Ukraine accused of targeting possible route of nuclear inspectors
Zelensky cannot risk experts assessing the damage and announcing the cause?
Rt.com, 30 Aug 22, Kiev’s forces have hit the Zaporozhye plant’s resort house where the delegation could stay, a local council member has claimed.
Ukrainian forces are shelling a route that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection mission could take to reach the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant this week, local authorities claimed on Tuesday.
Zaporozhye Region council member Vladimir Rogov told RIA Novosti that “Ukrainian nationalists are targeting locations that could be visited by the IAEA mission in Energodar,” where the plant is located. He added that “[Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky’s regime also started a military operation in the south of the country,” which raises concerns for the safety of the IAEA mission.
……………………On Monday, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi announced that an expert group would visit the NPP this week to assess the damage sustained by the plant and check the safety and security systems. Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant has been under Russian control since March.
Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of attacking the plant, while warning that the shelling could trigger a disaster that would eclipse the Chernobyl incident. Kiev insists, however, that Russian forces are shelling the site while stationing military hardware there.
On Sunday night, Ukrainian forces shelled Energodar, the city where the plant is located, local officials said. They claimed that the attack, which injured nine people and deliberately hit a number of residential houses, was meant to torpedo the upcoming IAEA mission. “This provocation by Kiev-controlled militants is aimed at derailing the visit of the IAEA chief to the Zaporozhye NPP,” they said at the time………. https://www.rt.com/russia/561775-ukraine-shelling-un-iaea-zaporozhye-nuclear/
Pentagon admits ‘likelihood’ of Ukrainian shelling near nuclear plant
the biggest danger is not a reactor meltdown, but Ukrainian artillery striking the open-air spent fuel storage, which would result in a radioactive release
US officials responded to questions about Kiev’s forces targeting Zaporozhye,
https://www.rt.com/russia/561769-pentagon-ukraine-nuclear-shelling 30 Aug 22,
A senior US military official admitted on Monday that Ukrainian forces may have struck the area around the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, but insisted that this was only in response to Russian fire allegedly coming from the area. Earlier in the day, the Russian authorities said a Ukrainian artillery shell damaged the roof of the building storing reactor fuel.
“What I know for sure is that the Russians are firing from around the plant,” the unnamed official told reporters during a background briefing at the Pentagon. “I also know that there are rounds that have impacted near the plant.”
The official said it was “hard to explain, I guess” how the US was monitoring the situation around the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest.
“And I don’t want to say that the Ukrainians haven’t fired in that vicinity either because I think there’s probably a likelihood that they have, but in good – in a number of cases, it’s returning fire of the Russians who are firing from those locations,” he said.
Russian forces established control of the Zaporozhye NPP in early March. National guard and nuclear protection specialists secured the site while the Ukrainian staff continued to operate without hindrance. The government in Kiev claims that Russian forces turned the plant into a military base from which they were attacking Ukrainian targets, but also that Russian troops were shelling themselves in a false-flag ploy to make Ukraine look bad.
The US official claimed “the Ukrainians are very aware of the potential impacts of striking the nuclear power plant and they’re going out of their way not to do that.”
Moscow has provided evidence to the UN of repeated Ukrainian attacks on the Zaporozhye NPP and the nearby town of Energodar since July, using kamikaze drones and even US-supplied artillery. The latest attack came on Monday, when a round breached the roof of a building where fresh reactor fuel was being stored, a member of the local administration said.
On Sunday, a drone was shot down over the plant, while Ukrainian artillery strikes on Energodar injured nine civilian residents.
Kiev has demanded that Russia hand the Zaporozhye NPP back over to Ukrainian control, or at least demilitarize a 30-kilometer area around it. On Monday, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also urged demilitarization, as well as a shutdown of the reactors. The US has previously echoed Kiev’s accusations that Moscow wants to “steal Ukraine’s electricity” by shutting down the plant or disconnecting it from the Ukrainian grid.
According to Russian nuclear experts, the biggest danger is not a reactor meltdown, but Ukrainian artillery striking the open-air spent fuel storage, which would result in a radioactive release.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi is personally leading the mission that is supposed to visit the plant this week.
Boris Johnson locking the next Prime Minister into unsustainable nuclear debt
So long and thanks for all the nukes: Boris Johnson is marking his last week in No 10 by signing a £30 billion cheque that makes some allies of Liz Truss feel distinctly queasy.
