nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Trump and Zelensky, two cornered rats with no way out of Ukraine catastrophe

Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL, 5 Aug 25

Ukraine’s military is being systematically obliterated on the battlefield. US President Trump knows this. Ukraine President Zelensky does as well.

Yet, both are pretending the war can be won on terms favorable to the US and Ukraine. Trump is threatening secondary sanctions on nations buying Russian oil if Russia doesn’t end the war by August 8. Zelensky applauds this threat. Trump is also selling additional weapons to NATO allies to give to Ukraine’s lost cause.

Neither of Trump’s actions will have any effect on Ukraine’s impending battlefield defeat. Trump gets the ‘rat’ designation because he broke his campaign pledge to end the war by withdrawing US support and forcing Ukraine to negotiate the war’s end. But since that signals defeat of the US proxy war to weaken Russia, he clearly has decided it’s better to keep the war going rather than suffer a humiliating defeat. That merely ensures Ukraine’s near complete destruction as a functioning state.

Zelensky earned his ‘rat’ designation when he bailed out of ending the war in April 2022. He was on the cusp of a negotiated settlement with Russia that would have ended Ukraine’s effort to join NATO and guaranteed regional independence for Russian cultured Ukrainians in Donbas. For Ukraine it would have mean no lost territory and no massive casualties or infrastructure destruction. That is classic diplomacy achieving win-win.

But the rat Zelensky caved to US/UK pressure to dump that deal because Zelensky believed US/UK lies he could win simply with continued Western weapons. That, along with Trump’s refusal to end the war after promising to end it, has put Ukraine into a death spiral.

So with no way to win on the battlefield, our cornered rats are risking nuclear war every day this catastrophe continues. Zelensky keeps begging for long range NATO missies to attack deep into Russia. While that has no strategic value, it has value in provoking a Russian nuclear response, something to which Zelensky remains oblivious.

The nuclear risk Trump has embarked upon is even more reckless. He responded to a harmless Russian social media comment about a potential US/Russia nuclear confrontation, by sending two Ohio Class nuclear submarines toward Russian waters. Just as provocative and reckless, Trump’s sent B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs to the UK. These are offensive weapons having nothing do with will standard NATO defensive weaponry. They are the first delivery of these offensive weapons to the UK since removing them in 2008.

To Trump, reckless action is an appropriate response to relatively harmless words. Particularly since Trump is he world champ at using social media to threaten, browbeat friends and foes alike.

It’s not just the beleaguered people of Ukraine whose lives are threatened by the two cornered rats with no sane, safe way out of the lost war in Ukraine. It is all of us.

August 6, 2025 Posted by | Ukraine, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

EDF shifts nuclear strategy to domestic projects

August 5, 2025, https://www.modernpowersystems.com/news/edf-shifts-nuclear-strategy-to-domestic-projects/?cf-view&cf-closed

rance’s state-run utility EDF is planning to reduce its overseas sales workforce by 60 positions including 10 in management, and withdraw from certain international nuclear projects to concentrate on a domestic construction programme under its new CEO Bernard Fontana, as reported by Reuters. France is retreating from its position as a global leader in nuclear power, amid rising global demand, allowing new competitors to emerge as high costs and design challenges hinder its international competitiveness.

M. Fontana aims to accelerate the modernisation of France’s nuclear fleet, expressing a commitment to focus on domestic projects rather than the international operations that have previously included reactor construction in China, Finland and Britain. Recent changes include focusing on tenders in the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland, while deprioritising projects in Poland, India and Canada. This shift is expected to cut costs and reallocate resources to higher-priority initiatives. EDF’s recent international projects have experienced significant delays and cost overruns. In 2024, it lost a bid for two new reactors in the Czech Republic to South Korea’s KHNP. 


The French government identifies the new French nuclear programme as a priority. President Emmanuel Macron announced plans in early 2022 for six new reactors to replace ageing plants, with projected costs of €67bn ($78.7bn). But the company is indebted owing to costly repairs made to its nuclear fleet in recent years. EDF is considering the sale of certain renewable energy assets in North America and Brazil.

