WhatDoTheyKnow provides proof it sent Freedom Of Information request to AWE, (the Atomic Weapons Establishment)
Tom Pashby, Aug 21, 2026
Digital proof has been shared with 20 Working Days that a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request was sent to AWE (the Atomic Weapons Establishment) – which AWE claimed it didn’t receive.
The FOI request is now the subject of an Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) decision notice – a type of enforcement action – over its failure to respond to a FOI request sent by 20 Working Days on 6 May, via WhatDoTheyKnow.
WhatDoTheyKnow describes itself as “a site to help anyone submit a Freedom of Information request. WhatDoTheyKnow also publishes and archives requests and responses, building a massive archive of information.” It is built by a pro-democracy and transparency non-governmental organisation called MySociety.
The decision notice has since been published on the ICO’s website. The ICO explains what decision notices are. It says: “When we do take formal enforcement action, this will likely be in the form of a decision notice.
“A decision notice is a formal document that explains whether the Information Commissioner thinks a public authority has complied with the law when dealing with a specific request.”
The decision notice it issued to AWE about the 6 May FOI request said: “A public authority will breach section 10 of FOIA if it fails to respond to a request within 20 working days.
“Based on evidence available to the Commissioner, by the date of this notice the public authority has not issued a substantive response to this request. Therefore the Commissioner finds a breach of section 10.”
Setting out the next steps required by the ICO, it said: “The public authority must provide a substantive response to the request in accordance with its obligations under FOIA.
“The public authority must take this step within 30 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.”
20 Working Days offered AWE the opportunity to comment on the decision notice ahead of publication of its 12 August article covering the enforcement action.
The day after the article was published, on 13 August, an AWE spokesperson said: “AWE has received, and processed, previous requests from the requestor (FOI2026-020, FOI2026-042 and FOI2026-044) and has also received and acknowledged FOI2026-047) via the WhatDoTheyKnow platform. A response to that request is currently being considered.
“However a further request, understood to have been submitted on 6th May, was not received by AWE. AWE was therefore unaware of its existence until contacted by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in July.
“Following correspondence with the ICO, the ICO issued a Decision Notice on 10 August 2026, requiring AWE to provide a substantive response within 20 working days.
“AWE is processing this and has formally acknowledged this (reference FOI2026-049). A response will be provided within the applicable time limit.”
The spokesperson added: “This is equivalent to a signed-for physical letter delivery where the receptionist signs for the letter. Whether that letter got routed to the desk of the responsible person is the authority’s responsibility and out of our control.”
WhatDoTheyKnow later provided additional technical information to show it had evidence that the message was sent properly and received by AWE’s systems.
All the evidence shared by WhatDoTheyKnow was forwarded by 20 Working Days to AWE.
In response to the digital evidence, an AWE spokesperson said: “We have carried out enquiries using the additional log information supplied by [20 Working Days], but have not been able to locate any reference to the message that you are referring to.
“Our position therefore remains that the message in question was not responded to because it was not received by the team dealing with such requests. As stated previously, the team now has the request and will respond within the relevant timescales.”
“ We will not capitulate ”: 30 years of battle against nuclear waste.
Reporterre 15th Aug 2026,
https://reporterre.net/Nous-ne-capitulerons-pas-30-ans-de-bataille-contre-les-dechets-nucleaires
Opponents of radioactive waste gathered near Bure for a weekend under heavy security. It was an opportunity to reiterate their opposition to the Cigéo project, whose problems threaten to become a defining feature of this century.
This weekend, in a field in Saint-Amand-sur-Ornain (Meuse), about fifteen kilometers from Bure, people will be discussing nuclear waste, listening to lectures and concerts, watching films, and, above all, saying no again. From August 14 to 16,
the fifth edition of the Bure’lesques festival brings together opponents
of the Cigéo project , this gigantic facility that the French government and the National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra) want to dig 500 meters underground to bury the most dangerous radioactive waste produced by France’s nuclear power plants.
The festival will be held under close surveillance. Two decrees issued on August 4 by the prefect of the Meuse have established a particularly wide police presence: prohibitions on transporting various materials, such as wood, pyrotechnic objects or elements to conceal one’s face, restrictions on alcohol, but also the capture and recording of images by two drones and a gendarmerie helicopter.
Around forty individuals and fifteen organizations, including the Human Rights League, the French Lawyers’ Union, and the anti-nuclear network Sortir du nucléaire, filed an emergency appeal with the Nancy Administrative Court, denouncing a disproportionate measure and yet another attempt to criminalize opposition to the Cigéo nuclear waste repository project. According to the plaintiffs, some of the restrictions covered 23 municipalities and approximately 300 square kilometers, even though the festival takes place in a field !
On August 12, the administrative court ruled in their favor on only one point: the use of sound equipment would be permitted. This is the bare minimum for a festival. For the rest, the court determined that the use of drones and a helicopter was not ” manifestly disproportionate , “ given the context surrounding the Cigéo protests.
” We will not surrender .”
This only reinforces the feeling among opponents that they are being monitored far beyond their weekend activities. In Bure, the confrontation with the state is nothing new. For nearly thirty years, public meetings, legal appeals, demonstrations, occupations, prosecutions, and police checks have accompanied the project. Generations of activists have now followed one another in the face of an industrial project whose timescale is an invitation to despair.