With just five days until his successor takes office, this morning’s Times reveals that the prime minister is pressing ahead with plans to approve the Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk.
It’s a decision some Truss allies would rather he had left to the next inhabitant of No 10. Earlier this month Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury set for a senior role in the next cabinet, warned in a leaked letter that the costs of the project were “sufficient to materially affect spending and fiscal choices for an incoming government,
especially in the context of wider pressures on the public finances”. But Johnson looks set to bind the next PM’s hands anyway.
Times 31st Aug 2022
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nuclear-option-spells-fallout-for-johnsons-successor-b68c9gh5w
Boris Johnson’s parting gift – a £30 billion nuclear debt.
Boris Johnson is poised to give approval this week for a nuclear power station costing up to £30 billion as ministers close in on a deal to reopen Britain’s biggest gas storage facility. The prime minister is preparing to announce an in-principle agreement to offer funding to the Sizewell C reactor in Suffolk before he leaves office, despite concerns about creating a multibillion-pound spending commitment for Liz Truss, the frontrunner to succeed him.
Johnson acknowledged yesterday that “it is going to be tough through to next year” because of the rising energy bills but said his successor would “provide a further package of support for helping people with the cost of energy”.
Johnson is thought to have privately decided to go ahead with Sizewell C earlier in the summer, but said yesterday that a public announcement was imminent. “We are going to have a long-term British energy security strategy, and we are putting in more nuclear — you’re going to be hearing more about that later this week,” he said on a visit to Dorset.
Johnson also promised “absolutely shedloads of wind
power” as he sought to pin the blame for high gas prices on Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine. “Be in absolutely no doubt that the gas price is
being driven by what Putin did in Ukraine,” he said. “I’m not going to
shrink from this — it is going to be tough in the months to come, it’s
going to be tough through to next year, and that’s because of Putin’s war
in Ukraine. But we’re going to get through it.” Kwarteng is also said to
be in the final stages of agreeing a deal with Centrica to reopen the Rough
gas storage facility under the North Sea, in an about-turn that could leave
taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of pounds if the company
does not make as much as expected.
Times 31st Aug 2022
Satellite images show damage to buildings right next to Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactors
Satellite images show damage to Ukraine nuclear plant buildings right next
to reactor. Satellite images show armoured personnel carriers stationed
near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s reactors.
Independent 30th Aug 2022
Shelling ‘leaves HOLES in roof of Russian-occupied nuclear power plant’:
Images reveal damage at Zaporizhzhia site – with Putin’s forces blaming
Ukrainian artillery for potential disaster.
Daily Mail 30th Aug 2022
Boris Johnson unveils £1.45billion nuclear submarine
Boris Johnson’s farewell tour continues today as the outgoing Prime
Minister attends the unveiling of Britain’s latest nuclear submarine. The
£1.45billion nuke-powered HMS Anson – part of the long-delayed and
over-budget Astute-class programme – took nine-and-a-half years to build.
Mirror 31st Aug 2022
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-visit-submarine-yard-27869239
Gas prices and nuclear outages put European grid at breaking point.
Prices in France and Germany and across Europe have again jumped to unprecedented levels thanks to soaring cost of gas and massive nuclear shortfalls.
Gas prices and nuclear outages put European grid at breaking point — RenewEconomy 1 Sept 22.
The month of August has been confirmed as the most expensive month ever for electricity in Europe, as markets were buffeted by the soaring cost of gas and outages that have taken up to two third’s of France’s nuclear capacity offline at time.
The twin impact of the soaring gas price – largely caused by the Russia invasion but exacerbated by French nuclear outages and reduced output from hydro power due to water shortages – has also prompted the EU to find new ways to shield the market from the impact of soaring fossil fuel prices.
According to analysts Rystad Energy, Italy – heavily dependent on imports from France’s nuclear fleet which have now all but stopped – became the first market to record a monthly average spot price above €500 per megawatt hour, with an average price of €547.
France came close to also breaking the €500 barrier, averaging €492, while Germany followed at €465 and the UK came in at €438.
And it is not going to get any better any time soon. In the past week, the average price surged to more than €600/MWh in the Italy, France and the UK, and on Monday France recorded a new record daily average price of €744/MWh as its nuclear output plumbed to new lows due to planned and unplanned outages.
