18 Cold War-era nuclear bunkers dotted around Cambridgeshire
These are the 18 Cold War-era nuclear bunkers dotted around Cambridgeshire
The sites can be found all over the county, Cambridgeshire Live, By Harry GoldTrainee Multimedia Reporter, 9 Jan 201,
|
Cambridgeshire is home to several Cold-war era nuclear bunkers, according to an online database. There are 18 of them dotted around the county, each with similar design structures. Officially called Royal Observer Corps (ROC) Monitoring Posts, they consist of a 14-foot-deep access shaft, a toilet/store and a monitoring room. The posts were constructed as a result of the Corps’ nuclear reporting role and operated by volunteers during the Cold War between 1955 and 1991. Half the posts were closed in 1968 during a reorganisation of the ROC and several others shut over the next 40 years as a result of structural difficulties. They were prone to issues such as flooding and vandalism, with the final ones decommissioned in 1991 after the break up of the Soviet Union. Here are the ones you can find in Cambridgeshire, according to online database Subterranea Britannica – along with another historic relic from the Cold war era.,,,,,,,,,,, https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/cold-war-nuclear-bunker-cambridgeshire-19590971 |
|
Hitachi pulls plug on Horizon nuclear subsidiary
Hitachi pulls plug on Horizon nuclear offshoot John Collingridge, Sunday January 10 2021, The Sunday Times A project to build a huge nuclear power station in north Wales is to be wound down by the end of March, threatening hopes of its resurrection via a sale.
Japan’s Hitachi has told staff it will shut its Horizon subsidiary, which was to build a £20bn nuclear power plant at Wylfa on Anglesey, by March 31. That could scupper a sale of the site, despite interest from bidders including a US consortium of Bechtel, Southern Company and Westinghouse.
The Wylfa site is seen as one of the…… (subscribers only) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hitachi-pulls-plug-on-horizon-nuclear-offshoot-q0tp0kcpx
Judge’s refusal to extradite Julian Assange is still part of cowardly process to deny freedom of information
The personal conveniently distracts from the political in the Assange story, https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-personal-conveniently-distracts-from-the-political-in-the-assange-story-20210107-p56siu.html
Elizabeth Farrelly Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s refusal to extradite Julian Assange for “mental health” reasons may look humanitarian but is in fact a deft political move. In reducing what should be an argument of law and principle to a test of personality, Baraitser managed at a blow to impugn Assange’s stability, repudiate any suggestion of innocence and open the door for America to prove the comforts of its solitary confinement and thereby win his extradition.
It’s a story of many twists and turns but underlying it throughout is a profound and widespread moral cowardice.
Baraitser’s 132-page ruling found that although the UK-US Extradition Treaty of 2003 specifically prohibits extradition for “political offence”, this provision never became law in the UK and therefore has no effect. In essence, the treaty is worthless.
The court also supported all 18 of the espionage charges against Assange, arguing that WikiLeaks’ hacking and publication “would amount to” offences in English law. Baraitser identified eight charges under the UK Official Secrets Act that would be, she said, equivalent.
Interestingly, this “would have” construction does not apply to the treaty question. Had Assange engaged in the same conduct in America, targeting British government information, he could not have been extradited because America’s “monist” system regards any treaty as law once signed. So it’s ironic that undermining this particular protection is a key US argument.
Anyone who saw the 2019 docudrama Official Secrets, chronicling the leakage by GCHQ analyst-turned-whistleblower Katharine Gun of information on US-UK dirty dealing in drumming up UN support for the Iraq war, will understand just how murky and terrifying such prosecutions can become.
This fear, and the persistent cowardice of yielding to it, is the theme of Assange’s story. I’ve written about Assange several times. I visited him in Ecuador’s embassy. Yet each time, I’ve found myself reluctant.
Seven years ago, when I met him, Assange was ebullient and hopeful, even funny. Now, as Baraitser says, he is “a depressed and sometimes despairing man who is genuinely fearful about his future”. Assange, she said, was at “high risk of serious depression leading to suicide if he were to be extradited and placed in solitary confinement for a long period”.
Baraitser noted the “bleak” conditions of Assange’s likely US confinement would include “severely restrictive detention conditions designed to remove physical contact and reduce social interaction and contact with the outside world to a bare minimum”, with family limited to one supervised 15-minute phone call a month. Detailing Assange’s mental state, she opined that his risk of suicide, in such conditions, was “very high”. This is the loophole she offers the appellant US prosecutor.
