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Greenpeace warns of flooding risks at France’s biggest nuclear plant

Greenpeace is urging French energy giant EDF to abandon its plans to build two new reactors at its Gravelines nuclear plant, citing the risk of flooding due to rising sea levels. The environmental group accuses the French nuclear industry of underestimating the threat to the coastal site.

04/10/2024 By:RFI

With six 900MW reactors, the Gravelines nuclear power plant on the Channel coast is already the most powerful in Western Europe.

EDF’s proposal to build two additional new generation pressurised water reactors (EPR2) of 1600 MW each is part of President Emmanuel Macron’s nuclear revival programme.

The new reactors are currently the subject of public debate. If they pass safety criteria laid down by France’s nuclear safety authority (ASN), construction would begin in 2031 and they could be on stream by 2040.

While they would be built on a 11-metre-high platform, Greenpeace claims there is a significant safety risk.

“The entire power plant site could find itself – during high tides and when there is a 100-year surge – below sea level” by 2100, it warned in a report published Thursday.

EDF refutes their calculations.

“The height of the platform chosen for the EPR2 reactors at Gravelines provides protection against “extreme” flooding, taking into account the effects of IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] scenarios, which are among the most penalising with regard to sea-level rise”, EDF said in a statement to RFI.

Protective measures

Greenpeace argues that EDF’s calculations are outdated and do not fully account for the realities of global warming.

“We can’t think as if the current situation were going to remain stable and that sea levels were just going to rise a little”, says Pauline Boyer, Greenpeace’s energy transition campaigner.

The NGO has therefore based its projection on the IPCC’s most pessimistic scenario, which assumes that no action will be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2100……………………….

Boyer believes a comprehensive risk study, factoring in climate change, “should govern the choice of site”, and be carried out before the public debate ends on 17 January.

While Greenpeace’s report centres on Gravelines, Boyer warned that climate change threatens other nuclear plants, with risks tied to rising temperatures and extreme weather events like storms.

She also pointed to potential conflicts over access to river water needed to cool reactors.  https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20241004-greenpeace-warns-of-flooding-risks-at-france-s-biggest-nuclear-plant

October 8, 2024 Posted by | climate change, France | Leave a comment

Kazakhstan’s Nuclear Power Vote: Many Questions, But Just One On The Ballot

 Radio Free Europe 5th Oct 2024

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Kazakh voters will head to the polls on October 6 to decide whether to approve the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan — the world’s largest producer of uranium.

And the question on the ballot will be just that: “Do you agree to the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan?”

But the debate surrounding nuclear energy is far more complex, taking in the heavy legacy of Soviet-era nuclear tests, long-standing nuclear-phobia, and unanswered questions around the companies — and countries — that would build the plant if voters endorse it.

Ahead of the first referendum in Central Asia on nuclear power, RFE/RL takes a closer look at that conversation.

What The Government Says

In many countries, national referendums can divide governing coalitions and spark cabinet resignations, but there is no sign of anything like that in Kazakhstan — the political elite is firmly behind the plan to build a nuclear power plant.

That extends from the government to the legislature, where all six parties support the idea, and where at least one lawmaker who initially opposed the plan now says he changed his mind.

The government’s main argument is that only nuclear power has the capacity to provide near-zero carbon energy on the scale required to cover a power deficit that grows year-on-year, especially in the southern half of the country.

Why Not Renewables?

While wind and solar’s overall share of the fossil-fuel-heavy national energy mix has grown to around 6 percent in recent years, Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliev argues that renewables’ dependence on “natural and climatic conditions” make them too “unpredictable” on a large scale.

President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev first floated the idea of using nuclear power in 2019.

Like other officials, he has assured Kazakhs that a future nuclear plant will be built with the latest technology to ensure the highest safety standards.

As the world’s largest uranium producer, he says it is time for Kazakhstan to move up the nuclear-fuel cycle.

Why Hold A Referendum?