In the coming winter, the picture looks even more bleak…………………….
the most expensive generator sets the price for the whole market, and for each unit of electricity delivered.
This has already crippled the France’s EdF, majority owned by the state, which is spending an estimated €40 billion buying expensive electricity on market to make up for the staggering shortfalls in production from its nuclear fleet.
France has gone from being a major and often the biggest exporter of electricity to the biggest importer, which is causing pressure on prices all over the continent as it sucks in much needed supply from other countries…………………… more https://reneweconomy.com.au/gas-prices-and-nuclear-outages-put-european-grid-at-breaking-point/
European Union providing Ukraine with over 5 million doses of potassium iodide tablets
The EU is giving more than five million anti-radiation tablets to Ukraine,
as fears grow of an accident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. The
Zaporizhzhia plant is under Russian occupation and has recently come under
fire, with both sides blaming each other for the attacks.
In some areas, officials are already handing out the pills, which can stop the body
absorbing radioactive iodine. Residents have been told only to take it if a
radiation leak is confirmed. So far, only people living within 50km (30
miles) of the power plant are being offered the potassium iodide tablets,
but the European Union is providing Ukraine with more than five million
doses which would allow for much wider distribution.
BBC 30th Aug 2022
Compulsory purchase orders of land for Sizewell C nuclear project
The majority of the compulsory purchase orders necessary for Sizewell C
have already been agreed, a spokesman has said. As part of the nuclear
power project, land is being purchased to build link roads, railways,
sports pitches and park and ride terminals. The full details of all the
properties affected is set out in a 1,000-page planning document.
East Anglian Daily Times 30th Aug 2022
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/business/sizewell-c-compulsory-purchase-orders-suffolk-9236698
You can’t trust Liz Truss (oil and gas devotee) on energy policy for Britain
a frenzied building of eye-wateringly expensive new nuclear power plants.
the ramping up of nuclear power will add billions to UK consumers’ bills
Liz Truss’s energy plans will be disastrous for our bills and the planet.
Truss will oversee the greatest transfer of wealth in history, from UK
families to oil and gas executives she used to work for.
The celebratory champagne corks must have popped in the headquarters of the oil and gas
corporations on the day Ofgem announced the devastating rise in energy
prices for poverty-stricken British consumers. Especially after they read
Liz Truss’s disastrous “response” in the Daily Mail addressing the
lifting of the home energy price cap.
Truss, the former commercial manager
for the oil giant Shell, proposes a massive ramping up of commercial
projects by the oil corporations, including expansion of North Sea oil and
gas, a resumption of fracking on the UK mainland and a frenzied building of
eye-wateringly expensive new nuclear power plants.
The proposed explosion of oil and gas projects will not knock a single penny from fuel bills, as
the UK’s fossil fuel industry is fully integrated into global markets, and
so production will remain priced at inflated global prices for UK
consumers.
And the ramping up of nuclear power will add billions to UK
consumers’ bills, as nuclear energy is already over twice the cost of wind
and solar and it will take decades before any new plants could reduce
consumer addiction to fossil fuels.
Truss’s statement was silent on
insulation or energy efficiency investments that would actually bring down
bills for consumers, by reducing dependency on fossil fuels. After the
Mail’s 2011 successful “anti-green-crap” campaign – according to Carbon
Brief reportedly at the instigation of the then Lord Lawson’s Global
Warming Policy Foundation – destroyed the home insulation programme that
was then successfully insulating 2.4 million homes a year. If that
programme had been implemented, up to 18 million UK families would have
enjoyed lower bills this winter and the pressure on the UK’s electricity
and gas markets would have been far lower.
Truss has not committed to
lifting her government’s de-facto ban on onshore wind, the cheapest source
of energy in the UK, but has promised a crackdown on solar farms. Blocking onshore wind and solar increases consumer bills and keeps us enslaved to nuclear and oil corporations.
Further thrilling the oil executives, she
ruled out expanding windfall taxes on the huge profits pouring into their
coffers. She also opposes “handouts” for consumers. Nuclear electricity
is now also over twice the price of renewables. The Tory government
recently overrode the planning inspector’s refusal of planning permission
for the proposed new Sizewell C nuclear power plant, over uncertainty on
where the water required to run the plant would come from.
