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UK government pours good money after bad, into failing Hinkley Point C nuclear boondoggle

The Stop Hinkley Campaign has reacted to the news that the cost of Hinkley
Point C has ballooned to £46bn and that the first reactor may not now be
open until 2031. Stop Hinkley Spokesperson Roy Pumfrey said: “The
Government will have known for days if not weeks that this announcement was
coming – we certainly heard rumours. You would have thought it would have
provoked them into at least re-examining their nuclear roadmap.

Instead, on Monday they decided to waste another £1.3bn of taxpayers’ money on a
carbon copy of Hinkley Point C on the Suffolk Coast. Any sensible
Government would be urgently looking at the overwhelming case to provide
our power from 100% renewables.” “And it’s not just HPC’s costs
that are ballooning, the whole project is swirling around making a horrid
noise like a punctured balloon. And trying to cram 15,000 workers toe to
toe on the site to play catch up will mean H&S rules go out the window.”

 Stop Hinkley 24th Jan 2024

http://stophinkley.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Press-Release-240124.pdf

January 29, 2024 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, UK | Leave a comment

Campaigners call on Science Minister to back citizen science with funding

Nuclear Free Local Authorities, 25 Jan 24

The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities have been joined by campaigners from six local groups opposed to nuclear power in calling on the Science Minister to provide funding for citizen science projects to test levels of radioactivity near to civil nuclear power plants.

The partners have used the birthday of American ornithologist Wells Cooke (25 January), considered to be the founder of modern citizen science, to make their appeal to Michelle Donelan, who is the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology.

From 1881, Cooke engaged amateur birding enthusiasts in collecting information about bird migration. His program evolved into the government-run North American Bird Phenology Program supported by volunteers across the nation. More recently, even BBC television programmes, like Nature / Springwatch, have enrolled citizens in observing and reporting on wildlife in their gardens and communities.

Although citizen science has the virtue of engaging laypeople in research, making science more relevant and ‘immediate’ to the general population, for campaigners in West Cumbria sampling for radioactivity has not been a mere academic exercise for it highlighted radioactive ‘hotspots’ where exposure could be prejudicial to human health.

For almost ten years, volunteers at Radiation Free Lakeland have been taking soil and sand samples at various sites along the coast of West Cumbria from Whitehaven to Barrow-in-Furness, including beaches frequented by many tourists, and sending these to the United States for testing at a professional institute.

Due to a lack of available funding, the group could only afford to commission the institute to test for two isotopes – americium and caesium [1]. In 2018, undergraduate nuclear science students from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts compiled the results into an initial report:

‘Of the 36 samples tested 10 (28%) were found to be over the safety limit for cesium-137 and 14 (39%) were found to be over the safety limit for americium-241.’

Some of these adverse findings were from coastal sites near to St Bees and Ravenglass, which attract many seasonal tourists.

Americum-241 is highly radioactive and chemically toxic if absorbed, with deposits accumulating in the liver and bones, remaining there for twenty and fifty years respectively, or in the sexual organs, where its residence is permanent. In all these organs, americium promotes the formation of cancer cells through its radioactivity.

Caesium-137 is soluble in water and if ingested is soon uniformly distributed within the body and remains there for up to 70 days. Based on the findings of animal experiments and autopsies performed on children exposed to radiation in the Chernobyl accident, absorption can lead to the development of pancreatic cancer.

Former US nuclear industry regulator Arnie Gunderson, touring West Cumbria at the invitation of Radiation Free Lakeland, said that some of the samples were as radioactive as those found at Fukushima, where a major nuclear accident occurred in 2011.

Gunderson was in no doubt that it was only the dedication, rigour and persistence of citizen scientists that brought these findings to light:……………………………………………………….. more https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/campaigners-call-on-science-minister-to-back-citizen-science-with-funding/

January 29, 2024 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

MP wants public vote on nuclear waste disposal

Richard Madden, BBC News, 26 January 2024 more https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crg7nlwnz59o

People in part of East Yorkshire should be given a referendum on a proposal to bury nuclear waste, the area’s MP has said.

Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), a government agency, has identified South Holderness as having potential for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF).

Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart said any development would need public consent.

Officials behind the scheme said on Thursday that if the community did not express support the disposal facility would not be built.

‘Toughest test’

Mr Stuart said: “Everyone is right to be concerned about the possibility of a nuclear waste facility in our area.