August 6, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

Sellafield nuclear plant contractors to strike

 BBC 5th Aug 2025,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg38w4xly3o

Workers supplying the Sellafield nuclear site have voted in favour of strike action over pay.

Almost 40 workers at Fellside Combined Heat and Power facility, the plant supplying the steam and power to the Cumbria site, will take industrial action on 19 and 20 August after rejecting two pay offers.

Owned by PX Ltd, Unite workers are also undertaking an overtime ban.

PX Ltd said it was unable to comment as another meeting was due to take place with the union on Wednesday. A spokesperson for Sellafield said the site was not “directly involved in the dispute”.

The final pay offer was 3.5 to 5% depending on a set of criteria, Unite said.

Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “PX Limited can clearly afford to pay our members for the vital work they do but is choosing to put profits over people.

“This dispute is completely caused by the employer’s greed.”

A spokesperson for Sellafield added: “As always, the safety and security of the Sellafield site, our workforce and the local community will be our priority during any industrial action.”

August 6, 2025 Posted by | employment, UK | Leave a comment

Ukraine hacks Russian submarine as Moscow expands Arctic presence

 Ukraine claims to have pulled off a major hacking operation, obtaining
classified data on a new Russian nuclear submarine and revealing potential
vulnerabilities as Moscow intensifies its military presence in the Arctic.

 Times 3rd Aug 2025, https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/ukraine-hacks-russian-submarine-as-moscow-expands-arctic-presence-2tmwc8dn5

August 6, 2025 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Melting glaciers threaten to wipe out European villages – is the steep cost to protect them worth it?

 Melting glaciers threaten to wipe out European villages – is the steep
cost to protect them worth it? Switzerland spends almost $500m a year on
protective structures, but a report carried out in 2007 for the Swiss
parliament suggested real protection against natural hazards could cost six
times that. Is that a worthwhile investment? Or should the country – and
residents – really consider the painful option of abandoning some of their
villages?

 BBC 3rd Aug 2025,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj4w9ggzxv4o

August 5, 2025 Posted by | climate change, EUROPE | Leave a comment

IAEA reports hearing explosions, sees smoke near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Saturday that its
team at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) heard explosions
and saw smoke coming from a nearby location. The nuclear plant said one of
its auxiliary facilities was attacked today, IAEA said in a statement.

 Reuters 2nd Aug 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/iaea-reports-hearing-explosions-sees-smoke-near-ukraines-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-2025-08-02/

August 5, 2025 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Anti-nuclear weapons demo takes place at Faslane base

HM Naval Base Clyde is home to the Royal Navy’s four Vanguard-class submarines – HMS Vanguard, Vengeance, Victorious and Vigilant – which each carry Trident 2 D5 nuclear missiles.

Gemma Ryder Reporter, 02 Aug 2025,
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/anti-nuclear-weapons-demo-takes-35664128

The “No To Nuclear Weapons” gathering was organised by Justice & Peace Scotland, and brought people of all faiths together for prayer, reflection, and a public stance against nuclear arms.

Those in attendance included Most Rev William Nolan, Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow and Bishop-President of Justice & Peace Scotland; Rt Rev Rosie Frew, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; and Most Rev Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

They were joined by members of the Quakers, the Iona Community, the United Reformed Church, and other religious groups amid growing global tensions.

The UK is preparing to upgrade and expand its nuclear weapons system and President Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to be deployed “in the appropriate regions” in response to comments by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on social media.

Archbishop Nolan said: “The phrase ‘never again’ gained much currency 80 years ago.

“But the actions of nuclear powers, including our own, run contrary to that.

“As the late Pope Benedict articulated, the very concept of a nuclear deterrence has instead fuelled an arms race as those on opposing sides keep seeking to outdo the other.

“We have seen this in the replacement for Trident. Deterrence itself, therefore, has increased insecurity and does nothing to build up trust which is necessary to encourage disarmament and build up peace.”

HM Naval Base Clyde — located near Helensburgh on the Gare Loch — is home to the UK’s four Vanguard-class submarines, each armed with Trident 2 D5 nuclear missiles, capable of striking targets up to 4,000 miles away.