Reporterre has long followed this battle, documenting both the moments of jubilation and victory, as well as its brutal repression. In the 2000s, opponents bought an old farmhouse to build a “house of resistance,” creating a permanent residence and a focal point for anti-nuclear struggles. In 2013, the boycott of the public consultation gave new impetus to the fight, and then in 2016, the occupation of the Lejuc forest stalled the project for nearly two years. Before the numerous lawsuits and the criminal conspiracy charges attempted to stifle the struggle. Since then, the mobilizations have continued, and the opponents are still searching for a way to block the project.
“ The mindset is to keep fighting ,” assures Corinne François, a member of the Burestop collective, which co-organizes the festival with a myriad of associations. “ This edition is important; we are in a pivotal year: the decision to authorize creation ( DAC ) could be granted at the end of 2026/2027. ”
” The mindset is to keep fighting .”
“
We will not capitulate ,
” insists Régine, from the Stop Cigéo coordination, who boasts over thirty-five years (!) of activism. Almost a lifetime spent reminding everyone that this monumental project is a one-way ticket to nuisances
“ for all eternity”
.
” Residents need to understand that as soon as Andra obtains its authorization, work can begin immediately, starting with the clearing of the Lejuc forest. Massive construction projects are on the horizon. ”
If Cigéo is built, its operation must last at least a century. Then the repository will be closed to isolate substances from the biosphere, some of which will remain hazardous for hundreds of thousands of years. Here, time no longer has quite the same consistency as elsewhere. The site’s security will have to become passive: it’s impossible to rely indefinitely on technicians, a state, institutions, or even a civilization to monitor the tunnels. But to get to that point, the project must first be completed.This is the dizzying feeling that pervades the struggle in Bure. Those who oppose the project today know they will never see its end, should it be completed. The construction site would span generations, and the waste would still be there long after borders, languages, and landscapes have changed.
A decisive step
The project has reached a crucial stage. In January 2023, Andra submitted its application for authorization to create the facility. After nearly three years of review, the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority ( ASNR ) issued a generally favorable opinion at the end of 2025 , concluding that Andra possessed a sufficient knowledge base to proceed with the application, while requesting several additional items (more than 40 in total). The public inquiry was held from May 18 to July 2, 2026 .
The government can now prepare the decree for the Council of State authorizing—or not—the creation of Cigéo.
“ If Andra obtains the authorization request, it will be based on an iterative process, meaning one that will evolve over time ,” fumes Corinne François.“
This is unique in the world. Major projects are budgeted today. Here, it’s complete chaos: they’re going to allocate 7 billion euros for the pilot phase. Then, it’s up to future generations to solve the problems that will arise. “The two organizations are questioning, among other things, the criteria for declaring an experiment a failure. At what point does a malfunction, a difficulty in retrieving a package, or a deviation from the established models lead to a decision to stop
? Because problems are likely to become commonplace this century.
”
We can imagine what could happen in 150 years, particularly with climate change, political systems, and so on,
“ adds Bernard Laponche.
This is perhaps where technology and politics intersect. Cigéo is officially presented as a reversible project: future generations must be able to modify the choices, retrieve waste packages, or change the strategy.
” But the more billions of euros are spent, the more kilometers of tunnels are dug, and the first waste materials are brought down, the more difficult it becomes to reverse course , “ says Bernard Laponche.Under the big tops of the Bure’lesques, behind the acronyms, the cells and the clay, it is ultimately this question that has returned for thirty years: at what point does an experience become a fait accompli
? And how to keep the drive to fight against it
?
Russia has accused the UK of “deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis”.
BBC 18th Aug 2026
Russia has accused the UK of “deliberately opting for an escalation of the
Ukraine crisis” following confirmation that British-made drones had been
used in strikes on targets in Russia. “In doing so, the United Kingdom is
acting as an accomplice and co-perpetrator of the bloody crimes and
terrorist attacks,” the Russian Embassy to the UK wrote in a statement.
“London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have
to answer,” it said, adding that the deeper its involvement in the
conflict, “the higher the price it will pay”. In response, a spokesperson
for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) told BBC News that Britain stood
“shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine.
Russophobia: Elite Obsession or Deep-Rooted Prejudice?
A conversation with Professor Geoffrey Roberts
Ian Proud, August 12, 2026, https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/russophobia-elite-obsession-or-deep?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3221990&post_id=211518204&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Professor Geoffrey Roberts, one of Britain’s leading historians of Soviet and Russian history, recently took part in an academic conference on Russophobia held as part of the annual cultural festival in Pskov, Russia.
The discussions there, and our subsequent conversation, offer a clear-eyed look at a phenomenon – Russophobia – that has intensified dramatically since 2022.
One striking difference emerged immediately between western and Russian participants at the conference.
Russian participants tended to view Russophobia as a deep-rooted cultural feature of the West, particularly Britain, stretching back two centuries to Russia’s emergence as a great power after the Napoleonic Wars.
Western speakers, including Roberts, saw it as far more contingent and episodic — a political instrument that surfaces when it serves a purpose and can recede just as quickly.
Roberts argues that today’s Russophobia is primarily an elite phenomenon.
It thrives in the Westminster bubble, among sections of the media, the intelligence services, the defence industry and the chattering classes.
Ordinary people are often more open-minded. Taxi drivers still express genuine curiosity about life in Moscow rather than reflexive hostility. Public opinion has proved remarkably resistant to years of daily propaganda; the extreme narrative has failed to mobilise a durable popular majority for confrontation.
Within the elite itself there are different strands: a large “herd” that follows the prevailing narrative for career reasons; those with financial or institutional interests in keeping the confrontation alive; and a smaller group of true believers.
The late Lord Robert Skidelsky, whose writings on Russophobia formed the basis of Roberts’ own paper in Pskov, described it as a ready-made repertoire of stereotypes and attitudes that can be activated when political circumstances demand.
