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Biden Aims to Go Out With a Bellicose Bang

Does the white house get it, any of it? No. See the RT headline, December 2: “White House touts ‘massive surge’ in arms shipments to Kiev.” The article quotes Jake “World War III” Sullivan blabbering about throwing more money down the endless Ukraine drain. You’d think he might have got the November election message that half the country has had it with this war. But no, the morons in charge shout from the rooftops that they will not be deterred from their wickedness and stupidity.

Eve Ottenberg, 13 Dec 24,  https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/12/13/biden-aims-to-go-out-with-a-bellicose-bang/

Having failed thus far to ignite Nuclear Armageddon, what’s up next for the U.S. military industrial complex? I’ll tell you: New bases in Europe, 47 of them, to be exact, in Scandinavia in coming years. That’s Joe Biden’s legacy, a blood transfusion to NATO’s moribund carcass by adding Finland and Sweden and thereby ballooning the Empire’s global military footprint, a footprint of over 800 imperial foreign military bases already bankrupting us Welp, we’re gonna get 47 more, per journalist Patrick Hennigsen, and they’re gonna be near Russia. If you’re a Finn or a Swede, you might want to consider emigrating, since the pusillanimous NATO to which you now belong has set you up as a tripwire for the Atomic Apocalypse. That’s Biden’s legacy.

Don’t think for a minute these bases make anyone safer. Quite the contrary. Besides being hugely provocative and thus endangering the local population, the bases’ U.S. soldiers are in harm’s way. Moscow eloquently demonstrated this on November 25. That was when Russia retaliated for recent ATACMS assaults, manned and operated by U.S. personnel. Most of that personnel are now dead. That’s because Russia shot its unstoppable Iskander missiles at the launchers, killing at least 30 U.S. operators.

Also “up to 40 fighters, mostly from the U.S. were eliminated in a missile strike on a command center…in the city of Kharkov on November 25,” RT reported November 28 [“Russian Defense Ministry reveals response to long-range Ukrainian strikes”]. This is the fate that may await U.S. soldiers on foreign military bases, because Russia’s extensive weapons menu is chock-a-block with all types of hypersonic missiles against which the west is defenseless. And Washington’s so busy provoking Moscow, that the kremlin will much more eagerly share this technology with its allies – China, Iran and North Korea – than it did before Joe “War Is My Legacy” Biden idiotically triggered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

So dozens of Americans have or will be coming home in body bags, and U.S. weaponry got crushed and surprise! Not a peep in U.S. corporate media. That’s because our news outlets report American, ahem, “Ukrainian” strikes on Russia, using our vaunted but really mainly symbolic ATACMS, and report it with great fanfare, groveling before supposed superlative American weapons, but the consequences? The punishment? Not so much, since, Gee, that might make Biden and by extension Washington look bad. Can’t have that in American legacy news media. But hey, the Hindustan Times reported it, with headlines, like, “Russia Reduces Ukraine’s Western Weapons to Rubble,” and “Ukraine Loses All ATACMS, Storm Shadows? ‘NATO Train’ with Long-Range Missiles Blown Up by Russia.” How reassuring to know some nations still have a free press, even if they are halfway across the globe.

Meanwhile, all-around nitwits in the Biden administration chatter blandly about “Ukraine taking the fight to Russia.” Ukraine? Hello? Is that the new shorthand for the United States? Because make no mistake, the kremlin isn’t under any illusions about who’s firing ATACMS into Russia. Moscow’s leadership knows full well the info downloaded from U.S. satellites is classified and thus only Americans can eyeball it, and that only Americans are allowed to do the targeting. A Ukrainian may push the last button, but everything done before that comes from Washington. And the Russians are mad as hornets. For those of us who dwell in or near major American cities, that paints a big bullseye on us; in fact, the only thing stalling such targeting is the patience and sanity of Russian president Vladimir Putin. But remember, he’s a politician too, and one under tremendous pressure from his right flank to retaliate hard against the U.S.

Luckily, for those of us oddly averse to being incinerated, the recent Russian Iskander strikes, as the Hindustan Times reported, may well have destroyed much of the ATACMS and Storm Shadow cache. And we all know the west lacks the military industrial production depth to replace them quickly. Once the western military cupboard is bare, it will stay that way for a good while. The U.S. simply ain’t the manufacturing behemoth it once was.

In fact, much of our military production depends deeply on supply chains linked to China and, indeed, directly on Chinese manufacturing. And clouding the American defense picture, on December 1, Beijing’s sanctions on “the export of about 700 dual-use items took effect,” reported Asia Times that day, although what really grabbed headlines two days later was Beijing’s ban on sale of three rare earth minerals – gallium, germanium and antimony – to the U.S., a ban predicted in these CounterPunch pages, long ago. China has also sanctioned multiple American defense firms and senior executives. And more such export controls are coming. Bye the way, dual-use refers to civilian-military. So at the very least, Beijing’s new export control list will “prevent the U.S. from obtaining China’s critical metals, rare earths and key electronic parts.” China, long in the cross-hairs of voluble American congressional nincompoops, finally took their blather seriously. Incidentally, it’s not at all clear how these sanctions will affect China shipping weapons materials to Russia. My suspicion is, they won’t.

According to one Chinese military writer quoted by Asia Times: “The launch of the export control list is a precise attack to the heart of the U.S. military industry. This is not an ordinary ‘embargo’ but an all-round blockade to completely cut off the Chinese supply chain that the U.S. relies on.” So Biden’s oft-repeated, imbecilic crowings about war over Taiwan, and congress’ dimwitted howls for attacks on China have consequences, namely, Beijing taking steps to defang the American military beast, a monster directed, apparently, by birdbrains.

Does the white house get it, any of it? No. See the RT headline, December 2: “White House touts ‘massive surge’ in arms shipments to Kiev.” The article quotes Jake “World War III” Sullivan blabbering about throwing more money down the endless Ukraine drain. You’d think he might have got the November election message that half the country has had it with this war. But no, the morons in charge shout from the rooftops that they will not be deterred from their wickedness and stupidity.

