disadvantaged they will be forced to compromise with it. An example of this is Russia’s superiority in strategic power relations. With the Sarmat rocket, America will no longer have the opportunity to reach the balance of power on the old level. And if the U.S. doesn’t ask Moscow to negotiate with it, the level could sink even deeper.
The change in conditions is shown by the fact that no Arab country, nor most Latin American countries, have joined Western sanctions against Russia, and are increasingly seeking membership in international organizations based on the Russian-Chinese axis. Argentina and Iran have applied to join the Alliance of China, Russia, India, South Africa and Brazil (BRICS). The recent Beijing Declaration aims at a comprehensive reform of the United Nations and the enlargement of the Security Council to include Brazil, South Africa and India for a multipolar world order.
Russia has indicated that it intends to move the venue for international conciliation negotiations to a truly neutral territory instead of Geneva, as Switzerland has joined the Western embargoes against Russia, meaning it can no longer be considered neutral.
As NATO leaders try to postpone a compromise with the East with a new strategy and believe they can outdo their opponents by military and economic means, businessmen from all NATO nations attended the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June. Would they see any further than their politicians?
Edited by Hungarian Community for Peace
28 June 2022
https://vk.com/public213869489
Journalist branded enemy of state by Ukraine
Journalist branded enemy of state by Ukraine https://www.rt.com/russia/557990-reporter-rape-ukraine-blacklist/ 29 June 22
The journalist got into hot water after penning an expose highlighting how Ukraine’s now ousted human rights chief spread false rape claims.
The bombshell expose was published by the Ukrainskaya Pravda (Ukrainian Truth) newspaper on Monday. According to the piece, citing various official sources, a vast majority of allegations of “sexual atrocities,” purportedly committed by Russian troops amid the ongoing conflict, were false. The allegations have been spread by human rights chief Denisova, who got ousted in late May after a no-confidence vote over her failure to organize humanitarian corridors and prisoner exchanges as well as “inexplicably focusing” on spreading unverified and unsubstantiated claims.
According to the report, Ukrainian law enforcement officials tried to investigate Denisova’s claims but found no evidence to back them up. After interrogating Denisova several times, officials discovered she had received all her explosive revelations from her daughter, Alexandra Kvitko, “over tea.” The latter ran a ‘psychological hotline’ for victims of wartime violence, established in collaboration between Denisova’s office and UNICEF.
The hotline lacked transparency, and while Kvitko reportedly told investigators it received over 1,000 calls in only a month and a half, with some 450 of them detailing the rape of minors, the hotline’s logs suggested it got only 92 calls. The exact nature of the calls remained unclear as well, since Kvitko failed to provide investigators with any details on the alleged victims, according to the report.
Multiple Ukrainian public figures condemned the expose, insisting that reporting on the activities of the disgraced human rights chief and her daughter helps Russia. Political commentator and prominent supporter of ex-president Petro Poroshenko, Taras Berezovets, for instance, bluntly accused the reporter of producing prime material for “Russian propaganda.”
The author of the Denisova investigation, Sonya Lukashova, who accused the former human rights chief of creating numerous fakes about the rape of Ukrainian children, ended up on the Mirotvorets database. Lukashova’s material has been very heavily cited by Russian propaganda,” Berezovets said in a social media post.
The Mirotvorets website was created in 2014 as a public database of “pro-Russian terrorists, separatists, mercenaries, war criminals, and murderers.” The website provides links to social media accounts and personal information, such as home addresses, phones, and emails. Over the years, numerous high-profile public figures and politicians have ended up on the Mirotvorets list over actions deemed to be “anti-Ukrainian.” Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger are among the latest additions to the database……..
Assange’s wife sounds alarm over his treatment
Assange’s wife sounds alarm over his treatment, https://www.rt.com/news/557738-assange-wife-treatment-extradition-us/ 27 June 22.WikiLeaks founder was subjected to ‘especially cruel’ treatment after extradition to US was approved in UK, Stella Moris has said.
Julian Assange was strip-searched and moved to a bare cell on the very day the UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved his extradition to the US, the WikiLeaks founder’s wife, Stella Moris, told journalists on Thursday. The 50-year-old remained there for a weekend as prison guards searched his own cell, she added.
“Prison is a constant humiliation but what happened on Friday felt especially cruel,” Moris, who married Assange in March, has said, adding that the guards had told their inmate that it had all been done “for his own protection.”