Those fears – his of 175 years in solitary (honestly, who wouldn’t top themselves?) and hers of his suicide – underpin her judgment. But there are other, more insidious fears at play here.
Such fears, I see now, feed my reluctance to revisit the Assange story: fear, in particular, of confronting the terrifying truth about our imperial system. Regardless of Assange’s innocence or guilt, the simple facts of what our controlling powers can do to you if you step out of line are terrifying.
But this small, individual fear also operates, very effectively, at nation level.
From the start, the case against Assange has contrived to turn issues of principle into questions of personality. The initial Swedish rape charges, since dropped for lack of evidence as the witness’s recollections after so long were clouded, were extremely personal, spinning off the cancellation of his credit cards upon his arrival in Stockholm, forcing him to accept hospitality; the seductions, the sex – which everyone agrees was consensual – his failure to wear a condom although asked and reluctance to take an STD test. Then the left turned against him because of the Clinton leaks – which one suspects would have been fine, had they been directed at the other side – and perceptions about Assange’s ego. He was vain, it was said, and narcissistic. As if that itself were a crime, reason enough to let him rot in solitary.
The personal and emotive nature of all this – the Swedish prosecutor’s refusal to interview him in London, Britain’s willingness to imprison him for a year on bail charges, America’s determination to prosecute him for exposing their war crimes (in the Iraq War Logs of October 2010 and the film Collateral Murder showing air crew shooting unarmed civilians from a helicopter) and the description of WikiLeaks by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as “a hostile non-state intelligence service” – all suggest a bigger picture, and smaller values, than mere truth or justice.
It’s often said that Assange endangered the lives of US informers but, as Baraitser notes, no causality has been shown. Even the Senate Committee on Armed Service said, “the review to date has not revealed any sensitive sources and methods compromised by disclosure”. It is said that Assange, by dumping hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign, gave us Trump. But if she was engaged in skulduggery as alleged, wasn’t it better for the world to make its own judgment?
When you look coldly at the facts it’s hard not to suspect that Sweden was coerced into the original charges and that Britain and Ecuador have been similarly pressured. Certainly Australia’s persistent refusal to intervene for Assange, an Australian citizen who has broken no Australian law, suggests a similar abject timidity in the face of US might.
That’s the fear that guys like Assange and Edward Snowden make us confront. And it’s why they deserve, at the very least, a fair and open trial.
Assange denied bail after extradition blocked, will appeal to UK High Court
Assange denied bail after extradition blocked, will appeal to UK High Court, WSW
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser handed down the decision Wednesday in Westminster Magistrates Court, after ruling on Monday against Assange’s extradition to the United States on mental health grounds. Assange will remain in custody until the prosecution’s appeal of that ruling is heard.
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson announced afterwards that Assange’s legal team would be taking the bail decision to the High Court.
Baraitser’s refusal to grant bail confirms that her decision not to extradite was motivated by political considerations and not any genuine concern for Assange’s health. Assange will be kept in conditions which have had a grave impact on his mental health, during a massive escalation of the UK’s COVID-19 epidemic.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald Tuesday, Nick Vamos, former head of special crime and head of extradition at the Crown Prosecution Service, indicated that the appeal process would likely take two to three months.
In her decision, Baraitser accepted the prosecution’s insistence that Assange’s flight into the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012—after a UK court had granted him bail in connection with Sweden’s trumped-up sexual assault investigation and extradition request—was proof of his willingness to abscond in the future. This is an absurd and vindictive position……..
Assange now has a court ruling in his favour. He is, regardless, prepared to submit to stringent bail conditions amounting to effective house arrest with a GPS tag—conditions which have allowed terror suspects to receive bail. His experience of claiming asylum in an embassy has proved it “unpleasant”, in Fitzgerald’s words, and led “to him being effectively confined for some seven years” before having his asylum revoked. “That is not something that he is ever likely to repeat.”
Assange also now has a family, a partner and two children, in the UK. Besides being a reason for Assange not to abscond, Fitzgerald argued, his family provides significant human rights grounds for his release on bail. On account of COVID-19 restrictions in the prison, Assange “hasn’t seen his family in person since March 2020”. He has never been able to live with them, having spent 15 months held on remand pending his extradition hearing.
Assange’s family, Fitzgerald noted, is highly relevant to the question of his mental and physical wellbeing. “The grant of bail”, he said, “would allow actual physical contact with his family, that would… alleviate mental distress”.
Baraitser had acknowledged the benefit of his family’s support to Assange in her ruling on extradition, which described him as a “depressed and sometimes despairing man, who is genuinely fearful about his future.”