China’s list of weapons-necessary products now prohibited from sale to the U.S. includes “computers, electronic devices, chemicals, sensors, lasers and aviation navigation systems. If China uses the list to fight a technology war, the U.S. won’t be able to find alternative products elsewhere.” So, um, about arming and equipping those 47 military bases in Scandinavia, I suppose Uncle Sam could always cannibalize dishwashers and washing machines to propel American weapons, the way the Biden team’s supposed geniuses like commerce secretary Gina Raimondo told us the Russians did in Ukraine (ho, ho!). Or we could use shovels, like the bubbleheads in our corporate media claimed those desperate Slavs did. Those were the same news outlets that told us, early on, Russia would soon run out of missiles. Well, now we learn that in addition to Russia positively BRISTLING with missiles, Moscow has all sorts of unstoppable hypersonic missiles, some of them as powerful as nuclear bombs without the radiation, and evidently, to judge from the Oreshnik, far more precise and capable of busting bunkers hundreds of meters underground. We in the west have failed to assemble even one hypersonic missile, while a few Russian Oreshniks could likely wipe out an entire military base. I guess now they’ll all be pointed at Scandinavia.

Eve Ottenberg is a novelist and journalist. Her latest novel is Booby Prize. She can be reached at her website.

December 16, 2024 Posted by | politics, Ukraine, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Six major NATO states sign document on Ukraine’s accession plans

 https://www.rt.com/news/609282-nato-declaration-ukraine-membership/ 13 Dec 24

The countries have backed Kiev’s “irreversible path” to eventually joining the bloc.

Six European members of NATO have released a joint statement backing Ukraine’s plan to join the US-led bloc, and promising to support the peace terms offered by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to Russia.

Moscow has previously rejected Zelensky’s insistence on restoring Ukraine’s 1991 borders as unacceptable.

The foreign ministers of the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Poland signed a declaration after meeting with the Ukrainian leader in Berlin on Thursday. 

“The goals of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine and durable security for Europe are inseparable. Ukraine must prevail,” the statement said. 

The countries pledged to support an end to the conflict in accordance “with full respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“We reaffirm our commitment to President Zelensky’s Peace Formula, as a credible path towards a just and lasting peace,” the statement read.

Kiev’s backers vowed to “support Ukraine on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership,” as well as “its path towards accession to the European Union.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga thanked the six nations and the EU for “candid discussion and readiness to take concrete steps.” He called for additional sanctions, targeting Russia’s metals sector, shipping, and banks.

“We are closely monitoring the increase in trade with the countries that have not imposed sanctions on Russia,” Sibiga said. 

The meeting in Berlin took place amid uncertainty over whether US President-elect Donald Trump will continue the previous administration’s unconditional military and financial aid to Kiev.

Trump, who takes office on January 20, has described Zelensky as “the greatest salesman on Earth” and promised to do his best to quickly end the conflict through diplomacy. Although he has not yet produced a concrete plan, during the presidential campaign he appeared open to pressuring Kiev to start negotiations with Moscow.

Trump has also blasted outgoing President Joe Biden for allowing Ukraine to use American-made missiles for strikes deep into internationally recognized Russian territory. “I think that is a very big mistake,” he told Time magazine in an interview published on Thursday. 

Russia has rejected Zelensky’s ‘peace formula’ outright, insisting that a peace agreement could only be reached on its terms. Moscow has stressed that Ukraine must renounce claims on Crimea and four other regions, which voted to join Russia in 2014 and 2022.

The Kremlin has also said Ukraine should drop its plan to join the US-led military bloc in favor of becoming a permanently neutral country. President Vladimir Putin has cited NATO’s expansion eastward and military cooperation with Ukraine as one of the root causes of the current conflict.

December 15, 2024 Posted by | politics international, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Trump blasts Biden over long-range missile strikes into Russia

 https://www.sott.net/article/496629-Trump-blasts-Biden-over-long-range-missile-strikes-into-Russia 13 Dec 24

Ukrainian attacks using Western medium-range missiles are foolish and a major escalation, the US president-elect has said

US President-elect Donald Trump has criticized Ukraine’s strikes deep into Russia using Western-supplied weapons, saying that they only escalate the conflict between Kiev and Moscow.

Trump made the statement on Thursday in an interview with Time magazine, which named him the 2024 Person of the Year.

“I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that?” he asked rhetorically.

According to the president-elect, such attacks are “just escalating this war and making it worse.”

“That should not have been allowed to be done… And I think that is a very big mistake, very big mistake,” he said of strikes deep into Russia’s internationally recognized territory.

Trump returned to the issue later in the interview, saying that “the most dangerous thing right now” is the fact that “[Ukrainian leader Vladimir] Zelensky has decided, with the approval of, I assume, the President [Joe Biden], to start shooting missiles into Russia.”

“I think that is a major escalation. I think it is a foolish decision,” he stressed.

The US president-elect’s comments came a day after the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Ukrainian forces had fired six US-supplied ATACMS missiles at a military airfield near the southern city of Taganrog.

Two of them were shot down and the rest were diverted using electronic warfare during the attack, the ministry said. The fallen debris resulted in some injuries and minor damage to two buildings and several vehicles, it added.

On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s response to the strike on Taganrog “will follow at the time and in the way that will be deemed appropriate. But it will definitely follow.”

In late November, Russia used its new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile system for the first time, striking the Yuzhmash military plant in the Ukrainian city of Dnepr.

According to Moscow, the deployment of the state-of-the-art weapon was a response to Washington and its allies allowing Ukraine to target internationally recognized Russian territory with the long-range weapons they supply to Kiev.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned at the time that if Ukraine’s attacks deep inside Russia continue, Moscow reserves the right “to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow the use of their weapons against our facilities.”

December 14, 2024 Posted by | Ukraine, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Ukraine conflict updates: Record Russian gains, Kursk encirclement and Donbass push

By Sergey Poletaev, information analyst and publicist, 13 Dec 24  https://www.rt.com/russia/609229-overview-situation-on-front/

An overview of the frontline situation during November and December of 2024

Since October, intense battles have been raging all along the front. In that month and November, the Russian army advanced at its fastest pace since the start of the Special Military Operation, capturing over 1,500 square kilometers.

The Russian army is currently advancing at eight sections of the front, which marks a new record. Below, we’ll focus on four key directions, from north to south.

Kursk direction: Ongoing battles and the encirclement of the AFU

The situation here hasn’t changed much since our last report, and clashes continue. Despite major challenges at other sections of the front, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) is still sending reserves to Kursk. Kiev believes that retaining control over this section of the front is crucial since it gives it leverage with the new presidential administration in the US.

