Anti-nuclear protesters at Faslane charged after blocking entrance
Anti-nuclear protesters blocked the entrance of a naval base in Helensburgh
on Wednesday for several hours. Three activists were arrested and charged
with breach of the peace on August 9 at HMNB Clyde, commonly known as
Faslane. A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “We can confirm that three
individuals were arrested yesterday outside of HMNB Clyde and charged with
breach of the peace. “At no time did the individuals gain entry to the
site and the safety and security of the Naval Base and our vessels were not
compromised.
STV 10th Aug 2023
Company involved in decommissioning of the Dounreay nuclear plant has gone into administration
A COMPANY, which was involved in the decommissioning of the Dounreay
nuclear plant, has gone into administration. James Fisher Nuclear (JFN) had
a base at Bower in premises previously occupied by Nicolson Engineering and
was part of Nuclear Decommissioning Ltd (NDL) – a joint venture which was
set up to decommission the Caithness site and others throughout the UK. JFN
was acquired by Myneration, a wholly-owned investment vehicle of Rcapital
Partners, from Cumbria-based James Fisher & Sons in March. It is based in
Preston, Lancashire.
John O’Groat Journal 10th Aug 2023
Sweden criticised over plan to build at least 10 new nuclear reactors
Environmental experts say proposals are too expensive and will come too late to meet energy needs
Miranda Bryant in Stockholm, Fri 11 Aug 2023 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/10/sweden-criticised-over-plan-to-build-at-least-10-new-nuclear-reactors
Environmental experts have criticised the Swedish government’s plan to build at least 10 nuclear reactors in the next 20 years, more than doubling the current number, saying it will be too expensive and will come too late to meet energy needs.
The climate minister, Romina Pourmokhtari, announced on Wednesday that in order to meet its climate goals Sweden needed to double electricity production in the next two decades.
The plan for 10 new reactors would mark a dramatic change from the country’s current capacity for nuclear power, with six reactors in operation in Forsmark, Oskarshamn and Ringhals accounting for about 30% of its electricity production.
Lars J Nilsson, a professor at Lund University and a member of the European climate advisory board, said he disputed the government’s claim that the new reactors were needed and dismissed the move as “symbolic”.
“You cannot certainly say that we need 10 new reactors. Right now the expansion of electricity production in Sweden is through wind power,” he told the Guardian. “I don’t expect any new nuclear power in Sweden, unless the government provides quite far-reaching guarantees similar to what you have at Hinkley Point [in the UK].”
The move was more about posturing than action, he said, claiming the government wanted to show it was taking action on meeting its climate goals. “I see it more as symbolic than actually creating any real change.”
If the reactors were built the costs were likely to fall heavily on the Swedish taxpayer, said Nilsson. Having been a hotly debated issue in the past, this latest announcement had had a “lukewarm response”.
Sweden’s reputation as a green leader on the global stage was shifting, he said. “Sweden will partly lose that profile. Now the momentum and progressiveness is coming from the EU and Brussels.”
The EU’s Fit for 55 plan legally requires member states to reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and become “climate neutral” by 2050.
Sweden’s Moderates agreed when they formed a coalition government with the Christian Democrats, Liberals and the far-right Sweden Democrats that more reactors would be permitted and that investments in nuclear power would be made profitable through credit guarantees and changes to pricing.
This week was the first time the government had given an anticipated number of new reactors.skip past newsletter promotion
Welsh groups call on the National Eisteddfod to reject funding from USA nuclear and arms company Westinghouse
The National Eisteddfod receives sponsorship money for the Science Pavilion
from nuclear power and arms company Westinghouse from the United States.
Westinghouse recently announced that they are setting up an office at
M-Sparc, Gaerwen, Ynys Môn to develop nuclear decomissioning skills.
In 2017, Toshiba Westinghouse went bankrupt after having to abandon building
new nuclear reactors at the V.C.Summer site in South Carolina 40% into
construction.
