Pentagon admits ‘likelihood’ of Ukrainian shelling near nuclear plant
the biggest danger is not a reactor meltdown, but Ukrainian artillery striking the open-air spent fuel storage, which would result in a radioactive release
US officials responded to questions about Kiev’s forces targeting Zaporozhye,
https://www.rt.com/russia/561769-pentagon-ukraine-nuclear-shelling 30 Aug 22,
A senior US military official admitted on Monday that Ukrainian forces may have struck the area around the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, but insisted that this was only in response to Russian fire allegedly coming from the area. Earlier in the day, the Russian authorities said a Ukrainian artillery shell damaged the roof of the building storing reactor fuel.
“What I know for sure is that the Russians are firing from around the plant,” the unnamed official told reporters during a background briefing at the Pentagon. “I also know that there are rounds that have impacted near the plant.”
The official said it was “hard to explain, I guess” how the US was monitoring the situation around the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest.
“And I don’t want to say that the Ukrainians haven’t fired in that vicinity either because I think there’s probably a likelihood that they have, but in good – in a number of cases, it’s returning fire of the Russians who are firing from those locations,” he said.
Russian forces established control of the Zaporozhye NPP in early March. National guard and nuclear protection specialists secured the site while the Ukrainian staff continued to operate without hindrance. The government in Kiev claims that Russian forces turned the plant into a military base from which they were attacking Ukrainian targets, but also that Russian troops were shelling themselves in a false-flag ploy to make Ukraine look bad.
The US official claimed “the Ukrainians are very aware of the potential impacts of striking the nuclear power plant and they’re going out of their way not to do that.”
Moscow has provided evidence to the UN of repeated Ukrainian attacks on the Zaporozhye NPP and the nearby town of Energodar since July, using kamikaze drones and even US-supplied artillery. The latest attack came on Monday, when a round breached the roof of a building where fresh reactor fuel was being stored, a member of the local administration said.
On Sunday, a drone was shot down over the plant, while Ukrainian artillery strikes on Energodar injured nine civilian residents.
Kiev has demanded that Russia hand the Zaporozhye NPP back over to Ukrainian control, or at least demilitarize a 30-kilometer area around it. On Monday, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also urged demilitarization, as well as a shutdown of the reactors. The US has previously echoed Kiev’s accusations that Moscow wants to “steal Ukraine’s electricity” by shutting down the plant or disconnecting it from the Ukrainian grid.
According to Russian nuclear experts, the biggest danger is not a reactor meltdown, but Ukrainian artillery striking the open-air spent fuel storage, which would result in a radioactive release.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi is personally leading the mission that is supposed to visit the plant this week.
Boris Johnson locking the next Prime Minister into unsustainable nuclear debt
So long and thanks for all the nukes: Boris Johnson is marking his last week in No 10 by signing a £30 billion cheque that makes some allies of Liz Truss feel distinctly queasy.
With just five days until his successor takes office, this morning’s Times reveals that the prime minister is pressing ahead with plans to approve the Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk.
It’s a decision some Truss allies would rather he had left to the next inhabitant of No 10. Earlier this month Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury set for a senior role in the next cabinet, warned in a leaked letter that the costs of the project were “sufficient to materially affect spending and fiscal choices for an incoming government,
especially in the context of wider pressures on the public finances”. But Johnson looks set to bind the next PM’s hands anyway.
Times 31st Aug 2022
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nuclear-option-spells-fallout-for-johnsons-successor-b68c9gh5w
Boris Johnson’s parting gift – a £30 billion nuclear debt.
Boris Johnson is poised to give approval this week for a nuclear power station costing up to £30 billion as ministers close in on a deal to reopen Britain’s biggest gas storage facility. The prime minister is preparing to announce an in-principle agreement to offer funding to the Sizewell C reactor in Suffolk before he leaves office, despite concerns about creating a multibillion-pound spending commitment for Liz Truss, the frontrunner to succeed him.
Johnson acknowledged yesterday that “it is going to be tough through to next year” because of the rising energy bills but said his successor would “provide a further package of support for helping people with the cost of energy”.
Johnson is thought to have privately decided to go ahead with Sizewell C earlier in the summer, but said yesterday that a public announcement was imminent. “We are going to have a long-term British energy security strategy, and we are putting in more nuclear — you’re going to be hearing more about that later this week,” he said on a visit to Dorset.
Johnson also promised “absolutely shedloads of wind
power” as he sought to pin the blame for high gas prices on Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine. “Be in absolutely no doubt that the gas price is
being driven by what Putin did in Ukraine,” he said. “I’m not going to
shrink from this — it is going to be tough in the months to come, it’s
going to be tough through to next year, and that’s because of Putin’s war
in Ukraine. But we’re going to get through it.” Kwarteng is also said to
be in the final stages of agreeing a deal with Centrica to reopen the Rough
gas storage facility under the North Sea, in an about-turn that could leave
taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of pounds if the company
does not make as much as expected.