Rt Rev Frew said: “On the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it seems right to stand with other Christians saying ‘No’ to nuclear weapons and ‘Yes’ to peace.

“My hope and prayer is to live in a world without war or the threat of war, a world without the threat of the deployment of nuclear weapons.

“I know opinion is very divided on holding nuclear weapons but I don’t believe anyone would ever wish them to be deployed, both those who will gather outside and those who serve in HM Naval Base Clyde.

“The Church of Scotland stands in solidarity with all those who work at Faslane in the service of the United Kingdom, while praying for peace in a world where there is no threat of nuclear weapons ever being used.”

Justice & Peace Scotland said the use and threat of nuclear weapons is incompatible with Christian teaching, and called on political leaders to reject a future based on “fear and power-wielding”.

They added: “Nuclear weapons are fundamentally incompatible with this call as their existence threatens indiscriminate destruction and a future built on fear and power-wielding rather than on fraternity amongst nations.”

August 5, 2025 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, Religion and ethics, UK | Leave a comment

Metsamor could trigger next global nuclear emergency and Armenians denying it.

 Metsamor could trigger next global nuclear emergency and Armenians denying
it. In recent days, several Armenian news channels (websites) have been
engaged in a smear campaign, asserting that the Azerbaijani media has
“falsely” highlighted the Metsamor nuclear power plant under the guise of
“propaganda for the country’s politics.” They claim that Armenia’s nuclear
power plant does not pose any threat to the region and that the allegations
against it are unfounded. However, Azerbaijan, Türkiye, and even Georgia
have periodically asserted that this plant presents a significant threat
and have repeatedly submitted resolutions to the International Atomic
Energy Agency addressing their concerns. In this article, we will discover
how problematic and valid the notion of posing a threat is, for Metsamor
Plant.

 Azer News 2nd Aug 2025,
https://www.azernews.az/analysis/245496.html

August 5, 2025 Posted by | EUROPE, safety | Leave a comment

Sizewell C nuclear costs could hit £100bn including financing, modelling shows

Total for nuclear power station project set to be billions of pounds higher
than official government estimates.

The true cost of the Sizewell C power
station in Suffolk could be tens of billions of pounds higher than official
government estimates once financing costs are factored in, according to
official modelling seen by the Financial Times.

The UK government last week
said the mostly debt-funded project would cost an estimated £38bn in real
2024 prices to build. Under the financial structure of the deal, investors
will be rewarded if the project is built for less than £40bn, and not
obliged to put in further funds if costs rise above £47.7bn — which is
considered unlikely.

But financial modelling — prepared as part of the
wider fundraising process and seen by the Financial Times — gives a range
of roughly £80bn-£100bn in nominal terms over the period of construction
for the two scenarios, once debt interest and payments to shareholders are
factored in. That would imply costs of roughly £65bn-£80bn in real 2024
terms, although the exact costs will depend on inflation rates and spending
rates across the lifetime of the project.

 FT 2nd Aug 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/5f54592e-50ba-4a1e-8219-7a4eb01f74ed

August 4, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

US, UK in secret talks with Ukrainian officials to ‘replace Zelensky’: Report

Three years into the war with Russia, the Ukrainian president has experienced his fortunes turn amid heavy human losses on the battlefield and intense Russian assaults.

JUL 29, 2025, https://thecradle.co/articles/us-uk-in-secret-talks-with-ukrainian-officials-to-replace-zelensky-report

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has revealed that US and British officials recently held a meeting in the Alps with top Ukrainian officials to discuss “replacing” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to a statement made available to TASS, the meeting involved Andrey Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Kirill Budanov, chief of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, and Valery Zaluzhny, the country’s ex-commander-in-chief who is now Ukraine’s ambassador to London..

“The Americans and the British announced their decision to propose Zaluzhny to the Ukrainian presidency. Yermak and Budanov ‘snapped a salute,’ while securing promises from the Anglo-Saxons to let them keep their present positions, as well as to take their interests into account in the course of making decisions over other personnel issues,” TASS reports.