“They are required to get local consent and I want that to be the toughest available test, a referendum of residents in the affected area”, he said.

A working group has been formed to look at the proposal and a series of public meetings will take place.

Drop-in sessions

  • 1 February – Patrington Village Hall
  • 2 February – Withernsea, The Shores Centre
  • 8 February – Aldbrough Village Hall
  • 9 February – Easington Community Hall
  • 12 February – Burstwick Village Hall

All sessions run from 11:30 – 18:00 GMT.

Officials from NWS said the project could create thousands of jobs and investment in local infrastructure in South Holderness.

But campaigners in other areas have raised concerns about the impact on tourism, house prices and the environment, leading to protests.

The GDF would see waste stored under up to 3,280ft (1000m) underground until its radioactivity had naturally decayed.

Other proposals have been put forward in Cumbria and at Theddlethorpe on the Lincolnshire coast.

January 29, 2024 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

UK’s Ministry of Defence has continued to allow critical parts of the nuclear weapons infrastructure to rot

Dominic Cummings said amongst other things the MoD has: continued to allow
critical parts of the nuclear weapons infrastructure to rot creating
further massive secret budget nightmares as well as extremely serious
physical dangers (cf. the recent near disaster with a submarine),

UK Parliament 24th Jan 2024

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-01-24/debates/1F1CF40C-91E6-4C9B-A9BB-32A7EB43DAC4/NuclearDefenceInfrastructureParliamentaryScrutiny

January 29, 2024 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Ukraine uncovers another $40 Million in weapons fraud


SOTT, Melanie Sun, The Epoch Times, Sat, 27 Jan 2024

he war-torn nation has announced a clean-out of its weapons procurement process amid ongoing corruption.

Ukraine’s National Police and Security Service on Ukraine (SBU), alongside the country’s Ministry of Defense, announced on Saturday they have uncovered an insider network that has been charged with embezzling almost $40 million in funds marked for weapons purchases.

Five individuals who formed a suspected criminal organization have been served “notices of suspicion” — the first stage in Ukrainian legal proceedings — for “appropriation, embezzlement of property, or possession of it by abuse of official position,” the SBU said.

Four of the suspects are current or former employees of the Ministry of Defense, including the head of the Department of Military and Technical Policy, Development of Weapons and Military Equipment of the Ministry of Defense, and the head and commercial director of the Lviv Arsenal company.

Another suspect is an ex-official from the ministry, who has been detained while trying to leave the country at a border crossing point.

A businessman representing a foreign company, presumed to be the arms supplier, has also been charged………………………………………………………………………………

To date, the United States has provided more than $44 billion in military aid to Ukraine since February 2022. But the Pentagon has run out of funds to replenish its stocks, so most military aid to Ukraine, for the time being, has halted.

Congress is currently debating a $105 billion supplemental spending package, proposed by the Biden administration in October 2023, that packages together defense funding for Israel, Ukraine, and the U.S. southern border.

Analysts previously told The Epoch Times that Ukraine doesn’t have a viable pathway for victory without foreign arms shipments and monetary support amid the waning U.S. support, as the Pentagon spreads its resources over increasing threats to the international rules-based order in the South China Sea as well as the Middle East.

Without international arms shipments, Ukraine would most likely be forced into a brutal stalemate with Russia and, at some point, would need to cede some of its territory to its aggressor, analysts say.

Comment: It brings to mind the old saying: “A fish rots from the head down”. So perhaps they should take a closer look up to uncover their “problems”. When a country’s leadership is completely corrupt, we can’t be shocked when more corruption is found lower down the ranks.

See also:

January 29, 2024 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

As Civilians Starve in Gaza, Israelis Block Humanitarian Aid Convoy for Third Day

“The hostages must be released,” said one Palestinian rights advocate, but Israel “must also ensure continuous entry of lifesaving aid to Gaza.”

JULIA CONLEY, Jan 26, 2024,  https://www.commondreams.org/news/kerem-shalom-crossing-protests—

With nearly the entire population of Gaza now regularly forced to go without food for an entire day due to Israel’s total blockade of the enclave, protests by hundreds of Israelis at a crossing between Gaza and Israel over the past three days have put residents at even greater risk of starvation by blocking the passage of humanitarian convoys.

Demonstrators displaying Israeli flags have stopped trucks from entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing since Wednesday, forcing some to go through the Rafah crossing in Egypt or preventing them from delivering the aid altogether.