According to Moris, the guards were looking for any things that could be used by a person to take their own life. In the bare cell where Assange was placed, the guards checked his status every hour until he was allowed to return to his cell on Tuesday.
The WikiLeaks founder currently remains in the maximum security Belmarsh Prison in south-eastern London, having been placed there in April 2019 as the UK was deciding on his extradition to the US. On June 17, Patel approved his transfer to US custody.
A British court had initially refused the extradition request on the grounds that Assange may otherwise kill himself, or that he’d be subjected to inhumane treatment in US detention. But Washington successfully appealed the ruling, offering the UK assurances that the Australian’s rights would be observed.
“The fact he is imprisoned while this outrageous extradition proceeds is a grave injustice in itself. He needs to deal with all that, while preparing for a complex appeal to the High Court,” Moris said. Assange still has a right to appeal the decision within 14 days of June 17.
“This kind of thing never becomes more tolerable. Any person would find it degrading. The mental strain on Julian is enormous as it is, having to process what is essentially a death sentence,” Moris said, adding that extradition to the US would “drive him to take his own life.”
It is not some “regular discussion about mental health,” she has insisted, adding that “we are talking about driving a person to take their own life.”
Moris, who has two children with Assange, has vowed to “use every available avenue” and “every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free.” John Rees, a leading member of the campaign aimed at making the authorities free Assange has also branded Patel’s ruling “illegal” and said the WikiLeaks founder’s supporters “need to redouble our efforts to stop the extradition.”
The UK Home Office said last week that the British courts “have not found that it would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process to extradite Mr. Assange,” adding that they also believed his rights would be observed.
Assange has been a target for the US since 2010, when WikiLeaks published a trove of State Department cables and Pentagon documents that depicted alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has since been accused of attempting to hack Pentagon computers and is charged under America’s Espionage Act, over WikiLeaks’ publication of classified materials. If extradited to the US, he might face up to 175 years behind bars.
Ukraine won’t pursue NATO membership – Zelensky adviser
Ukraine won’t pursue NATO membership – Zelensky adviser https://www.rt.com/russia/557824-ukraine-doesnt-want-to-join-nato/ 27 June 22,
However, Kiev wants the bloc to acknowledge its role as a “cornerstone” of European security.
Ukraine has accepted that NATO membership is off the table, and will not take any further steps toward joining the US-led military bloc, Igor Zhovkva, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, told the Financial Times on Saturday. Nevertheless, Kiev wants a say in NATO’s policy making.
The bloc’s leaders are set to meet in the Spanish capital of Madrid next week. During two days of meetings and consultations, the organization will unveil its Strategic Concept – a document that outlines its mission and stance toward perceived threats, including China and Russia.
Zhovkva told the Financial Times that Zelensky’s government wants NATO to acknowledge that Ukraine is “a cornerstone of European security,” and to reaffirm its partnership with Kiev, first established in 1997.
However, he said that Ukraine will not push to become a member of the bloc.
“Nato members have declined our aspirations. We will not do anything else in this regard,” he said.
Ukraine’s prospective membership was a key factor behind the current conflict with Russia. The previous Petro Poroshenko-led government added the goal of becoming a NATO member to the country’s constitution in 2019, despite Moscow’s warnings that having the bloc’s forces and weapons on its border would constitute an unacceptable security threat.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has insisted that membership remains open for interested nations, but has not promised or ruled out accession for Ukraine in the near term. Under the 2008 Bucharest Declaration, NATO’s official position is that Georgia and Ukraine “will become members of NATO” at an unspecified future date.
NATO’s Strategic Concept has not been updated since 2010. That version of the document states that the alliance seeks “a true strategic partnership” with Russia.
Zhovkva wants NATO to purge any mention of Russia as a “partner” from the coming update.
“We expect in the Nato strategic concept . . . there will be more strict and severe warnings to the Russian aggressor,” he said, urging the alliance “don’t be shy” in inserting anti-Russian text.
Furthermore, Zhovkva said that he wants the Ukrainian conflict to be described in the strategy document, arguing “it’s not enough just to cross out the word ‘partner.’”