The Ukrainian participants were reportedly promised they would retain their positions and influence over future personnel appointments following Zelensky’s ouster.

The SVR said Yermak helped prepare the ground for Zaluzhny by persuading Zelensky to weaken Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies. Zelensky signed the new law, but Ukrainian MPs said the measure has not appeared on the parliament’s official website.
According to the SVR, the secret talks with UK and US officials aim to restructure Ukraine’s ties with the west, especially the US, and have established removing Zelensky as a prerequisite for continued western support in the war with Russia, after ceasefire talks between Moscow and Kiev in Istanbul last week ended without a breakthrough.

The SVR report comes a day after US President Donald Trump shortened his 50-day deadline for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine to “10 or 12 days,” warning of stalled progress and approving expanded weapons shipments to Kiev, including US-made Patriot systems financed by European partners and coordinated through NATO.

Former Ukrainian prosecutor general’s adviser Andriy Telizhenko said the plan to replace Zelensky predated Donald Trump’s return to office, adding, “Once the strings are cut, the puppet must be replaced.”

Journalist Seymour Hersh wrote in The End of Zelensky? that Zaluzhny “is now being viewed as Zelensky’s most reliable successor,” citing “well-informed Washington sources” confirming the role could be offered to him.

August 4, 2025 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Ukraine, USA | Leave a comment

Mystery grows around state of Russian nuclear submarine base that is just 75 miles from epicentre of 8.8-magnitude megaquake

 A colossal 8.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka
Peninsula early yesterday morning – raising serious questions about the
condition of Russia’s key nuclear submarine bases, located alarmingly close
to the epicentre. The quake, tied for the sixth strongest in recorded
history, struck just 75 miles from Avacha Bay, where some of the Russian
Navy’s most strategic nuclear assets, including Borei and Delta-class
ballistic missile submarines, are based. Though Russian authorities are
insisting the situation is under control, with ‘no reported fatalities or
serious injuries’, military analysts and international observers are
sounding the alarm over the potential impact on these high-security naval
installations.

 Mail 31st July 2025, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14956551/Russian-nuclear-submarine-base-earthquake.html

August 4, 2025 Posted by | Russia, safety | Leave a comment

Court hears Uzbek group attempted to sell nuclear bomb material uranium on black market

 An Uzbek court has convicted a group of individuals who sought to sell 120
grams of natural uranium, the heavy metal element required in the making of
a nuclear bomb. While the amount they were attempting to sell, at a price
of $2,000 per gram, would only make up a tiny fraction of the uranium
volume a nuclear bomb maker would need for enrichment, national security
officials the world over are wary of such black market sales reaching a
frequency that would enable terrorist, or other malign actors, to source
the volume of material needed for an atomic weapon from an assortment of
sellers.

 Intellinews 29th July 2025, https://www.intellinews.com/court-hears-uzbek-group-attempted-to-sell-nuclear-bomb-material-uranium-on-black-market-393499/

August 4, 2025 Posted by | EUROPE, Uranium | Leave a comment

Sizewell C will cost more than Hinkley: Is it worth it?

Priced in ‘real’ terms today, the £47.7bn cost ceiling will rise further with inflation,
potentially over £60bn. The total tally for the UK’s latest bet on
nuclear power, Sizewell C, is highly likely to rise above the cost of
Hinkley Point C.

The question is, will the potential savings for low-carbon
power next decade justify the cost? Taken together, the impact of project
overruns and inflation could push up the estimated £38 billion price tag
of the nuclear power project, in 2024 prices, by between almost £10bn and
£20bn or more.

That is because the £47.7bn upper cost threshold set for
the project by government – which Energy Voice reported on the day a
final investment decision was made would be funded by £36.6bn of new debt
finance from the UK National Wealth Fund (NWF) – is a moving target.