Some of the protesters have been identified as relatives of the reported 132 hostages who remain in Gaza after being abducted by Hamas from southern Israel on October 7, while others are related to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and some are right-wing activists who want the return of Israeli settlements in Gaza.

On Wednesday, members of the Tzal 9, or Order 9, movement—named for the emergency notice received by Israeli reservists to mobilize—said, “No aid goes through until the last of the abductees returns, no equipment [will] be transferred to the enemy.”

As the protests began that day, the demonstrators stopped more than 100 aid trucks from entering Gaza and allowed just 153 in, according to the United Nations—far below the amount of aid that’s been permitted in on a daily basis in recent weeks. Before the current war, many Palestinians in Gaza relied on the delivery of aid via an average of 500 trucks per day.

“The hostages must be released and Israel must respect the right to protest, but it must also ensure continuous entry of lifesaving aid to Gaza,” said Tania Hary, executive director of Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said Wednesday that by holding up humanitarian aid deliveries, Israel is “using this as a pressure tool on the people of the strip,” despite claims by officials and the protesters who have mobilized at Kerem Shalom that they are only trying to keep deliveries from “aiding the enemy.”

Right-wing Israeli groups are reportedly planning a march in Jerusalem next week to protest aid entering Gaza.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini condemned Israel’s “baseless” claim that Gazans are currently facing starvation because Hamas is diverting aid deliveries.

The protesters at Kerem Shalom have said Gazans should receive no more aid until the hostages are released.

But negotiations between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Qatar, were stalled this week as Israel refused to agree to a permanent cease-fire in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages.

According to the BBC, Israeli and American officials including Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns are expected to hold “critical” talks in Europe with Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

A senior Palestinian official told the outlet that they may discuss a proposal to initiate a “phased release” of the remaining hostages in exchange for a “renewable” cease-fire, more aid, and the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza on October 7 with officials saying the IDF should “release all restraints” that would otherwise protect civilians, at least 26,083 Palestinians have been killed in the densely-populated enclave, including at least 11,500 children.

The “complete siege” Israel declared on Gaza, with deliveries of food, potable water, fuel, and other aid severely curtailed, has left “half a million people literally starving” nearly four months into the assault, the World Food Program’s (WFP) chief economist said earlier this week.

“We are one step away from a disease outbreak,” WFP’s Arif Husain told U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a livestreamed conversation, noting that a lack of sustenance has left thousands of displaced people living in overcrowded shelters and camps more susceptible to disease outbreaks that have been partially caused by a lack of safe drinking water.

The blocking of aid at Kerem Shalom also comes days after the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported that the IDF launched an attack with artillery shells, live ammunition, and drones on “hundreds of starving civilians” who were waiting near Gaza City for “U.N. trucks carrying limited aid supplies.”

Health officials in Gaza said at least 20 people were killed and 150 were injured in the attack.

Humanitarian officials in the enclave have reported seeing Gaza residents mobbing aid trucks when they arrive due to the “systematic limitation” Israel has placed on convoys even before the protests at Kerem Shalom began.

“It’s difficult to get into the places where we need to get to in Gaza, especially in northern Gaza,” WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told Reuters. “I think the risk of having pockets of famine in Gaza is very much still there.”

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January 29, 2024 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

ICJ Ruling on Israel Crimes “Poses the Greatest Political Dilemma for the Biden Presidency”

“I only hope that Biden will, on this occasion, stand up for justice.”

SCHEERPOST, By Phyllis Bennis / In These Times, 28 Jan 24

Friday morning’s much-anticipated decision by the International Court of Justice ​“marks the greatest moment in the history of the [court],” says Richard Falk, a noted international law professor and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“The decision is a momentous one,” says the foreign ministry, noting how important the determination is for the implementation of the international rule of law. “South Africa thanks the Court for its swift ruling.”

“It strengthens the claims of international law to be respected by all sovereign states — not just some,” Falk says about the ICJ’s ruling that South Africa’s magisterial presentation of evidence ​“was sufficient to conclude” Israel may be committing, conspiring to commit, or publicly inciting the commission of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The ICJ decision gave new strength to South Africa’s groundbreaking accomplishment — demolishing the taboo against holding Israel accountable for its crimes. As South Africa’s foreign ministry put it, ​“Today marks a decisive victory for the international rule of law and a significant milestone in the search for justice for the Palestinian people.”

“The decision is a momentous one,” says the foreign ministry, noting how important the determination is for the implementation of the international rule of law. ​“South Africa thanks the Court for its swift ruling.”

