Opposition to the chosen ATC site in the Castilla La Mancha region grew after questions arose about its geological suitability, with regional president Emiliano García-Page praising the minister on Monday for “ending the nightmare of the nuclear cemetery”…. (subscribers only) https://www.endseurope.com/article/1673270/spain-scraps-controversial-nuclear-waste-facility
The plutonium dilemma – Japan and UK
What should be done with Japan’s plutonium now stored in the UK? ~ Research trip report. BY by Caitlin Stronell, CNIC
From September 11 to 21, Ban Hideyuki and Caitlin Stronell from CNIC visited the UK in order to survey opinions on what should be done with Japan’s 21.2 tons of plutonium presently stored at the Sellafield facility in the UK. As Japan does not have an operating reprocessing plant, spent fuel was shipped to the UK and France for reprocessing and fabrication into MOX fuel from the late 1970s. Including Japan’s 21 tons, a total of approximately 140 tons of separated plutonium are held in the UK, which has offered to take ownership of foreign owned plutonium on its soil, subject to acceptable commercial terms. There have already been several such cases of ownership transfers of plutonium. (For example, in January 2017 the UK took ownership of 600 kg of plutonium previously owned by a Spanish utility and 5 kg previously owned by a German organization.)
Last year Japan’s Ministry for Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced that a dialogue concerning plutonium between the UK and Japan had begun. Although the details of this dialogue have not been released, ownership transfer may well be one of the discussion points. If Japan does go through with the ownership transfer, it will be an admission that the plutonium, which it has spent vast sums on extracting from the spent fuel, is not a precious resource at all, but material that now has to be disposed of, again at large cost. This would be another heavy blow against Japan’s reprocessing policy. However, how do people in the UK feel about accepting 21 tons of Japanese plutonium? This was what we tried to find out on our research trip.
Closely related to the issue of plutonium in both Japan and the UK is the issue of nuclear waste and we also wanted to find out about how the UK is planning to deal with this issue, especially in terms of siting a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF). Plans to site the GDF in Cumbria were rejected by the Council in 2013 and since then the national government has introduced a new system where smaller communities are able to request that they be considered as a GDF site. We wanted to find out how people were reacting to this and what the prospects are for the government being able to successfully site a GDF under this system.
We spoke to a large range of people directly concerned with these issues, of course anti-nuclear activists, but also a scientist involved in research on direct disposal methods for plutonium, as well as a number of people who work at Sellafield and local councilors for the area. Their answers to the question of what to do with Japan’s 21 tons of plutonium were varied and, in some cases, a little unexpected. For example, I was expecting that Prof. Neil Hyatt of Sheffield University, who is conducting cutting edge research on plutonium disposal, would be more open to accepting Japan’s plutonium, but he expressed some hesitation, saying that if the UK government agrees to take ownership of such a large amount of plutonium, it will break trust with local people by increasing their waste burden.
Divided opinions
We also noticed a split opinion between the two Cumbrian Councillors we interviewed. Cumbria is the county where the Sellafield Site is located and the nuclear industry obviously plays an important part in the local economy and politics………
The NDA is also tasked with siting the GDF for radioactive waste, which has proved to be a difficult task indeed, as it is all over the world, including in Japan where little progress has been made. There have been three attempts so far in the UK to try to decide on a site for the GDF, none of which have yielded results and so a new process for finding a GDF site began in January 2019. This process allows any community, no matter how small, to express an interest in starting a dialogue regarding hosting a GDF. …….
These and many other campaigns led by local communities show that the authorities and industry claims of transparency and safety cannot be trusted and in this sense it was easy to understand comments by Cr. Celia Tibble regarding the public reaction if the UK government were to accept Japanese plutonium. It would be seen as another lie and breach of trust…….