That is a good question, given that any sort of popular vote carries a protest risk, and Kazakhstan’s authoritarian regime has only recently held parliamentary elections (March 2023) and a presidential election (November 2022).

But the country’s leadership knows that the issue is contentious — not least because the nation’s introduction to nuclear power began with the Soviet Union’s first nuclear bomb test in 1949, with hundreds more taking a terrible human and environmental toll in the northeastern Semei region……………………………………….

Is There A ‘No’ Campaign?

To the extent that Kazakhstan allows such things, there is.

But nuclear naysayers have been repeatedly blocked from holding demonstrations against the plan in various cities, and most recently found that a hotel in the largest city, Almaty — where they had earlier agreed to hold an event — was suddenly unwilling to host them.

At least five Kazakh activists opposed to nuclear power have been placed in pretrial detention on charges of plotting mass unrest early this month, while others have faced administrative punishment. https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-nuclear-power-referendum/33146657.html

October 8, 2024 Posted by | Kazakhstan, politics | Leave a comment

It is Time to Expose the Great British Nuclear Fantasy Once and for All

Thomas, Stephen and Blowers, Andrew, It is Time to Expose the Great British Nuclear Fantasy Once and for All (September 30, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4971427 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4971427

Abstract

In April 2022, the then UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, set a target of 24GW of new nuclear capacity to be completed in Great Britain by 2050. At the heart of the proposal was the creation of a new government owned entity, Great British Nuclear (GBN), with a mission of ‘helping projects through every stage of the development process and developing a resilient pipeline of new builds’ designed to ensure energy security and to meet the UK’s commitment to achieving net zero.

Despite the sound and fury, the GBN project is bound to fail. Its contribution to achieving net zero by 2050 will be nugatory. No amount of political commitment can overcome the lack of investors, the absence of credible builders and operators or available technologies let alone secure regulatory assessment and approval

Moreover, in an era of climate change there will be few potentially suitable sites to host new nuclear power stations for indefinite, indeed unknowable, operating, decommissioning and waste management lifetimes. And there are the anxieties and fears that nuclear foments, the danger of accidents and proliferation and the environmental and public health issues arising from the legacy of radioactive waste scattered on sites around the country.

October 8, 2024 Posted by | spinbuster, UK | Leave a comment

Finally Free, Assange Receives a Measure of Justice From the Council of Europe

In the U.S., “the concept of state secrets is used to shield executive officials from criminal prosecution for crimes such as kidnapping and torture, or to prevent victims from claiming damages,” the resolution notes. But “the responsibility of State agents for war crimes or serious human rights violations, such as assassinations, enforced disappearances, torture or abductions, does not constitute a secret that must be protected.”

In his first public statement since his release, Assange said, “I’m free today … because I pled guilty to journalism.”

By Marjorie Cohn , Truthout, October 4, 2024

he Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Europe’s foremost human rights body, overwhelmingly adopted a resolution on October 2 formally declaring WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a political prisoner. The Council of Europe, which represents 64 nations, expressed deep concern at the harsh treatment suffered by Assange, which has had a “chilling effect” on journalists and whistleblowers around the world.

In the resolution, PACE notes that many of the leaked files WikiLeaks published “provide credible evidence of war crimes, human rights abuses, and government misconduct.” The revelations also “confirmed the existence of secret prisons, kidnappings and illegal transfers of prisoners by the United States on European soil.”

According to the terms of a plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, Assange pled guilty on June 25 to one count of conspiracy to obtain documents, writings and notes connected with the national defense under the U.S. Espionage Act. Without the deal, he was facing 175 years in prison for 18 charges in an indictment filed by the Trump administration and pursued by the Biden administration, stemming from WikiLeaks’ publication of evidence of war crimes committed by the U.S. in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. After his plea, Assange was released from custody with credit for the five years he had spent in London’s maximum-security Belmarsh Prison.

