Nuclear plant ‘will decimate fish stocks’
How many fish does a nuclear power station kill? It sounds grisly, but for
the engineers on the Somerset coast building Britain’s first nuclear
power station in a generation, it’s an urgent question.
And for conservationists and local villagers on the banks of the River Severn in
Gloucestershire, it has become such an urgent question they filled a
village hall to debate it.
Proposals for the sea-water cooling system at
Hinkley Point C will see 44 tonnes of fish ingested and killed every year,
according to EDF, the company building it.
“This scheme will decimate
fish stocks,” said Dave Seal, a wildlife campaigner. “We already have
lost 80% of our salmon, and half of the salmon that get into Hinkley’s
cooling system will be destroyed.” But Andrew Cockroft, from Hinkley
Point C, insisted there will be a “very very small impact on fish
populations”.
BBC 9th Oct 2024
Could small modular reactors be used to create nuclear warheads?
The global pursuit of small modular reactor (SMR) technology could feed
into the development of nuclear warheads. SMRs are near the top of the
agenda in the nuclear industry in the UK. At least four companies –
GE-Hitachi, Holtec Britain, Rolls-Royce SMR and Westinghouse Electric Co. –
are competing to have their designs adopted by Great British Nuclear, and
at the same time, the UK’s nuclear weapons stockpile is due to increase.
NCE asked the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) under the
Freedom of Information (FoI) Act if it had made any assessment of the
potential for SMRs to produce material for nuclear weapons. In its
response, DESNZ said that the deployment of SMRs in the UK “will comply
with UK civil nuclear safety and security regulations and international
conventions to ensure that nuclear material intended for use in civil
nuclear deployments is used for that purpose only, and cannot be diverted
or manipulated for use in nuclear weapons”.
However, this statement does
not mean that SMRs cannot be used to create materials for nuclear warheads.
The fissile material that could potentially be used in nuclear weapons is
what is produced by the reactor, not what is used within it. DESNZ went on
to say that it “neither confirms nor denies that it holds information”
on whether assessments have been made on whether material from SMRs could
be used in nuclear weapons. “This is a qualified exemption, and we have
considered the public interest arguments in confirming or denying whether
we hold the requested information,” it continued.
“We acknowledge that
confirming or denying if information is held would provide assurance that
the Department takes the safe and secure deployment of nuclear energy
seriously. “However, confirming or denying that the information relevant
to your request is held may itself disclose the presence of sensitive
nuclear information. Such information could assist in potential criminal
activity if the information was used by malicious parties.
New Civil Engineer 9th Oct 2024
Revealed: EDF’s hidden plans for two huge 30 feet high flood barriers in the heart of East Suffolk’s Heritage Coast 04.10.24
As part of the much-criticised justification for issuing a nuclear site
licence for the controversial Sizewell C nuclear development, the UK’s
chief nuclear regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), has
divulged hitherto hidden plans for two sea walls to be constructed in the
heart of East Suffolk’s Heritage Coast and the Suffolk & Essex Coast &
Heaths National Landscape, designed to provide additional flood protection.
Both walls are proposed to be up to 30 feet high. To the south of the
Sizewell C site, the wall will span the ‘Sizewell Gap’ joining Sizewell
A’s Sea defences to the cliffs south of Sizewell village. The northern
one will span the river in the Sizewell Marshes SSSI, joining Sizewell
C’s northern sea defences with higher ground inland at Goose Hill and
will be at least 100 metres in length but potentially much longer.
The ONR claims that Sizewell C Ltd, the site’s developer, is ‘committed’ to
installing these structures ‘should climate change be worse than is
reasonably foreseeable’, despite there being no mention of them in
EDF’s application for the Development Consent Order (DCO) for Sizewell C.
Therefore, they were absent from the plans approved by the Secretary of
State in July 2022 after he had overturned the Planning Inspectors’
recommendation for refusal.
TASC 4th Oct 2024
Rolls-Royce suffers £78m loss on mini-nukes amid UK rollout delays
Company moves ahead with Czech-backed project as Britain’s selection process for
SMR technologies drags on. Rolls-Royce’s mini nuclear reactor business has
posted a £78m loss as it awaits the outcome of a delayed UK tender
competition.