Its current intensity is instrumental — it helps mobilise support for Ukraine and for the West’s proxy war against Russia.
History suggests such episodes can reverse rapidly.
Britain and Russia fought as allies in both world wars.
The anti-Soviet version of Russophobia collapsed with surprising speed under Gorbachev.
Roberts remains cautiously optimistic that a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine would undermine the extreme forms of Russophobia and open space for more pragmatic voices. Without an end to the fighting, however, the instrumental value of the narrative remains high.
The conversation also touched on deeper strategic realities.
You cannot fight a war by committee.
Russia’s more centralised decision-making and industrial capacity have allowed it to adapt and sustain the conflict, while Western policymakers continue to underestimate Russian resilience and overestimate the prospects of Ukrainian victory or regime collapse in Moscow.
The result is a prolonged, self-defeating policy that has already cost Ukraine dearly and eroded the legitimacy of European governments at home.
Roberts’ message is ultimately a hopeful one. Most people in any country want peace. Ending the war would not only stop the bloodshed; it would also deprive Russophobia of its most powerful current fuel and create the conditions for a more rational relationship between Russia and the West.
In the meantime, moderate, evidence-based voices remain essential.
You can watch the full conversation here:
The result is a prolonged, self-defeating policy that has already cost Ukraine dearly and eroded the legitimacy of European governments at home.
Roberts’ message is ultimately a hopeful one. Most people in any country want peace. Ending the war would not only stop the bloodshed; it would also deprive Russophobia of its most powerful current fuel and create the conditions for a more rational relationship between Russia and the West.
In the meantime, moderate, evidence-based voices remain essential.
You can watch the full conversation here:
‘Deliberate negligence’: Russian nuclear power company with EU operations accused of violating safety standards
Rosatom’s Egyptian plant will use the same technology as a facility the company is building in Hungary.
August 17, 2026 By Ben Makuch, https://www.politico.eu/article/rosatom-hungary-nuclear-energy-egypt-russia-el-dabaa-paks-ii-russia-safety-standards-violations/
BRUSSELS — A Russian state-controlled corporation building a nuclear power plant in Hungary is facing allegations of safety, security and engineering failures at another project in Egypt that uses the same technology, according to internal documents obtained by POLITICO.
In a confidential letter dated June 4 and addressed to a Rosatom executive, Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority describes “defects” affecting multiple reactor units and violations of “nuclear safety culture” as it builds the El Dabaa nuclear plant. The letter also cites “deliberate negligence” on the part of an official at the project.
The tranche of documents was shared through an intelligence official who was granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, and it has never previously been made public. It includes confidential company documents that describe construction delays and engineering concerns coming from Rosatom’s own reviews of the project.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompted Europe to impose sweeping sanctions on the country, Rosatom has tried to convince European governments that it remains a reliable and competent supplier in the nuclear power market. But the accusations of safety breaches could add to existing concerns over the Kremlin-controlled company’s operations in the EU.
In an emailed statement to POLITICO, Rosatom said it upholds the highest levels of nuclear safety and had done so throughout the construction of El Dabaa. The company declined to comment on whether it had received the letter or the complaints from Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment about its communications with Rosatom.
“The high standard of work organisation, the quality management system and the safety culture are affirmed by the sustained attention paid to the project by the political leadership of the Russian Federation and the Arab Republic of Egypt, as well as by the leadership of the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose representatives regularly attend key project milestones,” said the company by email, adding that a recent ceremony for one of El Dabaa’s reactor units was attended by Russian, Egyptian and IAEA officials.
None of the allegations contained in the letter, presented to Rosatom by POLITICO, have been “confirmed within the contractual, technical and oversight procedures envisaged by the project,” read the company’s statement.
In a press release issued after this article was published, Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority “affirmed that the El Dabaa project is being implemented in accordance with the highest internationally recognized nuclear safety and security standards.”
“For a project of this scale and complexity, the identification of individual technical observations and non-conformities during construction, followed by appropriate corrective measures, is a normal part of the implementation process,” the statement read.
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in July he expected the construction of all four El Dabaa reactors to finish by 2030, with the first reactor unit set to begin producing power by 2028. No nuclear fuel has yet been introduced to the site. Rosatom’s Egyptian plant will use the same technology at the heart of Hungary’s Paks II project, the Kremlin-backed nuclear expansion that has repeatedly raised tensions between Budapest and the European Commission.
The Commission told POLITICO it was not aware of the confidential documents and allegations they contain. “For the EU, nuclear safety is a key priority,” said a Commission spokesperson.
They added that while the Commission was following the project’s developments, “issues of nuclear safety are [the] responsibility of the EU Member State concerned.”
Initially green-lit by Hungary’s former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in 2014, the Paks II project became emblematic of Budapest’s alignment with Russian President Vladimir Putin and provided a foothold for Russian energy technology inside the EU. Work began on the project in February this year.
The Kremlin-controlled corporation also has plant projects in Turkey and China, while Germany is under fire for green-lighting a deal in July that will allow one of Rosatom’s subsidiaries to help produce nuclear fuel rods for a plant in Lower Saxony. The German government said the deal would be under strict national security controls.
The Egyptian government and its embassies in Belgium and the United States did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The allegations
Once fully operational, the El Dabaa complex will contain four Russian-designed nuclear reactor units under the supervision of the Nuclear Power Plants Authority. In the letter sent by the Egyptian authority to Rosatom, an official at the agency wrote that uncompleted reactor units have already encountered defects.
