The Welsh Government’s Lesley Griffiths said she hoped the declaration would trigger “a wave of action”.
Climate change threatens Wales’ health, economy, infrastructure and natural environment, she said……
UK’s Committee on Climate Change sinks nuclear power in the UK in favour of renewables.
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Dave Toke’s Blog 10th May 2019 Committee on Climate Change sinks nuclear power in the UK in favour of renewables. Few people seem to have noticed how the Committee on Climate
Change, in their ‘Net Zero’ report (net zero carbon emissions for 2050 for the UK), have effectively junked nuclear power in favour of renewable energy. Indeed a careful reading of the evidence produced by the CCC
completely upends the former received wisdom that renewable energy could not, on its own, achieve the UK’s long term carbon emission reduction targets. The late David McKay’s argument (see ‘Sustainable Energy without
hot air’) that large quantities of nuclear power were necessary have been quietly sidelined by the CCC. Rather, the evidence presented by the CCC says that not only can renewables do the whole job (on the supply side, having taken account of demand reduction measures), but renewables can do things much more cheaply than either nuclear power or carbon capture and storage. The CCC argues that investment in renewable energy will save
consumers money, whilst investment in nuclear power and carbon capture and storage will cost a lot of money (eg see Table 2.3 page 43). http://realfeed-intariffs.blogspot.com/2019/05/committee-on-climate-change-sinks.html |
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AS Wylfa nuclear project suspended, MPs have called on the UK and Welsh governments to consider a range of low-carbon energy projects
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Planner 10th May 2019 MPs have called on the UK and Welsh governments to consider a
 range of low-carbon energy projects in north-west Wales following the suspension ofwork on the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power station. That call comes in a report from the UK Parliament’s Welsh Affairs Committee, which has been looking at the economic impact of the decision by Japanese industrial giant Hitachi to halt work on its proposed new nuclear plant, earmarked for an existing nuclear site on the island of Anglesey.https://www.theplanner.co.uk/news/mps-urge-action-after-nuclear-hiatus-blights-north-wales-growth-deal-prospects |
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Another nail in the coffin of the ‘integral fast nuclear reactors’ championed by nuclear lobby shills
Jim Green.Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch South Australia https://www.facebook.com/groups/1021186047913052/– 9 May 19
Another nail in the coffin of the ‘integral fast reactors’ 
championed by Ben Heard, Barry Brook et al.UK consideration as to how to manage a growing stockpile of separated plutonium: “Re-use in PRISM [IFR] fast reactors – an option proposed by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) involving the construction at Sellafield of a fuel fabrication plant and two PRISM reactors (all ‘first of a kind’ facilities) to irradiate a plutonium alloy fuel. The option was put forward by GEH as ‘ready to deploy’ and therefore capable of quickly dispositioning the complete plutonium stockpile.‘ However, the studies undertaken by NDA with GEH over the past few years have shown that a major research and development programme would be required, indicating a low level of technical maturity for the option with no guarantee of success.
At this time, it is noted that the cost, scope and extent of work required to progress Fast Reactor options, such as the GEH PRISM, as well as the timeframe for these options to become available, means it is not credible for the NDA to develop these options, or have them available for implementation within the next 20 years. Therefore no further work with GEH has been funded by NDA’.”
A decision on the fate of UK’s Plutonium stockpile remains years away. http://corecumbria.co.uk/briefings/a-decision-on-the-fate-of-uks-plutonium-stockpile-remains-years-away/?fbclid=IwAR2yPVluaq70YaoxikF_paOTbJ9BwleBhtGQb6kF0vI2sT4Ae-0M7HIItrE, 6th May 2019 The much delayed update from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) on its plans for dealing with Sellafield’s burgeoning plutonium stockpile was quietly published at the end March 2019 under the title ‘Progress on plutonium consolidation, storage and disposition’. The lack of fanfare for its publication may be attributable to the absence of any major breakthrough in progress since the NDA’s 2014 Position Paper and the subsequent warning given to a Sellafield Stakeholder Group in 2016. Continue reading
Unease at China’s grip on Britain’s nuclear future.