The company, which is developing a small modular reactor (SMR)
design that it hopes to export globally, saw losses in 2023 grow from £61m
the previous year, new accounts show. It came as the company ramped up
spending on research and development from £78m to £115m.
It made no revenue
and employed some 590 staff. Losses also grew as Rolls – along with three
rivals – continued to wait for a decision by the UK Government on which SMR
technologies it would back following a series of delays. The competition
was first announced by George Osborne, the former Conservative chancellor,
in 2015 but is still yet to reach a conclusion. Tufan Erginbilgiç, chief
executive of the Rolls-Royce group, has urged ministers to press ahead as
quickly as possible, saying he expects orders from around the world to
begin flowing in if Rolls emerges as a winner.
Telegraph 9th Oct 2024
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/09/rolls-royces-mini-nukes-arm-suffers-loss-amid-delay/
EDF bosses grilled over River Severn salt marsh plans at ‘prickly’ meeting
Arlingham peninsula salt marsh proposal questioned at parish council meeting with one person turning up dressed as a hedgehog
News. Will Luker, Community Reporter, 8 Oct 24,
https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/edf-bosses-grilled-over-river-9615208
Plans for salt marshes along the River Severn in Gloucestershire linked to a new nuclear power station were met with disbelief at a packed meeting last night (Monday October 7). EDF bosses were quizzed at Arlingham Parish Council about their environmental improvement plans which are linked to the new Hinkley C site in Somerset.
Prior to the meeting, the energy firm has been in touch with landowners about the idea of creating salt marshes along the river. EDF made a presentation which outlined how important the nuclear power plant is and they identified four sites for saltmarshes.
They outlined Kingston Seymour in Somerset, Littleton Upon Severn in South Gloucestershire, Rodley near Westbury-on-Severn and Arlingham as the four areas they are interested in.
‘Russia doesn’t want to use nuclear weapons’: The view from wartime Moscow
Putin is revising Russia’s nuclear doctrine at a critical juncture in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Aljazeera, By Niko Vorobyov, 7 Oct 2024
Russia, which holds the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear warheads, has unveiled its new nuclear doctrine, lowering its threshold for nuclear engagement while continuing its invasion of Ukraine.
The revised rules, outlined by President Vladimir Putin, say that an attack on Russia with “participation or support of a nuclear power” will be seen as their “joint attack on the Russian Federation”, seemingly responding to the possibility that Ukraine could strike targets deep within Russian territory using long-range weapons supplied by Western allies.
The United States, Ukraine’s most important ally, is the world’s second-largest nuclear power, with 5,224 warheads compared to Russia’s 5,889.
Alexey Malinin, the Moscow-based founder of the Center for International Interaction and Cooperation, told Al Jazeera that from the Russian perspective, a reassessment of nuclear capabilities was necessary in the face of encirclement by hostile powers.
But as panic sets in across some Western nations, Russian experts say Moscow does not want to tap into its arsenal.
“Russia does not want to use nuclear weapons, understanding the seriousness of the consequences of a conflict with the use of such weapons,” he said.
“However, at present, our country is forced to respond to the growing threats directed against us. The West continues to pump Ukraine with weapons, including F-16 fighters and long-range missiles like [US-made] ATACMS. Moreover, NATO is developing its infrastructure around the borders of Russia: new units are being created in Finland.”
He claimed that although Russia is trying to avoid the use of nuclear weapons, Moscow is “forced to demonstrate” that it is ready to defend “integrity and sovereignty” by any possible means”.
However, Kremlin critics worry that Putin is pushing closer towards, if not a nuclear apocalypse, then at least a regional humanitarian disaster.
“The USSR said that it would never strike first … Now Putin says that he will strike whenever he wants,” exiled politician Leonid Gozman wrote in the Novaya Gazeta newspaper…………………………..