Eva Bartlett: Here’s what I found at the reported ‘mass grave’ near Mariupol
https://www.sott.net/article/467261-Eva-Bartlett-Heres-what-I-found-at-the-reported-mass-grave-near-Mariupol Eva Bartlett, RT Thu, 28 Apr 2022, According to recent Western media, Russian forces have buried up to 9,000 Mariupol civilians in “mass graves” in a town just west of the Ukrainian city. These reports use satellite imagery as supposed evidence and repeat the claims of officials loyal to Kiev that “the bodies may have been buried in layers” and “the Russians dug trenches and filled them with corpses every day throughout April.”
I went to the site in question and found no mass graves.
‘Lacking in scientific rigour’: Damning verdict of marine expert on UK’s Nuclear Waste Services seismic testing plan
Radiation Free Lakeland (RFL) and the Nuclear Free Local Authorities
(NFLA) have announced the publication of a report by a renowned marine
expert which is highly critical of Nuclear Waste Services’ (NWS) proposal
to carry out a seismic survey in the Irish Sea to further a plan for an
offshore nuclear waste dump.
The report, ‘The West of Copeland Acoustic
Airgun Survey Proposal: A critical analysis Review Briefing’, was
commissioned by Radiation Free Lakeland and supported wholly through
financial contributions made by members of the public concerned about the
harm that could be caused to marine life by seismic testing.
The report was written by Tim Deere-Jones, a highly-regarded marine radioactivity and
pollution researcher and consultant who has been working independently in
this field since 1983. The NWS, an operating division of the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority, is responsible for finding a site for a
so-called Geological Disposal Facility, either below ground or beneath the
seabed.
This nuclear waste dump will be filled with the toxic radioactive
waste that is the legacy of Britain’s seven decades of the civil nuclear
power production; much of it will remain radioactive for many tens of
thousands of years.
Three search areas in Cumbria, falling within the local
authority areas of Allerdale and Copeland and offshore up to 22kms, are
under consideration. Seismic testing will enable NWS to determine if the
geology beneath the bed of the Irish Sea is suitable to host a repository
for the nuclear waste.
This involves firing blasts of sound from air guns
below the waves every 10 seconds for four weeks or longer. This sound
penetrates under the ocean floor to help scientists discover more about the
suitability of the geology to store nuclear waste. Seismic testing can
seriously impair the health of marine life, which in the Irish Sea includes
whales, dolphins, porpoises, and seals, but some scientific reports also
suggest that even tiny shellfish and plankton can be adversely impacted,
hazarding the whole marine ecosystem.
NWS have claimed an exemption from
the requirement to seek a Marine Licence from the MMO citing their survey
as furthering ‘scientific research’ and in so doing have prevented
public analysis of their proposals or commentary from academics and marine
welfare organisations.
NFLA 27th June 2022
The whole idea of a GDF (geological disposal facility) is flawed thinking and needs to be revisited.
John Laband https://www.facebook.com/groups/radiationfreelakeland 27 June 22, The whole idea of a GDF (geological disposal facility) is flawed thinking and needs to be revisited. CoRWM (committee on radioactive waste management) must face up to the harsh reality that there is no informed expert opinion that doesn’t acknowledge that the physical barrier between the environment and the high level waste material (spent nuclear fuel rods) will likely break down long before the radioactivity has decayed to safe levels.
What went wrong was the way the committee, 10 yrs ago, dealt with all the alternative suggestions for dealing with the waste material and there were about 10 of them. It literally drew a red line through each of the alternative suggestions and there was no discussion about their merits.
The excuse given was that at the time there was no worldwide precedent or experience of each of them. The exception was the GDF plan which already existed in the USA at Yucca mountain in Nevada and the WIPP pilot project in New Mexico. So the UK approach was to jump on that bandwagon and CoRWM has spent the intervening time trying to induce local communities into accepting their plan for an underground nuclear dump. Including attaching the idea to a plan for an undersea coal mine.
Unfortunately for CoRWM the Yucca mountain site has been abandoned. There is nothing there now except a boarded up exploratory tunnel and an accident has happened at the WIPP site leading to radioactive contamination on the surface.
In addition the US is no longer adding to its fund to provide a national disposal site. It has gone back to dry storage of waste on site in concrete casks.
In my opinion CoRWM needs to abandon it’s one track policy and go back to the drawing board and look at all suggested schemes in detail. In the meantime safe modern storage facilities need to be constructed on the surface and a moratorium adopted on the production of anymore waste from fission reactors.