The day before PACE passed its resolution, Assange delivered a powerful testimony to the Council of Europe’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. This was his first public statement since his release from custody four months ago, after 14 years in confinement – nine in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and five in Belmarsh. “Freedom of expression and all that flows from it is at a dark crossroads,” Assange told the parliamentarians.

A “Chilling Effect and a Climate of Self-Censorship”

The resolution says that “the disproportionately harsh charges” the U.S. filed against Assange under the Espionage Act, “which expose him to a risk of de facto life imprisonment,” together with his conviction “for — what was essentially — the gathering and publication of information,” justify classifying him as a political prisoner, under the definition set forth in a PACE resolution from 2012 defining the term. Assange’s five-year incarceration in Belmarsh Prison was “disproportionate to the alleged offence.”

Noting that Assange is “the first publisher to be prosecuted under [the Espionage Act] for leaking classified information obtained from a whistleblower,” the resolution expresses concern about the “chilling effect and a climate of self-censorship for all journalists, editors and others who raise the alarm on issues that are essential to the functioning of democratic societies.” The resolution also notes that “information gathering is an essential preparatory step in journalism” which is protected by the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the European Court of Human Rights.

The resolution cites the conclusion of Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, that Assange had been exposed to “increasingly severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be described as psychological torture.”

Condemning “transnational repression,” PACE was “alarmed by reports that the CIA was discreetly monitoring Mr. Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and that it was allegedly planning to poison or even assassinate him on British soil.” The CIA has raised the “state secrets” privilege in a civil lawsuit filed by two attorneys and two journalists over that illegal surveillance.

In the U.S., “the concept of state secrets is used to shield executive officials from criminal prosecution for crimes such as kidnapping and torture, or to prevent victims from claiming damages,” the resolution notes. But “the responsibility of State agents for war crimes or serious human rights violations, such as assassinations, enforced disappearances, torture or abductions, does not constitute a secret that must be protected.”

Moreover, the resolution expresses deep concern that, according to publicly available evidence, no one has been held to account for the war crimes and human rights violations committed by U.S. state agents and decries the “culture of impunity.”

The resolution says there is no evidence anyone has been harmed by WikiLeaks’ publications and “regrets that despite Mr Assange’s disclosure of thousands of confirmed — previously unreported — deaths by U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has been the one accused of endangering lives.”

Assange’s Testimony

The testimony Assange provided to the committee was poignant. “I eventually chose freedom over realizable justice … Justice for me is now precluded,” Assange testified. “I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism.” He added, “I pled guilty to seeking information from a source. I pled guilty to obtaining information from a source. And I pled guilty to informing the public what that information was.” His source was whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who provided the documents and reports to WikiLeaks. “Journalism is not a crime,” Assange said. “It is a pillar of a free and informed society.”………………………………………………………………………………

PACE Urges US to Investigate War Crimes

The resolution calls on the U.S., the U.K., the member and observer States of the Council of Europe, and media outlets to take actions to address its concerns.

It calls on the U.S., an observer State, to reform the Espionage Act of 1917 to exclude from its operation journalists, editors and whistleblowers who disclose classified information with the aim of informing the public of serious crimes, such as torture or murder. In order to obtain a conviction for violation of the Act, the government should be required to prove a malicious intent to harm national security. It also calls on the U.S. to investigate the allegations of war crimes and other human rights violations exposed by Assange and Wikileaks.

PACE called on the U.K. to review its extradition laws to exclude extradition for political offenses, as well as conduct an independent review of the conditions of Assange’s treatment while at Belmarsh, to see if it constituted torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment.

In addition, the resolution urges the States of the Council of Europe to further improve their protections for whistleblowers, and to adopt strict guidelines to prevent governments from classifying documents as defense secrets when not warranted.

Finally, the resolution urges media outlets to establish rigorous protocols for handling and verifying classified information, to ensure responsible reporting and avoid any risk to national security and the safety of informants and sources.