Ministers are proposing that a nuclear levy be added to bills to fund its construction –
before it produces a single kWh of electricity. And they still have nowhere
to safely secure its toxic radioactive waste for the thousands of years
required.
Independent 30th Aug 2022
Navy officer opposed to nuclear weapons sues UK Ministry of Defence
BBC News 1 Sept 22, A former Royal Navy weapons officer who was removed from a submarine because he opposed nuclear weapons is suing the Ministry of Defence for religious discrimination.
Sub Lt Antonio Jardim, a Christian with joint British-Portuguese nationality, was assigned to HMS Vanguard.
He was given the nickname “Trigger” because of his “reluctance to pull the trigger”, according to tribunal papers.
Mr Jardim was later moved to an onshore role in Portsmouth.
HMS Vanguard is one of the UK’s nuclear deterrent submarines based at Faslane, Scotland.
In a statement ahead of an employment tribunal in Southampton, Mr Jardim said: “I wanted to leave the service after the treatment I received when making my moral views known.
“I believe I have been subjected to a series of connected acts of discriminatory treatment based upon my religious beliefs.”
He added: “Due to the stress from the entire process, along with an unbearable workload and lack of progress with my voluntary withdrawal from training and service complaint, I was sent sick on shore.”
Mr Jardim decided to leave the service in May 2021……………………….
documents also state that on the Trident officers general course in June 2020, having told the course officer about his concerns, he was “removed from the course and told to wait in his cabin”.
Then for the next two weeks he had “interviews and phone calls and he was told not to return to the boat, and his name was written in the quartermaster’s book stating that he was not to be let on board”.
A full hearing will take place on 13 March 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-62744226
U.S. Calls For ‘Controlled Shutdown’ Of Zaporizhzhya Plant As IAEA Inspectors Seek Access
Radio Free Europe 29 Aug 22, The United States said a “controlled shutdown” of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine was the “safest option” and urged Moscow to agree to a demilitarized zone around the site, where increased fighting is sparking fears of a possible massive radiation leak.
“As we’ve said many times, a nuclear power plant is not the appropriate location for combat operations,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on August 29.
“We continue to believe that a controlled shutdown of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear reactors would be the safest and least risky option in the near term,” he added.
His comments come as a mission from the UN nuclear safety agency is due to arrive in Kyiv late on August 29 and quickly travel on to the Russian-occupied nuclear plant.
It was not immediately clear if the team would be allowed access to the nuclear site by occupying Russian forces.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a post on Twitter that the “day has come” and a team of IAEA experts was “now on its way” to the nuclear power plant, which Russian invading forces have controlled since shortly after the Russian invasion began on February 24.
“We must protect the safety and security of #Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility. Proud to lead this mission which will be in #ZNPP later this week.”
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the IAEA mission was due to reach Kyiv on August 29 and “start work at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant in the coming days.”
The IAEA’s experts were set to assess physical damage to the plant, determine the functionality of safety and security systems, evaluate staff conditions, and perform urgent safeguards activities, the agency said.
Neither he nor the agency specified when they would arrive at Zaporizhzhya.
………………….The United Nations and Ukraine have called for a withdrawal of military equipment and personnel from the plant to ensure it is not a target in the conflict.
………….. The G7’s Non-Proliferation Directors’ Group welcomed news of the IAEA’s trip and again voiced concerns about the safety of the plant under the control of Russian armed forces.
“We reaffirm that the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and the electricity that it produces rightly belong to Ukraine and stress that attempts by Russia to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian power grid would be unacceptable,” it said in a statement issued on August 29.
Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said Moscow welcomed the IAEA mission and said Russia had made a significant contribution to the visit, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Safety fears at the facility have escalated in recent weeks as Kyiv and Moscow have traded blame for rocket strikes around the facility in the southern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar.
…………. Attacks were reported over the weekend not only in Russian-controlled territory adjacent to the plant along the left bank of the Dnieper River, but along the Ukraine-controlled right bank, including the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, each about 10 kilometers from the facility.
Ukraine’s atomic energy agency, Enerhoatom, issued on August 28 a map forecasting where radiation could spread from the power plant in the event of an accident, showing that based on wind forecasts for August 29 a nuclear cloud could spread across southern Ukraine and southwestern Russia.
Authorities last week began distributing iodine tablets to residents who live near the Zaporizhzhya plant in case of radiation exposure.