Originally sent to Rosatom in English, the letter appears to have been translated into Russian for internal circulation. POLITICO is citing a version of the letter translated back into English.
“There has been a re-emergence of serious concrete defects, including voids behind the metal cladding at Unit 4, defects in the foundation slabs of Units 1, 2 and 3, which took a year to repair, and defects in the cellular structure in the cylindrical wall of the reactor building at Unit 4,” details the letter.
The Egyptian agency then accuses Rosatom of “misleading methods” and “fictitious work” attempting to prove the plant’s construction is over halfway complete, “while a visual inspection at the site clearly shows that the main buildings of the nuclear island are still in the underground construction phase.”
Rosatom, the Egyptian authority alleges, also presides over an unprofessional workplace culture in which workers were caught in possession of “prohibited alcoholic beverages” on the work site, used “forged passes and impersonated others to gain unauthorized access,” and took several “photos and videos taken at the construction site” that ended up on social media, “which negatively affected the reputation of the project.”
The letter makes reference to a serious accident on the construction site, which resulted in a worker suffering “a severe open fracture” and then being smuggled to a private vehicle, not to an “equipped ambulance,” which the Egyptian authority claims was done “intentionally” to cover up the incident.
“Such behavior represents a serious disregard for both human well-being and professional responsibility, and constitutes a gross violation of workplace safety regulations, nuclear safety culture and reporting obligations,” said the letter.
Four additional internal Rosatom business documents reviewed by POLITICO reinforce aspects of the Egyptian authority’s concerns, detailing delays, construction-quality problems and project-management failures. One Rosatom draft audit prepared internally in 2025 warned of a “significant risk of failure to fulfill” the company’s contractual obligations and forecast that the preliminary schedule of El Dabaa’s first reactor unit could slip by 18 months, from September 2028 to March 2030.
Future in doubt
The allegations contained in the documents cast a shadow over the Paks II project in Hungary and are likely to reinforce concerns in Brussels about entrusting critical European infrastructure to a company under the Kremlin’s control.
In a lengthy commentary by the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based defense and security think tank, researchers warned Western countries against doing business with Rosatom, citing its deep connections to Russian intelligence and its problematic role in forcibly running the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine through military force.
For the government of Hungary’s newly elected Prime Minister Péter Magyar, the Rosatom revelations also present a new headache: Paks II remains indispensable to Hungary’s plans to decarbonize its electricity system and replace aging nuclear capacity. In an effort to reexamine Orbán-era policymaking, Magyar’s government recently opened a review into Paks II, questioning its hefty price tag and connections to Putin.
Former Hungarian Green lawmaker Benedek Jávor, who focused on Paks II and was critical of the Orbán government, cautioned other governments about working with Rosatom. He told POLITICO he now believed the allegations coming out of El Dabaa could have far-reaching consequences for Rosatom and the fate of Paks II.
“They’ve already decided to reconsider the contract, and this was already communicated during the election campaign,” he said of Magyar’s government. “[This] information from Egypt will definitely be part of the evaluation.”
Looking Back….Going Forward
Andrew and Varrie Blowers writing for the Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG) for Energy and Environment Regional Life Column for August, 2026
This month we’ve decided to look back over previous August issues of
this column to reflect on our preoccupations over the past decade. We’ve
picked on two themes – radioactive wastes and new nuclear power – covered
in four columns which focus on our successes as well as our continuing
concerns during these years. August 2017: BANNG led a successful campaign
to force the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to abandon its
experimental scheme to flush dissolved Fuel Element Debris (FED) residue
into the Blackwater. As a result, Magnox cancelled its plans to use FED
dissolution at its other sites. August 2020: In the midst of the pandemic,
the Chinese project to build reactors at Bradwell reached its apotheosis
with its pre-application for planning consent. The outrage against the
project was palpable. Combined with local political and public opposition
and government concerns around national security risks, BANNG was
emboldened to conclude the project was dying. Later, when the Chinese
walked away, we could presume the project dead.
BANNG 5th Aug 2026, https://www.banng.info/news/regional-life/looking-back-going-forward/
It’s Getting So Hot That Nuclear Plants Are Being Forced to Power Down
Governments are freaking out.
By Joe Wilkins Aug 14, 2026 , https://futurism.com/science-energy/europe-heat-wave-water-nuclear-plants
Nuclear energy is often touted as an ultra-efficient alternative to dirtier energy sources like coal or natural gas. Expanding the world’s capacity for atomic power is the key to avoiding a cascading climate disaster, some of the industry’s proponents say — but what if it’s too late?
With record setting heatwaves scorching Europe, water levels in the continent’s major rivers are reaching all-time lows. While receding water levels are a huge boon for European archeologists as ancient ruins surface for the first time in centuries, the situation is causing massive headaches for nuclear engineers, who have had to scramble to power down nuclear energy facilities across the continent.
As German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported, facilities like the two gigawatt Paks nuclear plant in Hungary have come close to powering down completely, as a critical lack of water flowing from the Danube threatened the facility’s ability to cool its reactors. That’s a major crisis, because in any given year, the Paks plant generates nearly half of the country’s total electricity supply.
The Hungarian government is now scrambling to keep things running, ABC reported, mobilizing engineers to deliver some 145,000 cubic meters of rocks into the riverbed to manually slow the current and conserve water upstream.
The situation isn’t much better in Romania, where the state-owned nuclear power producer may be forced to completely shut down its last remaining reactor, per Reuters. That’s not for lack of trying: earlier this month, the Romanian navy detonated 180 kilograms of explosives meant to redirect water from the Danube to cool its nuclear reactors.