Conclusion
I thought that there were many similarities between the situation in Japan and in the UK regarding nuclear fuel cycle policy. Both countries must deal with massive amounts of plutonium, extracted at huge cost and risk, which now has no apparent use. Both the governments of Japan and the UK try to convince themselves and the world that it can be used as MOX fuel, but without a fabrication plant or sufficient MOX reactors, this solution is totally unconvincing. In the UK, it seems at least some industry people are facing up to this reality. In Japan, however, the government, at least at a policy level, hasn’t even faced up to the reality that plutonium is not a resource. Transferring ownership of its 21 tons of plutonium held in Sellafield to the UK would be an important step in facing up to this reality and could open the door to more practical and constructive discussions on how to reduce the plutonium stockpile. These discussions will not be easy and require an honest and concerted effort on the part of local and national governments, industry, communities and citizens. https://cnic.jp/english/?p=4681
Algeria’s radioactive legacy from France’s nuclear bomb tests
Algeria: 60 years on, French nuclear tests leave bitter fallout https://www.dw.com/en/algeria-60-years-on-french-nuclear-tests-leave-bitter-fallout/a-5235435113.02.2020, Author Elizabeth Bryant (Paris)
Decades after the first French nuclear test in Algeria, thousands of victims are still waiting for compensation from the government. Why is France dragging its feet over the issue?
Jean-Claude Hervieux still remembers joining a crowd of soldiers and high-level officials in Algeria’s Sahara desert to witness one of France’s first nuclear tests. Things didn’t go exactly as planned.
Instead of being contained underground, radioactive dust and rock escaped into the atmosphere. Everyone ran, including two French ministers. At military barracks, the group showered and had their radiation levels checked as a crude means of decontamination. “You don’t see nude ministers very often,” Hervieux chuckled.
But as France marks the 60th anniversary of its first nuclear test — near Algeria’s border with Mauritania, on February 13, 1960 — there is not much to laugh about. Critics have long claimed more than three decades of nuclear testing may have left many victims, first in Algeria and later in French Polynesia, where the bulk of testing took place.
But so far, only hundreds have been compensated, including just one Algerian. And as key nuclear testing anniversaries tick by, the unresolved fallout of the nuclear explosions has also fed into longstanding tensions between Paris and its former colony.
It is part of the whole issue of decolonization, and of Algerians asking for French recognition of crimes committed” as a colonial power, said Brahim Oumansour, North African analyst for the Paris-based French Institute of International Relations. For France, he added, doing so might mean “financial compensations in the millions of euros.”
Such issues are off the French government’s current public radar. A major nuclear policy speech last week by President Emmanuel Macron made no mention of them. France’s compensation commission says it has responded to claims that meet criteria set out by law.
The French Defense Ministry and Algerian authorities did not respond to questions about the tests.
A former electrician, Hervieux spent a decade working on the French nuclear tests, first in Algeria and later in French Polynesia. The botched Beryl explosion he witnessed in May 1962 took place two months after Algeria’s independence from France. The desert testing would continue for another four years, thanks to an agreement Paris secured with Algiers. “The showers cleaned our bodies and clothes,” Hervieux said of the Beryl incident, “but not what we breathed in or swallowed.”
Hervieux asked French authorities for the results of his radiation tests. They were bizarre, he said. One claimed to have screened him when he was on vacation; another named his father. He was told yet another had been destroyed on grounds it was contaminated.
Buried everything
Altogether, Paris exploded more than 200 nuclear devices. Most were in remote atolls of French Polynesia, but the first 17 took place in Algeria’s desert. In 1996, French President President Jacques Chirac called a halt to the testing.
When we left Algeria, we dug large holes and we buried everything,” said Hervieux, now 80, of France’s departure from the desert sites, in 1966.
He later joined AVEN, a pressure group for victims of French nuclear tests, although he says he remains healthy.
While he did not witness ill effects in Algeria, Hervieux describes visiting a village in French Polynesia where high radiation levels had been detected. “A local teacher said children were sick and vomiting,” he recalled. “Mothers were asking why their children’s hair was falling out.”
In Algeria, testing sites are still contaminated, activists say, many fenced off by only barbed wire, at best. “I saw radiation levels emitted from minerals, rocks vitrified by the bombs’ heat, which are colossal,” said retired French physicist Roland Desbordes, who has visited the sites. “These aren’t sites buried in the corner of the desert — they’re frequently visited by Algerian nomads,” who recuperate copper and other metals from the detritus.
Indelible scar?
The former president and now spokesman for CRIIRAD, an independent French research group on atomic safety, Desbordes claims the French army has key classified information about the testing it will not open to public scrutiny, including about the health and environmental effects of the explosions. But he believes Algerian authorities also bear some blame.
Each anniversary they talk about how these nuclear tests were not good,” he said, “but it’s also up to them to close off the sites to ensure nobody can access them.”