Times 31st Aug 2022
Satellite images show damage to buildings right next to Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactors
Satellite images show damage to Ukraine nuclear plant buildings right next
to reactor. Satellite images show armoured personnel carriers stationed
near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s reactors.
Independent 30th Aug 2022
Shelling ‘leaves HOLES in roof of Russian-occupied nuclear power plant’:
Images reveal damage at Zaporizhzhia site – with Putin’s forces blaming
Ukrainian artillery for potential disaster.
Daily Mail 30th Aug 2022
$Multibillion costs in the struggle to deal with nuclear wastes across the globe
Nuclear power is undergoing a revival with more than 50 reactors being
built around the world, close to half in India and China. But the problem
of how to dispose of lethal nuclear waste, which can remain radioactive for
up to 300,000 years, remains remarkably difficult.
A quarter of a million metric tonnes of spent fuel rods are believed to be spread across 14
countries. South Korea is investing $1bn in R&D aimed at having a High
Level Waste treatment plant ready by 2060. The US spent $15bn into Yucca
Mountain. Finland has made the fastest progress. France has identified a
site 300km east of Paris. So far it has spent $2.5bn over 25 years on R&D,
but public opposition may put a stop to it,
FT 31st Aug 2022
https://www.ft.com/video/c6be962e-ce91-4954-afad-a9b6bf86d7c8
Boris Johnson unveils £1.45billion nuclear submarine
Boris Johnson’s farewell tour continues today as the outgoing Prime
Minister attends the unveiling of Britain’s latest nuclear submarine. The
£1.45billion nuke-powered HMS Anson – part of the long-delayed and
over-budget Astute-class programme – took nine-and-a-half years to build.
Mirror 31st Aug 2022
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-visit-submarine-yard-27869239
As Japan builds nuclear dumping facilities, Pacific groups say ‘stop’
https://www.reuters.com/world/iran-seeks-stronger-us-guarantees-revival-2015-nuclear-deal-2022-08-31/ Pacific civil society groups are calling on Japan to halt its plans to dump radioactive nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.
Earlier this month the Japanese government started building facilities needed for the discharge of treated, but still radioactive, wastewater from the defunct Fukushima nuclear power plant.
In a joint statement, civil society groups, non-governmental organisations and activists described the Fumio Kishida Government’s plans as a fundamental breach of Pacific peoples’ right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
Joey Tau from the pan-Pacific movement Youngsolwara Pacific said this breaches Pacific peoples’ rights to live in a clean environment.
Tau told Pacific Waves the Pacific Ocean is already endangered and Japan’s plan will have devastating impacts.
“We have a nuclear testing legacy in the Pacific. That continues to impact our people, our islands and our way of life, and it impacts the health of our people.
“Having this plan by Japan poses greater risks to the ocean which is already in a declining state.
“The health of our ocean has declined due to human endured stresses and having this could aggravate the current state of our region.
“And also, there are possible threats on the lives of our people as we clearly understand in this part of the world, the ocean is dear to us, it sustains us,” Tau said.
Tau said both the opposition in Vanuatu and the president of the Federated States of Micronesia have expressed serious concerns at Japan’s plans, and the Pacific Islands Secretariat this year has appointed an international expert panel to advise the Forum Secretary-General and national leaders.
The Northern Marianas’ House of Representatives has also condemned Japan’s plan to dump the nuclear waste.
Tau said the plans should not proceed without the Pacific people being able to voice their concerns and being better advised.
Gas prices and nuclear outages put European grid at breaking point.
Prices in France and Germany and across Europe have again jumped to unprecedented levels thanks to soaring cost of gas and massive nuclear shortfalls.
Gas prices and nuclear outages put European grid at breaking point — RenewEconomy 1 Sept 22.
The month of August has been confirmed as the most expensive month ever for electricity in Europe, as markets were buffeted by the soaring cost of gas and outages that have taken up to two third’s of France’s nuclear capacity offline at time.
The twin impact of the soaring gas price – largely caused by the Russia invasion but exacerbated by French nuclear outages and reduced output from hydro power due to water shortages – has also prompted the EU to find new ways to shield the market from the impact of soaring fossil fuel prices.
According to analysts Rystad Energy, Italy – heavily dependent on imports from France’s nuclear fleet which have now all but stopped – became the first market to record a monthly average spot price above €500 per megawatt hour, with an average price of €547.
France came close to also breaking the €500 barrier, averaging €492, while Germany followed at €465 and the UK came in at €438.