Meanwhile in France, a combination of extreme drought and a recurring jellyfish invasion have reduced the nation’s nuclear energy production by 20 percent, though a more diversified energy grid means the situation isn’t quite as hairy as those in Hungary or Romania.
With yet another heat wave already on the horizon, Europe’s nuclear energy woes may really just be the tip of the iceberg.
The 100,000-year plan for Finland’s and Sweden’s nuclear waste turns on something very small — whether bacteria half a kilometre underground can make enough sulphide to eat through five centimetres of copper
Why don’t i find this terribly reassuring?
When I wonder aboutall the countries busily producing radioactive trash, why doesn’t this article make me feel that it is all OK?
Two centuries of engineering innovation may ultimately depend on whether microorganisms in the bedrock can generate enough corrosive compounds to breach the copper canisters meant to contain radioactive waste for the next hundred thousand years.
By Space Daily Editorial Team · Edited by Mal James, August 14, 2026, https://spacedaily.com/m-the-100000-year-plan-for-finlands-and-swedens-nuclear-waste-turns-on-something-very-small-whether-bacteria-half-a-kilometre-underground-can-make-enough-sulphide-to-eat-through-five-centim/
he strange thing about the biggest engineering promise being made in northern Europe right now is that it does not really hinge on the steel, the concrete, or the granite. It hinges on how fast a population of microbes, living in near-total darkness half a kilometre down, can turn one chemical into another.
Finland and Sweden are both burying spent nuclear fuel for good, using a Swedish method called KBS-3. It wraps three barriers around the waste: a copper canister with a cast-iron insert inside it, a thick jacket of packed clay called bentonite, and then the bedrock itself.
In Finland the repository is Onkalo, about 430 metres down. In Sweden it sits near Forsmark at roughly 500 metres. The copper shell around each canister is 50 mm thick, five centimetres of it. The design is supposed to keep the waste sealed off for at least 100,000 years.
We are not corrosion scientists, microbiologists, or nuclear engineers. What follows is reading and reflection on the published research, not a verdict on whether these repositories are safe. The studies cited are mostly lab experiments and modeled projections, and a lab result about clay in a test cell is not a guarantee about a specific canister in the ground 40,000 years from now.
What 100,000 years actually asks of a metal box
It is hard to hold the number in your head. These canisters need to outlast everything humans have ever built, several times over, with no maintenance and no one watching.
The clever part of the design is that copper is not being asked to do the impossible. In pure water with no oxygen and no aggressive chemistry, it just sits there. The catch is that the ground is not chemically dead. So the real question was never “is copper strong?” It was “what, specifically, in this rock and this water can attack copper over geological time?” The answer comes down to a surprisingly short list.
Why the enemy is sulphide, not oxygen
When the canisters go into the ground, there is a short window, perhaps a few years to a few decades, where trapped oxygen can corrode the copper a little. Then the oxygen gets used up and never comes back. From that point on the canister lives in an oxygen-free world for essentially its entire life. By one estimate, a KBS-3 canister spends more than 99.99% of its expected service life in these oxygen-free conditions.
That flips the corrosion problem on its head. Oxygen, the thing that rusts most metals, barely matters here. The agent that matters in an oxygen-free repository is sulphide, and sulphide is not just sitting in the rock waiting. Most of it has to be made by living things.
Deep groundwater carries dissolved sulphate. Sulphate on its own leaves copper alone. But a group of microbes called sulphate-reducing bacteria breathe sulphate the way we breathe oxygen, and their waste product is sulphide. That is the chemical that can actually corrode the copper. So the load-bearing question in a 100,000-year safety case turns out to be biological: how busy are the bacteria, and how much of their sulphide reaches the metal.
Meet the bacteria, and what they need
Sulphate-reducing bacteria are ancient, widespread, and perfectly at home in deep oxygen-free groundwater. Give them dissolved sulphate, an energy source, and liquid water they can move around in, and they will make sulphide. That this kind of microbe-driven corrosion is real, and can move fast in the right conditions, is not hypothetical. An in-ground study in packed bentonite soaked with groundwater at repository depth measured active sulphide production by bacteria, with the rate dropping sharply as the clay was packed to higher densities.
So why is anyone confident the canisters last? Because the whole design is arranged to deny the bacteria the one thing they need most: room to work and a clear path to the metal. That is the job of the clay.
The bentonite bottleneck
The bentonite around each canister is not passive packing material. When it gets wet it swells into a dense, gel-like barrier. Two things happen at high density. The pores get so small and the water so tightly held that bacteria struggle to live and move. And sulphide can no longer flow freely; it can only creep through slowly.
A 2000 lab study led by Karsten Pedersen and colleagues tested exactly this. They reported that “sulphate-reducing bacteria were found to be active, reducing sulphate at the lowest density studied, 1.5 g cm-3, but sulphate reduction activity ceased at higher densities.” The paper’s own conclusion is carefully hedged: at full repository packing, it says the bacteria will most probably not be able to induce corrosion. That is one study, on Swedish KBS-3 clay, and it reads as suggestive rather than final. But it points at something the whole safety case leans on: squeeze the clay hard enough and the microbial factory inside it may largely shut down.
That still leaves sulphide arriving from the surrounding groundwater. Here the argument shifts from biology to plumbing. A 2017 review by Fraser King and colleagues argues that the long-term corrosion rate is set not by how eagerly copper reacts, but by how slowly sulphide can travel to its surface through the clay. As long as the sulphide supply stays low, the corrosion is throttled to a crawl.