Friday’s decision was a significant victory beyond what most observers hoped for — not only the recognition that Israel’s actions are plausibly genocidal, but because of the imposition of provisional measures based on measures South Africa requested in order to stop Israel’s actions that are continuing to kill and put Palestinians at risk. 

The ruling was also particularly important because of the overwhelming majority of judges who supported it, including the sole U.S. judge on the court. When the president of the court, Judge Joan Donoghue, who was a longtime State Department lawyer before being elected to the ICJ, read out the provisional measures, she included the line-up of how judges voted on each one. And she was among the 15 or 16 out of 17 judges who supported every one. 

It should not have been a surprise that this preliminary finding recognized that Israel’s war against the entire population of Gaza may well constitute genocide……………………………………………………………

This decision fundamentally, even if preliminary, provides a vital new tool for mobilization and campaigns to force governments to escalate their pressure to stop Israel’s genocide. It’s a tool in the campaigns for cease-fire now underway around the world. In the United States it will likely be a persuasive tool for congresspeople, city councils, universities and other institutions — as well as the Biden administration — to support a cease-fire. Because now it’s not only a question of moral obligation to stop the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocents, it’s also about abiding by the requirements of international law. And for some people, that may make all the difference. 

With this new tool in hand, a U.S. shift towards supporting — and demanding — a cease-fire may be possible much sooner.  https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/28/icj-ruling-on-israel-crimes-poses-the-greatest-political-dilemma-for-the-biden-presidency/

January 29, 2024 Posted by | Legal, politics, USA | Leave a comment

Growing mountain of wasted money is a radioactive prospect

Alistair Osborne: Growing mountain of wasted money is a radioactive
prospect. Rishi Sunak’s apparent determination to press ahead with
mammoth investment in new nuclear reactors, whatever the cost, might not
prove to be the best solution.

It’s only a week since he set off — again — with his uncosted “nuclear road map”: a plan to have 24 gigawatts of new reactors by 2050, or seven more Hinkley Point Cs. On
Monday, the government sank another £1.3 billion into Sizewell C, so it
could “steam ahead” with that project, too, as Andrew Bowie, the
minister for nukes, put it.

Listen to him and investors are queueing up. So
what better news to encourage them than this jaw-dropper from EDF, the
state-backed French outfit behind both schemes? Hinkley Point’s costs
have shot up by as much as £10 billion to a top-end £35 billion, in 2015
prices.

And, instead of firing up in 2027, the first of the Somerset
nuke’s twin reactors could in an “unfavourable scenario” (the likely
outcome) be delayed until 2031. This is what comes with Hinkley’s
European pressurised reactor tech, as EDF has also proved at France’s
Flamanville, Finland’s Olkiluoto and China’s Taishan.

Indeed, two years after the Chinese nuke became operational, one unit had to be taken offline for a year’s repairs. So why is the government hellbent on a re-run with
Sizewell in Suffolk? Alison Downes from the Stop Sizewell C campaign is no
neutral voice. But she’s right to say the project “epitomises the
definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a
different result”. With Sizewell, though, things would be far pricier.
Under the contracts-for-difference regime, EDF is on the hook for
Hinkley’s costs. Repeat the trick at Sizewell and, under the new
regulated asset base model, consumers would find £10 billion added to
their bills — before the nuke’s even operational.

 Times 25th Jan 2024

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/24osborne-hzs6r76nf

January 28, 2024 Posted by | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment

Don’t be surprised if the UK tax-payer, not France, ends up paying the astronomic costs of Hinkley C nuclear power station .

Should we be bothered that Hinkley C nuclear power station has run even further over
budget (the latest estimate is £35 billion, nearly twice that quoted when
the project was given the go-ahead in 2016) and that its completion date
has been put back yet further, to 2031?

After all, the whole point of offering French energy giant EDF a guaranteed ‘strike price’ at the then juicy rate of £92.50 per megawatt-hour (at 2013 prices, rising with
inflation) was supposed to be to transfer financial risk to EDF and its
financial backers. ‘It is important to say that British consumers won’t
pay a penny, with the increased costs met entirely by shareholders,’ EDF’s
managing director of the Hinkley project state this morning.