Times 8th May 2019 Unease at China’s grip on Britain’s nuclear future. China is still investing in big British infrastructure projects despite concerns over the Huawei deal and fears among the UK’s intelligence partners of exposure to foreign influence. Construction is well under way at Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in Somerset despite the controversy, and Beijing is also being wooed for the HS2 high-speed rail link. Britain’s commitment to welcoming Chinese money for everything from its 5G network to cinemas and electric taxis has made it the top European destination for direct investment from China, but a former government energy adviser asked yesterday why the nuclear projects, which also include Chinese-backed power plants in Suffolk and Essex, did not attract more scrutiny.
Paul Dorfman of the Energy Institute at University College London said: “There’s significant
controversy around security implications of involving Huawei, yet plans for China General Nuclear Power Corporation to build nuclear reactors on UK soil are progressing almost unnoticed.
controversy around security implications of involving Huawei, yet plans for China General Nuclear Power Corporation to build nuclear reactors on UK soil are progressing almost unnoticed.
“Security experts have said letting Huawei in would compromise security yet they seem content that letting China build nuclear reactors here would be OK.” The US has also expressed concern about Britain’s nuclear ties with Chinese state-owned energy companies. The British government reviewed China’s investment in nuclear power shortly after Theresa May became prime minister in 2016, and decided that safeguards were adequate.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/4f281efe-710a-11e9-a116-49ac88679a93
UK commits to action on national “environmental and climate emergency”.
Irish Times 6th May 2019 In the quagmire of Brexit there is little to commend the UK government’s approach. This is in stark contrast with its clarity and leadership on climate change. It is the first national parliament to declare an “environmental and climate emergency”.
It has not only committed to “net-zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the climate change committee in Westminster has set out how this can be achieved. Net zero means, in effect, eliminating its carbon footprint in a dramatically transformed economy built on sustainability with a near absence of fossil fuels.
Ireland has some way to go before it could commit to such a course, but a Government report due in the coming weeks must show a similar level of intent, and include a roadmap to reduce the shocking levels of Irish emissions. Declaring an emergency may seem like tokenism but it injects urgency into consideration of the best course to take. Wicklow County
Council was the first Irish local authority to declare a “biodiversity and climate change emergency”.
The Government should endorse a similar vote in our national parliament and introduce binding legislation on revised targets.
Highland Green MSP John Finnie points out the danger of transporting nuclear material across the Atlantic
Press and Journal 4th May 2019 Highland Green MSP John Finnie has expressed concern after three quartersof a ton of highly enriched uranium was transported from Dounreay in
Caithness to America. He said: “The appropriate place for dangerous
material is secure storage and supervision by highly trained staff where it
was created, not transportation.
“Whilst pleased that this risky has been completed without incident, that we know of. “But before the authorities on both sides of the Atlantic pat themselves on the back, they need to
reflect on the dangers they put communities in. “As was evidenced when a
ship which was transporting nuclear material in the Moray Firth went on
fire. As with oil and gas reserves, the message regarding nuclear waste has
to be ‘keep it in the ground’.”
The bizarre Westminster Abbey glorification of nuclear weapons
Why is Westminster Abbey about to hold a bizarre thanksgiving for Britain’s nuclear weapons? https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/nuclear-weapons-westminster-abbey-cnd-bruce-kent-church-a8893106.html – 1 May 19We are told that nuclear weapons and their deterrent effect have kept the peace. What peace? Bruce Kent
I think they’re right and the Abbey has got this very wrong. These submarines are nuclear weapon submarines. Their crews, trained to obey orders, are ready to fire missiles whose warheads will bring destruction to faraway places and people far beyond the scale of Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
My opposition to potential war crimes of this magnitude will motivate me to join a vigil outside the Abbey. I do not blame the sailors. The history of nuclear weaponry has been from the beginning one of deceit.
We were, and are, told that the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the only way to end the Second World War. Not true. The Japanese leadership, ready to surrender, were looking for one guarantee – that the position of the Emperor would not be challenged in any surrender settlement and that he would not be prosecuted. That was just what was given by General MacArthur but only after the bombs were dropped. Why were they dropped then? As a warning to the Soviets and to see if they “worked”? Probably.
We are never told about the few scientists, like Professor Joseph Rotblat, then in Los Alamos, who refused to continue to work on the bomb once he knew how it was to be used. He was sent back to Britain in 1944 in disgrace.