Put those numbers into a 100,000-year projection and the developers reach a comfortable conclusion. SKB’s own review estimates that, counting the sulphide already in the deposition holes plus what can seep in from groundwater, the copper corrosion depth after 100,000 years comes to less than 5 mm. Against a 50 mm wall, that leaves a large margin.
Closing thoughts
So the summary is a split one. That copper resists corrosion in an oxygen-free repository is well supported. That dense bentonite slows the bacteria and throttles the sulphide is supported by lab work, with the caveat that it is lab work. That the resulting rate holds steady for 100,000 years is a modeled projection, reasonable and carefully argued, but a projection all the same. The five centimetres of copper is the easy part. The hard part is a number about how much a colony of bacteria, buried in clay half a kilometre underground, can do over a span of time longer than civilisation.
Benjamin Netanyahu describes UK as ‘first Islamic republic to get a nuclear weapon’
Israeli PM criticised by political rival for attacking an international ally and overseeing ‘horrific diplomatic failure’
Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem and Rowena Mason, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/14/benjamin-netanyahu-describes-uk-first-islamic-republic-to-get-nuclear-weapon
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the UK “the Islamic republic of Britain” in a podcast interview, where he also described the country as the “first Islamic republic to get a nuclear weapon”.
His comments, made during an interview for Israel’s army radio, played into a common far-right Islamophobic trope about Britain’s small Muslim population.
Netanyahu praised positive coverage of Israel by the journalist Randolph Churchill, the son of former prime minister Winston Churchill, over half a century ago, then said: “Go find that in today’s Britain, in what is called the Islamic republic of Britain.”
Rather than challenge Netanyahu’s comments, the host questioned whether he is unfairly singling out the UK, asking: “Isn’t all of Europe is like that?”
Netanyahu replies by doubling down. “Yes, but you know someone said the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons will be the Islamic republic of Britain.”
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, has had a nuclear arsenal since the 1990s.
Relations between the UK and Israel have been increasingly strained in recent months, especially since Andy Burnham took over in No 10. Shortly before becoming prime minister, he apologised for Labour’s initial response to Israel’s military action in Gaza, saying the party “didn’t get it right” and needed to “do better” under his leadership, signalling a significant shift in the UK’s approach to the Middle East.
In July, he said he would “do more to put pressure on the Israeli government”, including through further sanctions on individuals and entities, as well as a potential ban on the trade of goods with illegal settlements.
The US vice-president, JD Vance, made remarks similar to Netanyahu’s comments during the 2024 presidential campaign, saying the UK could become the first “truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon”.
London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, has also been a frequent target of racialised attacks from rightwing leaders abroad, including Donald Trump, seeking to gain political advantage from Islamophobic lies.
Muslim leaders in the UK have said that hate crimes targeting their community are hitting new levels amid a rise in far-right rhetoric and growing support for anti-immigrant political parties.
Avi Dabush, who is running for the Knesset with Israel’s opposition Democrats party, attacked Netanyahu for mocking a critical ally at a time when Israel faces unprecedented global isolation. “That’s what happens when there’s a horrific diplomatic failure, and an inability to rally countries in the world in favour of our interests,” he said in a social media post.
Leading the most far-right government in Israel’s history, Netanyahu has alienated traditional allies while aligning with far-right figures, including some with a history of antisemitism.
The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “These comments are completely unacceptable and we have raised them with the Israeli government.”
The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to requests for comment on whether Netanyahu’s statement represented the official position of the Israeli government.
Nuclear police costs rise as stress cases nearly double
UK Defence Journal, By Craig Langford, August 15, 2026
Operating expenditure at the Civil Nuclear Police Authority rose by almost £25 million during 2025-26, while reported workplace stress cases increased by 86% during a year of expansion, site closures and organisational change.
Operating expenditure at the Civil Nuclear Police Authority increased to £178.7 million during 2025-26, while reported workplace stress cases rose from 29 to 54, the UK Defence Journal understands.
Defense Industry
The figures are contained in the CNPA’s Annual Report and Accounts, covering a year in which the Civil Nuclear Constabulary expanded its armed protection role to four non-nuclear energy sites while also managing the cessation of policing at older nuclear facilities. Total operating expenditure increased from £154.1 million in 2024-25 to £178.7 million, a rise of approximately £24.6 million or 16%. The Authority says £19.7 million of additional pay costs reflected the full-year effect of previous pay awards, higher employer pension and National Insurance contributions, and the transfer of Ministry of Defence Police personnel into the CNC as responsibility for the four additional sites changed hands.
Staff costs reached £131.1 million, compared with £111.3 million a year earlier, including £99.2 million in wages and salaries, £14 million in social security costs and £17.3 million in pension costs. Despite the increase in overall expenditure, the Authority spent less than had originally been approved for the year. Pay costs were below forecast because of vacancies and fewer new officers entering training than expected, while delayed project activity and lower-than-anticipated property maintenance costs also produced underspends. The CNPA said its standard operational activities achieved a breakeven position, although the accounts recorded £6 million more expenditure than income overall, mainly because of technical accounting adjustments and non-operational costs reimbursed by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/nuclear-police-costs-rise-as-stress-cases-nearly-double/
Hungary to sink two barges near nuclear plant as river runs dry
Paks nuclear plant i currently operates at around 25% of its capacity
Rich BoothFriday 14 August 2026, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/danube-river-low-hungary-nuclear-power-b3033182.html
Authorities in Hungary will sink two barges today to raise the water level at the Paks nuclear plant in the Danube, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Friday.
The plant currently operates at around 25% of its capacity due to a historic drought and record low water levels on the Danube river, from which the nuclear plant draws its coolant.