Cancel any further expansion of nuclear electricity generation and scale down existing facilities to zero. We cannot at the moment handle the mounting pile of high level radioactive waste.
The Chernobyl disaster: Five interesting facts about the worst nuclear accident in history
Was it human error or not?
Interesting Engineering, By Maia Mulko 27 June 22, The Chernobyl disaster occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the city of Pripyat, in the north of Ukraine, in what was then the Soviet Union. It occurred when an RBMK 1000 reactor overheated and exploded during a safety test, releasing at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the environment and depositing radioactive material across a wide swathe of Europe.
The explosion itself killed two engineers. Another 28 to 30 operators and firemen who helped fight the blaze died of acute radiation syndrome within a few weeks of the accident, and a number of workers later died of causes related to suspected radiation exposure.
Workers of the plant, firefighters, and residents of the nearby city of Pripyat received dangerous doses of ionizing radiation.
The event also likely had a significant environmental impact. Radiation contaminated drinking water and fish over large distances, destroyed 1.5 square miles (4 square kilometers) of pine forest, and killed or induced mutations in other plants or animals. Large areas of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and parts of Europe were contaminated to varying degrees……..
Here are some interesting facts about Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
1) The reactor had design flaws
The Chernobyl disaster is usually attributed to human error. Viktor Bryukhanov, the manager of construction and director of the nuclear plant, was held responsible for the accident and imprisoned for violation of safety regulations in 1987. He was released in 1991.
But now we know that the cause of the accident was most likely a combination of human error and design deficiencies in the Soviet-era RBMK 1000 reactors and that many of these faults were known by Soviet experts but kept secret from Bryukhanov.
1) The reactor had design flaws
The Chernobyl disaster is usually attributed to human error. Viktor Bryukhanov, the manager of construction and director of the nuclear plant, was held responsible for the accident and imprisoned for violation of safety regulations in 1987. He was released in 1991.
But now we know that the cause of the accident was most likely a combination of human error and design deficiencies in the Soviet-era RBMK 1000 reactors and that many of these faults were known by Soviet experts but kept secret from Bryukhanov.
Some of these flaws were:………………………………..
Additionally, the power plant operators weren’t adequately trained to work with this type of reactor. Unaware of its weaknesses, the reactor crew disabled automatic shutdown mechanisms to prepare for a test on the reactor would perform following a loss of main electrical power supply.
As the reactor began overheating, a peculiarity of the design of the control rods caused a dramatic power surge as they were inserted into the reactor, leading to the rapid increase in core reactivity.
2) The real death toll of the disaster is unknown
It took almost two weeks after the explosion for firefighters to put out the graphite-fueled fire.
But the fire wasn’t the only threat, as toxic fumes —composed mainly of fission products iodine-131, cesium-134, plutonium-239, and cesium-137— were still in the air.
Apart from the two engineers killed at the blast, 28-31 emergency workers and plant operators died of acute radiation sickness in the first three months after the accident.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there were also 1,800 documented cases of thyroid cancer in children living in the region who were between 0-14 years old at the time of the accident, which is “far higher than normal”. This is likely related to the release of iodine-131, which accumulates in the thyroid.
A 2005 report by the United Nations estimated that up to 4,000 deaths might ultimately result from radiation exposure from the accident..
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster also increased unnecessary induced abortions due to fear of birth defects ……..
3) Evacuations started 36 hours after the accident
Many people in Pripyat —located around 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant— began suffering from symptoms like headaches and vomiting within a hours after the accident, but an evacuation wasn’t ordered until 36 hours after the accident.
This was likely due to the fact that the Soviet authorities were reluctant to acknowledge first that an accident had occurred and then the full extent of the accident. On April 28, radiation levels set off alarms at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden, around 620 mi (1,000 km) from Chernobyl. However, when the Swedish government contacted the Soviets, they initially denied an accident had taken place at all and only admitted it once the Swedish government said they were about to file a report
with the International Atomic Energy Agency
Although Pripyat inhabitants were initially told that they would only be away for three days, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (officially called the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation) was created about 10 days later with a radius of 30 kilometers (19 miles) of the nuclear plant.
Residents never went back and Pripyat is a ghost city since then.
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone now measures approximately 1,000 square miles (2,600 square kilometers). Around 7,000 people live and work in and around the plant (or did until the beginning of the war with Russia), and around 150 have returned to the surrounding villages, despite the risks.