And it is not going to get any better any time soon. In the past week, the average price surged to more than €600/MWh in the Italy, France and the UK, and on Monday France recorded a new record daily average price of €744/MWh as its nuclear output plumbed to new lows due to planned and unplanned outages.
In the coming winter, the picture looks even more bleak…………………….
the most expensive generator sets the price for the whole market, and for each unit of electricity delivered.
This has already crippled the France’s EdF, majority owned by the state, which is spending an estimated €40 billion buying expensive electricity on market to make up for the staggering shortfalls in production from its nuclear fleet.
France has gone from being a major and often the biggest exporter of electricity to the biggest importer, which is causing pressure on prices all over the continent as it sucks in much needed supply from other countries…………………… more https://reneweconomy.com.au/gas-prices-and-nuclear-outages-put-european-grid-at-breaking-point/
Can the testing on anti-satellite weapons be banned?
U.S. looking to encourage more countries to join ASAT testing ban, Space News, by Jeff Foust — August 31, 2022
WASHINGTON — As a second session of a United Nations working group on reducing space threats approaches, U.S. government officials say they’re looking for ways to encourage more countries to back a ban on anti-satellite weapon tests.
Vice President Kamala Harris announced April 18 that the United States would refrain from conducting direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) tests, calling such debris-generating activities “reckless and irresponsible.” She called on other nations to also halt such tests.
Her speech, officials later said, was timed to influence discussions at the first meeting of a U.N. Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on norms of behavior for reducing space threats held in May in Geneva. During that meeting Canada announced that it would join the United States in the ASAT testing ban. In July, the New Zealand government announced that it, too, would commit not to test direct-ascent ASATs. Neither country had developed or were planning to develop such weapons………………………………………………………………………
In 1963, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution that called on countries not to place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in outer space, which eventually became part of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty……… https://spacenews.com/u-s-looking-to-encourage-more-countries-to-join-asat-testing-ban/
European Union providing Ukraine with over 5 million doses of potassium iodide tablets
The EU is giving more than five million anti-radiation tablets to Ukraine,
as fears grow of an accident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. The
Zaporizhzhia plant is under Russian occupation and has recently come under
fire, with both sides blaming each other for the attacks.
In some areas, officials are already handing out the pills, which can stop the body
absorbing radioactive iodine. Residents have been told only to take it if a
radiation leak is confirmed. So far, only people living within 50km (30
miles) of the power plant are being offered the potassium iodide tablets,
but the European Union is providing Ukraine with more than five million
doses which would allow for much wider distribution.
BBC 30th Aug 2022
Compulsory purchase orders of land for Sizewell C nuclear project
The majority of the compulsory purchase orders necessary for Sizewell C
have already been agreed, a spokesman has said. As part of the nuclear
power project, land is being purchased to build link roads, railways,
sports pitches and park and ride terminals. The full details of all the
properties affected is set out in a 1,000-page planning document.
East Anglian Daily Times 30th Aug 2022
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/business/sizewell-c-compulsory-purchase-orders-suffolk-9236698
You can’t trust Liz Truss (oil and gas devotee) on energy policy for Britain
a frenzied building of eye-wateringly expensive new nuclear power plants.
the ramping up of nuclear power will add billions to UK consumers’ bills
Liz Truss’s energy plans will be disastrous for our bills and the planet.
Truss will oversee the greatest transfer of wealth in history, from UK
families to oil and gas executives she used to work for.
The celebratory champagne corks must have popped in the headquarters of the oil and gas
corporations on the day Ofgem announced the devastating rise in energy
prices for poverty-stricken British consumers. Especially after they read
Liz Truss’s disastrous “response” in the Daily Mail addressing the
lifting of the home energy price cap.
Truss, the former commercial manager
for the oil giant Shell, proposes a massive ramping up of commercial
projects by the oil corporations, including expansion of North Sea oil and
gas, a resumption of fracking on the UK mainland and a frenzied building of
eye-wateringly expensive new nuclear power plants.
The proposed explosion of oil and gas projects will not knock a single penny from fuel bills, as
the UK’s fossil fuel industry is fully integrated into global markets, and
so production will remain priced at inflated global prices for UK
consumers.
And the ramping up of nuclear power will add billions to UK
consumers’ bills, as nuclear energy is already over twice the cost of wind
and solar and it will take decades before any new plants could reduce
consumer addiction to fossil fuels.
Truss’s statement was silent on
insulation or energy efficiency investments that would actually bring down
bills for consumers, by reducing dependency on fossil fuels. After the
Mail’s 2011 successful “anti-green-crap” campaign – according to Carbon
Brief reportedly at the instigation of the then Lord Lawson’s Global
Warming Policy Foundation – destroyed the home insulation programme that
was then successfully insulating 2.4 million homes a year. If that
programme had been implemented, up to 18 million UK families would have
enjoyed lower bills this winter and the pressure on the UK’s electricity
and gas markets would have been far lower.