According to Western and Ukrainian sources, North Korean soldiers have reportedly been deployed to Kursk region,  though their presence hasn’t been confirmed.

Interesting fact: The first major encirclement of Ukrainian forces since the battles for Mariupol (which occurred in the spring of 2022) happened at this section of the front – several hundred AFU soldiers found themselves encircled near Olgovskaya grove. Russian President Vladimir Putin relayed this information on October 24, and by November 20, the area had been cleared.

What’s the current situation? This week, battles have become more intense. Kursk remains one of the few directions where Ukrainian forces are actively counterattacking, able to hold their ground and even occasionally advancing.

Pokrovsk direction: Russians advance along the railway

The Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) urban agglomeration is the second largest urban area in Donbass that remains partially under Ukrainian control (along with the Slaviansk-Kramatorsk urban area).

Before the war, its population was around 200,000 people. Moreover, the city is a crucial logistics hub for supplying Ukrainian forces along the entire southern front.

At the end of summer, the Pokrovsk direction was considered a priority; however, after the city of Novogrodovka was captured with minimal resistance, further progress westward stalled. Selidovo (the pre-war population of the city and its suburbs was about 50,000) held out for nearly two months, but, surrounded from the north and south, it eventually fell without major urban combat. Following a brief pause, the Russian army resumed its advance toward Pokrovsk, moving around the city’s southern flank.

Interesting fact: Russian troops mainly advanced along the main railway line, moving from Avdeevka to Novogrodovka.  Now, the Russians are also advancing along another railway line further south, which leads directly to Pokrovsk.

What’s the current situation? Since the end of November, Russian troops have advanced further – breaking through Ukrainian defensive lines near Novotroitskoye, they moved closer to Pokrovsk and are now positioned 10-11 kilometers south of the city. 

Civilians have been evacuated from Pokrovsk (pre-war population 60,000) and the supply of electricity and gas to the city has been cut off. Will the AFU be able to hold their flanks and engage in serious urban combat? Most likely, Ukrainians will attempt to do so, driven by the same political motivations as in Kursk region. 

Kurakhovo: The main hotspot  

The battles for Kurakhovo began right after the fall of Ugledar in early October. The Russians advanced from several directions: from the north toward the reservoir, from the front line via Ostroye-Ostrovskoye, from the south via Bogoyavlenka, and along a broader front from Yasnaya Polyana to Konstaninopol. The latter direction was also useful for encircling Velikaya Novoselka, which we’ll discuss below. 

Interesting fact: The Kurakhovo operation has been the biggest one since Mariupol; it involves two groups of troops, and encompasses an area of 1,200 square kilometers. While it may not be a strategic-scale operation, it is quite significant. For example, the area of the Avdeevka operation was less than one tenth the size, and the infamous “Bakhmut meat grinder” was one fifth or one fourth its size. The map shows only the central area of this operation.

What’s the current situation?  Over the past week, two significant developments occurred. First, Russian forces have taken control over the entire northern bank of the reservoir and the village of Starye Terny, along with the dam. This gives them complete fire control over both the residential areas and the industrial zone located to the west, where a thermal power station is located. 

Second, the Russians are pushing the Ukrainians out of the area along the Sukhie Yaly River south of the city. Their foes have practically been driven into a ravine along the river, with some sources even suggesting that encirclement is imminent.

However, even despite desperate situation, the Ukrainian forces are clinging to their positions along the river since if they lose control over this area, the city will fall within a few days.

Velikaya Novoselka: In memory of Ukraine’s counteroffensive

Velikaya Novoselka is a relatively large settlement with a population of around 6,000 (more than that of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region). This area is held by various Ukrainian forces, including half a dozen AFU brigades, territorial defense units, the National Guard, and some marine units.

By the end of November, the situation for the AFU grew a lot worse following the unexpected breakthrough of Russian forces toward the highway near Razdolnoye, north of Velikaya Novoselka. 

Once again, the Russian army had employed its preferred strategy – flanking and encircling the settlement and securing control over communications. Combined with continuous pressure from the front, this quickly depletes the enemy’s resources. The AFU has a tendency to hold onto their positions even in desperate circumstances and to withdraw only when it’s too late, so this tactic has been particularly costly for the Ukrainians.

Interesting fact: During the summer of 2023, this was one of two key directions of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Over four months, the AFU managed to advance only 5-6 kilometers southward, from Velikaya Novoselka to the settlement of Urozhaynoye. In contrast, Russian forces have advanced about 20km on the eastern flank just in the past month.

What’s the current situation? Reports indicate that the AFU has deployed a reserve mechanized brigade to reinforce the flanks around Velikaya Novoselka. This has not been confirmed, but we do know that the Ukrainians managed to launch a series of counterattacks, successfully repelling the advance of the Russian troops in the village of Novy Komar and easing some of the pressure on the northern flank of Velikaya Novoselka.

December 14, 2024 Posted by | Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Drone strikes UN vehicle on way to inspect Ukrainian nuclear plant

An armored vehicle belonging to the UN’s atomic watchdog was hit by a
drone strike on its way to inspect a Ukrainian nuclear power plant on
Tuesday, in an attack President Volodymyr Zelensky has blamed on Russia.
The strike took place as the vehicle traveled in a convoy to the
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, as part of efforts by the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to safeguard the facility amid fears it could
be caught in the crossfire of Russia’s war on Ukraine, sparking a nuclear
disaster. The IAEA said the strike destroyed the back of its armored
vehicle but the two people on board were not harmed.

 CNN 10th Dec 2024 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/10/europe/drone-attack-iaea-ukraine-russia-intl-latam/index.html

December 13, 2024 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

World War II airplanes to blame for radiation halting work on SSEN cable near Dounreay

The radioactive contamination that has suspended work on a
high voltage cable between Orkney and Caithness is being linked to wartime
aircraft. Work on part of the mainland link of SSEN Transmission’s new
cable was halted because of the presence of radioactive contamination.

 John O’Groat Journal 9th Dec 2024
https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/world-war-ii-airplanes-to-blame-for-radiation-halting-work-o-368483/

December 13, 2024 Posted by | environment, UK | Leave a comment

Canada considers financing for Polish nuclear power plant

Tuesday, 10 December 2024  https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/canada-considers-financing-for-polish-nuclear-power-plant

Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe announced it has received a letter of intent from Export Development Canada, for up to CAD2.02 billion (USD1.45 billion) to potentially support Poland’s first nuclear power plant project.