Six directors were charged with financial fraud in the U.S.
Federal Court. The Westinghouse Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility on a
secretive corner of their site produce radioactive tritium gas. This
tritium is then sent to the Savannah River site in South Carolina where it
is prepared to be inserted in all U.S. nuclear weapons.
CADNO, CND Cymru, Cymdeithas y Cymod, Cymdeithas yr Iaith and PAWB calls on the National Eisteddfod to reject any sponsorship from Westinghouse in future
Eisteddfodau from Westinghouse due to their connection to terrifying arms
of mass destruction.
PAWB 10th Aug 2023
Hinkley Point C unrest continues as steel erectors down tools
An unofficial one-day stoppage of work took place yesterday, as the new
nuclear power station site Hinkley Point C continues to be embroiled in
labour disputes and unrest. Steel erectors working for contractor William
Hare downed tools in response to existing shift rotation patterns on the
site, wanting to change the current 11/3 and 10/4 rotation to a regular
10/4 arrangement. The unrest follows a spate of similar walkouts at Hinkley
Point C. On the supply side, 150 platers, welders and sheet metal workers
at Darchem Engineering in Stockton-Upon-Tees (a Hinkley Point C supplier)
secured a pay boost worth up to 13% after seven weeks of walk-out action.
PBC Today 9th Aug 2023
Ukrainian Minister Warns Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant ‘One Step Away’ From Blackout
Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko has appealed to the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about the loss of the main power
line supplying electricity to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in
southern
Ukraine. Halushchenko said on Ukrainian television on August 10
that the nuclear plant is currently being supplied with power from a backup
line. “This is the only external power line left. And such a situation is
one step away from the blackout of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant —
that is, the final loss of external power supply,”
Halushchenko said. In
the event of a blackout, diesel generators would be connected to meet the
needs of the station, but they may be damaged by Russian shelling, which
would stop the cooling of the station and set off a nuclear meltdown,
Halushchenko said. Ukraine’s nuclear authority, Enerhoatom, warned earlier
on August 10 that the Russian-occupied nuclear plant is on the verge of a
blackout because power was cut from the main high-voltage line.
Radio Free Europe 10th Aug 2023
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-zaporizhzhya-nuclear-plant-risk-blackout/32541960.html
Redundancies made as loss-making nuclear services firm sold for just £3 enters administration
The business employed hundreds of people
Jon Robinson,North West Business Editor, 9 AUG 2023
A loss-making nuclear decommissioning services firm that was sold earlier this year for just £3 has entered administration.
JFN Limited was acquired by UK private equity firm Rcapital from Cumbria-based James Fisher & Sons in March.
UK government backs Sizewell C nuclear, but their target investors are backing away.
Sizewell C was dealt another blow this weekend when The People’s Pension,
which has six million members, said it has no plans to back the plant. I
In a letter seen by The Mail on Sunday, the group said: ‘Direct investment into
nuclear power infrastructure projects is not part of The People’s Pension
investment strategy and we will not be investing directly into Sizewell C.’
Alison Downes of the Stop Sizewell C campaign group said: ‘The Government
may be throwing money at Sizewell C, but their target investors are rapidly
backing away. The People’s Pension has seen the writing on the wall and
won’t let their savers anywhere near this expensive, risky project.’
This is Money (at the end) 6th Aug 2023
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-12376007/Rolls-Royce-win-nuclear-power-race.html
Ukraine biggest recipient of US aid since WWII – Washington Post
7 Aug, 2023 https://www.rt.com/news/580960-us-ukraine-military-aid/
Washington has contributed more than $60 billion to Kiev since the beginning of its conflict with Russia, estimates suggest
The United States has committed in excess of $60 billion in aid to Ukraine since the beginning of Moscow’s military operation last year, according to the Washington Post.
A recent analysis has shown that various US aid packages to Kiev have included $43 billion in direct military aid, making it the US’ biggest investment in a country since World War II, according to the paper.
