Civil and military nuclear programmes: will they be derailed by skills shortages?
Because of the continuing problems, efforts are increasing to share resources and costs between the civilian and military nuclear programmes [11]. Rolls Royce is promoting ‘modular’ nuclear power stations with reactors similar to those used in submarines. Also the new industry recruitment website ‘DestinationNuclear.com’ abandons the old pretence that civil nuclear power is separate from the production of nuclear weapons:
It is time for a nuclear reality check.
it looks likely that in future the contribution of nuclear power to UK energy supplies will be small.
Scientists for Global Responsibility 27th Nov 2024, https://www.sgr.org.uk/resources/civil-and-military-nuclear-programmes-will-they-be-derailed-skills-shortages
Alasdair Beal takes a look at the UK nuclear industry – and finds that the proposed expansion has a workforce problem.
The incoming Labour government has inherited two major nuclear programmes – new power stations and new Trident missile submarines. Both are behind schedule and over-budget but the government says it wants them to continue. This article looks at the difficulties mobilising the skilled workforces required.
Nuclear programmes off-track
In 2010, the Conservative-led government announced its aim for work to be started on eight new nuclear power stations by 2025 [1]. Plans and timetables have been repeatedly revised since then but, currently, only one is actually under construction – Hinkley Point C (HPC) in Somerset. The 2024 ‘Civil Nuclear: Roadmap to 2050’ [2] stated that the aim is now to “secure investment decisions to deliver 3-7GW [gigawatts] every five years from 2030 to 2044, to meet our ambition to deploy up to 24GW of nuclear power by 2050.” This would amount to up to eight more plants the size of HPC. Even this appears unrealistic, given the serious problems building current reactor designs [3].
The military nuclear programme is also in trouble. Recently, Vanguard class submarines – armed with Trident nuclear missiles – have three times operated sea patrols lasting over 6 months, setting new Royal Navy records [4]. These occurred because two submarines were out of service for repairs, leaving only two in seaworthy condition. Numerous other problems have also been reported, including a faulty depth gauge leading to a nuclear-armed submarine taking a potentially catastrophic “unplanned dive” [5], and a major fire in the building used to assemble new submarines [6].
Construction of the Vanguard class submarines started in 1986 and they entered service between 1993 and 1999 with a design life of 25 years, later extended by 5 years. Construction of the replacement Dreadnought class began in 2016, with the first planned to enter service in 2028. However, this has now been delayed to “the early 2030s”, [7] which will require the existing submarines to operate until they are 40 years old, i.e. 15 years longer than their original design life and 10 years beyond their extended design life.
Major skills shortages
Skills shortages could also be a problem for both projects. In 2015, a government document [8] stated that to construct five or more new power stations by 2030, decommission existing power stations, and develop new nuclear missile submarines, “the workforce must grow by 4,700 people a year over the next 6 years. Over the same period 3,900 people are expected to leave the sector, mostly due to retirement. This means that the sector must recruit 8,600 people every year.”
Since then the schedule for new power stations has been delayed but there is now also a contract to construct new SSN-AUKUS nuclear-propelled ‘attack’ submarines. According to a House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee 2023 report [9]:
“If the UK is to achieve a contribution of 24GW of nuclear power by 2050 it will need to plan for, and achieve, a massive increase in the nuclear workforce … 50,000 full time equivalent employees would need to be recruited by 2040, even without an expansion of nuclear power … Under a scenario which envisages 19GW of nuclear capacity by 2050 … 180,000 workers will need to be recruited by 2050 – including an average of 7,234 recruits each year until 2028, compared to the current inflow of around 3,000 a year. Recently, vacancies in the nuclear sector are running at twice the rate of the general engineering and construction sector.”
With existing vacancies unfilled and recruitment insufficient to maintain present staff numbers, let alone those required for government expansion plans, the potential shortage of skilled staff is serious.
However, the situation is actually worse than the bare numbers suggest: those retiring will include many knowledgeable people with experience of designing and constructing previous nuclear submarines or power stations, or else of working with those who did. New recruits can fill the vacant seats but they cannot replace the loss of knowledge. Books, training courses and videos can help but in advanced engineering work nothing beats the passing on of accumulated knowledge and experience directly between generations of engineers.
Experience counts
I am a professional civil and structural engineer and after graduation I worked on long-span bridge design with the engineers who had designed and supervised construction of some of the biggest bridges in the world. I learned a lot from them – not only about stress calculations but also about the thinking required to produce a successful design. Much of this could not have been learned from courses or books.
The case of Rolls Royce in 1971 illustrates why this is important. Problems with their new RB211 jet engine had forced the company into liquidation and it had to be nationalised. To rescue the situation , the new directors had to persuade retired former senior engineers to return to work to lead the process of redesigning the engine to overcome the problems.