During the Cold War, both Washington and Moscow operated on the principle of mutually assured destruction, the understanding that a nuclear strike from one side would prompt a response in kind, leading to an all-out atomic altercation and mass devastation on a global scale.
However, Putin is warning that Russia would use nuclear weapons in response to a “critical threat to our sovereignty” – referring to not necessarily a nuclear assault, but also a conventional one.
Alexandra, an everyday Russian in Moscow who works as an architect, told Al Jazeera: “I’m scared, but I don’t understand much of what’s going on.”
The Russian government and its supporters believe they are sending a strong signal to Ukraine’s Western allies, warning against interfering in the conflict.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned the UN that should the West allow Ukraine to strike further into Russia, it will be dragging itself into a “suicidal escapade”.
“Whether or not they will provide the permission for Ukraine for long-range weapons, then we will see what their understanding was of what they heard,” he said recently.
Washington has recently greenlit additional aid for Ukraine, but permission to use US-supplied weapons does not yet go beyond what was previously agreed.
Writing on Telegram, the hawkish former President Dmitry Medvedev stated the new doctrine “could cool the passions of those opponents who have not yet lost their sense of self-preservation.”…………
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/7/russia-doesnt-want-to-use-nuclear-weapons-the-view-from-wartime-moscow
At last – one corporate newsmedia admits there is no “cloud” – only dirty great steel structures
Stopping the great AI energy squeeze will need more than data centres
Amazon Web Services is currently rolling out €30bn of investments in
Europe amid a boom in artificial intelligence, according to Neil Morris,
its Irish head. But none of that bonanza is going to Ireland, because
Amazon officials worry about future energy constraints.
Indeed, there are reports that the company has already been rerouting some cloud activity
because of this. And while the Irish government has pledged to expand the
grid, mostly via wind farms, this is not happening fast enough to meet
demand. The water infrastructure is creaking too. Yes, you read that right:
an (in)famously wet and windy country is struggling to sustain tech with
water and wind power. There are at least four sobering lessons here. First,
this saga shows that our popular discourse around tech innovation is, at
best, limited and, at worst, delusional.
More specifically, in modern
culture we tend to talk about the internet and AI as if it they were a
purely disembodied thing (like a “cloud”). As a consequence,
politicians and voters often overlook the unglamorous physical
infrastructure that makes this “thing” work, such as data centres,
power lines and undersea cables.
But this oft-ignored hardware is essential
to the operation of our modern digital economy, and we urgently need to pay
it more respect and attention. Second, we need to realise this
infrastructure is also increasingly under strain. In recent years the
energy consumption of data centres has been fairly stable, because rising
levels of internet usage were offset by rising energy efficiency.
However, this is now changing fast: AI queries use around 10 times more energy than
existing search engines. Thus the electricity consumption of data centres
will at least double by 2026, according to the International Energy Agency
— and in the US they are expected to consume nine per cent of all
electricity by 2030. In Ireland the usage has already exploded to over a
fifth of the grid — more than households.
FT 4th Oct 2024,
https://www-ft-com.ezphost.dur.ac.uk/content/4fd66b27-f51b-4029-af3a-f5521368046f
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
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
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.
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/
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
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
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/
1 This Month
22 June – Virtual Event –Climate Change: New Data, New Debate
Monday, June 22, 2026 2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. CT
YouTube. Register here
Protect Sazan Island from the Trump family! https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/protect_sazan_island_from_the_trump_family_loc/?bqFCVab&v=174511&cl=22707147157&_checksum=5e9dde668860e8231c33699735e16a1fbf22ab2cb01da50c999fe8732b9775ef&utm_source=email&utm_medium=blast_email&utm_campaign=174511
25 June- THE PUKE ON NUKES
Thursday, June 25, 2026
7pm Central Time (8pm ET, 6pm MT, 5pm PT) UTC – 5
From NRC & DOE Deregulation to Techno-Fascist Billionaires Going Nuclear, Plus a Few Songs from Atomic Cabaret REGISTER
26 June – Radiation Trainwreck at the NRC / Join the Protect Better Campaign – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4ZlZ5_qLSHGiLSCg8FF6Bg#/registration
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
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