“These are off-the-charts numbers,” Michael O’Hanlon of the think tank Brookings Institution told the WP
He added that Washington’s financial assistance to Ukraine could only be historically compared to the Marshall Plan – a US foreign aid package issued to Western Europe after the end of World War II. Adjusted for inflation, that initiative funded war recovery efforts to the tune of around $150 billion over three years.
The paper notes that Washington’s aid to Ukraine vastly surpasses the financial support issued to some of the US’ more traditional foreign partners, such as Israel, which was sent $8.6 billion in 2022 and 2023, and the $6.2 billion that was sent to Egypt and Jordan combined during the same period. It also significantly eclipses US financial support for Taiwan.
The US Department of Defense has an annual budget of $1.77 trillion, according to government data.
Some signs have shown that public support in the US for continued military assistance is weakening as the conflict enters its 18th month. Research in June found that 44% of Republicans or right-leaning independents believed that Joe Biden’s administration was spending too much on Ukraine aid.
However, O’Hanlon pointed out that the US could continue to fund Ukraine indefinitely. “We could do it forever,” he said. “It’s not economically unsustainable. But it’s probably politically unsustainable.”
Moscow has frequently cited Western support for Ukraine as a primary factor in prolonging the conflict. Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the US, responded to a renewed military package from the US to Ukraine last month by saying it is “beyond morality and common sense.” He claimed that while Washington seeks to portray itself as Kiev’s “selfless benefactor,” in practice it only strives for “more human suffering and deaths.”
Russian officials have repeatedly warned that shipments of heavy weapons and other military aid to Ukraine make NATO members de facto direct participants in Moscow’s conflict with Kiev. Moscow also insisted that Western support would not change the course of the outcome.
Hinkley nuclear site workers win after unofficial walkouts
Hinkley nuclear site workers win after unofficial walkouts. “It’s a
rank and file thing, it’s not the unions that are pushing for it,” said
one Hinkley worker. Rank and file workers in construction are fighting
significant battles on major projects this summer—and winning. Workers at
Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant construction site in Somerset have
launched effective, and unofficial, resistance as bosses prepare to bring
in thousands of extra workers.
Socialist Worker 8th Aug 2023 https://socialistworker.co.uk/news/hinkley-nuclear-site-workers-win-after-unofficial-walkouts/
Sweden to clear obstacles for new nuclear reactors
ZAWYA, August 9, 2023
ALTERNATIVE ENERGYSWEDENEUROPENUCLEAR
Sweden’s government said Wednesday it would remove limits on the number of nuclear reactors allowed in Sweden and simplify the permit process for new reactors.
“The climate transition requires a doubling of the electricity production in the coming 20 years,” Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari told a press conference.
She added that the government believed that new nuclear power equalling 10 conventional reactors would need to go into service in the 2030s and 2040s.
Pourmokhtari said the government was therefore moving forward with proposed legislation that would remove a ceiling of maximum 10 reactors in the country and a requirement that new reactors be built in the same locations as existing ones.
The climate minister said these limitations were “in the way of a modern view of nuclear power,” adding they would also simplify the process for building new ones.
Pourmokhtari said a bill had been prepared to be considered by parliament during the autumn.
The Scandinavian country voted in a 1980 non-binding referendum to phase out nuclear power.
Since then, Sweden has shut down six of its 12 reactors and the remaining ones, at three nuclear power plants, generate about 30 percent of the electricity used in the country today…………………………………
The reactors were opened in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of them have lifespans of around 40 years and are in need of modernisation.
Sweden’s Social Democrats — which led the previous government — have traditionally been opposed to building new reactors, while the centre-right has been in favour.
Immediately after coming to power in late 2022, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing coalition government announced it was seeking to build new reactors.