Not many church voices in this country were raised in opposition at the use of these bombs. One was that of Cuthbert Thickness, the Dean of St Albans Abbey. When he was supposed to have rung the bells in thanksgiving, he said in August 1945 “I cannot honestly give thanks to God for an event brought about by the wrong use of force, by an act of wholesale indiscriminate massacre, different in kind over all other acts of open warfare hitherto, however brutal and hideous.”
There were however strong military voices in opposition, to which little attention has been paid. General Eisenhower for instance had this to say: “Japan was at that very moment seeking some way to surrender with minimum loss of face. It was not necessary to hit them with that awful thing.”
We are told now that nuclear weapons and deterrence have kept the peace. What peace?
The list of post-1945 wars runs to several pages and the global military budget is nearly $2tn. If this claim means we have not had a nuclear war then I think we should listen to Robert McNamara, erstwhile US secretary of defense, who said, late in life, that we were saved not by our good judgement but by “good luck”. He had in mind the many accidents and misunderstandings which have dogged our nuclear weapon world.
In 1968 we signed up to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and promised in “good faith” to work for the elimination of all nuclear weapons.
Yet almost 50 years later we are now spending over £200bn on yet another nuclear weapons system (also entirely dependent on a regular loan of US missiles) to replace Trident.
Surely it is time to start spending our billions not on weapons of mass murder but on our NHS, pensions, welfare and real peace-making initiatives, here and abroad.
There is now a UN treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons just waiting for more signatory states to give it the force of law. Britain should sign it and lead the world towards a nuclear-free future.
In these dangerous times, when the threat of nuclear war is growing rather than receding, a thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey for the so-called nuclear “deterrent” is the last thing we need.
UK’s nuclear weapons programme could cost £172bn
UK Defence Journal 30th April 2019 , A new report has warned that the UK’s nuclear weapons programme could cost £172bn between now and 2070, and suggests the government should
review the UK’s possession of nuclear weapons. The report, published
today by the Nuclear Information Service (NIS), states that the UK must
make a choice in the near future: increase the overall defence budget,
reduce spending on conventional weapons in order to fund nuclear weapons,
or reducing spending on/scrapping the nuclear weapons programme. NIS also
argues that the UK should work to “achieving a nuclear free world”, and
must “re-examine” the case for nuclear disarmament.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/report-warns-of-spiralling-costs-of-uk-nuclear-weapons-programme/
‘Climate emergency’ declared by Welsh Government,
BBC, 29 April 2019 A “climate emergency” has been declared in Wales following protests demanding politicians take action on climate change.
UK Cold War exhibition tries to gloss over the effects of nuclear testing on indigenous people
Cold War exhibition tries to airbrush Britain’s dark history of nuclear testing, The Conversation, Researcher, Social History/Tutor in Medical Education, University of Dundee, May 2, 2019 A new exhibition about the Cold War recently opened at the UK National Archives at Kew in south-west London. Protect and Survive: Britain’s Cold War Revealed seeks to tell the story of how the years of high nuclear tensions affected the UK, from spy paranoia to civil defence posters to communications at the heart of government. …..
an extremely important facet of Britain’s Cold War has been almost entirely airbrushed from the story. There is barely anything in the exhibition about the 45 atomic and nuclear weapons detonations carried out by the British: 12 in Australia from 1952-57, nine in the central Pacific in 1957-58, and a further 24 alongside the Americans in the Nevada desert until as recently as 1991. The effects on the health of all this testing on indigenous people and some 22,000 British servicemen who were sent as observers is still being researched.
The Cold War exhibition includes three photos showing the atmospheric effect of the 1952 detonation off the Montebello Islands off north-western Australia. There is one additional picture of the hydrogen bomb that was exploded near Christmas Island in May 1957, the first of the central Pacific series, which persuaded the US to resume nuclear collaboration with the UK. And that’s about it. Worse, the exhibition includes a map of the global impact of the nuclear era in which the test locations in Australia are obscured by lettering – not least Maralinga, an important Aboriginal area in which seven detonations took place.