Although PACE doesn’t have the authority to make laws, it can urge the States of the Council of Europe to take action. Since Assange never had the opportunity to litigate the denial of his right to freedom of expression, the resolution of the Council of Europe is particularly significant as he seeks a pardon from U.S. President Joe Biden.  https://truthout.org/articles/finally-free-assange-receives-a-measure-of-justice-from-the-council-of-europe/

October 7, 2024 Posted by | civil liberties, EUROPE, Legal | Leave a comment

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: D.C. Doesn’t Care About Ukraine War MASS DEATHS

October 7, 2024 Posted by | Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

France asserts itself against Netanyahu over Lebanon: Macron calls for Arms Embargo against Israel

Informed Comment Juan Cole10/06/2024

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a radio interview with France Inter on Saturday, French president Emmanuel Macron called for an arms embargo against Israel over its ongoing attacks on Gaza and now Lebanon.

BFMTV reported that he said, “I think that today the priority is to return to a political solution, and that we must halt the delivery of arms for pursuing combat against Gaza. France will not deliver them.”

He clarified that France would continue to export defensive materiel, such as parts for the Israeli Iron Dome anti-missile defense system.

The station notes that President Joe Biden has often called for the avoidance of civilian casualties but has steadfastly declined to use his leverage with Israel, given its dependence on US weaponry and ammunition, to pressure it. In Britain, the Labour government of PM Keir Starmer has halted 10 out of 350 weapons licenses on the grounds that those ten weapons would likely be used by Israel against civilians.

Macron is the first leader of a major European country to argue for an embargo of offensive weapons to Israel in response to its total war on Gaza.

The French president has been heavily criticized by former French diplomats and other public figures for not showing the spine toward the Israeli……………………………. more https://www.juancole.com/2024/10/asserts-against-netanyahu.html

October 7, 2024 Posted by | France, Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Czechs take stake in Rolls-Royce vehicle in boost for SMRs.

Partnership with Rolls-Royce consortium to build SMRs in Czech Republic to be
underpinned by minority holding as engine maker vies to secure UK deal.

The Czech government is taking a minority stake in the Rolls-Royce SMR
consortium, which hopes to build and sell fleets of small nuclear reactors
to meet increasing demand for electricity in the 2030s. Last month, the
Czech Republic announced a strategic partnership with Rolls-Royce SMR to
build small modular reactors (SMRs) in the eastern European country. Rolls
beat six other companies in a selection process led by Cez, the country’s
state-backed energy group.

It has now emerged that the Czech government
will take an equity stake in the Rolls consortium via Cez for an
undisclosed sum, in a move that underlines its determination to advance SMR
technology.

Rolls-Royce SMR is majority owned by the FTSE 100 engine maker,
which has a stake of about 70 per cent. Other shareholders include the
Qatar Investment Authority, US energy firm Constellation and BNF Capital,
an investment vehicle set up by the billionaire Perrodo family of France.

It is not known how big a stake Cez will take in the SMR consortium,
although it is expected to come via Rolls selling down its holding. Last
year, Tufan Erginbilgic, the chief executive of Rolls-Royce, said his
intention was to take the company’s shareholding in the SMR business down
to about 50 per cent.

Times 6th Oct 2024, https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/czechs-take-stake-in-rolls-royce-vehicle-in-boost-for-smrs-536q2njgb

October 7, 2024 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Sellafield Fined for Cybersecurity Failures at Nuclear Site

 Sellafield Ltd has been fined £332,500 ($437,440) for cybersecurity
failings running the Sellafield nuclear facility in Cumbria, North-West
England. The fine was issued by Westminster Magistrates Court following a
prosecution brought by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the UK’s
independent nuclear regulator.

Sellafield Ltd has also been ordered to pay
prosecution costs of £53,253.20 ($70,060). The offences relate to
Sellafield’s management of the security around its information technology
systems between 2019 to 2023 and breaches of the Nuclear Industries
Security Regulations 2003.