Neighbouring Romania shut down its last working reactor on Thursday as drought this summer has wreaked havoc in European power production, shipping and public health systems. The drought also raised questions in Hungary and Romania about how to adapt atomic energy to an increasingly extreme climate.
Hungary’s government announced on Wednesday that it would build a riverbed “sill”, a submerged, dam-like structure built crosswise on the bottom of a river channel, to manage water flow. That will take weeks.
The government also said that two 80-metre (260-foot) barges would be submerged near the nuclear plant to raise the water level in the short term so that the plant’s two turbines could be kept working while the riverbed sill was under construction.
“The controlled sinking (of the barges) is expected to begin late this afternoon in order to raise the water level on the Danube,” Magyar said in a Facebook video from Paks on Friday.
Sinking of the barges could raise the water level by 20 centimetres (8 inches) in the short term, while the river sill is expected to raise it by up to 1 metre.
It comes as wrecks of World War Two German warships have resurfaced further up the Danube River in eastern Serbia as record-low water levels exposed sandbanks and stranded boats.
Rusted hulls that have lain submerged for decades since 1945 have emerged, while further north in Novi Sad many small boats docked in marinas remain stranded.
“This has literally never happened before, these wrecks we’re heading towards right now have never been visible like this,” Ljubisa Karalic, a local fisherman in Prahovo, told Reuters.
“They’ve always been completely submerged; what we’re seeing now is utterly unprecedented.” A succession of record-breaking heatwaves in Europe this summer has caused a severe drought in parts of the continent, affecting major waterways such as the Danube and the Rhine. The Danube water temperatures in Serbia hovered around an all-time maximum of 28 degrees Celsius.
“A record has been broken regarding the Danube’s discharge. We hope this represents the minimum, given that rain is forecast for upstream stretches, which should help the situation improve,” Jelena Jerinic of Serbia’s Hydrometeorological Service said. She warned that the river’s biodiversity is threatened as well.
“High (water) temperatures, alongside low water volume, accelerate the proliferation of microorganisms and bacteria while depleting dissolved oxygen levels.”
One-fifth of France’s nuclear capacity offline due to extreme weather and jellyfish
In total, 13 of the 57 reactors in EDF’s nuclear fleet were affected, resulting in a more than 20% shortfall in nuclear power production capacity, a record deficit.
Le Monde with AFPP, August 12, 2026, https://www.lemonde.fr/en/energies/article/2026/08/12/one-fifth-of-france-s-nuclear-capacity-offline-due-to-extreme-weather-and-jellyfish_6756421_98.html
France on Wednesday recorded a more than 20% shortfall in nuclear power production capacity, a record deficit caused by environmentally related outages linked to drought, extreme heat and a jellyfish invasion. France uses nuclear power to generate around 70% of its electricity. The country has seen nuclear power production disrupted by multiple heatwaves and droughts this year.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP) calculations based on data published by energy group EDF since 2015, 20.4% of generating capacity was unavailable. Between 9:45 am and 10:00 am, EDF’s nuclear fleet recorded a new peak in outages due to “environmental constraints” or “external environmental causes,” both in terms of the number of reactors shut down or operating at reduced output and in terms of lost generating capacity.
In total, 13 of the 57 reactors in EDF’s nuclear fleet were affected. Eight reactors were completely shut down while five were operating at reduced power. Much of the lost nuclear generating capacity was due to full or partial shutdowns at five of the six reactors at the Gravelines nuclear power plant after a swarm of jellyfish clogged pumps used to cool the units.
Experts say overfishing, plastic pollution and warming seas due to climate change have created conditions allowing jellyfish to thrive and reproduce. Outside the Gravelines plant, the largest in Western Europe, the shutdowns or production reductions affecting other reactors are linked to extreme heat and droughts, depriving the plants of the water they need for cooling.
Zelensky Must Go Before Real Peace Talks Can Begin
Zelensky, he argues, has come to equate Ukraine’s survival with his own continued leadership. That belief has justified the suspension of elections, the refusal to pursue realistic diplomacy, and a strategy that has steadily worsened Ukraine’s negotiating position, its economy, and its military situation.
We also discussed the deeper problem. Western policy has become trapped in a form of moralism that treats any contact with Russia as contamination. This makes genuine diplomacy almost impossible and prepares the ground for permanent confrontation long after the fighting stops.
In conversation with Professor Nicolai Petro
Ian Proud, Aug 12, 2026, https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/zelensky-must-go-before-real-peace?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3221990&post_id=210874375&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Something has shifted.
For the first time in years, serious people in European capitals are quietly exploring track-two contacts with Moscow. My old boss, Tim Barrow, was recently dispatched to Vienna for meetings that were supposedly secret — until the newspapers reported them. At the same time, Ukraine’s military, economic and demographic position continues to deteriorate in ways that no amount of Western propaganda can disguise.
I sat down with Professor Nicolai Petro of the University of Rhode Island to discuss what this means. Petro is one of the most thoughtful and independent analysts of Russia and Ukraine writing today. His book The Tragedy of Ukraine remains essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the deep domestic roots of this conflict rather than the simplified morality play offered by most Western media.
Our conversation was frank. Petro’s central argument is blunt: serious negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are almost impossible while Volodymyr Zelensky remains in office. Zelensky, he argues, has come to equate Ukraine’s survival with his own continued leadership. That belief has justified the suspension of elections, the refusal to pursue realistic diplomacy, and a strategy that has steadily worsened Ukraine’s negotiating position, its economy, and its military situation.