Files under review
My understanding is that decisions about the content of the exhibition were finalised late last year. Interestingly, this was around the same time as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the public body with ultimate responsibility for the UK’s nuclear legacy withdrew recordsfrom the National Archives relating to 1950s nuclear weapons tests that had been declassified decades ago, pending a “security review” by the Ministry of Defence and Atomic Weapons Establishment. Specialists in this field have long complained about the many files concerning British testing that have remained secret, which makes the withdrawal of declassified files all the more unsettling………
Remembrance, The omissions at the London Cold War exhibition are a reminder about the UK’s low-key approach to its weapons testing history. The story doesn’t only need to be properly told at this exhibition, it needs a permanent public space. Yet no existing museum dedicated to Britain’s wars is interested in giving it house room – not even the records and memorabilia of all the military personnel sent to observe the tests. A number of years ago I was quietly told while walking down a corridor in one major institution not to offer it my own records because “they will end up in the skip”.
My years working in this field indicate to me that successive governments seem to want the story of British nuclear testing to die off naturally. But surely, at the very least, the point of the National Archives is to preserve the records to ensure that it is never allowed to be forgotten. https://theconversation.com/cold-war-exhibition-tries-to-airbrush-britains-dark-history-of-nuclear-testing-116237
Rocketing costs of Britain’s nuclear weapons projects
Cost of MoD nuclear projects is rocketing The Times, 29 Apr 19, The government’s defence nuclear enterprise will cost 26 per cent more than previously forecast over the next three years, a report says.
The Ministry of Defence is facing a funding gap of up to £14 billion in its ten-year equipment plan. In the report, out tomorrow, the Nuclear Information Service (NIS), a campaign organisation that monitors the nuclear defence industry and promotes transparency, also raises concerns that five upgrade projects within the programme are experiencing financial difficulties. Four upgrade projects have already been scrapped, it says.
The three big upgrade projects for which information is released are rated either “amber/red” or “red”, meaning that delivery of the projects is either under threat or appears impossible.
The report says: “There is serious potential for delays to…(subscribers only) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cost-of-mod-nuclear-projects-is-rocketing-7t2mjl62d
Political leaders in Britain are not strong enough to tackle the climate change crisis- Lord Stern
Times 29th April 2019 , Political leaders in Britain are not strong enough to tackle the climate
change crisis, according to one of the country’s leading authorities on the
subject. Lord Stern of Brentford, author of the Stern Review on the cost of
tackling global warming, said that politicians were holding the country
back from making progress on the issue.
“Has the political leadership been
strong enough? No, I don’t think so,” he said. He added that protests by
campaigners such as Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate activist from
Sweden, and Extinction Rebellion, a group that caused disruption in the
capital last week, would help to build awareness and spur politicians into
action.
“Leadership is absolutely fundamental, but that doesn’t come out of
nowhere, it comes as these pressures build,” he said. Lord Stern, a former
chief economist at the Treasury and the World Bank, is among Britain’s most
respected thinkers on the environmental crisis. In 2006 he published The
Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change, which described global
warming as the “greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen”.
He told The Times that policymakers needed to act to avert a catastrophic rise
in global temperatures. If they waited an additional ten to fifteen years
before taking radical steps to reduce carbon emissions, it would be too
late, he said.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c233cb30-69e1-11e9-95be-9353feb218cd
Anglican Church angry about ‘Thanksgiving’ service for nuclear weapons at Westminster Abbey
International outcry at ‘Thanksgiving’ service for nuclear weapons at Westminster Abbey ww.ekklesia.co.uk/node/28146, By agency reporter. APRIL 28, 2019, The international Anglican Communion has expressed widespread concern about the upcoming ‘National Service of Thanksgiving’ for nuclear weapons, which is being held at Westminster Abbey on Friday 3 May 2019.
More than 175 Anglican clergy members have signed a statement, coordinated by the Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (Christian CND), calling for the service to be stopped. The signatories to the statement come from the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. They include eight current or former bishops.Christian CND commended the Church of England for overwhelmingly passing a motion at General Synod in 2018 which noted that nuclear weapons have “indiscriminate and destructive potential” which urges Anglicans to “work tirelessly for their elimination across the world”.
Martin Tiller, Co-Chair of Christian CND said, “Christians around the world will find this service, described by the Royal Navy as a ‘celebration’, to be completely inappropriate. For centuries, Christians have been praying for peace, and we simply do not accept that a so-called ‘nuclear deterrent’ is God’s answer to that prayer. The huge support for our The international Anglican Communion has expressed widespread concern about the upcoming ‘National Service of Thanksgiving’ for nuclear weapons, which is being held at Westminster Abbey on Friday 3 May 2019.