The letter of intent with Export Development Canada (EDC) – a Canadian Crown corporation – is in support of the sale of goods and services by Canadian suppliers. EDC support is subject to the successful completion of its detailed due diligence process and credit approval.

Westinghouse – jointly owned by Canadian firms Brookfield and Cameco – welcomed the signing of the letter of intent, which it said it helped facilitate.

“Not only does this financing agreement underscore the important role Canada will play in helping Europe secure and diversify its energy future, but it will also help prepare the nation’s nuclear supply chain to support the next AP1000 plant in North America,” said Westinghouse Energy Systems President Dan Lipman. “We appreciate the close cooperation of the EDC in helping Westinghouse make AP1000 projects a reality for its customers while bringing home economic benefits to Canada.”

Westinghouse said the announcement demonstrates its “deep commitment to Canada’s economy by securing work for Canadian firms and trade unions supporting Westinghouse’s global fleet of advanced reactors”. For each AP1000 unit that is built outside of Canada, Westinghouse says it could generate almost CAD1 billion in gross domestic product through local suppliers.

Last month, the US International Development Finance Corporation – the USA’s development bank – signed a letter of interest with Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) to provide more than USD980 million in financing for Poland’s first nuclear power plant. A similar declaration, for the equivalent of about PLN70 billion (USD17.3 billion), was made earlier by the US Export-Import Bank. Westinghouse and Bechtel jointly form a consortium that implements the PEJ investment project in Pomerania.

“We are pleased to see strong interest in our investment project from leading players in the global financial market, with whom we are in constant contact. The letter of intent from Export Development Canada is another confirmation of this fact, and at the same time our next step towards implementation of the strategy for obtaining financing for the entire project,” said PEJ Vice President Piotr Piela. 

PEJ said: “Cooperation with export credit agencies is an important part of the strategy for securing financing for the nuclear power plant in Pomerania – it involves continuing discussions with, among others, entities from countries with extensive nuclear supply chains, in order to maximise and optimise financing opportunities for this key investment project for Poland.”

In November 2022, the then Polish government selected the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor technology for construction at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in the Choczewo municipality in Pomerania in northern Poland. An agreement setting a plan for the delivery of the plant was signed in May last year by Westinghouse, Bechtel and PEJ – a special-purpose vehicle 100% owned by Poland’s State Treasury. The Ministry of Climate and Environment in July issued a decision-in-principle for PEJ to construct the plant. The aim is for Poland’s first AP1000 reactor to enter commercial operation in 2033.

Under an engineering services signed in September last year, in cooperation with PEJ, Westinghouse and Bechtel will finalise a site-specific design for a plant featuring three AP1000 reactors.  The design/engineering documentation includes the main components of the power plant: the nuclear island, the turbine island and the associated installations and auxiliary equipment, as well as administrative buildings and infrastructure related to the safety of the facility. The contract also involves supporting the investment process and bringing it in line with current legal regulations in cooperation with the National Atomic Energy Agency and the Office of Technical Inspection.

In September, the Polish government announced its intention to allocate PLN60 billion to fund the country’s first nuclear power plant.

December 13, 2024 Posted by | Canada, EUROPE, politics international | Leave a comment

Will Donald Trump kill US-UK-Aussie sub defense deal?

The landmark defense agreement between the U.S, U.K. and Australia could be in jeopardy with the maverick Republican back in the White House.

Politico, December 9, 2024, By Stefan Boscia and Caroline Hug

LONDON — There are few issues on which we do not know Donald Trump’s opinion.

After thousands of hours of interviews and speeches over the past eight years, the president-elect has enlightened us on what he thinks on almost any topic which enters his brain at any given moment.

But in the key area of defense, there are some gaps — and that’s leading global military chiefs to pore over the statements of the president’s allies and appointees to attempt to glean some clues, specifically over the $369 billion trilateral submarine program known as AUKUS he will inherit from Joe Biden.

Trump does not appear to have publicly commented on the AUKUS pact — named for its contingent parts Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States — which would see the U.S. share technology with its partners to allow both countries to build state-of-the-art nuclear submarines by the 2040s.

This uncertainty has left ministers and government officials in London and Canberra scrambling to discover how the Republican is likely to view the Biden-era deal when he returns to the White House in January.

Two defense industry figures told POLITICO there were serious concerns in the British government that Trump might seek to renegotiate the deal or alter the timelines.

This is because the pact likely requires the U.S. to temporarily downsize its own naval fleet as a part of the agreement — something Trump may interpret as an affront to his “America First” ideology.

Looking east

There is hope in Westminster that Trump would be in favor of a military project which is an obvious, if unspoken, challenge to China.

The deal would see American-designed nuclear submarines right on China’s doorstep and would form a part of Australia’s attempts to bolster its military might in the Indo-Pacific.

When former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in September 2021 that the deal was not “intended to be adversarial toward China,” President Xi Jinping simply did not believe him.

The Chinese leader said AUKUS would “undermine peace” and accused the Western nations of stoking a Cold War mentality.

Mary Kissel, a former senior adviser to Trump’s ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said “you can assume Trump two will look a lot like Trump one” when it comes to building alliances with other Western countries against China.

“We revivified the Quad [Australia, India, Japan and the U.S.], got our allies to bolster NATO funding and worked to prevent China from dominating international institutions,” she said.

However, the deal also forces the U.S. government to sell Australia three to five active Virginia attack submarines, the best in the U.S. Navy’s fleet, by the early 2030s as a stopgap until the new AUKUS subs are built.

Is America first?

This coincides with a time where there is a widely recognized crunch on America’s industrial defense capacity.

In layman’s terms, the U.S. is currently struggling to build enough submarines or military equipment for its own needs.

One U.K. defense industry figure, granted anonymity to speak freely, said there was “a lot of queasiness” in the U.K. government and a “huge amount of queasiness in Australia” about whether Trump would allow this to happen.

“There is a world in which the Americans can’t scale up their domestic submarine capacity for their own needs and don’t have spare to meet Australia’s needs,” they said.

“If you started pulling on one thread of the deal, then the rest could easily fall away.”