Reports, including a pair of decade-old documentaries by Algerian reporter Larbi Benchiha, suggest the testing left an indelible scar on local communities. Unaware of the danger, they collected once-buried scrap metal uncovered by desert winds, and turned them into jewelry and kitchen utensils.
Altogether, between 27,000 to 60,000 people from communities surrounding the test sites were affected, according to one Al Jazeera report, citing differing French and Algerian estimates.
But out of more than 1,600 claims filed under a decade-old French compensation law that finally acknowledged health problems from the tests, only 51 have come from Algeria, according to France’s nuclear compensation commission, CIVEN. A separate Supreme Court ruling recently reinstated two extra compensation claims from French Polynesia.
Among other criteria, the 2010 law requires proof of a minimum level of exposure to weapons tests, and offers a list of 23 types of cancers that qualify for compensation.
“There are very few demands and we can only judge those we receive,” said CIVEN Director Ludovic Gerin, who added the Algerian claims didn’t meet compensation criteria.
“We can’t actively search for victims,” he added, “so we’re a bit blocked.”
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania oppose energy imports from a Belarusian nuclear power plant
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Emerging Europe 13th Feb 2020. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are joining forces to oppose energy imports from a Belarusian nuclear power plant (NPP) Lithuania has declared a national security threat. The governments of the three Baltic nations have announced that they will sign a declaration of intent to oppose electricity purchases from Russian-built NPP at Astravets near the Lithuanian border.
We are pleased to be moving closer to a common position,”
Lithuania’s prime minister Saulius Skvernelis told reporters, adding that the three Baltic nations and the European Commission will work on finding “an appropriate mechanism controlling the origin of electricity entering our networks from third countries”.https://emerging-europe.com/news/baltic-states-will-not-buy-energy-from-belarus-npp/ |
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#WETOOARE PROTESTERS FREE JULIAN ASSANGE
https://weetoo.home.blog/We are a group of mothers, fathers, teachers and students from all over the world, and we are extremely worried about the health condition, as well as the violations of the most basic human rights, of journalist and editor Julian Assange.
The award-winning journalist, in fact, has been held for months in isolation in the maximum security of Belmarsh Prison waiting for extradition to the United States where, confirmed by United Nations experts, it will be difficult for him to have a fair trial and where he risks up to 175 years in prison or even the death penalty.
The motive for the indictment was made mainly by his having published military documents confirming corruption and atrocious war crimes; in particular his website Wikileaks documents show how the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that have massacred millions of people were created by governments for economic interests and for the exploitation of resources. In these territories the number of terrorists has increased exponentially. Not only that, Assange unveiled the conditions of Guantanamo prisoners, abuses of every type, and tens of thousands of civilian homicides in Iraq and Afghanistan by the American army, including the assassination of two Reuters journalists all documented in the chilling video, Collateral Murder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0&t=59s
In Julian Assange’s long and frightening persecution, we witnessed seven years of systematic violation of his human rights. The right of citizens to question public interests was also completely ignored. Now, we refuse to participate in a further extension of psychological and physical torture perpetrated against the journalist, as reported by Nils Melzer, the special reporter of the United Nations, who found Assange in a condition of extremely troublesome health. Continue reading
Rolls Royce plans small nuclear reactors near Snowdonia National Park in Wales.
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Rolls-Royce eyes Snowdonia nuclear site for first small modular reactor, https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/sustainability/rolls-royce-eyes-snowdonia-nuclear-site-for-first-small-modular-reactor-14-02-2020/BY MILES ROWLAND Engineering firm Rolls-Royce has said that the first of its planned small nuclear reactors could be built at a site near Snowdonia National Park in Wales.
Speaking to the BBC today, Rolls-Royce chief technology officer Paul Stein said there was a “high probability” that Trawsfynydd would be the site of the first such reactor, which would be assembled from pre-manufactured components. The site was previously home to a nuclear reactor, closed in 1991, and has an existing local nuclear supply chain. Stein said: “Trawsfynydd is a great first site for the [reactor]. Right now the jury’s out – there are a number of great sites around the country – but two of the three sites [under consideration] are in Wales.” He added: “With so-called brownfield sites, where there has been a nuclear reactor, we know the local population is happy, there is a skilled local population that used to run the plant, there’s a grid connection and the seismic condition of the site [is suitable].” Rolls-Royce announced last year that it was working with a consortium of companies including Laing O’Rourke, Bam Nuttall and Atkins to develop small modular reactors (SMRs), with Laing O’Rourke telling Construction News that it could use its offsite manufacturing facility to produce components. Once operational, each SMR could generate 440MW of energy, enough to power Cardiff, Swansea and Newport combined, according to Rolls-Royce. The reactors have a target cost of £1.8bn each by the time five stations have been constructed, though the first will not be completed until at least 2029. Wylfa in Anglesey has previously been identified by Rolls-Royce as another potential site for SMRs. |
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Few permanent jobs in small modular nuclear reactors?