Bail would also “considerably reduce” the risk of Assange’s exposure to COVID-19. Fitzgerald pointed to the “severe outbreak” of the virus suffered by Belmarsh Prison recently and said there had been 59 positive cases prior to Christmas. He added, “on any view, the position [the state of the UK’s epidemic] is worse now and, on any view, he would be safer isolating with his family than if he was in Belmarsh.”
Baraitser dismissed these concerns, declaring “this prison is managing prisoners’ health during this pandemic in an appropriate and responsible manner.”………. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/07/assa-j01.html?pk_campaign=assange-newsletter&pk_kwd=wsws
Government control over nuclear and radiation information; firing of sociologist Christine Fassert

Le Monde 6th Jan 2021, Nuclear researchers worried after Fukushima specialist fired. The Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) firmly denies having fired sociologist Christine Fassert because of the results of her work.
Is the independence of nuclear social science research weakened? After the dismissal of Christine Fassert by the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), a dozen French and foreign researchers are worried about a “resumption of control” over the production of nuclear knowledge, in a column in the World published Wednesday January 6.
Seven beautiful Italian regions furious at sites recommended for nuclear trash
We’ll fight it’: Uproar over nuclear dump plan in scenic Tuscany, https://www.theage.com.au/world/europe/we-ll-fight-it-uproar-over-nuclear-dump-plan-in-scenic-tuscany-20210108-p56skh.htmly Nick Squires, January 8, 2021 Some: Italian regional leaders are fighting against plans to dump nuclear waste in some of the most picturesque areas of the country.
Some of the 67 potential sites earmarked to become a national contaminated waste facility include the rolling valleys of Tuscany and the countryside around the southern ancient town of Matera, famed for its cavernous homes.
The governors of the seven affected regions, including Piedmont, Puglia, Basilicata, Sardinia and Sicily, have accused the national government and SOGIN, Italy’s nuclear decommissioning agency, of failing to consult them. Italy closed down its nuclear power plants after a referendum in 1987 – held in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The new deposit site would store waste from those power plants as well as radioactive material that is still produced by industry, hospitals and research centres.
Manolo Garosi, the mayor of Pienza, a Tuscan hill town, said he was incredulous about the prospect of a nuclear dump being located in his region.
“How can they be considering a region like ours, which has World Heritage recognition? It is totally unacceptable. This is an area of natural beauty,” he told Corriere della Sera newspaper. “I can’t imagine what tourists would say when they come here looking for beauty and discover instead radioactive waste dumps.”
Domenico Bennardi, the mayor of Matera, said locating the dump near the town would be a “slap in the face”, particularly as it was a European City of Culture in 2019. It was also used as a location for the forthcoming Bond film No Time To Die. “We’ll fight it at every level,” he said.
More than 20 of the potential dump sites are in the northern part of Lazio, famed for its Etruscan heritage, small villages and farmland. One of the sites is near the village of Gallese, where William Urquhart, a British businessman, helps run a country estate that his family has managed for more than a century.
“Of course, no one wants buried nuclear waste where they live, but it needs to be an open, transparent process. Instead, it has come as a bombshell that will frighten a lot of people.”
The publication of the map of potential sites is the first stage in a long process that could last years.
“Now that people have seen the list, they can participate in the process and express their views,” said Deputy Environment Minister Roberto Morassut.
The government said the nuclear deposit site could bring benefits to a region – there would be 4000 jobs during the four-year construction phase and up to 1000 jobs when it is operational. The 370-acre facility would cost about €900 million ($1.4 billion).
UK and Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) oppose underground coal mine – dangerously close to Sellafield’s radioactive wastes .
result of the coal mine has gone to the Sellafield site for internal review.https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/nfla-troubled-uk-communities-minister-not-calling-in-decision-deep-underground-coal-mine-west-cumbria/
UK’s Wylfa nuclear power plan – Council approval is postponed again.
North West Place 6th Jan 2021, The council has deferred its decision to award planning consent for the nuclear power plant scheme on Anglesey for a second time while its
developer winds up operations at the site after pulling out of the project.
https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/wylfa-planning-deadline-moved-as-deal-yet-to-emerge/
Hinkley Point C mud dredging – radioactive mud could be dumped off Somerset instead of south Wales.