One U.K. government official played down how much London and Canberra are worried about the future of the deal, however.

They said the U.K. government was confident Trump is positive about the deal and that the U.S. was “well equipped with the number of submarines for their fleet.”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

‘Everyone’s a winner

This attempted U.K.-China reset will likely be high on the list of talking points when Healey meets with his Australian counterpart Richard Marles next month in London for an “AUKMIN” summit.

The Australian Labor government, after all, has conducted a similar reset with the Chinese government since coming to power in 2022 after relations hit a nadir during COVID.

Also at the top of the agenda will be how to sell the incoming president on the AUKUS deal in a positive way.

A second defense industry insider said the British and Australian governments should try to badge the deal in terms that make it look like Trump has personally won from the deal.

“Everybody is worried about America’s lack of industrial capacity and how it affects AUKUS,” they said.

“He is also instinctively against the idea of America being the world’s police and so he may not see the value in AUKUS at all, but they need to let him own it and make him think he’s won by doing it.”………………………………………………………………………..

Pillar II

While the core nuclear submarine deal will get most of the headlines in the coming months, progress on the lesser-known Pillar II of AUKUS also remains somewhat elusive.

Launched alongside the submarine pact, Pillar II was designed to codevelop a range of military technologies, such as quantum-enabled navigation, artificial intelligence-enhanced artillery, and electronic warfare capabilities. 

One Pillar II technology-sharing deal was struck on hypersonic missiles just last month, but expected progress on a range of other areas has not transpired.

Ambitions to admit Japan to the Pillar II partnership this year have also gone unfulfilled……………………………………………………………
https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-aukus-kill-us-uk-aussie-sub-defense-deal/

December 11, 2024 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, politics international, UK | Leave a comment

A promissory note to sway the vote? Lincolnshire opts to seek nuclear waste Hosting Agreement.

9 Dec 24, https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/a-promissory-note-to-sway-the-vote-lincolnshire-opts-to-seek-hosting-agreement/

It is said that money talks, and the nuclear industry and national government making an offer of owdles of cash to any financially-challenged local authority[1] which might be a partner in hosting a radioactive waste dump would be a guaranteed conversation starter.

Impatient to jump the gun, the Executive of Lincolnshire County Council met last week to initiate that conversation by placing their own monetary mark in the sand. Before them was a report recommending an approach be made to Nuclear Waste Services and Whitehall for an Hosting Agreement to provide for ‘Significant Additional Investment’ should Theddlethorpe be selected as the eventual location of the Geological Disposal Facility.

In giving their approval to such a proposal, Lincolnshire Councillors were following the lead shown by elected members of two small townships in Ontario, which agreed Host Agreements with Canada’s own NWS, the Nuclear Waste Management Organisation (NWMO) were they to accommodate a Deep Geological Repository. The NWMO was established by the Canadian nuclear industry to find a final destination for that nation’s legacy radioactive waste. Through Host Agreements with the NWMO, Ignace Town Council was promised $170 million over 81 years, whilst South Bruce stood to receive a more significant $418 million over 138 years.

Big money indeed for small municipalities, and certainly the promise of accessing this largesse is likely to have provided a significant inducement to some residents to vote ‘yes’ when casting their vote in recent online ballots, which determined whether their respective communities would continue to be engaged in the siting process. These ballots both led to ‘yes’ results.

So on Tuesday 3 December, citing South Bruce as being ‘of the most relevance’, the Lincolnshire County Council Executive decided to follow their example in seeking their own Hosting Agreement, guaranteeing big bucks to meet six key infrastructure asks in coastal defences, road and rail networks and public transport, education and skills training, energy, the environment and in the economy.


The irony is that the Council bigwigs were meeting after the South Bruce cash cow had bolted; for on 28 November NWMO had announced with great fanfare that they had selected Ignace instead. The NFLAs can speculate that this selection was made on the basis that the latter was so much cheaper and came with greater public backing. For in Ignace 77.3% of those participating in the poll said ‘yes’, but in South Bruce this fell to only 51.2%. Whilst this might seem incongrous, given the whopping disparity in the promised payout, the site in South Bruce was quite close to the township, whilst in Ignace the proposed site is at Revell Lake, some 34 Kms away. Trying not to be a sore loser, South Bruce Council issued a statement congratulating NWMO on its selection and Ignace on its success, whilst seeking to highlight its concilation prize for participating in the process – a disappointing exit payment of $4 million.

The experience of South Bruce demonstrates that hitching your wagon to any competitive sitiing process in the hope of major infrastructure investment is a risky strategy as there is no guarantee your horse will arrive first at its desired destination. And in the UK there are two other competing runners and riders – both in West Cumbria – rather than the two horse race in Canada.

Given the siting process is a long and uncertain race, electors would surely expect the elected members and officers of Lincolnshire County Council to be already repeatedly and vigorously lobbying central government for the money needed to satisfy its wishlist, rather than relying on this game of chance. Can Lincolnshire really wait up to 15 years for site selection before its promissory note is made real? It is difficult to believe that the county has over 15 years of grace before improving its sea defences when climate change will mean steadily encroaching sea levels on England’s East coast.


The County Council can also be challenged on its impartiality over any decision in hosting a GDF. For in seeking a Hosting Agreement so early in the process, the impression is conveyed that the Council would welcome the GDF development were the cash to be forthcoming.

There is also a certain degree of hypocrisy in the ‘asks’ made by the County Council.

For instance, in seeking investment in tourism no account is taken of the massively deleterious impact on the tourist economy that must result from the construction and operation of a GDF on the holiday coast.

A report completed by Global Tourism Solutions and published by East Lindsey District Council in early September revealed that in 2023 4.57 million people visited the district, an 8.2% increase from 2022, whilst in 2023 the local economy benefitted from £857.9 million of tourist income, a new record building on the £824.2 million received in 2022. This sustained an estimated 8,033 tourist jobs (equivalent to 6,143 full time posts).[2]

The results of a survey of over 1,100 tourists were recently published by the Guardians of the East Coast. 83% of respondees said they would question whether to return to any Lincolnshire seaside resort should this massive engineering project come to Theddlethorpe. If this negative sentiment translates into reduced visitor numbers, the economic downturn would be disastrous. In its accompanying report, GOTEC estimated a 40.5% decline in tourism would result, amounting to over 3,000 jobs lost and almost £250 million in lost annual income.

And in seeking investment to grow energy generating capacity which is not ‘visually damaging’ to the environment, the Council seems to have no qualms about trading this for hosting the UK’s largest engineering project, with the construction of the GDF being compared to building the Channel Tunnel.

Finally, there is a further clue as to another probable motivation for seeking a Hosting Agreement at this time and it rather reveals a focus on an event in three years time rather than fifteen.

In the report it states that ‘It is, however, important that LCC ensures that all opportunities that the facility could provide are identified. This will help inform the local community’s response to the Test of Public Support (ToPS) which the council has sought to be held no later than 2027’.

This could be interpreted as the Council adopting a policy of ‘dangling’ the investment carrot before the public in the hope that this will convince them to vote ‘yes’ to the development in three years time; in effect making the Host Agreement a promissory note to sway the vote.

Ends://..For more information please contact the NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk

December 11, 2024 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Starmer to court UAE for British nuclear power investment

The Prime Minister is expected to tell sovereign wealth fund bosses ‘you can trust us’ on Sizewell C

Matt Oliver, Industry Editor,
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/12/07/starmer-to-court-uae-for-sizewell-c-nuclear-investment/

Sir Keir Starmer will court the powerful bosses of United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) sovereign wealth funds this week as he seeks to raise funding for the Sizewell C nuclear project.

On a tour of the Gulf, the Prime Minister is expected to court investment into British infrastructure, including the proposed nuclear power plant on the coast of Suffolk.

His visit will include a meeting with representatives from Mubadala, one of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds, sources told The Telegraph.

Those present are expected to include Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Mubadala’s chief executive and the right-hand man to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE vice president and Manchester City football club owner.

A source said the message would be “you can trust us”, amid concerns about the long-term commitment of successive UK administrations both to nuclear power and major infrastructure schemes.

Downing Street declined to comment. Mubadala was approached for comment.

It comes as the Government seeks to get more investors on board with Sizewell C, after a capital raise process that has dragged on longer than originally anticipated.

Five potential backers are still in the running officially, the boss of Sizewell C confirmed on Thursday.

They are thought to include British Gas owner Centrica, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec), Schroders Greencoat and Amber Infrastructure Group.

However, sources familiar with the situation said the Government hoped additional investors may contribute cash by teaming up with those already involved in the process.

Mubadala may channel funds into Sizewell via Enec, for example. The UAE companies have teamed up to invest in numerous other global projects in the past, one industry insider said.

Ministers previously hoped to take a final investment decision on Sizewell C by the end of this year but it was confirmed in the Budget that it would not happen until the spring, with the project’s fate now understood to be tied up with Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s spending review.

A key issue ministers are grappling with is the need to put the full cost of the Sizewell project – which could be anything between £20bn and £40bn – on the public balance sheet, despite the Government’s intention to sell a significant portion of shares in the project to outside investors.

Currently, the Government owns more than 80pc of the equity, with the French state nuclear giant EDF owning the rest.

Hinkley dilemma

Elsewhere, ministers also face a dilemma over the Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset.

The project, which is majority-owned by EDF, is grappling with a £5bn funding shortfall after co-investor China General Nuclear refused to put in more cash.

That followed the Government’s decision to block Chinese involvement in Sizewell C and other future nuclear projects amid national security concerns.

EDF has called on the UK to step in and help support the project, a suggestion that ministers have so far resisted, with Paris said to be reluctant to put more money into the plant. Hinkley is on course to open years late and cost up to £45bn – far more than planned.

The Telegraph revealed in October that Centrica had emerged as a potential white knight investor in Hinkley, as the electricity supplier looks to replace income generated by other British nuclear plants it owns stakes in as they close.

December 10, 2024 Posted by | business and costs, politics international, UK, United Arab Emirates | Leave a comment

Ed Miliband to bring more misery for Brits and send bills skyrocketing

New projects could be launched by Ed Miliband – and they will hit British taxpayers in the pocket.

By Tom Burnett, Dec 7, 2024 ,
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1985657/ed-miliband-nuclear-energy-costs-bills-rising

Ed Miliband could be about to send energy bills soaring – as he confirms plans for new major nuclear projects in the UK.

The Energy and Net Zero Secretary has said nuclear power is vital for Labour’s Net Zero plans, and that his ‘door is open’ to tech companies hoping to build ‘modular’ reactors in Britain.

Mr Miliband has argued these projects could deliver ‘big returns’ for the country, and said the Government is exploring how it can help private developers bring advanced nuclear projects to market and ia consulting on a new nuclear planning framework and siting policy next year.

However, bosses at interested firms are reportedly calling for some assurance of financial support to make sure their projects get a minimum return.

While it is currently unclear precisely how these would be funded, the Telegraph reports that options include ‘regulated asset base scheme’ or contracts for difference that are currently awarded to wind and solar farms.

The ‘regulated asset base’ scheme allows investors to begin clawing costs back via customer bills before a project is completed – leading to concerns people could be hit in the pocket.

Speaking at the Nuclear Industry Association’s Nuclear 2024 conference on Thursday, Mr Miliband said: “Of course, it’s early days but we should be open to the potential of SMRs to power the fourth industrial revolution, just as coal powered the first.

My message is clear: if you want to build a nuclear project in Britain, my door is open. My department is listening.

“We want all your ideas for projects that can work and provide value for money.”

Great British Nuclear, a public body which helps bring forward new nuclear energy projects, has started negotiations with four bidders for the UK’s small modular reactor programme, and final decisions are due in spring.

Mr Miliband he was “delighted” that four of Britain’s five nuclear power stations will stay open longer than previously planned, as announced by their operator EDF.

Heysham Two, in Lancashire, and Torness in East Lothian will keep producing electricity for an extra two years until March 2030, while Heysham One and another station in Hartlepool, north-east England, will produce power until March 2027, a year extension.

December 10, 2024 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Radioactive contamination halts work on SSEN subsea link near Dounreay

 By Iain Grant,  John O’Groat Journal 6th Dec 2024

Work on part of the mainland link of SSEN Transmission’s new high voltage cable between Orkney and Caithness has been suspended because of the presence of radioactive contamination.

The company has been required to have extra monitoring carried out before it resumes work on its new substation near the Dounreay nuclear plant.