More than 175 Anglican clergy members have signed a statement, coordinated by the Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (Christian CND), calling for the service to be stopped. The signatories to the statement come from the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. They include eight current or former bishops.Christian CND commended the Church of England for overwhelmingly passing a motion at General Synod in 2018 which noted that nuclear weapons have “indiscriminate and destructive potential” which urges Anglicans to “work tirelessly for their elimination across the world”.
Martin Tiller, Co-Chair of Christian CND said, “Christians around the world will find this service, described by the Royal Navy as a ‘celebration’, to be completely inappropriate. For centuries, Christians have been praying for peace, and we simply do not accept that a so-called ‘nuclear deterrent’ is God’s answer to that prayer. The huge support for our petition and clergy statement demonstrates that many, many other Christians agree with us.”
The Rt Rev Andrew Hedge, Bishop of Waipu, New Zealand said,”New Zealand has a proud record of being opposed to nuclear weapons and has already ratified the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. I welcome the motion passed by Church of England General Synod in support of the Treaty, and believe that the witness of the church needs to be invested in working to bring about a nuclear weapons-free world. Recognition of the long-standing commitment of the naval submariners to vigilant patrol is laudable; however, the idea of aligning that celebration with the threat of potential indiscriminate destruction through the use of nuclear weapons is completely counter to the witness of the Church in the proclamation of the gospel.”
Christian CND will be taking part in an alternative witness outside Westminster Abbey on Friday 3 May, gathering at 11:30 for reflection and prayer before the witness begins at 12 noon. The witness will be inter-denominational with Methodist, Quaker, Catholic and Anglican representation. The witness is being supported by the Network of Christian Peace Organisations, Pax Christi, the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, the National Peace and Justice Network, Church and Peace and the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
* Read the statement and a full list of signatories here
* Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament http://christiancnd.org.uk/
UK Labour aims to declare a national climate emergency
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Corbyn launches bid to declare a national climate emergency, Guardian, Toby Helm
Sun 28 Apr 2019 Labour will attempt to force Commons vote as it is revealed that the government has failed to spend anti-pollution cash, Labour will this week force a vote in parliament to declare a national environmental and climate change emergency as confidential documents show the government has spent only a fraction of a £100m fund allocated in 2015 to support clean air projects.Jeremy Corbyn’s party will demand on Wednesday that the country wakes up to the threat and acts with urgency to avoid more than 1.5°C of warming, which will require global emissions to fall by about 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching “net zero” before 2050. The move will place Conservative MPs under pressure to back the plan, or explain why they refuse to do so, now fears over the combined problems of air pollution and climate change have risen to the top of the political agenda. On Saturday night Corbyn said the recent wave of protests were “a massive and necessary wake-up call” that demanded “rapid and dramatic action, which only concerted government action and a green industrial revolution can deliver.” He said that if parliament backed the move and became the first national legislature to declare a climate emergency it would “trigger a wave of action from governments around the world”. The motion was welcomed by Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who has criticised the inaction of the world’s politicians. “It is a great first step because it sends a clear signal that we are in a crisis and that the ongoing climate and ecological crises must be our first priority,” she said. “We can not solve an emergency without treating it like an emergency. “I hope the other UK political parties join in and together pass this motion in parliament – and that political parties in other countries will follow their example.” ….. This week, Pascal Lamy, the World Trade Organisation’s former director general, will add to the pressure on the government, warning a London audience that Brexit risks damaging the UK’s leadership on climate change. Lamy’s intervention accompanies new research from leading lawyers showing that existing preparations would not prevent damaging roll-backs on key climate change and environmental protections. It comes just days before the Committee on Climate Change publishes advice to the government on long-term climate change targets. Lamy will say: “It is vital that any new trade deal or environment treaty between the UK and EU protects the region’s global leadership position on climate change. Without safeguardsto ensure strong continued cooperation and alignment, Brexit could destroy environmental protections – well beyond allowing chlorinated chicken imports.” Writing in Sunday’s Observer shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey says: “Unless we take rapid action to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we are releasing into the atmosphere, we face total catastrophe.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/27/corbyn-declares-national-climate-emergency |
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1 This Month
Read the Public Inquiry Report, the Commissioners’ report, Surrendering Australia: The AUKUS Deception is available to download for free at aukuspublicinquiry.com. Or just watch the replay of the National Press Club Luncheon.
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
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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