 Infosecurity 4th Oct 2024 https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/sellafield-fined-cybersecurity/

October 7, 2024 Posted by | legal, UK | Leave a comment

Suffolk radiation emergency evacuation plans updated to include potential Sizewell C incidents

 Suffolk Resilience Forum’s (SRF) plans to evacuate
people in response to potential nuclear or radiological incidents have been
updated to include the planned Sizewell C power station.

 New Civil Engineer 4th Oct 2024

https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/suffolk-radiation-emergency-evacuation-plans-updated-to-include-potential-sizewell-c-incidents-04-10-2024/

October 7, 2024 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Sellafield ordered to pay nearly £400,000 over cybersecurity failings

Nuclear waste dump in Cumbria pleaded guilty to leaving data that could threaten national security exposed for four years, says regulator

Guardian, Anna Isaac and Alex Lawson, Thu 3 Oct 2024 

Sellafield will have to pay almost £400,000 after it pleaded guilty to criminal charges over years of cybersecurity failings at Britain’s most hazardous nuclear site.

The vast nuclear waste dump in Cumbria left information that could threaten national security exposed for four years, according to the industry regulator, which brought the charges. It was also found that 75% of its computer servers were vulnerable to cyber-attack.

Sellafield had failed to protect vital nuclear information, Westminster magistrates court in London heard on Wednesday. Chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, said that after taking into account Sellafield’s guilty plea and its public funding model, he would fine it £332,500 for cybersecurity breaches and £53,200 for prosecution costs.

The state-owned company has already apologised for the cybersecurity failings. It pleaded guilty to the charges – which relate to IT security offences spanning a four-year period from 2019 to 2023 – when they were brought by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) in June.

Goldspring said the case fell into a category “bordering on negligence” and a “dereliction of responsibilities”.

Sellafield might also “foreseeably have caused harm” and a loss of data could “have had huge risk adverse consequences for workers, the public and the environment”, he said.

Sellafield, which has a workforce of about 11,000 people, is a sprawling rubbish dump on the Cumbrian coast that stores and treats decades of nuclear waste from atomic power generation and weapons programmes. It is the world’s largest store of plutonium and is part of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a taxpayer-owned and -funded quango.

Late last year, the Guardian’s Nuclear Leaks investigation revealed a string of IT failings at the state-owned company, dating back several years, as well as radioactive contamination and a toxic workplace culture. The Guardian reported that the site’s systems had been hacked by groups linked to Russia and China, embedding sleeper malware that could lurk and be used to spy or attack systems.

The Guardian investigation revealed that Sellafield’s computer servers were deemed so insecure that the problem was nicknamed “Voldemort”, after the Harry Potter villain, because it was sensitive and dangerous. It also revealed concerns about external contractors being able to plug memory sticks into its system while unsupervised.

In sentencing, Goldspring added that the prosecution did not offer any evidence of a successful cyber-attack, even if it asserted that it was impossible for Sellafield to prove that the nuclear site had not been “effectively attacked”.

As a result, the court could only sentence Sellafield on the basis that there was no evidence of “actual” harm arising from any attacks.

The fine was reduced by one-third as the nuclear site pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. The judge also noted that Sellafield has sought to improve its cybersecurity in recent months. The fine was further reduced as it is ultimately dependent on public funding to operate as a not-for-profit business.

At an earlier hearing in August, Goldspring had said that, while all parties said the failings were very serious, he would need to balance the cost to the taxpayer with the need to deter others in the sector from committing similar offences in deciding the size of the fine.

At that hearing, the court heard that a test had found that it was possible to download and execute malicious files on to Sellafield’s IT networks via a phishing attack “without raising any alarms”, according to Nigel Lawrence KC, representing the ONR.

An external IT company, Commissum, found that any “reasonably skilled hacker or malicious insider” could access sensitive data and insert malware that could then be used to steal information at Sellafield.

Euan Hutton, chief executive of Sellafield, has apologised for the failing and said he “genuinely” believes that “the issues which led to this prosecution are in the past”.

Paul Fyfe, senior director of regulation at the ONR, said: “We welcome Sellafield Ltd’s guilty pleas.