This issue may also be contributing to current problems at HPC. Existing UK nuclear engineers have only limited experience of Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) construction and in any case they are likely to be fully occupied decommissioning the UK’s old AGR reactors and dealing with historic nuclear waste. Therefore construction of HPC depends heavily on French expertise.
French companies have constructed 58 nuclear power stations based on the Westinghouse PWR design, the last of these being ordered in 1990. No more were ordered for 15 years until Finland ordered a power station based on the new European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) design in 2005. By then many of the engineers and other workers who constructed France’s PWRs are likely to have retired or changed occupations, making it difficult to assemble teams with the necessary knowledge and experience to build a new power station to a new design. Maybe we should not be surprised that major problems have been encountered constructing the EPRs at Olkiluoto in Finland, at Flamanville in France – each of which has taken 17 years to build [10] – and at HPC.
Similar problems may also be affecting construction of the new Dreadnought submarines. By the time these were ordered in 2016, many of the engineers with experience of designing and constructing their predecessors would have retired or be close to retirement, taking their knowledge and experience with them.
Because of the continuing problems, efforts are increasing to share resources and costs between the civilian and military nuclear programmes [11]. Rolls Royce is promoting ‘modular’ nuclear power stations with reactors similar to those used in submarines. Also the new industry recruitment website ‘DestinationNuclear.com’ abandons the old pretence that civil nuclear power is separate from the production of nuclear weapons:
“Nuclear plays a vital role in shaping the UK’s future in broader ways. Nuclear power produces carbon-free electricity that lights homes, fuels businesses, and keeps the economy moving.
The impact of nuclear goes beyond power grids. The expertise within the sector plays a crucial role in ensuring the strength and effectiveness of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, contributing to global peace and security. Nuclear is not just an energy source; it’s a critical part in building a secure future for the UK.”
While the claims made in this statement can be criticised on many grounds, most relevant for this article is the apparent assumption that people who are concerned about climate change are also likely to be enthusiastic about nuclear weapons – which could trigger a catastrophic ‘nuclear winter’ if used [12]. If they are, then public acknowledgement of the link between the civil and military nuclear programmes is a clever move and will boost recruitment. However, if they are not, this strategy could backfire badly.
Time for a rethink
It is time for a nuclear reality check.
In 1994, the UK had 16 functioning nuclear power stations (total capacity 12.7GW) but in 2024 there were only 5 (total capacity 5.9GW) and by the end of 2028 there will be just one: Sizewell B (1.2GW) [13]. Completion of the HPC first unit (1.6GW) is now expected between 2029 and 2031, with its second unit following some years later [14]. When the effects of potential skills shortages are considered alongside the problems of current nuclear reactor designs, the idea of achieving anything like 24GW capacity by 2050 seems like a fantasy. Given the rapid growth of renewable energy and related technologies – which is set to continue – it looks likely that in future the contribution of nuclear power to UK energy supplies will be small.
Meanwhile, the programme for new Trident nuclear missile-armed submarines is a gamble based on two risky assumptions: (i) despite industry skills shortages, there will be no further delays in completing the new submarines; and (ii) the existing submarines will be able to continue operating for at least 10 years after the end of their design life. If either assumption proves incorrect then, after all the arguments over ‘unilateral’ or ‘multilateral’ nuclear disarmament, we could end up instead with a rather British outcome: ‘Unintentional Nuclear Disarmament’. At that point, the government would finally have to face up to the dangerous flaws in the idea of ‘nuclear deterrence’ and plan instead for a nuclear-free future.
The conclusion is clear: current plans for new nuclear power stations and new nuclear missile-carrying submarines should both be cancelled and the resources diverted to:
(a) reducing energy consumption and accelerating the development and deployment of alternative renewable energy supplies; and
(b) supporting international arms control and disarmament initiatives, such as the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Alasdair Beal BSc CEng FICE FIStructE is a chartered civil engineer, based in Leeds, and a former member of SGR’s National Co-ordinating Committee.
References : …………………………………………………………………………………………..
White House Pressing Ukraine To Draft 18-Year-Olds for War
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recently hinted that the US was pressuring Ukraine to expand conscription, saying Ukraine’s biggest problem in the war was the lack of manpower.
The pressure from the US comes as polling shows the majority of Ukrainians want peace talks to end the war,
by Dave DeCamp November 27, 2024 , https://news.antiwar.com/2024/11/27/white-house-pressing-ukraine-to-draft-18-year-olds-for-war/
The White House is pressuring Ukraine to increase the size of its military by lowering the minimum age of conscription from 25 to 18, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
A senior Biden administration official said the outgoing administration wants Ukraine to start drafting 18-year-olds to expand the current pool of fighting-age males. The pressure from the US comes as polling shows the majority of Ukrainians want peace talks with Russia to end the war.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recently hinted that the US was pressuring Ukraine to expand conscription, saying Ukraine’s biggest problem in the war was the lack of manpower.