I wouldn’t be so confident. Yet more delays to Hinkley C punch a huge hole in the
government’s net zero plans, which include the full decarbonisation of the
national grid by 2035 (Labour says it will do it by 2030). By 2028, all but
one of the UK’s existing five nuclear power stations are due to close – and
the other one, Sizewell B, is due to be gone by 2035. From generating
nearly a third of the UK’s power at its peak in 1998 the nuclear industry
could be down to virtually nothing by the time Hinkley C eventually opens.


No-one should be surprised if, before we get to 2031, EDF goes cap in hand
to the government, and the government offers it some kind of deal which
transfers risk back onto the taxpayer.

Spectator 24th Jan 2024

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/hinkley-c-and-the-rising-cost-of-net-zero/

January 28, 2024 Posted by | politics international, UK | Leave a comment

The War On Journalism In Belmarsh, The War On Journalism In Gaza

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE, JAN 26, 2024,  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-war-on-journalism-in-belmarsh?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=141058691&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&utm_medium=email—

I haven’t written much about Julian Assange lately because I’ve been so fixated on what’s been happening in Gaza, but we should all be acutely aware that the 20th and 21st of February may be the WikiLeaks founder’s final chance to avoid extradition to the United States to face persecution for the crime of good journalism. 

Assange and his legal team will face two High Court judges during the two-day hearing in London, who will then determine whether or not the UK will allow the Australian journalist to be dragged to the US in chains for a crooked show trial and cast into one of the world’s most draconian prison systems for exposing the war crimes of the world’s most powerful government. 

Some US lawmakers are attempting to block the extradition from the other end with House Resolution 934, which asserts that “regular journalistic activities are protected under the First Amendment, and that the United States ought to drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange.” If charges were dropped it would not only prevent the extradition but allow for Assange to be freed from the Belmarsh maximum security prison, where he has been jailed by the British government since 2019.

The fight to free Assange is a fight to protect press freedoms around the world, since the US is using the case in an attempt to set a legal precedent for extraditing and imprisoning any journalist or publisher anywhere in the world who shares information with the public that the US doesn’t want shared. 

And it’s worth mentioning that this fight is not actually separate from the fight against Israel’s efforts to keep journalism out of Gaza by assassinating reporters and blocking the press from entering the enclave. It’s also not separate from humanity’s overall struggle to build a truth-based civilization, nor ultimately from our greater struggle to become a conscious species.

All throughout humanity there are pushes toward truth and seeing and pushes toward secrecy and darkness. In the press we see both: the authentic journalists like Assange who want all that is hidden to be made transparent, and the propagandists of the mainstream media who work to obfuscate and distort the truth. Those who seek the emergence of a harmonious and truth-based society want as much visibility into what’s really happening as possible, while tyrannical power structures like the US empire and Israel are constantly working to dim the lights.

Wherever you see domination and abuse, you see efforts to limit perception and keep human minds from seeing and understanding what’s going on. It’s true of empires, it’s true of governments, it’s true of cult leaders, it’s true of abusive spouses, and it’s true of the unpleasant dynamics within our own psyches that we would rather not look at. The less seeing there is, the more abusiveness is possible; the more seen things become, the closer we get to freedom.

I’m no prophet, but I strongly suspect that our future as a species will be determined by the outcome of this struggle. If the impulse toward truth and seeing wins out, we are probably headed toward a world of health and harmony. If the impulse to keep everything confused and hidden and unconscious wins, we are probably headed for dystopia and extinction.

In any case, all we can do is fight to make things more visible so that health and harmony become possible. Fight to make things conscious within ourselves. Fight to keep journalism legal in the shadow of the empire. Fight to spotlight Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. Fight to make the unseen seen. Fight to bring humanity into the light of consciousness.

January 28, 2024 Posted by | Legal, media, UK | Leave a comment

More time needed for safety statement on Finland’s planned used fuel repository: no safety case has been made

COMMENT: The story below, from a pro-nuclear source, puts the best possible spin they can muster on the delays in the review of the Finnish nuclear waste burial proponent’s application for a deep geololgical repository for nuclear fuel waste. Here’s the straight story: the review period is being extended for another year (for now) because the regulator is waiting for missing information from the proponent, Posiva. No safety case has been made. 

In comparison, the application by the Swedish proponent SKB was submitted in 2011, there have been repeated delays and extensions while the regulator waited for additional information, and while the Swedish government issued a political approval last year the Land and Environment Court has not issued the necessary approval.