In Cumbria 12th Feb 2020, Plans to develop unique small nuclear reactors in Cumbria by Rolls-Royce should not be seen as a “saviour of the county”, one of its major rivals said.
in-Cumbria exclusively revealed in November that a consortium, led by
the engineering giant, was focusing its efforts on efforts on developing
its emerging Small Modular Reactors at existing nuclear licensed sites –
with Cumbria and Wales its top targets.
But John Coughlan, chief executive of TSP Engineering, based in Workington, said he was concerned that people would think the plans would prompt people to think thousands of jobs would be created. TSP Engineering is also developing its own version of the technology, and while Mr Coughlan acknowledged that they were rivals and that was a factor in him speaking out, he was also passionate about the local community. He said:
“Make no mistake. When Rolls-Royce talk about developing their reactors in Cumbria, they are talking about a construction site. “If they get the go-ahead for Cumbria, the reactors will be shipped in from elsewhere and built on the site. So you are probably looking at a large number of short-term construction jobs – say 1,000 – then only about 60 to 100 people with a permanent position there.
Decline and uncertainty in UK nuclear construction
Construction News 10th Feb 2020, Contractors hoping to work on nuclear builds have been forced to scale back their workforce in recent months, according to the head of the sector’s trade body. Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) chief executive Tom Greatrex told Construction News that the uncertain future for nuclear megaprojects such as the £16bn Wylfa Newydd , which was suspended by Hitachi in January 2019, has had a negative impact on construction firms
Greatrex said: “There’s a lot [of nuclear specialists] that have cut back their
headcounts. If they don’t feel there’s going to be any work to do in that
area, they’ll focus on other areas and costs will be cut.” He added that
the NIA was aware of “a few small companies that have ceased to trade”,
but declined to name them.
While the Australian government ignores Julian Assange’s plight, two MPs head to UK to help him
MPs take Assange freedom campaign to UK
https://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/mps-take-assange-freedom-campaign-to-uk/news-story/633a9baa272bd155623423565e86e6b4 12 Feb 20,
Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie and Queensland Nationals MP George Christensen will travel to the United Kingdom to lobby for Julian Assange’s freedom Paul Osborne, Two Australian politicians will travel to the UK this weekend at their own expense to visit Julian Assange in jail and seek his release.
Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie and Queensland Nationals MP George Christensen, who chair a parliamentary group in support of the WikiLeaks founder, will pay a visit to Belmarsh Prison near London and lobby the British government.
Assange is set to face trial on February 24 to determine whether he should be extradited to the US, where he has been charged with 17 counts of spying and one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.
Sellafield and Drigg, Today and tomorrow’s Flood Warning.
Radiation Free Lakeland 10th Feb 2020, Sellafield and Drigg, Today and tomorrow’s Flood Warning. This is why there
should be no new nuclear wastes arriving at Sellafield, no new so called
Small Modular Reactors on this floodplain ….and no new coal mine deep
under the Irish Sea. Cumbria (and the fallout is planetary) is ALREADY
under intolerable risks. Today’s flood warnings …fingers crossed.
should be no new nuclear wastes arriving at Sellafield, no new so called
Small Modular Reactors on this floodplain ….and no new coal mine deep
under the Irish Sea. Cumbria (and the fallout is planetary) is ALREADY
under intolerable risks. Today’s flood warnings …fingers crossed.
Climate emergency plans must have a ‘no new nuclear’ clause
The nuclear and fossil fuel industry are mutually intertwined.
“There is no such thing as a zero or near-zero-emission nuclear power plant”
the mean value is about 66 grams of carbon dioxide for every kWh produced by nuclear power. This compares to about 9g for wind, 32g for solar and 443 for gas.
“This puts nuclear as the third highest carbon emitter after coal-fired plants and natural gas….