“Our view has been that there’s not one weapon system that makes a difference in this battle. It’s about manpower, and Ukraine needs to do more, in our view, to firm up its lines in terms of the number of forces it has on the front lines,” Sullivan said on PBS News Hour last week.
Last month, Serhiy Leshchenko, an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Ukraine was under pressure from US politicians to lower the conscription age. “American politicians from both parties are putting pressure on President Zelensky to explain why there is no mobilization of those aged 18 to 25 in Ukraine,” he said.
Zelensky signed a mobilization bill into law back in April that lowered the conscription age from 27 to 25. A few weeks before the mobilization bill became law, Zelensky received a visit from US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who complained that not enough young Ukrainian med were being sent to the frontline.
“I would hope that those eligible to serve in the Ukrainian military would join. I can’t believe it’s at 27,” Graham said. “You’re in a fight for your life, so you should be serving — not at 25 or 27. We need more people in the line.”
The Biden administration’s push for Ukraine to draft younger men comes as it is doing everything it can to escalate the proxy war before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on January 20. President Biden is seeking another $24 billion to spend on the conflict even though it’s clear there’s no path to a Ukrainian military victory.
Plans to turn land in Somerset into a saltmarsh should be scrapped.
Plans to flood 1500 acres of farmland along the Severn Estuary to create
saltmarsh won’t be effective in saving fish affected by a nuclear power
station – that’s according to ecosystems expert Dr Mark Everard of the
University of the West of England. EDF is building the station at Hinkley
Point in Somerset and had agreed to install and maintain an acoustic fish
deterrent to prevent fish being sucked into the site’s cooling systems. But
they now say it’s dangerous to build and the technology is untested, and
want to flood farmland instead to create saltmarsh habitats. Dr Everard
says most fish – including migrating salmon – won’t benefit from this, and
the deterrent system is already used effectively worldwide.
BBC Farming Today 25th Nov 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0025cyx
France is weighing zero-interest loan for 6 nuclear reactors, sources say
- Summary
- EDF faces financing challenges due to high debt and project delays
- French government faces no-confidence vote over budget with spending cuts
- EU approval needed for state aid in nuclear projects
PARIS, Nov 27(Reuters) Reporting by Benjamin Mallet; additional reporting by Leigh Thomas; writing by Dominique Patton; editing by Nina Chestney and Tomasz Janowski- https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/france-is-weighing-zero-interest-loan-6-nuclear-reactors-sources-say-2024-11-27/
French officials are drawing up plans to provide an interest-free loan to state-owned power utility EDF to finance a significant portion of the construction of six new nuclear reactors, two people familiar with the matter said.
The financing would clear a major hurdle for one of the country’s biggest public projects in years.
The plans are similar to financing agreed recently for a single reactor in the Czech Republic, and although the size of the loan is not yet known, it shows the growing need for state support in financing new nuclear projects in Europe.
The plans also include a long-term guaranteed price for the power generated, known as a contract for difference (CfD), said the people, who declined to be identified because they are not authorised to speak with media.
The Ministry of Finance and EDF declined to comment.
The discussions on financing the projects that could cost well over 50 billion euros ($52.60 billion) come as the French government faces a potential no-confidence vote over a proposed budget that contains measures to cut spending and raise taxes to contain the country’s soaring debt.
President Emmanuel Macron announced plans in early 2022 for six new reactors with a total production capacity of about 10 gigawatts to partly replace an ageing nuclear fleet and secure future energy supplies.
Construction of the first reactor is due to start in 2027 but Macron has never said who would pay for the project, which at the time was estimated to cost around 52 billion euros. Recent media reports suggest costs may be higher, reaching as much as 67 billion euros.
France’s current 57 nuclear reactors in operation were largely financed by EDF, which was a publicly-listed company until it was fully nationalised last year.
But the company is unlikely to be able to secure private financing for new projects, given its already high debt, and there have been multiple delays and cost overruns at recent projects like Flamanville in France and Hinkley Point in England.
CZECH MODEL
While there is general agreement to provide a zero-interest loan to EDF during the construction phase, the amount is not yet decided and there are still “intense discussions” on matters such as the sharing of risk between the utility and the state from any additional costs and delays, one of the sources said.
The plan also needs approval from the finance minister once EDF submits a final costing for the projects, expected early next year.
As a form of state aid, it also needs to be cleared by the European Commission.
French officials have been encouraged, however, by Brussels’ approval for a similar financing structure for one 1 gigawatt Czech unit at Dukovany, the sources said.
Under the Czech arrangement, interest on a state loan increases to at least 2% after the plant begins operating.