A spokesperson said: “We have identified the need for monitoring for radioactivity to be undertaken at the site where the substation will be constructed.

“The monitoring is needed due to the proximity of the site to Dounreay.

“Following the identification of radium contamination at the site, SSEN has stopped work while it acquires an Environmental Scotland authorisation permit. “A permit is needed due to the presence of radium contamination at depths as the planned excavation work is beyond these depths.”……………………..https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/radioactive-contamination-halts-work-on-ssen-subsea-link-nea-368353/

December 10, 2024 Posted by | environment, UK | Leave a comment

Biden’s Nuclear Going Out of Business Sale

The only way Ukraine wins is for the West to stop the war and negotiate an agreement with Russia which restores Ukraine’s sovereignty, neutrality and way of life. Otherwise, the war grinds on, the casualties on both sides mount, Armageddon looms and the world gets to indulge in thinking the unthinkable, annihilation.

This is real. This is not a drill. The world is teetering on a precipice of nuclear war.

Dennis Kucinich, 7 Dec 24,  https://freepress.org/article/biden%E2%80%99s-nuclear-going-out-business-sale

Has the world forgotten the real danger of nuclear war?

Do we live in a fantasy world where we think we can escalate tensions and put entire portions of the world under threat by using Ukraine as a sacrificial pawn (in what is classically sold as providing humanitarian and ally support) in a decades-long psychopathic foreign policy play to destroy Russia?

According to the laws of war, NATO, the U.S., the U.K., and France have determined to become “direct participants” in Europe’s deadly conflict as their home-grown offensive missiles are being launched from inside Ukraine to attack Russia.

Translated, a state of war exists between the West and Russia.

Putin is not absolved for his invasion of Ukraine. But how are western nations, led by the U.S., protecting Ukraine’s or their own national interests by quickening the dialectic of conflict, bringing nuclear weapons into the calculus?

Russian President Putin and his government have experienced long-standing western policies of encirclement and NATO encroachment through Ukraine, something the U.S. government swore would not happen. It did happen, reawakening Russia’s deepest fears of invasion.

Most Americans are unaware that in 2014, the U.S. forced out the elected President of Ukraine, Victor Yanukovych, which resulted in Kiev ordering attacks on ethnic Russian enclaves of Donetsk and Luhansk, baiting Russia into the beginning of a three year war, with the lure of NATO membership fluttering above Ukraine.

As the war barrels to a climactic, perhaps irredeemably fatal stage, the Ukrainian people have lost at least 600,000 of their fellow countrymen and women. Even so, at this late hour, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken demands that Ukraine lower its age of compulsory military service from 25 years of age to 18, to send even more young Ukrainians into the slaughter. Russian casualties will soar past 400,000 dead, with latest reports of 1,000 casualties a day.

One million Europeans have been killed for a war which was not inevitable, should never have been fought and, once it started, could have been brought to a fast conclusion. According to Naftali Bennett, former Prime Minister of Israel, peace talks were sabotaged by the US, just a month into the conflict.

The constitutions of the U.S., the U.K. and France, which forbid executives to unilaterally wage war, are being circumvented. Leaders have gone rogue and are consciously choosing nuclear brinkmanship over diplomacy.

In the past month, escalation is being stoked by the West. The launch of ATACMS and other advanced missiles necessarily involves U.S. personnel and intelligence data. This new phase of the war compelled the Kremlin to lower its threshold for a nuclear strike in an attempt to stop the use of even higher grade weapons against it from the West.

What happened? … The 2024 Presidential Election happened.

The escalation is intended to sabotage President Trump’s stated desire to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and for the architects of the war to try to escape the blame for miscalculations, bumbling and cynical protraction of a bloody conflict. It is clear the West does not want peace.

Remember, the sacrifice of Ukraine and everything that has led up to this point is due to the West’s long time policy to advance the strategic defeat of Russia.

The Cold War never ended. It has given way to a boiling Hot War whose aim is to antagonize, provoke, diminish and conquer Russia. Key elements are the attempted dismantling of Russia’s energy infrastructure, and the massive transfer of arms to our proxy, Ukraine, through US appropriations which are approaching $200 billiion dollars, an amount equal to over $5,000 dollars for every Ukrainian man, woman and child.

In order to set the stage for this war, Western interests resorted to conjuring Putin as a demon, an arch-enemy of freedom, as was done with Hussein in Iraq, Khaddafy in Libya, and Assad in Syria. Once the enemy machine goes to work, military assets are mobilized to advance the overthrow of the noxious government, and the cash registers of defense contractors ring with the energy of a pinball arcade.

The Democratic Party unleashed an entire kennel of the dogs of war upon Russia, often at the urging of warden Hillary Clinton, mastermind of the Russiagate hoax. The nadir of the Dems descent into the indecent was ballyhooing the support of its 2024 presidential ticket by Dick Cheney, the sterling warmonger whose endorsement is to mass homicide what the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval is to stylish domesticity.

Think of the political consequences to the credibility of the entire Western foreign policy establishment if President Trump succeeds in bringing the war to a close. President Biden’s foreign policy, led by Secretary Blinken, will be forever tainted, as will the Democratic Party’s steadfast support for guns over butter.

The overthrow of the elected Ukrainian government in 2014, Russia’s subsequent invasion; the Prime Minister’s Gambit, Boris Johnson’s April 2022 scuttling of a peace agreement; the severe damage to the European economy through the destruction of Nordstream pipeline, by GUESS WHO, [readers hereby invited to guess]; NATO’S teeter-totter, penny-pinching one moment, saber-rattling burlesque the next, and harrowing brinkmanship — misdirecting public attention during the inevitable collapse of Ukraine. All this chest thumping and war pimping will be called into question, presuming there is time.

Another knock-on effect of the war and the failure of sanctions: Russia and China have been pushed together into a deep long-term military and economic partnership. Could the Biden Administration have been unaware of the military, economic and political fallout from a BRICS+-type alliance?

Rational military observers predict the transfer of the newest missiles will not change the outcome of the war, and some Trump advisers believe the next president’s bargaining position vis a vis Moscow will be strengthened as Ukraine’s offensive capacity is temporarily enhanced.

However, a sharp escalation in the next six weeks could result in a devastating response from an increasingly anxious Russia. Biden isn’t trying to help Trump or the process of peace, he’s handing him, and the world, a poisoned chalice.