Much of the concern centers on the cooling systems for the plant’s nuclear reactors. The systems require electricity, and the plant was temporarily knocked offline on August 25 because of what officials said was fire damage to a transmission line. A cooling system failure could cause a nuclear meltdown.
Periodic shelling has damaged the power station’s infrastructure, Enerhoatom said on August 27.
The IAEA reported on August 28 that radiation levels were normal, that two of the Zaporizhzhya plant’s six reactors were operating, and that while no complete assessment had yet been made, recent fighting had damaged a water pipeline, since repaired. https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-zaporizhzhya-nuclear-iaea-inspection-russia-invasion/32008573.html
France braces for uncertain winter as nuclear power shortage looms
“Sky-high electricity prices are an economic threat, with France’s nuclear issues seemingly turning into a greater challenge than Russian gas flows,”
https://www.reuters.com/world/france-braces-uncertain-winter-nuclear-power-shortage-looms-2022-08-30/ By Forrest Crellin, Silvia Aloisi and Nina Chestney
PARIS, Aug 30 (Reuters) – France, once Europe’s top power exporter, may not produce enough nuclear energy this winter to help European neighbours seeking alternatives to Russian gas, and may even have to ration electricity to meet its own needs.
France has for years helped to underpin Europe’s electricity supply, providing about 15% of the region’s total power generation.
But this year, for the first time since French records began in 2012, France has become a net power importer as its own production of nuclear energy hit a 30-year low, based on data from consultancy EnAppSys
The supply squeeze, caused by a wave of repairs at the country’s nuclear power stations, couldn’t have come at a worse time. Europe is in the grip of an energy crisis as Russian gas supplies plummet in the wake of the Ukraine conflict and France, which derives 70% of its electricity from nuclear energy, has lost its edge.
French power prices have hit a string of all-time highs – topping 1,000 euros ($1,004.10) per megawatt hour earlier this month – on expectations the country will not have enough electricity to meet domestic demand. That surge, from prices of around 70 euros a year ago, has added to a cost-of-living crisis.
“Sky-high electricity prices are an economic threat, with France’s nuclear issues seemingly turning into a greater challenge than Russian gas flows,” said Norbert Rücker, head of economics and next generation research at Julius Baer.
Moscow says – US Afraid Inhumane Acts Committed by Azov Terrorists Will Be Made Public
25 Aug 22, WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Washington is afraid that crimes committed by Ukraine’s Azov* neo-nazi regiment would come to light during the international tribunal for war criminals in Mariupol, the Russian Embassy to the US said.
The Russian embassy noted that the upcoming tribunal against Ukrainian war criminals, which is being prepared by the DPR authorities, would hold Ukrainian Neo-Nazis accountable……………………………..
Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) leader Denis Pushilin earlier said that the suspected war criminals captued by the Donbass militias would face international an tribunal, which is to be held in Mariupol. He noted that the DPR authorities would not delay the trial, adding that the Foreign Ministry is working to invite the international community to take part in the tribunal……………. The politician stated that among suspects are neo-Nazis and some troops who committed atrocities in Donbass over the past 8 years.
He noted that the DPR authorities would not delay the trial, adding that the Foreign Ministry is working to invite the international community to take part in the tribunal.
*Azov is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia https://sputniknews.com/20220825/us-afraid-inhumane-acts-committed-by-azov-terrorists-will-be-made-public-russian-embassy-says-1099967315.html
New nuclear bases and nuclear submarines in Scotland deemed “unachievable” by a UK Government watchdog
Two projects vital for renewing the Trident nuclear weapons system on the Clyde have been damned as “unachievable” by a UK Government watchdog. The building of new facilities at the Faslane and Coulport nuclear bases in Argyll, as well as the manufacturing of new submarine reactors, both had
“major issues” which didn’t seem to be “resolvable”, according to the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA).
The IPA has given the two projects its lowest rating of “red” for 2021-22, the worst in four years. The problems were attributed to “shortage of suitably experienced personnel”, “supply chain issues” and delays.
Campaigners have attacked the UK nuclear weapons programme as a “shambles”, warning that
it has repeatedly failed to deliver. Replacing Trident was “murderous”, “reckless” and “insanely expensive”, they said.
The Ferret 29th Aug 2022 https://theferret.scot/nuclear-trident-projects-unachievable
1 This Month
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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