Europe is seeing a resurgence of interest in nuclear power projects, with nations including Poland and the UK planning new plants to shore up their energy self-sufficiency after a major energy crisis in the region.
Financing remains a huge challenge, with construction risks weighing on utilities’ balance sheets and credit ratings.
The British government recently pledged more than 5.5 billion pounds ($6.93 billion) to help fund early development of the 3.2 GW Sizewell C project.
Another project in Britain, EDF’s 3.2 GW Hinkley Point C plant, which is expected to cost between 31 billion pounds and 34 billion pounds based on 2015 values, is also backed by a contract for difference scheme.
($1 = 0.9506 euros)
($1 = 0.7931 pounds)
Transfer of nukes to Kiev would be viewed as attack on Russia – Medvedev
Rt.com 26 Nov 24
The former president’s warning follows reports that discussions have been held in the US about Ukraine obtaining a nuclear arsenal .
Moscow will consider any threat of nuclear arms being supplied to Ukraine by the US as preparation for a direct war with Russia, former president Dmitry Medvedev has warned. The actual transfer of nuclear weapons would be tantamount to an attack on the country under Russia’s new nuclear doctrine, he added.
In a Telegram post on Tuesday, Medvedev referenced a recent report in the New York Times. In a piece bylined by four of its journalists, the NYT claimed that US and EU officials are “discussing deterrence as a security guarantee” for Ukraine, claiming a conversation is underway to consider giving Ukraine nuclear weapons.
US politicians and journalists are seriously discussing the consequences of providing Kiev with nuclear weapons, said Medvedev, who serves as the deputy chair of the Russian Security Council…………………………………………………………………………………………………… more https://www.rt.com/russia/608212-medvedev-nukes-transfer-ukraine/
Hinkley Point C: Hundreds down tools over concerns
By Seth Dellow, Bridgwater Mercury 28th Nov 2024
HUNDREDS of workers at Hinkley Point C have stood down today over unresolved concerns.
The action short of strike began at 9am this morning with workers claiming it concerns fingerprint scanners in a small area on site. They have claimed there are only five scanners serving 13,000 workers on site but this is strongly denied by EDF which runs the Hinkley Point site. Electricians, pipe fitters and welders are all said to have walked out.
The number of affected workers could be up to 1,600 as the action only involves some of the MEH workers on site. MEH has contracted staff doing work on the Hinkley Point site.
Earlier, workers claimed between 2,000 and 6,000 workers had walked out.
One electrician, who spoke anonymously to the Bridgwater Mercury, said that workers were “being taken advantage of.”
The nuclear power station is already behind schedule and is expected to be operational between 2029 to 2031.
Workers are planning on taking full strike action on Monday, December 2, 2024, as they say they will be blocked from entering the site because of their actions today.
It follows recent strike action which saw EDF workers walk out over pay concerns. ………………
https://www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk/news/24757425.hinkley-point-c-6-000-workers-walk-concerns/
Ironic Dependency: Russian Uranium and the US Energy Market
November 27, 2024, by: Dr Binoy Kampmark, https://theaimn.com/ironic-dependency-russian-uranium-and-the-us-energy-market/
Be careful who you condemn and ostracise. They just might be supplying you with a special need. While the United States security establishment deems Russia the devil incarnate helped along by aspiring, mischief–making China, that devil continues supplying the US energy market with enriched uranium.
This dependency has irked the self-sufficiency patriots in Washington, especially those keen to break Russia’s firm hold in this field. That, more than any bleeding-heart sentimentality for Ukrainian suffering at the hands of the Russian Army, has taken precedence. For that reason, US lawmakers sought a ban on Russian uranium that would come into effect by January 1, 2028, by which time domestic uranium enrichment and conversion is meant to have reached sustainable levels.
The May 2024 Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, signed by President Joe Biden as law H.R.1042, specifically bans unirradiated low-enriched uranium produced in Russia or by any Russian entity from being imported into the US. It also bars the importation of unirradiated low-enriched uranium that has been swapped for the banned uranium or otherwise obtained in circumstances designed to bypass the restrictions.
At the time, Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm struck a note of hollering triumphalism. “Our nation’s clean energy future will not rely on Russian imports,” she declared. “We are making investments to build out a secure nuclear fuel supply chain here in the United States. That means American jobs supporting the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to a clean, safe, and secure energy economy.”
This does not get away from current circumstances, which see Russia’s provision of some 27% of enrichment service purchases for US utilities. The Russian state-owned company Rosatom is alone responsible for arranging imports of low-enriched uranium into the US market at some 3 million SWU (Separative Work Units) annually. Alexander Uranov, who heads the Russian analytical service Atominfo Center, puts this figure into perspective: that amount would be the equivalent of the annual uranium consumption rate of 20 large reactors.