4) The “liquidator” status
Civil and military personnel exposed to radiation while trying to mitigate the effects of the nuclear disaster were termed “liquidators”. Those who worked as liquidators have a similar status to veterans and are entitled to certain social benefits, although many have since complained of a deterioration in their compensation and medical support over time.
Around 600,000 people were granted the status of “liquidator.” They were mainly men and women who worked on the clean-up and decontamination of the area —such as those who removed contaminated debris from the nuclear plant, those who worked on the construction of the “sarcophagus” (a steel and concrete structure to cover the exploded reactor and prevent further contamination), those who helped build settlements for evacuees, etc.
Fortunately, many radioactive elements released into the air are short-lived, but strontium-90 and cesium-137 each have around a 30-year half-life. These elements have been found in lakes, and they are also present in the water and fish of rivers of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, as well as in the air of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. https://interestingengineering.com/chernobyl-disaster-facts-worst-nuclear-accident
Ukraine shuts down its co-operative agreements with Russia in the matter of nuclear power safety
Ukraine terminates Russia nuclear agreements, WNN, 27 June 2022,
The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) says it has terminated international agreements concerning cooperation between the country and Russia in the field of nuclear safety
In a statement posted on its website on 27 June, SNRIU said that “due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation, the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine terminates international agreements concerning cooperation between countries in the field of nuclear safety”.
It said the order was signed on 24 June by Acting Chairman Oleg Korikov and terminated an agreement on cooperation between the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety of Ukraine and the Federal Supervision of Nuclear and Radiation Safety of Russia which was signed in Vienna in September 1996. It also terminates the agreement between the State Nuclear Regulatory Committee of Ukraine and the Federal Nuclear and Radiation Safety Supervision of Russia on the exchange of information and cooperation in the field of safety regulation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, which was signed in Moscow in August 2002……………………….
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned about the number of key nuclear safety rules which have been broken as a result of the military action in and around nuclear power plants, and the continuining occupation of Zaporizhzhia.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, who has been trying to organise a mission for its inspectors to Zaporizhzhia, said he was becoming increasingly concerned…………….. https://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Ukraine.
Campaigners are raising some very awkward questions about the financing of UK’s £20billion Sizewell C nuclear power plant.
Campaigners have raised questions after it was reported funding for a new
nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast is to be signed off by ministers
within a fortnight.
Funding for the £20billion Sizewell C plant is set to
be approved by the government by next month, paving the way for private
investment, according to The Telegraph. The decision would be a major boost
for EDF Energy, which is said to be in advanced talks with the government
over further cash to move the scheme forward ahead of a final investment
decision next year.
Reacting to the funding news, Alison Downes, from the
group, said: “Why do ministers appear willing to throw more cash at
Sizewell C, despite the risk and questionable value for money, when there
is none for hard stretched workers and – as Lord Deben pointed out – when
the nuclear industry ‘doesn’t deliver things on time and it doesn’t
deliver them to budget’?
“Nobody is even owning up to how much Sizewell C
would cost: the last estimate is more than two years out of date.” A
funding deal is not expected until after planning consent for Sizewell C is
granted, with the deadline for that decision set for July 8.
East Anglian Daily Times 26th June 2022
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/business/sizewell-c-funding-to-be-signed-off-9098750
To Bella Lack – being called a ”snowflake” is a badge of honour
Most teenagers would take offence at being labelled a snowflake, the
disparaging moniker given to young people perceived to be too easily
offended by un-PC terms or environmental damage. For Bella Lack, who at
nineteen-years-old is already one of the UK’s leading environmental
activists, the label is a badge of honour.
“Is it fragile to care about
the future of the planet and our species? I don’t think so,” she says.
“I think it’s quite a powerful term to be honest, because lots of
snowflakes create a snowstorm.” In the UK, the youth climate movement is
largely credited with pushing the UK government to set a target for net
zero emissions by 2050, and for introducing swathes of new environmental
legislation to curb the use of disposable plastic.
Bella has quickly
emerged as one of the leading lights of Britain’s youth activist circles.