Truss has not committed to
lifting her government’s de-facto ban on onshore wind, the cheapest source
of energy in the UK, but has promised a crackdown on solar farms. Blocking onshore wind and solar increases consumer bills and keeps us enslaved to nuclear and oil corporations.
Further thrilling the oil executives, she
ruled out expanding windfall taxes on the huge profits pouring into their
coffers. She also opposes “handouts” for consumers. Nuclear electricity
is now also over twice the price of renewables. The Tory government
recently overrode the planning inspector’s refusal of planning permission
for the proposed new Sizewell C nuclear power plant, over uncertainty on
where the water required to run the plant would come from.
Ministers are proposing that a nuclear levy be added to bills to fund its construction –
before it produces a single kWh of electricity. And they still have nowhere
to safely secure its toxic radioactive waste for the thousands of years
required.
Independent 30th Aug 2022
Fukushima Plants Showing ‘Unusual Growing Patterns’
NewsWeek, BY ROBYN WHITE ON 8/31/22 , Japan’s Fukushima, the site of the world’s second-worst nuclear disaster, is showing “unusual growing patterns” among vegetation in the area because of the radiation contamination.
…………………… Tim Mousseau, a professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina and a radiation expert, told Newsweek that a “vast region near the power plant” is still “significantly contaminated” but that levels are much lower than they used to be. However, the effects of radiation continue to be seen in the plants in the area, he said.
“There have been a few studies of the plants showing effects of the radiation. For example, it has been shown that Japanese fir trees show unusual growth patterns similar to that observed for pine trees in Chernobyl,” Mousseau said. “Such effects are still open for study, as they are preserved in the growth form of the plant/tree as long as it is still living.”
He continued, “Many areas are still contaminated above levels that most would consider safe for people to live, although most of the region is now relatively safe for short visits.”
Carmel Mothersill, a radiobiologist and the Canada research chair in environmental radiobiology, said that remediation efforts have also affected the area’s vegetation.
………. Mousseau also said that the ongoing effects of the contamination and “other human disturbances” remain largely unknown, as “research in the region has dropped off dramatically in the past years because of COVID and Japan’s restrictions on visitors from outside the country.”
“Assuming Japan removes travel restrictions, more research will be conducted,” he said
While some areas are opening back up to the public, most of the Fukushima area remains evacuated, Mothersill said…….. https://www.newsweek.com/fukushima-plants-unusal-gorwing-patterns-1738525
Navy officer opposed to nuclear weapons sues UK Ministry of Defence
BBC News 1 Sept 22, A former Royal Navy weapons officer who was removed from a submarine because he opposed nuclear weapons is suing the Ministry of Defence for religious discrimination.
Sub Lt Antonio Jardim, a Christian with joint British-Portuguese nationality, was assigned to HMS Vanguard.
He was given the nickname “Trigger” because of his “reluctance to pull the trigger”, according to tribunal papers.
Mr Jardim was later moved to an onshore role in Portsmouth.
HMS Vanguard is one of the UK’s nuclear deterrent submarines based at Faslane, Scotland.
In a statement ahead of an employment tribunal in Southampton, Mr Jardim said: “I wanted to leave the service after the treatment I received when making my moral views known.
“I believe I have been subjected to a series of connected acts of discriminatory treatment based upon my religious beliefs.”
He added: “Due to the stress from the entire process, along with an unbearable workload and lack of progress with my voluntary withdrawal from training and service complaint, I was sent sick on shore.”
Mr Jardim decided to leave the service in May 2021……………………….
documents also state that on the Trident officers general course in June 2020, having told the course officer about his concerns, he was “removed from the course and told to wait in his cabin”.
Then for the next two weeks he had “interviews and phone calls and he was told not to return to the boat, and his name was written in the quartermaster’s book stating that he was not to be let on board”.
A full hearing will take place on 13 March 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-62744226
City of Aiken provides will receive more than $168M in plutonium storage settlement
by: Dixie Dawson, Joey Gill, Aug 30, 2022 “………………………………… The community also got an update on plutonium settlement money. Aiken County will reportedly receive more than $168 million, or 30% of $525 million, from the federal government’s settlement with the state over plutonium storage.
“They secured 168-million-850-thousand dollars for projects through Aiken County from the South Carolina plutonium settlement funds,” said David Jameson, President and CEO of the Aiken Chamber of Commerce, “Aiken County citizens will benefit from the catalytic impact of your efforts to many, many years.”……………………… https://www.wjbf.com/news/aiken-county/city-of-aiken-provides-updates-on-city-will-receive-more-than-168m-in-plutonium-storage-settlement/
1 This Month
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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