Given this reliance, some legroom has been given to those in the industry by means of import waivers. H.R.1042 grants the Department of Energy the power to waive the ban in cases where there is no alternative viable source of low-enriched uranium available to enable the continued operation of a nuclear reactor or US nuclear energy company and in cases where importing the uranium would be in the national interest.
The utility Constellation, which is the largest operator of US nuclear reactors, along with the US enrichment trader, Centrus, have received waivers. The latter also has on its book of supply, the Russian state-owned company Tenex, its largest provider of low-enriched uranium as part of a 2011 contract.
No doubt knowing such a state of play, Moscow announced this month that it would temporarily ban the export of low-enriched uranium to the US as an amendment to Government Decree No 313 (March 9, 2022). The decree covers imports “to the United States or under foreign trade contracts concluded with persons registered in the jurisdiction of the United States.”
According to the Russian government, such a decision was made “on the instructions of the President in response to the restriction imposed by the United States for 2024-2027, and from 2028 – a ban on the import of Russian uranium products.” Vladimir Putin had accordingly given instructions in September “to analyse the possibility of restricting supplies to foreign markets of strategic raw materials.” The Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom confirmed that the ban was a “tit-for-tat response to actions of the US authorities” and would not affect the delivery of Russian uranium to other countries.
In a Russian government post on Telegram, the ban is qualified. To make matters less severe, there will be, for instance, one-time licenses issued by the Russian Federal Service for Technical and Export Control. This is of cold comfort to the likes of Centrus, given that most of its revenue is derived from importing the enriched uranium before then reselling it. On being notified by Tenex that its general license to export the uranium to the US had been rescinded, the scramble was on to seek a specific export license for remaining shipments in 2024 and those scheduled to take place in 2025.
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Centrus warned that any failure by Tenex “to secure export licences for our pending or future orders […] would affect our ability to meet our delivery obligations to our customers and would have a material adverse effect on our business, results in operations, and competitive position.” While Tenex had contacted Centrus of its plans to secure the required export licenses in a timely manner, a sense of pessimism was hard to dispel as “there is no certainty whether such licenses will be issued by the Russian authorities and if issued, whether they will be issued in a timely manner.” The sheer, sweet irony of it all.
Russia Prepares to Respond to the Armageddon Wanted by the Biden Administration
by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Network | Paris (France) | 26 November 2024
Russia has deployed thousands of North Korean soldiers to defend its Kursk region, attacked in August by Ukrainian integral nationalists.
Washington considers this fact as a development of the war it has been waging since 1950, despite a ceasefire, against the Korean and Chinese communists, even more than as a development of the one it has been waging through Ukrainian proxy against Russia since 2022. It therefore responded on November 19 by guiding six ATACMS (Army TACtical Missile System) missiles that it had given to kyiv against Russia [1]. They were directed not only against the Kursk Oblast, but also against the Bryansk Oblast, where they failed to hit an ammunition depot. London, for its part, decided on November 21 to guide the Storm Shadow missiles it gave to kyiv in the same way. All of the allied missiles were destroyed in flight by Russian anti-aircraft defense.
On the contrary, Moscow considers the Kursk attack as a continuation of the CIA’s secret war in Ukraine and as the one organized in the 1950s against the USSR, both with the support of Stepan Bandera’s Ukrainian integral nationalists.
The West does not understand these events because it has forgotten Beijing’s support for Pyongyang, wrongly thinks that Kursk and Bryansk are in Ukraine and ignores the secret war during which the Anglo-Saxons allied themselves with the last Nazis (which means that it also did not understand the objective of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine).
ATACMS missiles can be fired from HIMARS mobile launchers. The latest models have a range of 300 kilometers and fly at an altitude of 50,000 meters. The latest versions of the Storm Shadow missiles, on the other hand, have a range of about 400 kilometers. None can therefore reach deep into Russia.
Russia has a wide range of responses to allied attacks……………………………… On November 19, it modified its nuclear doctrine, leaving open the option of a nuclear response. Finally, it can make use of its military dominance. Ukraine announced that, on November 20, Moscow had fired a long-range ballistic missile (i.e. capable of reaching the United States from Russia), RS-26 Rubezh. We now know that it was something else.
Unbeknownst to us, the battlefields of Ukraine and the Middle East have already come together, as the US neoconservatives (the Straussians), the Israeli “revisionist Zionists” [3]; and the Ukrainian “integral nationalists” [4] have allied themselves once again, as in the Second World War. These three groups, historically linked to the Tripatite Axis, are in favor of a final confrontation. The only ones missing are the Japanese militarists of the new Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba.
Immediately after the launch of the US ATACMS missiles and even before that of the British Storm Shadows, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree promulgating his country’s new nuclear doctrine that he had announced on September 24 [5]. It authorizes the use of nuclear weapons in five new cases:
1) if reliable information is received about the launch of ballistic missiles targeting the territory of Russia or its allies.