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No new nuclear https://theecologist.org/2020/feb/06/no-new-nuclear Radiation Free Lakeland, 6th February 2020
Campaigners demand a ‘no new nuclear’ clause in climate emergency planning. Climate activists across the world are uniting to protect the planet from continuing fossil fuel use. There is much talk of a green industrial revolution and a Green New Deal. This sounds good, but what does it mean?
Kevin Frea, co-chair of the Climate Emergency Network and deputy leader of Lancaster City Council has worked hard to sign local councils up declaring a climate emergency. He said: “This movement is being led by every political group and is involving local people in planning the actions needed to cut carbon.” But there’s an important thing missing here. Last September members of Radiation Free Lakeland lobbied Lancaster City Council asking the council to include a No New Nuclear clause in their climate emergency planning. Continue reading |
Spain scraps controversial nuclear waste facility
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Spain scraps controversial nuclear waste facility, Richard Weyndling
06 Feb 2020 Nuclear waste management in Spain faces upheaval after ecological transition minister Teresa Ribera this weekend recognised that plans for a centralised temporary storage facility (ATC) have “not been well-managed” and will “not easily be revived under any circumstance”.
“We will responsibly seek solutions for nuclear waste and open a serious and sensible debate. We have to decide whether we need one, two or three sites and if we have to look at regional solutions,” she told El País newspaper.
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Corpses of UK’s nuclear submarines still unburied after 25 years
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Nuclear vessels still languish at Fife dockyard 25 years after pledge against submarine graveyard, by Cheryl Peebles The Courier.co.uk
February 7 2020,Seven of the vessels, which contain radioactive material, have languished for decades at the Fife dock awaiting dismantling by the Ministry of Defence.
They include HMS Dreadnought, the UK’s first nuclear-powered submarine which was retired from service in 1980. It was during a visit to Rosyth in January 1995 that the then defence procurement minister Roger Freeman made the statement. The milestone prompted a repeated demand from Dunfermline and West Fife MP Douglas Chapman for action to deal with the vessels. Mr Chapman said: “It is astonishing that 25 years after Roger Freeman made that statement we are still waiting for the UK government to clear up these submarines that were decommissioned in the 1980s. “I have pressured the government for years to have some sort of joined-up thinking to remove these. “It is not only costing the taxpayer millions every year to keep them but also taking up valuable dock space that Babcock could be utilising for more economically productive activities.”…… https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/fife/1123498/nuclear-vessels-still-languish-at-fife-dockyard-25-years-after-pledge-against-submarine-graveyard/ |
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French President Emmanuel Macron seeks leading role in post-Brexit EU nuclear strategy
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Macron seeks leading role in post-Brexit EU nuclear strategy, Defense News, By: Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press PARIS (AP) 8 Feb 20,— French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday advocated a more coordinated European Union defense strategy in which France, the bloc’s only post-Brexit nuclear power, and its arsenal would hold a central role.
Addressing military officers graduating in Paris, Macron set out his country’s nuclear strategy in a bid to show leadership one week after nuclear-armed Britain officially exited the EU. PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday advocated a more coordinated European Union defense strategy in which France, the bloc’s only post-Brexit nuclear power, and its arsenal would hold a central role. Addressing military officers graduating in Paris, Macron set out his country’s nuclear strategy in a bid to show leadership one week after nuclear-armed Britain officially exited the EU……. https://www.defensenews.com/smr/nuclear-arsenal/2020/02/07/macron-seeks-leading-role-in-post-brexit-eu-nuclear-strategy/ |
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Norways Nuclear Naughtiness – Censored Secrets and Haldens Hurtful History
5 February 2020
Out of respect to the Author of the article under unfair use I had to change the copy to fair use as requested. More changes may happen as the days, weeks and years go on depending on how fair use I am allowed. Takk!
“One of the documents TU has received “partial access” in. In addition to the email’s metadata, we can glimpse what might be the letter “d” in the upper left corner on page 4 of the document. (Illustration: Ole Petter Pedersen)”
The Norwegian nuclear reactor that recently shut down is estimated to cost some 20 billion Kroner. A lack of transparency overshadows the whole project against the recommendations of the IAEA`s report on the Failings of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
On the January 29, Martiniussen and Peterson sent a complaint to the Civil Ombudsman requesting transparency and good practice be followed by giving details of the plans for a nuclear waste dump.