“It has been accepted the company’s ability to comply with certain obligations under the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003 during a period of four years was poor.

“Failings were known about for a considerable length of time but despite our interventions and guidance, Sellafield failed to respond effectively, which left it vulnerable to security breaches and its systems being compromised.”

There have, however, been “positive improvements” at Sellafield during the last year under new leadership, the ONR added…………………………………….. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/02/sellafield-ordered-to-pay-nearly-400000-over-cybersecurity-failings

October 6, 2024 Posted by | Legal, UK | Leave a comment

Royal Navy chief apologises for ‘intolerable’ misogyny in Submarine Service

Ben Key confirms several personnel have been sacked, demoted or disciplined as a result of investigations

Guardian, Alexandra Topping, 5 Oct 24

The head of the Royal Navy has issued an unreserved apology for “intolerable” misogyny in the Submarine Service, after a series of investigations across the navy exposed sexual harassment, bullying and assault of women within its ranks.

First Sea Lord Adm Sir Ben Key said he was “truly sorry” to the women who had suffered “misogyny, bullying and other unacceptable behaviours” while serving their country. “We must be better than this and do better than we have,” he said.

The long-awaited findings from an investigation into sexual harassment and abuse onboard the UK’s nuclear-armed submarines come almost two years after a whistleblower described a “constant campaign of sexual bullying” during her time in the elite Submarine Service.

Three navy personnel have been sacked and a fourth disciplined as a result of the investigation into complaints brought by Sophie Brook, who became one of the first women to be allowed to serve in the Submarine Service in 2014 and made history when she became its first female warfare officer.

In October 2022 she spoke out about sustained and aggressive sexual harassment during her time in the navy, which she said resulted in her self-harming to the extent that on one occasion she required stitches.

Brook’s story, which was first published by the Daily Mail, led to a number of other women, who make up just over 10% of the service, to come forward. The Guardian understands that the navy has carried out 28 investigations into sexual misconduct and unacceptable behaviour in the past two years, resulting in 18 personnel being sacked, four demoted and six disciplined.

Brook said submariners had simulated sex acts on her, left naked pictures of models in her cabin and told her she was on a “crush death rape list” if the submarine got into trouble. She described one crew mate attempting to distract her from her duty on the submarine’s periscope by putting his penis in her pocket and being punched in the kidneys if she took her eyes off the mast………………………….


An investigation into her case included 71 allegations and found “evidence to prove misogyny, bullying or unacceptable behaviour had occurred among a range of ranks”.

A heavily redacted report published on Friday obscures the detailed conclusions for every allegation.

Allegations of misogyny included:……………………………… more https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/04/royal-navy-chief-apologises-for-intolerable-misogyny-in-submarine-service

October 6, 2024 Posted by | Religion and ethics, UK | Leave a comment

Heatwaves caused cuts in France’s nuclear power production.

(Montel) Heatwaves in July and August provoked a 430 GWh cut in nuclear output at four EDF nuclear power plants – double last summer’s amount but slightly below the nine-year median, a French consultancy said on Tuesday.

EDF summer heat cuts double but below 9-year median

Reporting by: Sophie Tetrel, 01 Oct 2024 .
https://montelnews.com/news/70ed2eeb-e06c-4494-abca-42207139db11/edf-heat-cuts-double-from-summer-2023-but-stay-below-9-yr-median

This summer’s cut represented less than 1% of the country’s total atomic generation and was below the 600 GWh median recorded over the 2015-2023 period, said Thibault Laconde, head of analysis consultancy Callendar.

Last year’s climate-related cuts amounted to only 217 GWh due to several reactors being offline for maintenance, he added.

He said the noteworthy aspect of this year was that high temperature levels caused the outages, rather than a lack of water supply due to drought.

Production cuts or stoppages were concentrated between 29 July-3 August and 11-15 August, corresponding with the summer heatwaves, he said.