2) if nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction strike the territory of Russia or its allies, or are used to strike Russian military units or installations abroad.
3) if the impact of an enemy on the Russian government or military installations is of critical importance that could undermine the capability of a retaliatory nuclear strike.
4) if aggression against Russia or Belarus with conventional weapons poses a serious threat to their sovereignty and territorial integrity.
5) if reliable information is received about the takeoff or launch of strategic and tactical aircraft, cruise missiles, drones, hypersonic vehicles or other flying vehicles and their crossing of the Russian border……………………………………………………………………………………..more https://www.voltairenet.org/article221540.html
Biden seeking extra $24bn for Kiev – Politico
https://www.rt.com/news/608270-biden-ukraine-aid-politico/ 27 Nov 24
The “long-shot” funding request was reportedly sent to Congress on Monday
Outgoing US President Joe Biden has quietly asked Congress to allocate an additional $24 billion in Ukraine-related spending, according to a report by Politico on Tuesday.
The funding pitch includes $16 billion to backfill US stocks depleted by deliveries of weapons to Kiev and $8 billion to pay US arms producers for contracts in support of the Ukrainian military, the news outlet said, calling Biden’s bid a “long shot”.
The report is based on a document produced by the White House Office of Management and Budget, which was sent to lawmakers on Monday, according to Politico’s sources on Capitol Hill.
The Biden administration previously vowed to spend every dollar already approved for Ukraine before the president leaves office on January 20. Last week, he also wrote off some $4.7 billion in forgivable loans given to Kiev. The money was part of a tranche approved by Congress in April, with $9.4 billion provided as a “loan” to appease lawmakers, who opposed continued funding of the Ukraine conflict.
President-elect Donald Trump claimed during the election campaign that he would end the Ukraine conflict in 24 hours if voters grant him a new term in office. Some of his allies have accused the “lame duck” Biden of trying to corner the next administration into a continued conflict with Russia.
Republican Senator Mike Lee reacted negatively to the new funding request from the White House, especially as it came days after Biden’s unilateral move on the loan.
”Congress must not give him a free gift to further sabotage President Trump’s peace negotiations on the way out the door. Any Biden funding demands should be DOA,” he wrote on X.
Elon Musk, a key Trump supporter, who will lead an effort to reduce government waste in the incoming administration, has called the request “not ok” and said the money would be “funding the forever war,” if lawmakers authorize the spending.
G7 finalizing $50 billion loan to Ukraine – Washington
https://www.rt.com/business/608251-us-g7-ukraine-loan-russia/ 26 Nov 24
The loan will be secured from Russia’s sovereign assets, frozen by the West, the US Secretary of State has said
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the Group of Seven (G7) is actively working on finalizing a multi-billion-dollar loan package for Ukraine from Russian sovereign assets frozen by the West.
Speaking at a press briefing following the G7 meeting in Italy, Blinken voiced the group’s commitment to ensuring that Kiev has sufficient funds and munitions to continue fighting “effectively” in 2025 or to engage in any potential negotiations with Moscow from a position of strength.
“In our support for Ukraine, we are finalizing getting out the door the $50 billion that has been secured on the basis of the Russian sovereign assets that are frozen,” Blinken stated.
The US and its allies froze an estimated $300 billion in assets belonging to the Russian central bank following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. In June, the G7 members pledged a $50 billion loan for Kiev, which will be repaid using Moscow’s money.
The bulk of the frozen funds, around €197 billion ($206 billion), are being held at Euroclear. The Brussels-based clearinghouse has estimated that the impounded Russian assets generated €5.15 billion ($5.4 billion) in interest in the first three quarters of this fiscal year.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden announced in October the “historic decision” to provide $20 billion in loans to Ukraine that will be paid back with the interest earned from immobilized Russian sovereign assets.
Kiev’s Western backers have been trying to accelerate work on allocating the funds amid concerns that US President-elect Donald Trump could cut aid for Ukraine. During his campaign, he repeatedly vowed to scale back assistance for the country if elected.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky demanded that all of the immobilized $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets be given to Kiev.
Moscow has repeatedly denounced the asset freeze as “theft” and warned that tapping into these funds would be illegal and set a dangerous precedent.
Last week, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov promised to initiate retaliatory measures mirroring the West’s actions. He said Russia had also frozen the resources of Western investors, Western financial market participants and companies, adding that “the income from these assets will also be used.”
The International Monetary Fund has repeatedly warned that any decisions regarding the seizure of frozen Russian assets should be backed with “sufficient legal support,” noting that without this, the move could undermine trust in the Western financial system
Channel Islands sign nuclear incident agreement
The Channel Islands and France have agreed to share information in the
event of a nuclear or radiological incident. The agreement was signed
during a meeting between Guernsey and Jersey ministers joined by French
representatives on Monday. It meant if a nuclear or radiological incident
was to occur in France’s Cotentin Peninsula, the Channel Islands and France
would provide information for emergency planning purposes, officials said.