The observable realities are hard to ignore. The average age of Ukrainian soldiers is now over forty. The pool of viable recruits is shrinking fast. Casualty rates in the specialised assault battalions remain extremely high. Winter is approaching, and with it the near-certainty of another Russian campaign against energy infrastructure. Ukraine’s finance ministry will shortly return to Western capitals asking for yet more money. And the political mood inside Ukraine itself is shifting — recent polling shows Zelensky’s trust ratings underwater, even in Kyiv.
Petro believes Russia’s military objective remains the consolidation of the four regions plus Crimea. Once those administrative borders are secured, Moscow will be in a position to declare its goals achieved and place a clear choice before Kyiv: negotiate now on the basis of current realities, or face further losses. In his view, that moment is approaching.
We also discussed the deeper problem. Western policy has become trapped in a form of moralism that treats any contact with Russia as contamination. This makes genuine diplomacy almost impossible and prepares the ground for permanent confrontation long after the fighting stops.
The EU’s own statements about retaining and even expanding sanctions after the war reveal the logic: there is to be no real peace, only a frozen conflict managed under permanent pressure.
There are faint signs of movement. Serbia’s potential role as a mediator is intriguing. Subtle shifts in London and elsewhere suggest some officials are beginning to grasp that the current course is unsustainable. But without a change of leadership in Kyiv, Petro sees little prospect of meaningful talks.
This was one of the most clear-eyed conversations I’ve had on the war. Petro does not deal in wishful thinking or propaganda. He deals in political and military reality.
You can watch the full interview here.
Hungary’s government plans interventions on Danube River to keep nuclear plant running
By ASSOCIATED PRESS, 13 August 2026 ,
https://www.dailymail.com/wires/ap/article-16047513/Hungarys-government-plans-interventions-Danube-River-nuclear-plant-running.html
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) – Authorities in Hungary will begin taking steps to raise the level of the Danube River this week in order to ensure the country’s only nuclear power plant can continue operating, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Wednesday.
Persistent drought and successive extreme heat waves in recent months have deprived one of Europe´s largest rivers of water, bringing Danube levels to record lows and pushing the Paks nuclear power plant to the brink of shutting down for the first time in its 44-year history.
The Soviet-built plant, which uses water from the Danube to cool its four reactors, is currently operating at little more than 10% of its 2,000 megawatt capacity due to low water levels. It supplies Hungary with around a third of its electricity.
In a video posted to Facebook on Wednesday, Magyar said authorities would begin building a bed sill – a low concrete or stone structure built into the riverbed to slow the current and raise upstream water levels – on Thursday on a section of the Danube just upriver from the plant.
Delivery of some 145,000 cubic meters of rocks used in its construction would begin on Wednesday evening, Magyar said, adding that the intervention could raise the level of the Danube by up to a meter (3 feet).
Meanwhile, two 80-meter (262-foot) barges will be transported to the site near Paks and may be sunk in order to raise the Danube up to a further 20 centimeters (8 inches) at the plant’s cooling pumps. A decision on whether to sink them will be made on Friday, Magyar said.
“We can no longer consider this extraordinary situation as a one-time natural extreme,” he said, adding that the work must be carried out quickly to avoid a full Paks shutdown.
Magyar referred to the construction of the bed sill as a “long-term” solution which could ensure that water levels never fall below the threshold at which reactors at Paks must be powered down.
He said that after a recent temporary rise in water levels, they were expected to begin falling again in coming days which, without external intervention, could lead to the complete shutdown of the Paks plant.
“The Danube has given us days, not months,” he said.
Similar measures were taken in Romania last week when authorities sank four barges laden with rock into the Danube in an attempt to redirect water downstream toward the Cernavoda nuclear plant, which had already shut down one of its two reactors due to low water levels.
On Wednesday, Magyar said the Paks plant operating at its current output is costing Hungary’s economy up to 50 billion forints ($158 million) per month. By contrast, he said the planned interventions on the Danube will cost around 6 billion forints ($19 million).
Britain races against the world to unlock energy’s holy grail
“Most British people don’t know that their Government has started a
Manhattan Project,” says Michael Cole, a plasma physicist and author of a
history of fusion energy. “It is an engineering project on the same
scale.
” I’ve come to see it for myself, but as my train slows to a halt
at what feels like a branch-line station that Richard Beeching forgot to
close, it’s hard to believe. Culham railway station is as quiet as the
Adlestrop of Edward Thomas’s melancholy poem, in which there’s nothing
but “willow-herb … and all the birds of Oxfordshire”.
But just behind
the hedges is Britain’s Los Alamos: the Centre for Fusion Energy. Spread
across a sprawling industrial park more than 160 acres, it is home to some
2,600 scientists and engineers busy trying to tame atoms. The project, some
believe, is as ambitious as Robert Oppenheimer’s in New Mexico.
“There’s enough energy potential in a glass of seawater to light up a
city,” says Mark Thomas, the chief executive of First Light Fusion.
But unlocking it requires a dramatic, violent process called nuclear fusion.
Every star, including our own sun, is a giant natural fusion reactor, and
here in the Oxfordshire countryside, they are making machines that operate
on the same principles of physics. Temperatures inside the machines have
reached 10 times hotter than the sun’s core, easily the hottest ever
recorded in the solar system.
After decades of demonstrations and
experiments, the UK has decided it’s time to commit to building the
world’s first commercial prototype fusion power plant. The programme is
known as Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production, or Step.
Telegraph 14th Aug 2026,
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/08/14/britain-races-against-the-world-to-unlock-energy-holy-grail/
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