It has also announced a change to Sweden’s energy policy, changing its goal of 100 percent “renewable” energy to 100 percent “fossil-free” energy. https://www.zawya.com/en/world/uk-and-europe/sweden-to-clear-obstacles-for-new-nuclear-reactors-fymh51z0—
Fish Hell – impacts of sea water nuclear cooling systems
12 July 2023 https://www.banng.info/news/regional-life/fish-hell/
Varrie Blowers looks at the devastating impacts of sea water cooling systems on the marine environment in the July 2023 edition of Regional Life
What amounts to a ‘fish hell’ is being proposed at the Hinkley Point C (HPC) new nuclear power station. This provides an indication of what might happen on the Blackwater if a new nuclear station or so-called Small Modular Reactors were ever built here.
In 2019, conservation groups predicted that the gigantic twin cooling water intake tunnels at HPC would kill up to 250,000 fish a day. Eels, small fish and the fry of many species, such as salmon, whiting and cod, and microorganisms will be sucked into the cooling system through the 5mm mesh installed to prevent larger fish being swallowed up into this fish hell, to be discharged in heated water after hideous suffering. If this seems outrageous, things may be about to get worse.
To gain Planning Permission HPC’s developer, Electricité de France (EDF), was required to instal Acoustic Fish Deterrents (AFDs) in the intake pipes to give some warning to fish to keep away. EDF does not now want to instal these, most likely for financial reasons. Without AFDs, Stop Hinkley! argues that up to 500,000 fish a day will be sucked into the cooling water intakes. That suggests 11 billion fish and other marine life will be destroyed in the c.60 years life of the station.
Conditions may be different in the Bradwell B context but any nuclear development that requires cooling water from the estuary would severely affect marine life. Affected, too, would be the many wildfowl and migratory birds that depend on fish and other marine life for food in estuaries like the Severn and Blackwater, which support important and protected habitats.
In other sobering news, an ‘unheard of’ heatwave in our coastal waters has been reported. Before you jump into the sea, consider the impacts of warmer water on our marine life. If the heatwave continues through the summer, experts believe ‘we could see the mass mortality of kelp, seagrass, fish and oysters’ (Guardian, 20 June).
Ukrainian counteroffensive ‘highly unlikely’ to succeed, US officials tell CNN
https://www.rt.com/russia/581006-ukraine-counteroffensive-unlikely-success/ 8 Aug 23
Reports from the battlefield have become increasingly “sobering,” one US Congressman has told the network
Kiev’s Western backers are losing faith in the ability of the Ukrainian military to penetrate Russian defenses and turn the tide of the conflict, US and other Western officials told CNN on Tuesday.
“[The Ukrainians are] still going to see, for the next couple of weeks, if there is a chance of making some progress. But for them to really make progress that would change the balance of this conflict, I think, it’s extremely, highly unlikely,” an unnamed “senior Western diplomat” told the American broadcaster.
Illinois Representative Mike Quigley, a Democrat who recently met with US commanders in Europe, described their briefings as “sobering.”
“We’re reminded of the challenges [the Ukrainians] face,” he said, adding that “This is the most difficult time of the war.”
Ukraine launched its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces in early June, assaulting multiple points along the frontline from Zaporozhye to Donetsk regions. However, the Russian military had spent several months preparing a dense and multi-layered network of minefields, trenches, and fortifications, which the Ukrainian side has thus far failed to overcome.
Advancing through minefields without air support, Ukraine’s Western-trained and NATO-equipped units have suffered horrendous casualties, losing 43,000 troops and 4,900 pieces of heavy weaponry in just over two months, according to the most recent figures from the Russian Defense Ministry.
“[The] Russians have a number of defensive lines and [Ukrainian forces] haven’t really gone through the first line,” another anonymous Western diplomat told CNN. “Even if they would keep on fighting for the next several weeks, if they haven’t been able to make more breakthroughs throughout these last seven, eight weeks, what is the likelihood that they will suddenly, with more depleted forces, make them?”