She is an ambassador for the Born Free Foundation, spent her teenage years
campaigning on everything from palm oil to circus animals, and spent 2020
filming wildlife documentary Animal alongside Jane Goodall. Her Twitter
account boasts 138,000 followers.
iNews 27th June 2022
Nuclear power turning out to be counter-productive for Europe as a means to cut Russian power supplies – France’s massive decine in nuclear output
| France, the European Union’s leader in nuclear energy, is seeing a massive decline in output. Though it has been relatively unfazed by the bloc’s ongoing energy crisis, declining nuclear production could pose a significant problem in the coming months. The collapse of French nuclear power generation and Putin’s retaliatory cutback on energy exports to Europe could be disastrous for the continent. A recent flurry of unexpected issues at the Électricité de France (EDF), the state nuclear power operator representing the largest nuclear fleet in Europe, has caused French nuclear energy output to tumble to its lowest levels in 30 years. Around half of the EDF’s massive nuclear fleet has been taken offline, delivering a massive blow to the EU’s energy independence and security in the midst of a worldwide energy crisis. France has become increasingly reliant on nuclear power in recent years. French President Emmanuel Macron has given nuclear energy an even bigger boost in his time in office. Indeed, in February, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he announced a €52 billion plan to revitalize the country’s “nuclear adventure.” He has also fought for the inclusion of the emissions-free power source as a “green investment” in the nomenclature of the European Union as the (supposedly !) emissions-free power source as a “green investment” in the nomenclature of the European Union as the continent moves toward establishing its green energy budget for the coming years. The European Union had hoped that France’s considerable nuclear power capacity would be key in allowing the bloc to move away from Russian energy as the West tries to shore up its energy independence and increase sanctions on the Kremlin in response to the Russian war in Ukraine. As recently as March of this year, the Council on Foreign Relations posited that nuclear power could be the answer to ending the continent’s crippling reliance on Russian energy. But now it might be the very thing that makes such a divorce impossible. Oil Price 25th June 2022 https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/France-Sees-Nuclear-Energy-Output-Plummet-At-The-Worst-Possible-Moment.html |
Thousands March in Madrid for Peace and “NATO NO”.
Thousands March in Madrid for Peace and “NATO NO”. https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Thousands-March-in-Madrid-for-Peace-and-NATO-NO—20220626-0005.html&source=gmail&ust=1656372213390000&usg=AOvVaw3X62tTdIvq0p0thk8VygFj The Sao Paulo Forum, the Women’s International Democratic Federation, Ecologists in Action, Pacifists Foundation; Not to war, Not to Nato; Plataforma Madrid and pacifist associations from France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Italy, among others, emphasized the need to maintain the protests and not allow NATO to dictate the future. The Summit for Peace “NATO NO” that took place in Madrid, reiterated its rejection of militarism, while expressing its repudiation of the Atlantic alliance, and ended its deliberations with the demonstration from Atocha station to Plaza de España.
Some 10 thousand people marched today through the center of the capital in favor of peace and in rejection of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in particular the Summit for Peace “NATO NO” to be held here.
The parade along the Paseo del Prado, passing by the fountain and the Cibeles palace, took the Gran Vía in a march in which emblematic songs such as El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido, by the Chilean Víctor Jara, and La Muralla, based on the verses of the Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén, stood out.
The demonstrators’ posters and statements were dominated by slogans in favor of peace, repudiation of wars and invasions, interference in the internal affairs of nations through the use of military force and disrespect for the sovereignty of peoples by NATO, as well as harsh criticism of the European Union (EU).
In the Final Declaration of the so-called Madrid counter-summit, the participants from various countries indicated that “NATO 360º has become a threat to peace, an obstacle to progress towards shared and demilitarized security”.
They considered that the Atlantic alliance, which will hold its summit meeting on the 29th and 30th at the IFEMA-Madrid fairgrounds, turns its back on the real problems of the planet, namely hunger, disease, inequality, unemployment, lack of public services, land and wealth grabbing, and the climate crisis.
The alternative summit, for Peace, against NATO and against wars, underlines the obligation as a human species, to build and defend peace 360º, from north to south, from east to west. This implies renouncing militarism as a way of dealing with conflicts, said the declaration of the meeting.
The Sao Paulo Forum, the Women’s International Democratic Federation, Ecologists in Action, Pacifists Foundation; Not to war, Not to Nato; Plataforma Madrid and pacifist associations from France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Italy, among others, emphasized the need to maintain the protests and not allow NATO to dictate the future.
1 This Month
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14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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