BBC 26th Nov 2024,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2e79x12m4po
Very ambitious’: regulator’s view of 2027 Bridgend nuke power plant plan
25th November 2024, https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/very-ambitious-regulators-view-of-2027-bridgend-nuke-power-plant-plan/
Despite the hype from American developer Last Energy, this was the verdict of the Office for Nuclear Regulation in response to a question posed by the NFLA Secretary about the company’s plan to have a micro nuclear reactor plant licenced and operational at Bridgend by 2027.
Last Energy remains optimistic, boastful even, that it will be able to secure permission to install four of its 20-megawatt pressurised water micro modular reactors on the 14-acre site of the former Llynfi power station site within three years.
But there are still many hoops through which for the company must jump; historically, nuclear power projects have been delivered significantly behind schedule.
The Nuclear Installations Act 1965 places the primary responsibility for the safety of a nuclear installation on the licensee. The Office for Nuclear Regulations ‘regulates the design, construction and operation of any nuclear installation in Great Britain for which a nuclear site licence is required’ under the act.
To obtain a Site Licence, Last Energy must demonstrate ownership or secure tenure of the site, the safety of their design, their plans to safely, securely and efficiently manage operations throughout the whole lifecycle of the plant from inception to post-closure, and their organisational capacity to so. This includes having detailed plans in place for the management and disposal of radioactive waste and around emergency planning[i].
A Site Licence comes with 36 Standard Conditions, covering design, construction, operation and decommissioning, against which Last Energy will continue to be monitored by the nuclear regulator.[ii]
In its guidance handbook, ‘Licensing Nuclear Installations’, under Section 83, the ONR has identified that ‘it might take several years from site licence application to the completion of our assessment. This is subject to adequate and timely submissions from the applicant and the level of maturity of implementation of the applicant’s arrangements’.[iii]
Last Energy will also need to secure an operating permit from National Resources Wales, working with the Environment Agency, and planning approval from the Welsh Government with sign off from a Minister.
As well as the regulatory challenges, Last Energy also faces some practical ones.
Michael Jenner, Chief Executive of Last Energy UK, is reported recently to have said in an interview with New Civil Engineer[iv] that the PWR-20 reactor comprises around forty modules that are manufactured off-site, trucked to the site, and assembled within twenty-four months. But to the best of the NFLA’s knowledge the company has yet to build an operating prototype and there is no manufacturing facility in place to fabricate the parts, even in the USA. We have written to Last Energy to provide them with an opportunity to correct us.
In a welcome development, Last Energy has affirmed its commitment to consult with local communities, and has announced the first two public consultation events to run as follows:
- A drop-in public engagement on Wednesday 27th November 2024 from 9.30am until 5pm at the Bettws Life Centre, Bettws Road, Bettws, Bridgend CF32 8TB
- A project presentation followed by questions and answers on Thursday 12th December 2024 from 7pm to 9pm at the main lecture theatre at the Steam Academy, Bridgend College, Pencoed Campus, Bridgend CF35 5LG
This is a project that the Welsh NFLAs will continue to want to watch.
Ends:// For more information, please contact NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
[i] https://www.onr.org.uk/media/30nh5c0f/licensing-nuclear-installations.pdf
[ii] https://www.onr.org.uk/media/gixbe2br/licence-condition-handbook.pdf
[iii] https://www.onr.org.uk/media/30nh5c0f/licensing-nuclear-installations.pdf
[iv] https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/interview-micro-reactor-developer-optimistic-about-connecting-south-wales-project-by-2027-08-11-2024/
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Trump’s Cabinet Picks Aren’t Looking Good For Peace In Ukraine
Caitlin Johnstone, Nov 25, 2024, https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/trumps-cabinet-picks-arent-looking?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=152120142&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Conventional wisdom about the outgoing Biden administration’s reckless escalations in Ukraine these past few days is that things will cool down once Donald Trump takes office, but Trump’s cabinet picks aren’t really selling this idea.
While Trump did campaign on ending the war in Ukraine, the president elect has given multiple cabinet appointments to strategists who say that the way to achieve that peace is to substantially escalate aggressions against Russia. Michael Tracey has been doing a great job compiling footage of Trump’s recent cabinet picks advocating extreme measures which happen to be in perfect alignment with the nuclear brinkmanship of the demented outgoing president and his handlers.
Sebastian Gorka, who Trump has named as his next senior director for counterterrorism, is on record saying that Trump has told him he plans on saying to Putin, “You will negotiate now or the aid that we have given to Ukraine thus far will look like peanuts.”