23 January 2024,  https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsmore-time-needed-for-safety-statement-on-finlands-planned-used-fuel-repository-11456534

Finland’s Radiation & Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK – Säteilyturvakeskus) in its monitoring report from the last third of 2023 indicates that Posiva Oy, which is responsible for the final disposal of used nuclear fuel, is progressing without major problems, but at a slightly slower pace than was previously anticipated. Posiva is constructing the world’s first final used nuclear fuel disposal facility in Olkiluoto in Eurajoki. However, before it can start the operation of the facility it needs a permit from the Government. The permit decision requires a statement from STUK.

The Ministry of Labour & Business (TEM Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö) had requested STUK’s opinion by the end of 2023 but, as the processing of the licence application data is still ongoing at STUK has requested additional time from TEM for issuing the statement until the end of 2024.

STUK says in its third-year report that the material to be inspected for the safety assessment for the operating licence is very large. Furthermore, STUK has not always been able to make its assessments based on the materials first submitted by Posiva and has required updates. Therefore, the processing of the material has taken longer than expected.

Posiva, owned by Teollisuuden Voima Oyj’s Olkiluoto NPP and Fortum Power & Heat Oy’s Loviisa NPP, applied for a construction licence application to TEM in December 2013. Posiva investigated the rock at Olkiluoto and based its licence application on results from the Onkalo underground laboratory, which will be expanded to form the basis of the repository. The government granted a construction licence in November 2015 and work began in December 2016. The site for the repository was selected in 2000 and parliament approved the decision-in-principle for the project in 2001.

Posiva has been preparing for the disposal of used nuclear fuel for more than 40 years. Its encapsulation plant is located above ground, and the fuel repository of the underground disposal facility is located in the bedrock at a depth of approximately 400-430 metres. Once it receives the operating licence, Posiva can start the final disposal of used fuel generated by the two NPPs, which were hoping to use the facility between 2024 and 2070. The facility will operate for about 100 years.

By the end of 2023, STUK had not only prepared a safety assessment, but also continued to supervise Posiva and its work. The matters to be monitored include the installation of equipment in the encapsulation plant, test runs and test run plans, as well as the ongoing rock construction work in the underground final disposal locations. It is also monitoring and inspecting the security arrangements of Posiva’s final disposal facility, the safety culture of the organisation and Posiva’s readiness to start final disposal operations.

January 28, 2024 Posted by | Finland, safety | Leave a comment

As ‘Oppenheimer’ leads Oscar nominees, Sentor Hawley wants spotlight on nuclear testing victims

Rachel Looker, USA TODAY, 26 Jan 24,  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/01/26/josh-hawley-oscars-oppenheimer-nuclear-testing/72368363007/—

WASHINGTON − Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is pushing for the Oscars to acknowledge victims of nuclear testing after the Academy announced that “Oppenheimer” leads in nominations.

Hawley sent a letter Friday urging the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to include programming that pays tribute to the victims of nuclear testing ahead of the 2024 Academy Awards.

“Oppenheimer,” directed by Christopher Nolan, chronicles the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist whose stewardship of the Manhattan Project led to the atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project‘s scientists built and deployed two bombs that were dropped on Japanese cities, leading to the country’s surrender in World War II.

“Oppenheimer” leads this year with 13 nominations.

“The ‘Oppenheimer’ film tells a compelling story of these test programs. But it does not tell the story of the Americans left behind—still reckoning with the health and financial consequences of America’s nuclear research, after all these years,” Hawley wrote in the letter.

The Missouri lawmaker pointed to Americans, like those in his home state, who suffer from cancer or other medical conditions because of radiation exposure from the radioactive waste that was not cleaned up as part of the Manhattan Project.

“Congress stands poised to allow what limited compensation the government has offered victims to expire. That cannot be allowed to happen,” he wrote. “These victims deserve justice through fair compensation from their government—and you can help by telling their stories.”

Hawley has long been an advocate for those impacted by government-caused nuclear contamination.

In December, Hawley called upon his colleagues in Congress to reauthorize the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in the 2024 annual defense spending bill. The legislation compensates victims of government-caused radiation in the St. Louis region.

He created a procedural hurdle as the Senate worked to pass the defense bill and voted against the bill after the compensation program was not included in its final version

January 28, 2024 Posted by | media, USA | Leave a comment

Brexit blamed for delays to nuclear power project

EDF’s former CEO had pledged christmas turkeys would be cooked by the plant by 20172

i By Ben Gartside, 24 Jan 24

The UK’s premier nuclear power project could be delayed by another four years as costs continue to balloon, with Brexit cited as a major factor………………According to EDF, the French firm in charge of developing the site, issues on the project had been caused by Brexit, the Pandemic and inflation…………………………………………………….