Energy is considering two sites in the Bristol Channel.
over concerns the mud was contaminated by nuclear waste. But a private disposal site off Portishead, on the England side of the channel, is also under consideration. A public outcry over the original mud dumping led to protests and petitions attracting hundreds of thousands of signatures online, a full Senedd debate and an acknowledgment by both the developers
and Natural Resources Wales that better communication with the public was needed over the plans.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55577848
Most Maldon District Councillors oppose Bradwell big nuclear development: small reactors would carry the same dangers.
favour of a recommendation to send a letter in support of the development of small modular reactors at the site of Bradwell B power station. The letter was sent to MP John Whittingdale and to the head of nuclear development at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in support of the development.
position to back Bradwell B due to the environmental and ecological impacts it would have.
on the plans for Bradwell B that a strong majority of councillors agreed with BANNG that Bradwell is an unsuitable, unacceptable and unsustainable site for nuclear development.
environmental, heritage and ecological problems as those opposed by Maldon
District Council in relation to Bradwell B.”
In 2021 be aware of the deceitful ”environmental” nuclear front groups
In 2021, The desperate nuclear lobby will be revving up their propaganda.
Their favourite medium for pro nuclear spin is to set up, or take over, an environmental group. These fake environmental groups abound, especially in the USA.
However, Europe has its fair share. They have recently banded to gether to pressure the European Union to include nuclear power in “new green deals”. They’ll peddle the same old lies:
- that dirty nuclear power is “clean”
- that nuclear power (useless against climate change, and very vulnerable to climate change) will “fix climate change”.
- that nuclear power (prohibitively expensive) is ”economical”
- that radioactive trash (a massive unsolved problem)” is ”not a problem”
- that new nuclear power (essential for the nuclear weapons industry) has ”nothing to do with nuclear weapons”
They’ve just sent a letter, a load of absolute codswallop to the European Commission, aserting that nuclear power is essential, and demanding government funding to develop the (non-existent) Next Generation new nuclear gimmicks.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison could stop the persecution of Australian citizen Julian Assange
|
Rex Patrick, Independent senator, January 5, 2021 A British judge has rejected the US Justice Department’s effort to have Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange extradited to the United States to face espionage charges for obtaining and publishing secret documents that revealed war crimes. The decision of Judge Vanessa Baraitser to deny the extradition request has given Assange an important legal victory in his efforts to avoid extradition for actions many would regard as inherent to media freedom – the right of journalists to obtain and publish information and to protect confidential sources. However, in her ruling Judge Baraitser dismissed the arguments of Assange’s lawyers in relation to these matters, saying she was satisfied that the American authorities made their extradition request in good faith, that the case was not politically driven, and that Assange was not merely acting as a journalist. |
|
Seven regions in Italy to take legal action against plan for nuclear waste dumping
![]() 05 January 2021, ANSA) – ROME, – A row has erupted in Italy after seven regions were named as having 67 potential sites to take nuclear waste. The industry and environment ministries gave decommissioning company SOGIN the go ahead to draft the national map of areas potentially suitable for the waste.
The regions involved are Piedmont, Tuscany, Lazio, Puglia, Basilicata, Sardinia and Sicily. All seven have announced legal action against the move. The centre-right opposition was also up in arms. Nationalist League leader Matteo Salvini, the leader of the opposition, called the government “incompetent”. His partner, the smaller nationalist Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, said “it is folly to publish the SOGIN map in the midst of a COVID crisis”. (ANSA). |
|
British tax-payers’ £ 132 billion cost for 120 years of nuclear decommissioning
Brinkwire 4th Jan 2021, It has been warned that a “perpetual” lack of information about the condition of the nuclear facilities in Britain means that decommissioning for 120 years would not be complete and cost billions of pounds.
The decommissioning of UK civil nuclear power plants, including the Torness power plant in East Lothian and the Hunterston B power plant in Ayrshire, would cost the taxpayer about £ 132 billion, according to a new estimate, and will not be finished for 120 years.
The Public Accounts Committee blames the U.K. in its sober analysis. Government for a “sorry saga” of massively ineffective contracts, “weak” government monitoring and a “persistent” lack of awareness of the condition of nuclear installations. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has left decades of inadequate information on the status and location of dangerous and
radioactive materials with a history of a lack of awareness about the condition of the sites it is responsible for safeguarding, the study warned. The NDA recognizes that it still does not have a complete understanding of the condition of the 17 sites in its custody, including the 10 former Magnox power plants, the report from the committee said.
According to the latest NDA figures, the decommissioning of UK civilian nuclear power plants would cost an incredible £ 132 billion for current and future generations of British taxpayers, and the work will not be finished for 120 years, with a huge effect on the lives of people living
near the plants, the study said.
-
Archives
- May 2026 (225)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (268)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (257)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
- June 2025 (348)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS






