Butterfly numbers fall by 84% in Netherlands over 130 years – study, Guardian, Patrick Barkham,@patrick_barkham, Mon 1 Apr 2019
European insect populations shrink as farming leaves ‘hardly any room for nature’ Butterflies have declined by at least 84% in the Netherlands over the last 130 years, according to a study, confirming the crisis affecting insect populations in western Europe.
Researchers analysed 120,000 butterflies caught by collectors between 1890 and 1980 as well as more recent scientific data from more than 2 million sightings to identify dramatic declines in the country’s 71 native butterfly species, 15 of which have become extinct over the last century.
“We are quite sure that the real decline must be much larger,” said Chris van Swaay, of Dutch Butterfly Conservation and one of the co-authors of the study.
The research follows warnings of catastrophic insect declines after a global review calculated that the total mass of insects was falling by 2.5% each year, and a German study found average flying insect abundance had declined by 76% over 27 years.
Since the scientific monitoring of British butterflies began in 1976, there has been a 77% decline in “habitat specialists”, which are found only in certain areas, such as woodland or chalk grassland, while populations of more common species found across the countryside have fallen by 46%. ……. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/01/butterfly-numbers-fall-by-84-in-netherlands-over-130-years-study
April 1, 2019
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
environment, EUROPE |
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** Two U.S. Veterans for Peace released after 12 days in Irish prison for peace action at Shannon Airport
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Two members of U.S. Veterans For Peace – Tarak Kauff and Ken Mayers – were arrested on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day after cutting the fence and entering the airfield at Shannon Airport in Ireland to inspect and investigate a plane on contract to the U.S. military. They carried a large banner that said “U.S. Veterans Say: Respect Irish Neutrality – U.S. War Machine Out of Shannon Airport”. The men were refused bail by Ennis District Court on March 18 and jailed at the Limerick Prison, charged with trespass and causing criminal damage. At a preliminary hearing on March 28, the men were granted bail and released on March 29 pending trial. Their passports were taken and they were ordered to stay away from airports. They may not be able to leave Ireland before their trial. Shannon Airport is used for refueling troop and equipment transport planes bound for Middle East wars.
Read more here (https://nukeresister.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5e793916f1979bfc73458af19&id=81d2ae10b5&e=e8c4dedfda) .
Members of European Parliament among 16 arrested at Belgian air base where U.S. nuclear weapons are stored
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Three Green Party politicians from Luxembourg, England and France were arrested with four Agir pour la Paix activists on February 20 after climbing a fence to enter a military base in Belgium where U.S. nuclear weapons are stored. After entering the Kleine Brogel base, they blocked the runway used by F-16 fighter jets. The Members of European Parliament – Molly Scott Cato, Tilly Metz and Michele Rivasi – held a banner that read, “Europe Free of Nuclear Weapons”. The group was soon detained and taken into custody. Nine supporters standing outside the base were also arrested, and authorities erased photos and videos from their cameras and phones.
Read more here (https://nukeresister.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5e793916f1979bfc73458af19&id=bac6bd3950&e=e8c4dedfda) .
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Eleven nuclear resisters arrested during blockade of Lockheed Martin, California
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Eleven nuclear resisters with the Pacific Life Community were arrested on March 18 during a blockade of the main gate of Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, California. The group held a banner across the road reading, “Lockheed Weapons Terrorize the World”. They carried with them copies of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to inform Lockheed workers and management that when the treaty is ratified, building nuclear weapons and their delivery systems will be in violation of international humanitarian law.
Read more here (https://nukeresister.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5e793916f1979bfc73458af19&id=a7997992be&e=e8c4dedfda) .
Eight arrested during St. Patrick’s Day blockade of Des Moines drone command center
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Veterans for Peace and Catholic Workers from across the Midwest converged on the Iowa Air National Guard Drone Command Center in Des Moines on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. After a rally, protesters walked onto the base. Eight activists blocked the main entrance gate, holding a banner with a message from St. Patrick: “In Christ There is No Killing”. The blockaders were arrested and taken to the Polk County Jail. One of them bailed out, and the other seven spent the night in jail before pleading guilty on Monday morning. They were fined $100-$1000 and then set free.
Read more here (https://nukeresister.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5e793916f1979bfc73458af19&id=5efb6d6624&e=e8c4dedfda) .
March 30, 2019
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
EUROPE, opposition to nuclear, USA |
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Bristol selected to advise energy industry on safety of nuclear equipment, University of 
Bristol 28 March 2019, The University of Bristol has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work with major national and international players in the energy market to ensure that all nuclear equipment meets required standards.
Under the partnership with EQUALLETM (an alliance of Framatome, Bureau Veritas, Doosan Babcock), Bristol will act as an expert guide for EQUALLE’s partners and suppliers, undertaking seismic qualification of equipment going onto nuclear power plants in the UK. ……
Bristol’s Faculty of Engineering has been heavily involved with UK civil nuclear stakeholders.
Already working with EDF Energy, substantial activities have been taking place to support the case for the UK Nuclear Plants life extension………. Thomas Epron, VP Global sales, Framatome’s Installed Base Business Unit, said: “This new partnership in equipment qualification with Bristol University is an additional step to build a comprehensive offer to the UK nuclear industry…….. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2019/march/nuclear-partnership.html
March 30, 2019
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Education, UK |
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Leader Live 22nd March 2019 , HOLYWELL councillors were quick to back a bid to reject nuclear waste being dumped in the town. Earlier this year, North Wales residents were consulted in the search for a site to dump 60 years’ worth of the UK’s most dangerous radioactive waste.
At their monthly meeting, town council members were quick to support the motion that Holywell would not become the host of a nuclear waste dump. Plaid Cymru’s Jill Evans MEP sent the town council an email on the subject that was read out at the meeting. “We are writing to you to urge your council to pass a motion stating that your community
will not volunteer to host an underground waste dump.
CND Cymru will keep a record of every community, town and county council that passes such a motion, and submit a list to the government’s consultation as part of our submission to the consultation.” From the end of March, this list of
councils who support this motion will be available on the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s website
https://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/17517980.council-says-that-holywell-will-not-host-nuclear-waste-dump/
March 25, 2019
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opposition to nuclear, UK |
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Daily Post 22nd March 2019 , Any plans to find a site to store nuclear waste in Denbighshire will be strongly resisted despite an offer of £1 million just to listen to a government pitch for the plans. The UK government is searching for sites that will allow nuclear waste to be buried.
As part of the process county councils have been offered £1 million to listen to the government sales pitch for the scheme. If a council agrees to the start of work on taking in the waste they will be then given £2.5 million if authorities take part in
the planning stage. Denbighshire councillors will be presented with details of the scheme when they meet next week but already opposition councillors have said there is no way they would support such a move.
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/1m-sweetener-store-nuclear-waste-16015159
March 25, 2019
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
UK, wastes |
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No2Nucear Power March 2019, EDF Energy has been running its third stage of public consultation on the proposals for a new nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk. The consultation closes on 29 March 2019. (1) As with earlier consultations on proposed new nuclear stations, the principle of nuclear power generation is deemed to have been settled during the process of drawing up National Policy Statements. (2) Nevertheless, with the anniversaries of Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island all occurring during March, this seems like a good opportunity to re-visit the risk of a nuclear accident at the proposed nuclear stations.
A severe accident scenario was postulated by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland in 2013. (3) This would involve a loss of coolant combined with a bypass of the containment. Core damage would be initially delayed by actions of the plant operators, but eventually takes place after 12.75 hours. The release of fission products to the environment starts 12.8 hours after reactor shutdown, and lasts for 35.2 hours eventually stopping 48 hour after reactor shutdown.
Nuclear engineer, the late John Large, expanded on this type of scenario pointing out that the fuel core would completely melt after about 16 hours and the corium mass slumps to the bottom of the Reactor Pressure Bessel (RPV), thereafter burning through the RPV steel shell to fall and slump onto the primary containment floor. At this point in time, the hydrogen gas in the RPV circuit is released into the primary containment whereupon it reacts with the air in the containment, deflagrating and exploding with sufficient might to breach the containment surety and, with this, the first phase release of radioactivity to the atmosphere for dispersion and deposition further afield commences. He said this scenario is very similar to the events at Fukushima. (4)
According to EDF Energy´s Environmental Statement for Hinkley Point C (Appendix 7E “Assessment of Transboundary impacts”), the likely impacts of an accident do not extend beyond the county of Somerset and the Severn Estuary. In contrast a report for the Austrian Environment Agency says severe accidents at HPC with considerable releases of caesium-137 cannot be ruled out, although their probability may be low. There is no convincing rationale why such accidents should not be addressed in the Environmental Statement (ES); quite to the contrary, it would appear rather evident that they should be included in the assessment since their effects can be widespread and long-lasting. (5)
The RPII Severe Accident Scenario suggests a radioactive release of I-131 and Cs-137 amounting to 610,000TBq which is quite a bit larger than Fukushima. Cs-137 has a half-life of 30 years, whereas I-131 only has a half- life of 8 days. So Cs-137 is much more important in the longer term. With its longer half-life Cs-137 is around for much longer. Having said that I-131 distribution after an accident is important when looking at the incidence of thyroid cancer. Austria had the second highest average I-131 deposition density, outside Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, after Chernobyl. (As ever, whether there was an increase in thyroid cancer in Austria after Chernobyl is controversial – see TORCH 2016).
Spent Fuel Storage Unlike spent fuel generated by existing UK nuclear reactors, it is not the intention of future reactor operators to reprocess spent fuel from new nuclear reactors, so spent fuel will almost certainly remain on-site for decades, rather than being transported off-site to Sellafield as it is at the moment at most sites apart from Sizewell B. Although it is possible that spent fuel might start to be transported off site during the 60 year lifetime of new reactors, prospective operators generally take the view that it is prudent to plan to store all of the lifetime arisings of the planned reactors on-site probably in spent fuel storage ponds. At Hinkley Point C, EDF is planning to be able to extend the life of the storage ponds for up to 100 years after the reactors close. (14)
A recent study in the US detailed how a major fire in a spent fuel pond “could dwarf the horrific consequences of the Fukushima accident.” The author Frank von Hippel, a nuclear security expert at Princeton University, who teamed with Princeton’s Michael Schoeppner on the modelling exercise said “We’re talking about trillion-dollar consequences.” (15) This would clearly involve major transboundary radioactive releases much larger than those suggested in the RPII scenario, because the spent fuel store could contain up to 60 years’ worth of spent fuel.
According to the Austrian Analysis PSA 2 results (in the Pres-Construction Safety Reports by EDF and Areva) show that a possible severe accident in the spent fuel pool could result in a release of 1,780,000 TBq of Cs-137. (16) In other words, the greatest risk is one that could remain in place until at least 2130. …………..
http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/NuClearNewsNo115.pdf
March 25, 2019
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, UK |
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Nuclear test victim ordered to repay compensation, https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/385484/nuclear-test-victim-ordered-to-repay-compensation A victim of the French nuclear tests in the South Pacific has been ordered to repay more than $US60,000 paid out in compensation to her.Florence Bourel is a former secretary of the Atomic Energy Commission, who was sent to the weapons test site at Moruroa over a 12-year period.
She developed thyroid cancer which in 2002 was recognised as a work-related condition.
The test veterans organisation in France reports that in 2008, a court ordered for her to be compensated but the health insurance successfully appealed the decision.
A reassessment placed her condition below the disability level eligible for compensation, which she says implies that nothing had ever happened to her.
She says out of her pension she has to repay $60,000 and there is no recourse.
She also says her daughters have also been affected and one of her grand-daughters had an operation for a radiation-induced disease.
March 25, 2019
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France, Legal |
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Councils call for fresh look at nuclear power as current policy ‘flawed’, East Anglian Daily Times, 24 March 2019, Richard Cornwell
Campaigners fighting proposals for new-build nuclear power plants have dismissed the need for Sizewell C – and called on the Government to reassess future electricity usage and generation.
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) group, which represents 40 councils across the country, believes renewable energy alternatives, with energy efficiency and energy storage, are more effective options.
The group points to the recent scrapping of the Sellafield Moorside development, and the decision to halt the Wylfa B and Oldbury B projects as evidence of the state of the new-build programme.
NFLA steering committee and English Forum chairman David Blackburn said: “In our submission, NFLA shows in detail why the Government’s ongoing support for new nuclear is flawed and that there is no need for such reactors at a time when the renewable sector is rapidly moving forward.
“Sizewell C also has some serious issues over the waste it would produce remaining on site for many decades, and the serious accident scenarios international agencies have
developed suggesting much more alarming consequences than EDF foresee.
“If the local councils in Suffolk are not particularly impressed with EDF’s current proposals, then there is indeed much work for it to do. NFLA see no ‘need’ for new nuclear at a time of major changes to future energy use.”
New research on nuclear accidents shows that a Chernobyl level incident at Sizewell C could require large areas of southern and central England to be evacuated.
NFLA claims electricity generation has fallen 16% in the past 14 years despite a 10% rise in population. ……..
People wanting to respond to the consultation can complete a questionnaire at www.sizewellc.co.uk or email comments to info@sizewellc.co.uk or by post to Freepost SZC Consultation. https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/nuclear-free-local-authorities-views-sizewell-c-1-5955745
March 25, 2019
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IRSN 22nd March 2019 On Wednesday, March 20, 2019, at 10:56 local time, an earthquake of moderate magnitude (between 4.7 and 5.0 on the Richter scale) occurred in Montendre (Charente-Maritime). This earthquake was followed at 11:30 of a magnitude replica of 2.8.
The closest nuclear installation to the earthquake is the Blayais nuclear power generation center, located 27 km
from the epicenter. The Civaux and Golfech power plants are located respectively at 145 and 169 km from the epicenter. The Seismic Risk Assessment Office for Facility Safety (BERSSIN) of IRSN has prepared a briefing note on the characteristics of this earthquake.
https://www.irsn.fr/FR/Actualites_presse/Actualites/Pages/20190322_fiche-seisme-montendre-charente-maritime-20032019.aspx
March 25, 2019
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France, safety |
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Les Echos 23rd March 2019 Another place, another atmosphere. Xi Jinping’s
visit to France is not expected to lead to any major breakthrough on Orano’s long-awaited contract to build a used nuclear fuel processing and recycling plant in China.
Fifteen months after Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Beijing during which the French industrialist and his partner CNNC had concluded a new memorandum of understanding , Orano (the former Areva refocused on the fuel cycle) is still far from to have won the bet. At the time, Orano and CNNC had given themselves until the end of 2018 to formally agree on this mega contract of more than 10 billion dollars.
ttps://www.lesechos.fr/monde/chine/0600942449579-la-gueule-de-bois-du-nucleaire-francais-en-chine-2254727.php#xtor=CS1-33
March 25, 2019
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
China, France, marketing |
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https://www.reuters.com/article/spain-energy-nuclearpower/power-firms-agree-on-route-to-close-spains-oldest-nuclear-plant-idUSL8N2193XV
MADRID, March 22 (Reuters) – Spain’s main electricity providers have reached an agreement to renew the life of the country’s oldest nuclear plant until its planned closure, the company that operates the site said on Friday.
The Almaraz plant in Western Spain is the first nuclear reactor slated for closure in a calendar which foresees all seven in the country going offline between 2027 and 2035.
Phasing out nuclear power, which provides around a fifth of Spain’s electricity, is part of a package of energy market proposals that was one of the last gambits of the Socialist government before parliament was dissolved ahead of a general election next month.
A disagreement between Almaraz’s owners, Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy, over how much to invest to keep the plant running rumbled on close to a March 31 licence renewal deadline, putting the plant at risk of an earlier closure.
The firms will now apply to keep the site’s two reactors running until 2027 and 2028 respectively, on condition they will spend no more than 600 million euros on them, three sources with knowledge of the talks said.
Endesa had resisted adding any spending limits to a protocol signed last week setting out the closure dates, but a spokesman for the company said it was pleased with the deal.
We are very satisfied with the agreement because it fulfils the protocol signed last week which allows the plants to keep operating,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman added that the agreement also applied to two other nuclear power stations in which it holds majority stakes, whose licences likewise need renewing.
Iberdrola and Naturgy declined to comment.
March 23, 2019
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
business and costs, Spain |
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Is Bradwell B a risk to nationalsecurity? Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG)21 March 2019
Andy Blowers considers whether the ‘golden relationship’ with China might be a Trojan Horse in the BANNG Column for Regional Life March 2019. The state visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping, in October 2015 proclaimed the beginning of a ‘golden era’ in Sino-British relations. The deal was sealed with the promise that China would be offered the opportunity to construct a new nuclear power station at Bradwell with a state-owned company, CGN, using its own technology. In return the Chinese would provide the lion’s share (two-thirds) of investment in the project, with its partner the French state backed-company EDF finding the rest.
The jubilation of the Cameron Government turned to scepticism when his successor’s Joint Chief of Staff, Nick Timothy, declared, ‘The Government is selling our national security to China’. Fears that a critical part of sensitive infrastructure could be open to control by a potentially hostile power have continued to cloud the project. The fact that China, like the UK, is a military as well as civil nuclear power makes the issue of security and control especially worrying.
Bradwell B – a Trojan Horse?
Concerns about security threats are not without foundation. There is the broad charge that China plays by its own rules and the United States has long claimed that China has stolen American atomic secrets…….
Fears of Chinese infiltration in national security have led the United States to ban foreign ownership or control of nuclear power plants (see Box). No such injunction has been proclaimed in the UK; rather, at this very moment, the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation is deeply engaged in the process which may lead to approval for the Chinese Hualong One reactor design, thereby paving the way for overseas expansion of Chinese nuclear technology and the inevitable proliferation of security concerns. Bradwell B could be the Trojan Horse that leads into the heart of our national security …..
nothing is said at all about what will be a deteriorating nuclear complex with stores of highly radioactive nuclear wastes strewn on a disappearing coast for the indefinite future. And will the Chinese still be around when the risks increase?
The Chinese are intent on accelerating the Bradwell B programme to begin construction before the end of the next decade. That is a tall order but they have the resources and apparent determination. But, the risks to national and local security and safety from a nuclear power station constructed and controlled by a foreign power cannot easily be allayed. Despite all the soothing words and promises of energy security, Bradwell B, if it materialises, may be a dangerous and unpredictable cuckoo in the nest. https://www.banng.info/news/is-bradwell-b-a-risk-to-national-security/
March 23, 2019
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics international, safety, UK |
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Northampton Chronicle 21st March 2019 , Campaigners have raised concerns about nuclear warheads travelling through
Northampton after a convoy passed an accident-prone stretch of motorway.
Nuclear warheads are regularly driven from Burghfield Atomic Weapons
Establishment (AWE) near Reading to Coulport, Scotland, for loading onto
the Trident missile submarines.
https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/fears-raised-as-nuclear-warhead-convoy-passes-through-northampton-1-8859088
March 23, 2019
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safety, UK |
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Councillors back motion to oppose dumping of nuclear waste, The Impartial Reporter, 18th March A motion to
oppose the dumping of any toxic waste in any part of Ireland was passed unanimously by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, however it was not without some political wrangling between Sinn Féin and the DUP.
The motion proposed by Sinn Fein’s John Feely states the Council’s opposition who said that the “dumping of nuclear waste has dire consequences for our environment and also poses a serious health risk to the population”.
Councillor Feely said the geological screening for geological disposal facilities for nuclear waste raised a number of questions such as about how much radiation would reach the surface and water sources.
He added that the proposals by the British Government showed once again “the complete and total disregard” it has for the citizens of “Fermanagh and Omagh, the North of Ireland and all its people”.
Councillor Barry Doherty seconded the motion saying everybody had obligation to ensure future generations have the opportunity to enjoy the area in the same way that people do today and Ireland should not turn into anyone’s dumping ground……..
Councillor Alex Baird said the UUP were happy to support the motion with an amendment to stop anybody dumping toxic waste in Northern Ireland.
Councillors, Shields, McAnespy and Deehan all welcomed the motion, with Councillor Deehan describing the prospect of a disposal facility for nuclear waste in the country as “chilling”…….. https://www.impartialreporter.com/news/17495254.councillors-back-motion-to-oppose-dumping-of-nuclear-waste/
March 21, 2019
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Ireland, politics international, UK, wastes |
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Britain will pay £60 million to keep the Joint European Torus near Oxford running if negotiations to continue EU funding stall. Nature, Elizabeth Gibney, 20 Mar19,
The UK government has said that it will step in to pay for a European Union-funded nuclear-fusion laboratory near Oxford after 29 March, if European cash cannot be agreed in the next ten days.
The Joint European Torus (JET) laboratory currently has only a short-term funding contract with the European Commission, which will run out on 28 March, the day before Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union. Until now, JET has received around 88% of its funding from EU sources, and the remainder from the United Kingdom. Negotiations with the EU to agree a new contract to fund the facility until the end of 2020 are ongoing, but have stalled in part because of uncertainty over Brexit.
In a statement to Parliament on 13 March, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond promised to front up to £60 million (US$80 million) to run the JET in 2019–20, should no new agreement be reached in time.
The £60 million would cover the whole of the lab’s 2019–20 budget, says Ian Chapman, chief executive of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy near Oxford, which hosts JET. Chapman says that the pledge is effectively an “insurance policy”: he is still optimistic that a contract with the EU will be signed in time, and that the commission will continue to fund JET in the long term. “It’s not the intention on either side for [JET] to become a UK facility. This is to make sure we’re covered and operations continue in every eventuality,” he says. ……
Unless the deal is passed by Parliament, or Brexit is delayed, the United Kingdom will leave the EU without a deal. Although it would be possible for the bloc to keep funding JET in a ‘no deal’ Brexit, it is unclear whether this would happen. A UK government spokesperson said that the funding for JET would come from existing funds earmarked for science. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00930-3
March 21, 2019
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics international, technology, UK |
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