Despite the best efforts of Ukraine’s armed forces chief, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, to convince the US that “the initiative is on our side,” officials told CNN that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky could soon be pushed to sue for peace if progress remains stalled.
A senior US military official predicted that Kiev would rely more and more on piecemeal strikes within Russia – like the recent drone attacks on Moscow – to compensate for its shortcomings on the battlefield. The Kremlin has drawn similar conclusions from these attacks, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov declaring last week that Kiev was launching “terrorist strikes” as “acts of desperation” to distract from its failing counteroffensive.
Dounreay inspectors raise further red flag about sodium storage
John O’Groat Journal, By Iain Grant, 5 Aug 23
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has issued an enforcement letter to Magnox Ltd after recording a breach of its nuclear site licence.
Sodium was used to cool the prototype fast reactor (PFR) whose closure in 1994 sounded the death knell for the experimental power plant.
Since its removal from the redundant plant, some of the highly volatile liquid metal has been stored in drums.
ONR’s latest concern follows an inspection at the end of April.
The agency has concluded that the storage arrangements do not comply with good practice. Its latest report states: “The dutyholder has failed to safely protect the drums against degradation via air and moisture ingress; large stocks of the inventory are not available for inspection due to the way in which it has been stored; and a number of the storage vessels of the material are not identified on the site maintenance system.
ONR found that Magnox – a wholly owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority – had breached the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and its nuclear site licence.
It followed up its enforcement letter with a ‘holding-to-account’ meeting on site in June with Magnox directors.
According to ONS, this was arranged to ‘further secure a commitment to return to compliance.”
In June, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) had fired off a warning letter about a minute leak of radioactive tritium from a sodium drum stored at the PFR in November last year…………………………………………….. https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/dounreay-inspectors-raise-further-red-flag-about-sodium-stor-322156/
Zelensky fears peace pressure from West – NYT
6 Aug 23 https://www.rt.com/news/580879-zelensky-fears-western-pressure-for-peace-talks/—
The Ukrainian president has reportedly told his diplomats that benefactors may push for a negotiated truce with Russia
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is reportedly worried that Western nations may ramp up pressure to negotiate a peace agreement with Russia, ending a bloody conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Kiev’s troops in just the past two months.
“As furious battles raged across the front lines of Europe’s bloodiest war in decades, Mr. Zelensky told his ambassadors on Wednesday that things would grow even more difficult as pressure was likely to build in the coming months to find a negotiated path to peace,” the New York Times reported on Saturday.
The Ukrainian president described Wednesday’s gathering in Kiev with diplomats as an “emergency strategy session” heading into this weekend’s Ukraine peace summit in Saudi Arabia, the newspaper said. “The meeting is the starting point of what is expected to be a major Ukrainian diplomatic push in the coming months to try to undercut Russia.”
Zelensky told his ambassadors that they must use every available tool – “official and unofficial, institutional and media, cultural diplomacy and the power of ordinary human sincerity” – to convince both allies and neutral nations that “the only road to a lasting peace is complete Russian defeat,” according to the report.
However, many of the nations attending the summit in Saudi Arabia have resisted US pressure to take sides in the crisis, seeing the conflict as a “contest between superpowers” in which they want no part. “This is not only a conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” said Celso Amorim, an adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Speaking remotely on Saturday at the Saudi-hosted summit, he added: “This is also a chapter in the longstanding rivalry between Russia and the West.”
Russian officials have argued that Kiev’s Western backers are only prolonging the bloodshed in Ukraine by continuing to send billions of dollars’ worth of weapons to the former Soviet republic. More than 43,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed since Kiev began a counteroffensive in the Donbass region in early June, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were reportedly near a peace deal at talks hosted by Türkiyein March 2022, a little more than a month after the conflict began. “After we pulled troops back from Kiev, as we promised,” Ukrainian leaders “threw it all away, into the garbage dump of history,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with African leaders in July.
1 This Month
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
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