The only way Ukraine wins is for the West to stop the war and negotiate an agreement with Russia which restores Ukraine’s sovereignty, neutrality and way of life. Otherwise, the war grinds on, the casualties on both sides mount, Armageddon looms and the world gets to indulge in thinking the unthinkable, annihilation.

Rear Admiral Thomas Buchanan of the US Strategic Command, isn’t calling for nuclear war, but he did say at a Project Atom 24 meeting recently, “If we have to have a(n) [nuclear] exchange then we want to do it in terms that are most acceptable to the United States,” where, presumably, even after nuclear war, we still lead the world, or its ashes – in strategic weapons.

President-Elect Trump, has assessed the extreme danger of the moment, saying: “We have never been closer to World War III than we are today under Joe Biden. A global conflict between nuclear-armed powers would mean death and destruction on a scale unmatched in human history.”

Vladimir Putin has clearly stated that Russia would “mirror” or match all escalations. Russia responded to an ATACM missile launch with a new hypersonic intermediate range ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, that reputedly reaches speeds of MACH 11 and delivers some 36 payloads. It devastated a Ukrainian missile factory.

It was an unmistakable message: Those six major payloads with six submunitions within them could be nuclear ones next time.

The next firing of ATACMs could bring a Russian response endangering or killing the American personnel responsible for firing these munitions. Even a skilled negotiator will find it difficult to diffuse the conflict once American blood has been shed. Why in the world would our government cause our troops, let alone our nation, to be so vulnerable?

Eight trillion dollars of our $36 trillion deficit is due to wars of choice since 9/11. The continued failure of American diplomacy, preferring war to statecraft, has been a persistent hubris. Pray that it not be fatal for our nation and the world.

Everyone who loves our country must speak out, now, to help avert a catastrophe.

December 9, 2024 Posted by | Ukraine, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

UK Seeks More Investors as Sizewell Funding Talks Drag On

The UK government is speaking with investors beyond the core group of existing bidders for a stake in the country’s Sizewell C nuclear plant as talks to finalize the project’s funding continue.

Financial Post, Bloomberg News, William Mathis, Priscila Azevedo Rocha and Aaron Kirchfeld, Dec 05, 2024 

he UK government is speaking with investors beyond the core group of existing bidders for a stake in the country’s Sizewell C nuclear plant as talks to finalize the project’s funding continue.  

The government has recently approached infrastructure and other private investors to provide equity to Britain’s next large-scale nuclear power plant, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks come at a critical time for the UK as it seeks to attract financing to overhaul the country’s power grid this decade.

The country recently delayed funding for the project until at least spring 2025, pushing back a previous target to take a final investment decision by the end of the year. Finding investors willing to participate in new nuclear plants is crucial to plans to cut emissions and reach 2050 net zero goals.

The government has been seeking investors for the Sizewell C project for more than a year and canvassed a wide variety of potential backers before honing in on a smaller group of interested parties, the people said. It’s not clear whether any of the investors being contacted now would be able to join the current fundraising process, or if they would buy into a subsequent round as the government further sells down its stake. ……………………………………

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero said the autumn budget confirmed the current equity and debt raising process will move to its final stages shortly and will conclude in the spring. A final investment decision on whether to proceed with the project will be taken in the multiyear spending review, they added. 

The Sizewell project — owned by the government and minority stakeholder Electricite de France SA — could eventually cost an estimated £20 billion ($25.3 billion) and take roughly a decade to build. 

The government has previously engaged in discussions with investors including Centrica Plc, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp., Amber Infrastructure Group Ltd. and Schroders Greencoat LLP and the conversations are ongoing, the people said, asking not to be named because the talks are private. Barclays Plc is advising the UK government. 

Spokespeople for Barclays and Centrica declined to comment, while representatives for ENEC, Amber Infrastructure and Schroders didn’t immediately respond to queries. 

Centrica Chief Executive Officer Chris O’Shea has said on various occasions that the company’s engagement in any UK infrastructure projects, including Sizewell, would hinge on the “right conditions.”

At the moment, the only nuclear power station under construction in the UK is Hinkley Point C, which has been repeatedly delayed and is expected to cost as much as £47.9 billion in current terms. EDF is also holding talks with investors over funding for Hinkley as the French utility grapples with the ballooning cost of the project.
https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/uk-looks-for-more-investors-as-sizewell-c-funding-talks-drag-on

December 9, 2024 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Britain’s Energy Secretary Follows Tech Giants In Pursuit Of New Nuclear Power Stations

the government is “determined to drive forward” with nuclear power through both public and private investment, despite this being a period of “immense challenge for the public finances.”

Miliband was speaking in London on Thursday at the Nuclear Industry Association’s Nuclear 2024 conference, where he told the audience that their industry has an essential role to play in the U.K.’s pursuit of achieving a [ ?] clean power system by 2030.

Robert Olsen,  Forbes 7th Dec 2024

British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has been watching U.S. tech companies striking deals with operators and developers of nuclear power plants, and now he’s eager to pursue similar projects in the U.K.

“My message is clear: if you want to build a nuclear project in Britain, my door is open,” Miliband said. “My department is listening. We want all your ideas for projects that can work and provide value for money.”

Miliband was speaking in London on Thursday at the Nuclear Industry Association’s Nuclear 2024 conference, where he told the audience that their industry has an essential role to play in the U.K.’s pursuit of achieving a [ ?] clean power system by 2030.

He said the government is “determined to drive forward” with nuclear power through both public and private investment, despite this being a period of “immense challenge for the public finances.”

Great British Nuclear (GBN), the government body tasked with spearheading the development of small modular reactors (SMRs), has started contract negotiations with four companies shortlisted for the U.K.’s small modular reactor program, and final decisions will be made next year.

Britain’s Rolls-Royce is competing with U.S.-based rivals GE Hitachi, Holtec and Westinghouse Electric for contracts to develop SMRs in the U.K. The competition was launched last year, as part of the government’s plan to replenish the country’s dwindling nuclear industry………………………………..https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertolsen-1/2024/12/07/britains-energy-secretary-follows-tech-giants-in-pursuit-of-new-nuclear-power-stations/

December 9, 2024 Posted by | politics international, technology, UK | Leave a comment

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