How has Brexit affected construction costs?

Developers have been hit hard by both the Covid pandemic and soaring energy prices. Tim Heatley, co-founder of Manchester-based Capital&Centricm, said Brexit had also been a “major factor”.

He previously told i: “On the surface there doesn’t seem as much jeopardy in construction as car manufacturing – you can’t outsource building new homes to Asia.

“But, I’d argue, we’re facing even bigger economic consequences if we don’t get things under control.”

“Both construction material and labour costs have rocketed here way more than EU countries, so Brexit must be a major factor.”

A report published in 2023 found that between 2015 and 2022 the cost of construction materials including cement, timber and steel increased by 60 per cent in the UK compared to 35 per cent in the EU……………………..  https://inews.co.uk/news/brexit-blamed-delays-nuclear-power-lower-energy-bills-2871548—

January 28, 2024 Posted by | politics international, UK | Leave a comment

Microsoft Looks to Nuclear to Fuel AI Plans, (with help from nuclear front group Terra Praxis)

Microsoft goes nuclear to deal with energy influx due to the meteoritic rise of its AI platforms.

tech.co by Abby Ward, January 25, 2024,

Microsoft is looking to fuel its future AI plans with nuclear, according to a recent moves by the company.

AI notoriously requires huge amounts of energy on a daily basis, and with more and more of us using it, and companies investing heavily in the technology, the scramble for power is ramping up.

With Microsoft throwing its weight (and money) behind AI, including huge investments in OpenAI, it seems nuclear power could be the key to its success………………………………

Due to the explosive arrival of AI, consuming a whopping four times more power than cloud servers, Microsoft appears to be preparing for this increased demand to power their data centers as they continue to accelerate their growth plans in the AI arena.

Among other signs that Microsoft will be looking to nuclear power to plan for the shortfall in energy is the appointment of a Director of Nuclear Development Acceleration last week.

Data Center Energy Shortfall

Data centers, the things that physically store and share applications and data, require an enormous amount of energy to run……………………

To put the size of the problem into perspective, McKinsey wrote that a hyperscaler’s data center can use as much power as 80,000 households do.

In the same article, McKinsey forecasted that the power needed to facilitate US data centers are set to jump from 17 gigawatts (GW) in 2022 to 35 GW by 2030………………………………………

A recent collaboration between Microsoft and Terra Praxis, a non-profit advocating for repurposing old coal plants into SMR facilities, further underlines the company’s nuclear ambitions. According to reports from Data Center Dynamics, together, they developed a generative AI model to streamline the lengthy and costly nuclear regulatory process, showcasing Microsoft’s commitment to making nuclear power a viable option for its data centers…………………………………..

Microsoft’s foray into nuclear power is bound to raise eyebrows and concerns about safety and waste disposal will need to be addressed in due course………………………………
https://tech.co/news/microsoft-nuclear-fuel-a

January 28, 2024 Posted by | ENERGY, technology, USA | Leave a comment

Plan to store nuclear waste under Holderness for 175 years

Nuclear waste from across the UK could be stored below an area of East Yorkshire for up to 175 years.

Government agency Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) announced proposals today to build a storage facility beneath South Holderness.

A group has been set up to examine the proposals, but the agency’s chief executive Corhyn Parr said the scheme would only go ahead with residents’ approval.

She said: “This is a consent-based process, meaning if the community does not express support… it won’t be built there.”

Ms Parr added that the new geological disposal facility would bring benefits to the area, including thousands of jobs and transport improvements.

Two similar working groups are already established in Cumbria and at Theddlethorpe on the Lincolnshire coast.

Dr David Richards, independent chair of the South Holderness working group, said the aim was to work with local communities to discuss the potential of a series of vaults and tunnels being built deep underground, or under the sea, where the material would be buried.

He added: “My role as chair is to make sure local communities have access to information and to understand what people think.”…………………………

Graham Stuart, the MP for Beverley and Holderness, said that he will be meeting with Dr David Richards to discuss the plans.

He wrote on Facebook: “I’ll be asking for a copper bottomed guarantee that nothing would happen without public consent…………………………. https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2024-01-25/plan-to-store-nuclear-waste-under-east-yorkshire-for-175-years

January 28, 2024 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

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