The cuts amounted to 279 GWh at Golfech, 93 GWh at Bugey, 55 GWh at St Alban and 7 GWh at Tricastin.

However, they were well below the 3 TWh record seen in 2020, Laconde added.

Many French nuclear plants use river water to cool reactors and EDF is required to reduce their output if river temperatures or low flows break legal limits.

October 6, 2024 Posted by | climate change, France | Leave a comment

Ukraine kills nuclear plant’s pro-Russian security chief with car bomb

Politico, October 4, 2024, By Seb Starcevic

The security chief at a Russia-controlled nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine was killed in a car bombing Friday, according to Russian and Ukrainian authorities.

Andriy Korotkyy, head of security at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, died after his car exploded on Friday morning in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Enerhodar.

“A homemade explosive device was planted under the vehicle of the head of the security,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement on Telegram.

“When the man got into the car, it detonated. The victim died in the hospital from his injuries,” the committee said, adding that it was opening a murder investigation.

Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate, also known as GUR, seemingly took responsibility for the blast that killed Korotkyy, calling him a “war criminal” and posting a video of a white SUV exploding on Telegram………………………………………………………………….

Moscow took control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest such facility in Europe, shortly after it invaded Ukraine in early 2022. It is located about 50 kilometers southwest of the city of Zaporizhzhia, home to more than 700,000 people.

There is widespread concern about the safety of the plant, with shelling and drone strikes nearby prompting the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog in August to issue a warning about a nuclear disaster.

Korotkyy is not the first Russian-allied official to die in a car bombing by Ukrainian intelligence. Mikhail Filiponenko, a pro-Russian lawmaker and ex-militiaman in occupied eastern Ukraine, was killed in a similar attack last November, with the GUR promising to punish other high-profile collaborators.  https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-russia-andriy-korotkyy-car-bomb-nuclear-plant-zaporizhzhia/

October 5, 2024 Posted by | incidents, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Russia intercepts drone near Kursk, no damage to nuclear plant, governor says

By Reuters, October 4, 2024

MOSCOW, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Russian forces intercepted a Ukrainian drone on Thursday near the Russian town of Kurchatov but there was no damage to the nearby Kursk nuclear power plant, the regional governor said.

Governor Alexei Smirnov said debris from the drone caused explosions in a building unrelated to the plant.

Several Russian Telegram channels earlier reported the alleged Ukrainian attack, which they said had been thwarted by air defences but had resulted in a fire several miles from the nuclear plant…………………………

Rafael Grossi, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, visited the nuclear plant on Aug. 27 and said it was especially vulnerable to a serious accident because it lacks a protective dome that could shield it from missiles, drones or artillery. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-intercepts-drone-near-kursk-no-damage-nuclear-plant-governor-says-2024-10-03/

October 5, 2024 Posted by | Russia, safety | Leave a comment

UN Nuclear Watchdog Warns on Ukraine Plant After Power Failure

By Patrick Donahue, October 04, 2024, https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/investing/2024/10/04/un-nuclear-watchdog-warns-on-ukraine-plant-after-power-failure/

(Bloomberg) — The United Nations atomic watchdog reinforced warnings on safety risks in Russia’s war on Ukraine after Europe’s largest nuclear power plant lost a back-up power link for 36 hours earlier this week. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine lost supply from its only remaining back-up power line before it was restored late Wednesday. 

“The off-site power situation remains a deep source of concern,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement. The disruption “shows that the situation is not improving in this regard, on the contrary.

The agency and Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly warned that fighting around the plant in Zaporizhzhia poses an urgent risk, particularly to substations that feed the nuclear plant with power needed to keep systems running. 

The plant has lost external power eight times during the conflict, forcing engineers to maintain electricity supplies with diesel generators, the IAEA said. 

An IAEA team found that shelling at a substation in nearby Enerhodar had destroyed a transformer and had damaged a nearby power line earlier in the week, the agency said. The IAEA last month took the unusual step of expanding its monitoring mission to include substations. 

October 5, 2024 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

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