They were refused access to crucial documentation that should have been released to the public (Tax Paying funders) documenting a meeting between the Norwegian Minister of Industry and the Director-General of the OECD-NEA,
How to blank out history, the present and the future
The only major information to their request for data was the letter “d” on page 4.
The scary issue here is that Many countries including Russia funded aspects of the IFA nuclear experiments at Halden. The site was closed down in a furor of condemnation and suspicion. Was the nuclear industry allied to the Norwegian Salmon industry? Many questions remained to be answered!
Totally unrelated Salmon picture that didnt end up in Russia
Norway, having no experience in nuclear waste turned to the French nuclear company Orano and the Swedish company Studsvik,. Not the best idea in the world as these companies eyed an opportunity for profit and maybe, just maybe a few kilos of moldy farm salmon as well. But we will never know because of the Letter D (The only letter to be transparently offered to the FOI request by these 2 brave and intrepid sleuths).
Norway is now left with 17 tonnes of highly active, spent nuclear fuel thanks to those dastardly Russians and their American hug bunnies.
“All technical options are more or less known already, and NND’s general assessments of different directions cannot be kept secret”
But they are actually a secret of great National importance. So are the farmed Salmon deals that are also not to transparent (Possibly against OECD guidelines, but we will never know the truth!)
The Ministry of Trade and Industry claims that information must be kept secret for competition reasons. Luckily for the dodgy companies that will, may (we really dont know) be involved or how they will be involved. Shades of Fukushima radioactive Salmon perhaps?
Both the Minister of Industry and Employees in the Ministry of Trade and Industry Have decided to take a more top down anti democratic approach to transparency.
“That is why it is also crucial for TU’s social mission, to pursue cases where the authorities deny the citizens access. The Public Law is in practice the guarantee of the citizens that it is possible to control those we have given power and authority to carry out important social tasks.”
Must have a public conversation
The waste is dangerous and has a whole series of unknowns attached to it.
“Furthermore, the Norwegian nuclear fuel to be treated is of a metallic type that hardly any other country has. Therefore, there is no market for the treatment methods Studsvik investigates on behalf of NND. The treatment methods are specially designed for the Norwegian nuclear waste. The general methods Studsvik can offer were also publicly known through a report that was published in 2014.”
The request for data (More than the letter D) is nearly two years old.
“The Civil Ombudsman is the only body where it is possible to examine the ministry’s crush in unnecessary secrecy.”
So pre planning before the reactor was quickly ignored amongst the barrage of Russian troll bots and dubious bloggers highlighting the polluting and dangerous ways of the Halden reactor that proved that this should not be a private conversation only between two people.
“There are representatives at the highest level. In that case, the inhabitants must subsequently have the opportunity to gain insight into what is being discussed.”
Original article in full on the source url below
Russian Orthodox Church rethinks its practice of blessing nuclear weapons
Russian priests shouldn’t bless nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction, Orthodox Church says, https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-priests-shouldnt-bless-nuclear-weapons-other-weapons-of-mass-destruction-orthodox-church-says 5 Feb 20, The Russian Orthodox Church thinks its priests should discontinue the practice of blessing weapons of mass destruction that inflict death upon thousands of people, according to a proposal published Monday.
The church released a draft document outlining its stance on the blessing of Orthodox Christians “for the performance of military duty” and “defense of the Fatherland.”
Russian priests have longed sprinkled holy water on various weapon systems, including submarines, ballistic missiles and space rockets, among others.
“It is not reflected in the tradition of the Orthodox Church and does not correspond to the content of the Rite of blessing of military weapons, and therefore, the use of this order to “sanctify” any kind of weapon, the use of which could lead to the death of an undetermined number of people, including weapons, should be excluded from pastoral practice indiscriminate action and weapons of mass destruction,” the church wrote.
The proposal noted the blessing of military vehicles used on land, air and sea is not the “blessing of guns, rockets or bombing devices that the Lord is asking for, but the protection of soldiers.”
The proposals will be discussed on June 1 and the public is being asked to weigh in the debate, Reuters reported.
The request comes as the church and the Russian military continue to forge close ties. The armed forces are building a sprawling cathedral at a military park outside Moscow
1 This Month
23-25 October – on Zoom – World BEYOND War’s annual global conferenc
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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