Mike Waltz, who Trump has selected as his next national security advisor, promotes a similar vision. Waltz says Russia can be pressured to come to the negotiating table via increased energy sanctions combined with “taking the handcuffs off of the long-range weapons we provided Ukraine.” Biden has since removed those very “handcuffs” by authorizing Kyiv to use US-supplied long-range missiles to attack Russia.
If it seems like these remarks from Trump’s incoming administration work very nicely with the actions of the outgoing administration, then you may find it interesting that Waltz just told Fox News Sunday that the two administrations are working “hand in glove” as the presidency changes over.
“Jake Sullivan and I have had discussions, we’ve met,” Waltz said. “For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other — they are wrong. We are hand in glove. We are one team with the United States in this transition.”
This would seem to be an oblique reference to Russia specifically, since that’s the only US adversary with any hope that the incoming administration might be a bit less hawkish toward it than the outgoing one, and since years of mass media coverage went into spinning narratives about Trump being a pawn of Vladimir Putin.
But Trump was never a pawn of Vladimir Putin. Contrary to the narratives of both Democrat-aligned punditry and Republican-aligned punditry while he was in office, Trump spent his entire term ramping up cold war aggressions against Russia which helped pave the way to the war and brinkmanship we are seeing in Ukraine today. Tracey recently shared an audio clip of Gorka on X Spaces back in January 2023 exuberantly boasting about the way Trump ordered the US military to kill hundreds of Russian mercenaries in Syria in 2018. Putin himself cited the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty in 2019 when defending his decision to hit Ukraine with a new type of intermediate-range missile the other day in response to its use of US- and UK-supplied long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
Other cabinet appointments who have taken extremely hawkish positions on Russia include secretary of state nominee Marco Rubio, secretary of defense nominee Pete Hegseth, CIA director nominee John Ratcliffe, and National Security Council appointee Doug Burgum. But it’s those comments from Waltz and Gorka which I find most concerning, because they explicitly refer to escalatory strategies that Trump might employ once he takes office.
This all comes out as we get news that US and European officials recently discussed providing nuclear weapons to Ukraine under the gamble that Putin will not escalate against the west before Trump takes office. The more aligned the Trump administration’s posture toward Russia appears to be with that of the Biden administration, the less safe a gamble this appears to be.
It seems likely that the Trump administration will end the Ukraine proxy war at some point down the road in order to reallocate those resources toward preparation for war with Iran and/or China. But it is not at all clear that this will happen soon enough before soaring escalations spin out of control into the single worst-case scenario that could possibly unfold on this planet.
White House finally confirms greenlight for deep Russia strikes
https://www.rt.com/news/608194-us-admits-russia-strikes/ 25 Nov 24
Ukraine can use ATACMS to strike in the vicinity of Kursk Region, John Kirby has said
Washington on Monday officially confirmed a well-flagged policy change allowing Ukraine to strike inside Russia using US-supplied ATACMS missiles.
Numerous international officials have spoken about the change in stance over the past week. While US President Joe Biden and his administration remained silent, Kiev fired a volley of ATACMS projectiles at Russia’s Bryansk Region last Monday.
“They are able to use ATACMS to defend themselves in an immediate-need basis,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a White House briefing on Monday.
“We did change the guidance and gave them guidance that they can use them to strike these particular types of targets,” Kirby said, referring to the Ukrainian attacks “in and around Kursk.”
The US and its allies have provided increasingly powerful weapons systems to Kiev since 2022, while maintaining that it does not make them a party to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons would change the character of the hostilities and make NATO a direct participant. He explained that weapons such as the ATACMS or the UK-supplied Storm Shadow cannot be deployed by Kiev’s forces without the participation of NATO military personnel.
Moscow’s response came last Thursday, when a brand-new hypersonic ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, was used against the Yuzhmash military-industrial complex in Dnepropetrovsk. Putin called it a “combat test” of the new weapon and said such tests would continue depending on circumstances.
Mystery drone spotted over British aircraft carrier
A mystery drone has been spotted following a British aircraft carrier at
sea after unmanned aerial vehicles were seen hovering over three air bases
in England.
An unidentified 1.5 by 1.5 metre drone appeared to tail the
Royal Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth as it entered the port of Hamburg,
in Germany, on Friday. The German military positioned guards around the
port and attempted to target the drone with HP-47 jammers before it flew
away, the German newspaper Bild reported.
On Saturday, the US Air Force
also revealed that “small unmanned aerial systems” flew over RAF
Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, as well as RAF Feltwell, in
Norfolk, last week.
Telegraph 24th Nov 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/24/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news58/
1 This Month
23 April – WEBINAR – Why new nuclear reactors are the wrong tools for decarbonization Thursday, April 23 • 1 AM – 2 AM AEST
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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