Priced in ‘real’ terms today, that cost ceiling will rise further with
inflation, making the true cost of Sizewell C likely to be far greater than
the incomplete nuclear power station in Somerset, despite the fact that as
a replica it was meant to be cheaper due to economies of scale. Independent
analysis from the House of Commons Library shows energy bills would need to
rise to cover the extra spend. SNP Energy spokesperson Graham Leadbitter MP
said: “This toxic overspend now totals £48bn.” A major financier of
the project, the sovereign fund NWF, has conceded that the ultimate cost of
the Suffolk project could balloon well above the £38bn price tag confirmed
by ministers this month, already nearly double the initial £20bn estimate.

 Energy Voice 30th July 2025. https://www.energyvoice.com/all-news/577297/sizewell-c-will-cost-more-than-hinkley-is-it-worth-it/

August 3, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Russia is staying quiet on Trump’s nuclear move

BBC, Steve Rosenberg, Russia editor in Moscow, 2 Aug 25

Could this be the first time in history a social media spat triggers nuclear escalation?

President Donald Trump, offended by posts by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, says he’s ordered two nuclear submarines to move closer to Russia.

So, how will Moscow respond? Are we on a path to a nuclear standoff between America and Russia? An internet-age version of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis?

I doubt it, judging by initial reaction in Russia.

Russian news outlets have been rather dismissive of Trump’s announcement.

Speaking to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, a military commentator concluded that Trump was “throwing a temper tantrum”.

A retired lieutenant-general told Kommersant that the US president’s talk of submarines was “meaningless blather. It’s how he gets his kicks”.

“I’m sure Trump didn’t really give any orders [about submarines],” a Russian security expert suggested to the same paper.

Kommersant also mentions that in 2017, Trump said that he’d despatched two nuclear submarines to the Korean peninsula as a warning to North Korea.

Yet not long after, Trump held a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

So, bizarrely, might Donald Trump’s latest submarine deployment be a precursor to a US-Russia summit?

I wouldn’t go that far.

But the reaction from the Russian authorities has been interesting.

At time of writing, there hasn’t been any.

Not from the Kremlin. Not from the Russian foreign ministry. Nor the defence ministry.

And I’ve seen no announcement about Russian nuclear submarines being positioned closer to America.

Which suggests that either Moscow is still studying the situation and working out what to do, or that Moscow doesn’t feel the need to react.

The Russian press reaction I mentioned earlier suggests it’s the latter……………………………. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly4kgv9238o

August 3, 2025 Posted by | politics international, Russia | Leave a comment

Energy firm newcleo will suspend its programme to develop lead-cooled fast reactors (LFR) in Britain. 

 Energy firm newcleo said on Wednesday it would suspend its programme to
develop lead-cooled fast reactors (LFR) in Britain and substantially wind
down its UK activities due to the lack of support and funding from the
government.

LFRs are a type of advanced nuclear reactor technology which
are smaller and more efficient than conventional nuclear reactors and can
be built in factories and assembled on site to provide heat for industrial
processes and hydrogen production.

The firm, established in 2021 and
headquartered in Britain, said it had planned to develop up to four such
reactors in the UK, producing a total of 800 megawatts, enough to power
around 1.6 million homes, and representing around 4 billion pounds ($5
billion) of investment.

The company said it had engaged with successive UK
governments on access to the country’s stock of stored plutonium which it
had planned to recycle for use in the reactors. “Sadly, despite many
attempts to engage with political stakeholders, the UK government has
decided to not make its plutonium available for the foreseeable future and
to lend its political support and considerable funding to other
technologies,” Stefano Buono, founder and CEO of newcleo, said in a
statement.

In addition, support and funding have been made available to
other small modular reactor technologies but they have not been forthcoming
for LFR developers such as newcleo in Britain, the firm said. Instead, it
will focus on other important markets. In Slovakia, newcleo said it had
created a joint venture with state-owned nuclear company JAVYS to build up
to four LFRs powered by the country’s spent nuclear fuel stocks, which
has received endorsement from government officials. In June, an agreement
with the Lithuanian government was signed based on a similar strategy.

 Reuters 30th July 2025, https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/energy-firm-newcleo-says-it-will-suspend-uk-lead-cooled-fast-reactor-development-2025-07-30/

August 3, 2025 Posted by | technology, UK | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »