The week in pandemic, climate, nuclear, even bank, news

Well, all news, by its very nature is likely to be bad. (Good behaviour is pretty ordinary, not news.) But there’s  bad news, and there’s very bad news.  And this has been a week for the very bads.

Start with the pandemic. The global death toll exceeds 957,000. cases nearly 31 million.  India’s coronavirus cases pass 5 million as hospitals scramble for oxygen. A second wave grips Europe.  UK cases could grow exponentially, if no action taken. Most of the US is headed in the wrong direction again with COVID-19 cases as deaths near 200,000.

Climate. Weather extremes are more frequently with us now, and as with the pandemic, the longer term future is unceetain:  abrupt changes could bring interconnected tipping points.

Economics. The FinCEN files: Dirty little secrets of the world’s banks revealed in mass US government leak.

BUT – some good news. East Asian countries – China, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore Malaysia -have learned, through their previous SARS epidemic, how to structure their health systems to plan for and manage pandemics,  mount particularly effective responses to COVID-19, and reduce the death rate.

Why harsh COVID-19 lockdowns are good for the economy. 

World’s Biggest Rooftop Greenhouse in Montreal is as Big as 3 Football Fields – Now Can Feed 2% of the City.

Julian Assange was offered a pardon, if he would name a source.  Julian Assange exposed “a very serious pattern of actual war crimes”.  Assange insisted on not revealing names of informants.  Julian Assange case: Witnesses recall Collateral Murder attack: “Look at those dead bastards,” shooters said. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNFEXvyZdyU  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYaxBVzHJHs

David Attenborough now wants us to face up to the state of the planet.  In tropical areas, increasing heat and humidity will make life almost unbearable.  Importance of the ocean’s biological carbon pump.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4aQkyJrlWs

What Frogs Can Teach Us about the State of the World.

53 million tons of plastic could end up in rivers, lakes and oceans every year by 2030.  The persistence of plastic.

The coronavirus pandemic and the increased safety risks for nuclear reactors.

Nuclear exposure standards discriminate on the basis of sex .

Why NuScam and other ”small” nuclear proposals just don’t make any sense.

The hidden stumbling block to progress on nuclear weapons.

BHP betrays international safety efforts.

ARCTIC. Arctic sea ice becomes a sea of slush.  Rapid climate change has made Greenland lose a record amount of ice.  USA. Relicensing Turkey Point nuclear station – a striking example of a dangerous action in climate change times.  Global heating is disrupting the ground in Siberia.

JAPAN. Suttsu, Hokkaido, residents oppose radioactive waste dump plan.

GERMANY. Nuclear energy CHEAP? Nuclear has drained Germany of more than €1trn to date

USA.

• Grief in Western America, as inequities, wildfires, and climate change collide. Decorum be damned. Top science editor spits the dummy with Trump. American TV news covers wildfires, but mostly is careful not to mention climate change.
•     Biden would push for less US reliance on nukes for defense.   US seeks to pressure Russia into nuclear weapons treaty concessions before election.  In 2017, USA considered plans to attack North Korea using nuclear weapons.    Arizona’s cancer toll from nuclear testing: the fight for recognition and compensation.
• Opinion poll shows unpopularity of nuclear power in the USA.  USA taxpayers set up by government in the effort to save uneconomic nuclear power. Utah lawmakers seek details on planned nuclear plant in Idaho. The sorry history of the Vogtle nuclear boondoggle: it must be stopped..  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigating FirstEnergy over its involvement in the Ohio nuclear corruption scandal.

UK. 

•  Hitachi definitely to exit UK nuclear power project. Hitachi pulls out – halting two big UK nuclear projects. Renewables would be a fraction of their costs.   A powerful message on the seismic dangers in Hinkley Point C nuclear construction. It would be cheaper to pull out now. Plutonium in Hinkley nuclear mud dumping, but National Resources Wales’ call for full testing is ignored.
• As Hitachi exits the project, UK government to announce funding for Wylfa nuclear project next month.  Suffolk County Council unable to back £20billion Sizewell new nuclear power station as the present plan stands.  UK government to subsidise Sizewell nuclear power station?.
• Magnox nuclear clear-up cost soars to £9bn.  Nuclear waste transport , and legal action.   Nuclear convoy passes near Glasgow ‘laden with six warheads’.
• Extinction Rebellion exposes Zion Lights as yet another nuclear propaganda front.

CHINA.  China ditches US nuclear technology in favour of home-grown alternative.

CANADA. Nuclear waste flyers heading to 50,000 households in Grey-Bruce.  Indigenous woman’s long trek to protest nuclear waste dump, and encourage others..  Western Canadians do not want ”Small” Nuclear Reactors in Sakatchewan.

PHILIPPINES. Duterte asks nations to reject war, eliminate nuclear weapons.

IRAN. While other nations seek conciliation, agreement, the U.S. will declare that all international sanctions are back in force.  Iran a most transparent country for IAEA inspections.

NORTH KOREA. U.S. general says that North Korea has a ‘‘small” number of nuclear weapons (over 70?)

SOUTH KOREA. South Korea says no use of nuclear weapons in joint operational plans with U.S.

EGYPT. Egypt supports Bamako Convention banning import of hazardous waste, especially radioactive, into Africa.

RUSSIA. Russia developing a nuclear-powered missile that can ”attack from unexpected directions”.

SAUDI ARABIA. IAEA and China helping Saudi Arabia with its nuclear ambitions.

AUSTRALIA    CORONAVIRUS. The State of Victoria has achieved remarkable success in bringing down the infection rate to 11 in one day, death toll 2.  This is the result of the strict lockdown regime imposed by Premier Daniel Andrews, despite vicious attacks on him by the opposition party. You know the good result is true, when even the Murdoch Press has to admit it, and its opinion poll  backs the Premier.

September 22, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

This week’s news – climate, pandemic, nuclear

Every year there’s a  ”Year of” something. I’m thinking that 2020 should be called the Year Of Obfuscation”, (another wonderful word that I’ve learned. )  The world needs to cut through this mixture of lies and omissions.

For a start, there’s the wealth of propaganda concerning the coronavirus pandemic. For various reasons, it’s THE topic right now for disinformation. Some world  leaders minimise or deny the seriousness of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the WHO reports record increase in daily virus cases.  Second wave of coronavirus continues to sweep across Europe.

Climate change denialism thrives, ( -you can add  “extinction denial”too.)  A climate change denialist is given top role at a major U.S. science agency. But – It’s Climate Change, Stupid.  The Berkeley Earth Project–  shows that it’s gotten warmer pretty much everywhere and that there really is no factor that can explain this warming other than anthropogenic emissions.

As for nuclear news,  tap “nuclear”into Google news, and you will get a stream of articles touting small nuclear reactors as the big future for curing climate change. A rare find in such a stream – Nuclear power is not climate-effective, even if only because of comparative costs and delays.

Some bits of good news –   Some positive COVID-19 trends emerged in August in parts of the US, and elsewhere. – New York Turned the World’s Largest Garbage Dump into a Green Oasis of Native Grasses That Also Powers Homes

“Event attribution science” assesses the big role of climate change in weather extremes. Endless summers, endless wildfires. Earth may temporarily pass dangerous 1.5℃ warming limit by 2024, major new report says .

United in Science report: Climate Change has not stopped for COVID19– Why climate change has the potential to cause more pandemics.

Importance of the ocean’s biological carbon pump.  Climate engineering: Modelling projections oversimplify risks

Compelling new documentary ‘I am Greta Thunberg’.

INJUSTICE at work? The extradition trial of Julian Assange.  Julian Assange’s extradition hearing in London. What can we expect? Professor Paul Rogers – a witness explaining how Julian Assange is to be extradited for POLITICAL REASONS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLJj_L56-YA

Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is getting close to the 50 ratifications needed to bring it into legal force.

Investigative journalism -Big Oil is cheating the public on “recycling” of plastic.

Global population slowdown – good news for the planet’s ecology.

ARCTIC.  The Arctic is transitioning from a climate of snow and ice to one of water and rain.  Climate change causing major changes in Arctic insect communities.  Climate change and the loss of sea otters.  Russian nuclear submarines ‘hunted’ by NATO forces in the Barents sea.

AFRICA.  Senegal suburbs remain under water days after ‘exceptional rainfall’  Farmland submerged as severe floods hit Nigeria 

CANADA. Campaign against nuclear fuel waste storage in South Bruce, Canada.  Bruce County divided over becoming permanent site to store Canada’s nuclear waste.

JAPAN. Opposition in Kamoenai to hosting nuclear waste dump. Suttsu, Hokkaido residents oppose radioactive waste dump plan.  Fukushima’s citizen radiation testers still on the job. Radioactive soil plan casts shadow over Fukushima village. “The nuclear plant took everything…” Tokyo Olympics must be held at ‘any cost’, says Japanese minister.

USA.

• American TV news covers wildfires, but mostly is careful not to mention climate change.  Climate change should be the central focus of the American presidential debates.  Unprecedented wildfires in three American states.
•  Joe Biden, if President would re-enter nuclear deal with Iran.
• Donald Trump’s claim to have a new secret new weapon system, blowing a defense secret!  Donald Trump says US has incredible nuclear weapons; denies leaking classified info. What a way to spend tax-payers’money! $13.3 billion to Northrop Grumman for new nuclear missiles.  Donald Trump confuses the experts with his claims about secret new nuclear weapon.    In “The Button,” former Defense Secretary William J. Perry and Tom Z. Collina survey the dangers of nuclear escalation.  A Republican voter changes sides – wants nuclear disarmament.
• No good reason for USA to start testing nuclear weapons again . Arizona’s cancer toll from nuclear testing: the fight for recognition and compensation.
•  Nuclear waste disposal problem National Nuclear Security Administration’s elephant in the desert.
• Connecticut senate candidate Ryan Fazio‘s very bad idea – to build more nuclear power plants.
•  More reports of drones flying near Paolo Verde nuclear power plant, and others, and over spent nuclear fuel storage sites.
• The sorry history of the Vogtle nuclear boondoggle:  it must be stopped.   Dominion Energy wants to prolong old nuclear reactors – yet again!  Broad support among Ohio lawmakers for the repeal of nuclear bailout law. Ohio’s House Bill 60 – bailing out nuclear power, will not save consumers money.
• NuScam’s ”Small” Nuclear Reactor Design Is Approved, but cost, safety, public acceptance, hurdles loom against them.
• U.S. federal government must speed up Los Alamos nuclear waste cleanup and do it properly.  Bob Halstead has done a great job defending Nevada from nuclear waste dumping at Yucca Mountain.

UK.

• Scottish peace activist calls for timetable for the removal of nuclear weapons and submarines if independence is achieved.  Unmarked ?nuclear convoy with strong military police guard sweeps through Bristol city centre.
• Petition to Wales Parliament – demands an environmental assessment on Hinkley nuclear mud dumping.
• A powerful message on the seismic dangers in Hinkley Point C nuclear construction. It would be cheaper to pull out now.    Hinkley Point B nuclear station could close down early – EDF.
•   Suffolk County Council unable to back £20billion Sizewell new nuclear power station as the present plan stands.  EDF made exaggerated and unrealistic claims about local jobs to be provided by Sizewell nuclear power project.
• Britain’s National Audit Office warns on costs of cleaning up old nuclear plants. Magnox nuclear clear-up cost soars to £9bn. Huge challenge to decontaminate Dounreay: ‘World’s deepest nuclear clean-up‘.  UK. For thehighly radioactive Dounreay nuclear site, a mobile robot will be used to identify the toxic structures.
• In 1951, Winston Churchill suggested dropping nuclear bombs on Russia.

CHINA. Effective nuclear arms control engagement with China – the View from Beijing.

FRANCE.  France’s secrecy over its deplorable history of nuclear bomb testing in Algeria.   France’s weekly nuclear power generation drops.

SAUDI ARABIA. IAEA Providing Support for Saudi Arabia as It Plans to Adopt Nuclear Energy

SPAIN. Spain’s Asco 1 nuclear plant taken offline for three-day halt

INDIA. India and China both have a nuclear no-first-use policy– nuclear war between them is less likely.

SOUTH KOREA.  South Korea’s nuclear reactors affected by Typhoon Haishen: 2 reactors stopped.

IRAN. Iran has halted numerous cyber-attacks on its nuclear plants.

INDIA.  The impediments to India’s nuclear power dream.

UKRAINE.  Chernobyl nuclear power plant gets special permission to run ‘hot’ tests with nuclear waste.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. United Arab Emirates’ unnecessary nuclear power push could bring dangerous, catastrophic consequences.

NORTH KOREA. The United States and its allies must learn how to live safely with a nuclear North Korea.

AUSTRALIA.  Australia’s environmental scientists are being gagged.  Australia’s environmental law: the danger in moving powers to the States.  Dissent and anger: Senate divided over nuke dump push . Deep disagreement on federal radioactive waste plan. 

September 14, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | 2 Comments

No advertising revenue is gained by our bloggers

I am getting a bit tired of comments received that criticise me for “gaining money from advertisements”.  Nuclear-news.net is run as a free site by WordPress.   We actually get no funding whatsoever for our work.   In return for the free website, WordPress allows advertisements, thus WordPress gets a financial return  for providing this service to us. That’s me, dunrenard and sean arclight.

Wake up people!   The world is up against wealthy and ruthless corporations trashing the planet in pursuit of profits and using their money to bellow out propaganda for their polluting products.

There are many others, who, like us, see the urgent need to cut through the corporate spin.  Nobody wants to pay for exposing the facts.  Except, for a few really good journalists, most in the mainstream media fear for losing their jobs, if they expose the lies of the fossil fuel and nuclear industries.

September 9, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | 2 Comments

This week: climate, nuclear, coronavirus news

It’s September, and supposed to be getting cooler in the Northern Hemisphere. But global heating rolls on inexorably. For September, my websites are focusing on the Poles, and on the cryosphere (yes, it’s a word that I’ve only just learned.)  Surprisingly, both the Arctic and the Antarctic are seriously involved in nuclear as well as climate, issues.

On the nuclear scene – well, the news media is awash with unashamed handouts from the Bill Gates- Terra Power – GE-Hitachi – SNC-Lavalin etc  propaganda about Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.  Sadly, these articles do not examine the claims made about “fighting global warming”. I guess that journalists need to keep their jobs.

Coronavirus live news: India reports global one-day record of over 90,000 cases.

A bit of good news – Mirrar Aboriginal people at last have control of Jabiru, as Ranger uranium mining set to end operations. 

Some more good news about the pandemic –Dr. Fauci Reveals Some ‘Good News’ About COVID.

Julian Assange due in court in latest stage of fight against US extradition. ‘He won’t survive’: Julian Assange’s partner pleads for his release.

Sea level rise from melting ice sheets matches worst-case climate warming scenarios.  Six Portuguese youth file ‘unprecedented’ climate lawsuit against 33 countries .  Viruses could be harder to kill after adapting to warm environments.  Geoengineering to counter global heating? It’s a risky gamble.

Low Dose Ionizing Radiation Shown to Cause Cancer in Review of 26 Studies.

The atomic bombing cover-up and the reporter who revealed it to the world.  Students unaware of nuclear weapons and the existential threat that they pose.  It’s time to be fearful of nuclear war again.   Two excellent new books on a nuclear-weapons -free world.

Risks of cyberattacks on nuclear reactors.

Renewable energy can save the natural world – but if we’re not careful, it will also hurt it.

ARCTIC. Arctic melting permafrost a serious problem (and they want to put Small Modular Nuclear Reactors there!) Sea ice at its lowest state in 5,500 years in Bering sea . The Arctic’s slow-moving underwater nuclear disaster – Russia’s radioactive trash.

Extreme Weather

SOUTH KOREA.  Typhoon Haishen batters South Korea after slamming Japan.

SUDAN. Sudan declares state of emergency as record flooding kills 99 people.

PAKISTAN. Pakistan floods leave dozens dead and people angry at lack of help.

AFGHANISTAN. Afghanistan flash floods and mudslide buries homes, kills 160 as search for bodies continues.

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RUSSIA. Investigative journalism  – The threatening presence of highly radioactive material in Russa’s sunken nuclear submarines.  Russia facing huge problem to recover radioactive sunken nuclear reactors, but Putin still plans new ones in the Arctic.

CENTRAL ASIA. Investigative journalism– Central Asia’s toxic nuclear legacy.

CANADA. Northern Canada and Arctic indigenous areas targeted for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.

FRANCE.  Global heating – low water rate affecting France’s Saint-Alban nuclear plant. France’s President Macron joins the global nuclear lobby’s push to export nuclear reactors.

UKRAINE. Radiation from Chernobyl spreads far away, as global heating exacerbates widfires.

INDIA. Investigative journalism – The dangerous and deadly toll of uranium mining, on Indian communities.

UK.

• The biggest nuclear site in Europe is at risk of blowing up.
• EDF’s Economic Statement on impact of Sizewell nuclear project – gives unproven, misleading evidence. EDF trying to scam UK gvernment to back uneconomic Sizewell C nuclear project.   Kildare opinion sought on new British nuclear plant.  Campaigners call on all Suffolk residents to submit comments on Sizewell C.
• More of Britain’s ageing nuclear power stations are likely to close early. Britain’s nuclear industry faces sharp U-turn – renewables a better bet.
• Petition against dumping ‘nuclear mud’ off Cardiff reaches 5k threshold for Senedd debate.
• Climate protestors stop Rupert Murdoch’s press in Britain.

USA.

Climate Hundreds rescued from fires by helicopter as heatwave bakes California.  Increasing climate risks threaten nuclear reactors.   3 unplanned shutdowns- Turkey Point nuclear station vulnerable to climate extremes.

• The nuclear industry a big winner from U.S. election as Democrats and Republicans embrace this toxic industry.
• Over 800 coronavirus cases among workers at Vogtle nuclear project, may increase costs and delays.
• Small modular nuclear reactors.Members of Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) should get out of NuScam small nuclear project -NOW!  Fluor could improve its finances by abandoning NuScam, as some cities pull out of ”small” nuclear reactor scheme.  Small nuclear reactors – NuScam looking dodgy as parent company Fluor shares sink?. Small nuclear reactor NuScam’s parent company Fluor – shares tumble afterdisclosure of accounting probe.
• Workers and families sue U.S. Department of Energy contractors over illnesses from work at Piketon-area nuclear plant.
• Ohio  Nuclear Workers Sue Over ‘Creeping Chernobyl’ in Ohio.  Nuclear corruption in Ohio: HB 6 was never about jobs and communities by keeping nuclear plants open.    Ohio lawmakers wrangle over how to repeal crooked nuclear bailout law.  Republicans And Democrats Clash Over How To Repeal Nuclear Bailout.
• Nuclear economics  Exelon’s threat to Illinois – aiming to get more tax-payer funding.  Santee Cooper and Westinghouse Electric to sell off equipment at the failed $9 billion VC Summer nuclear site.  Duke Energy Has Squandered Billions in Failed Natural Gas and Nuclear Projects.
•  Safety. Despite the undoubted danger of USA’s gigantic new plutonium pit production, USA safety officials won’t bother with a new environment study.  Top official at USA nuclear safety agency resigns. Nuclear Regulatory Commission bans TVA executive over whistleblower retaliation.
• Nuclear waste – another great injustice to indigenous people, and people of color.  Renewed concerns about safety as dig starts for new shaft at New Mexico’s nuclear Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Nuclear waste project proposed near Carlsbad sees mixed response in final public hearing.
• U.S. Court finds that mass surveillance program exposed by Snowden was illegal.
• Vatican representative calls on U.S. to sign nuclear-test-ban treaty.
• How to educate American children about nuclear weapons?
• Plowshares’ Clare Grady, longtime Catholic Worker and peace activist, may face 21 years in gaol,
• Renewable Energy: The Decentralized Grid Comes to California Apartment Complexes.

IRAN. Iran claims it’s identified saboteurs behind blast at nuclear site. IAEA inspectors gain access to one of two Iran sites.   Iran Nuclear Deal Parties ‘United in Resolve’ to Preserve Agreement.

MIDDLE EAST. The hazards of nuclear reactors in the Gulf region, and Saudi Arabia’s ambiguous energy program.

NORTH KOREA.  South Korea adviser calls for ‘six-party security summit’ to discuss North Korea nuclear issue. North Korea’s nuclear activity still a ‘serious concern’: UN watchdog .

JAPAN. Tokyo Olympics will be most costly Summer Games, Oxford study shows. Japan should leave radioactive water in current storage tanks.  Japan pushes forward with plans to dump radioactive water into ocean, despite public opposition.  ICAN chief: Japan sabotaging nuclear disarmament.

AUSTRALIA.  Morrison government rushing to make Austraia’s environment laws even weaker: a recipe for extinctions.  Australian government, masks its anti-environment action under the cover of Covid-19. 

September 7, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

Last week in August – nuclear, climate, pandemic news

During August, with the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, my websites have focused on nuclear weapons. And so have prominent websites like Beyond Nuclear International.  In the wider media world, attention has been on the coronavirus pandemic, with some attention going to the climate crisis, and weather extremes. We know that the pandemic is a global threat to human society. Most people are aware of global heating.

Yet as a subject of concern, nuclear weapons and the risk of nuclear war, seem to be taboo. During this month of commemoration of those horrible nuclear bomb events of 1945, governments of the nuclear-armed nations continue to spend obscene amounts of tax-payers’ money on nuclear weapons. The Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom released its very sobering report on this.— Assuring Destruction Forever: 2020 edition.

The nuclear industry struggles on, fraught as it is with scandals, bribes, corrupt politics and lies.  At least from USA, you occasionally get to hear about this: the mind boggles at what it’s like in Russia and China.   Of course, the Internet is awash with pro nuclear propaganda –   nuclear helping fight coronavirus, nuclear “solving” climate change, nuclear waste giving us new batteries, Bill Gates teaming up with some other nuclear gee-whiz gimmick -providers –   all to be done at tax-payer cost, of course.

Some bits of of good news  –  Some evidence that – People have lasting immunity To COVID-19, even after mild cases.   Scientists Uncover Secret In Centuries-Old Mud, Drawing A New Way To Save Polluted Rivers.

Nuclear nations have handled COVID-19 the worst .  Global coronavirus update – India’s huge jump in infections, but USA still leads in cases.

Welcome to the ‘Pyrocene,’ an Epoch of Runaway Fire.    Major holes in ozone hole treaty must be addressed to avert stronger climate change.

Big oil looks to solve its problems by flooding Africa and Asia with plastic.

“Super Swarm” drones– weaponry as destructive as nuclear weapons.

The corrosion of radioactive waste disposal canisters based on in situ tests .

Analysing the evidence on effects of ionising radiation on wildlife.

Minigrids – the clean energy revolution across Africa and Asia.

ANTARCTICA. Ice melting at a surprisingly fast rate underneath Shirase Glacier Tongue in East Antarctica.

MIDDLE EAST. Expansion of nuclear power in the troubled Middle East – not a good idea.

JAPAN. Evacuation orders for Fukushima radioactive areas to be lifted without decontamination.  Strong opposition in Hokkaido to taking on nuclear waste.

EUROPE. Nuclear and gas industries desperate to win EU endorsement AND FUNDING, as clean and green.

USA.

• You can have four more years of Trump, or you can have a habitable planet. But you can’t have both.    Trump re-elected would mean unsafe climate for the world, democracy’s end in USA.  Not all scientists are objective, especially nuclear scientists running for election.  Compromise, compromise: U.S. Democrats almost merging into Republicans.
• If the arms treaty with Russia ends USA will spend even more than the planned $1.2 trillion on nuclear weapons.    U.S. Air Force pursues ‘dual-use’ conventional nuclear weapons. “conventional nuclear”?
• Sentencing date for Kings Bay Plowshares activists moved to October 15 and 16.
• The Shoeshone people – theirs the most nuclear bombed territory on Earth.
• Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost considers legal action over corruption tainted nuclear bailout law.      Ohio nuclear corruption: Democrats want lawmakers to take action on House Bill 6.  Ohio House Democrats will try a “rarely used tool”a discharged petition to repeal nuclear bailout law.– Householder and HB 6: A Nuclear ‘Environmental Nightmare’ Fueled By ‘Corruption‘,
• Exelon demanding Illinois state subsidies for 2 nuclear power stations.    Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) tried to become part-owner of Plant Vogtle in 2019.
• NuScam’s small nuclear project could fall through – spelling trouble for the whole nuclear industry.   Lehi City Council backs out of NuScam ‘small’ nuclear reactor project.  Two U.S.cities cut their losses, pullout of dodgy NuScam “small” nuclear reactor project.
• America needs to abandon the idea of Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste dump: both Trump and Biden have.   Local opposition to Holtec’s temporary storage for nuclear waste in New Mexico.   Army dismantling long dead nuclear power plant at Fort Belvoir.
• Radiation hazard at Dead Horse Bay, Brooklyn.
• Derecho (Extreme wind) Damage Results in Early Retirement of Duane Arnold Nuclear Power Plant.
•  Climate science deniers jump on to Far Right with QAnon conspiracy group.

CHINA. The Chinese viewpoint on nuclear deterrence and cyberattacks. Scientists conduct first in situ radiation measurements 21 km in the air over Tibetan Plateau.

UK.

• The Assange extradition hearing – a continued travesty of justice.
• Sizewell nuclear plant to take 20 years to build, emitting 5.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.  East Suffolk Council dithers over Sizewell C nuclear project, many questions unanswered.
•   EDF’s Hunterston ageing nuclear power station kept going in effort to prolong all EDF’s old reactors.  Cracks in UK’s Hunterston and other very old nuclear reactors.  A series of safety problems bring EDF’s decision on early shut down of Scotland’s Hunterston nuclear station. The closure of Hunterston B will not cause power network outages.
• Frank Barnaby, nuclear weapons scientist and global hero.

FRANCE. Water shortage, drought, necessitate shutdown of France’s Chooz Nuclear Plant.

KAZAKHSTAN. Kazakhstan’s moves toward a world free of nuclear weapons,

CANADA. Canadian Public asked for views on transport of used nuclear fuel.

RUSSIA. Russia releases previously classified film of “Tsar Bomba” the most powerful nuclear bomb blast E\eve.

IRAN. Iran to grant IAEA inspectors access to suspected ex-nuclear sites.

ALGERIA.  Nuclear colonialism. ICAN says that France must clean up its nucleat test wastelands in Algeria.

BELARUS. Safety of Belarus nuclear power station in question after IAEA report.

SPAIN.  Response plan for nuclear emergencies in Castilla-La Mancha.

PHILIPPINES. Philippines wary of nuclear power: costs to be borne by tax-payer.

AUSTRALIA.  Australia entangled in the military-industrial-intelligence-security complex .

August 31, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

“Blocked due to Security Reasons”

I send out a little newsletter every week. I am not surprised if some people reply with ”Unsubscribe”.  That’s OK.  It’s OK if people don’t want it because it’s boring, or it’s ”overload of information” or because they just get too many emails, and don’t want any more.

But lately, I’m finding that, for a bunch of recipients, it is ”Blocked for Security Reasons”.

Well, I hope it’s just my paranoia, – but, – is it getting so that if one says nasty things about nuclear power, one is a security risk?

I’m even wondering if this is also the explanation for why just about every journalist makes a point of describing nuclear power as – ”zero carbon” ”carbon free”  ”low carbon” ”clean”.  Just to make sure that their noses are clean?

I guess, with Biden and U.S. Democrats now backing nuclear power (never mind that it’s only real use now is the weapons connection) –   anyway, I guess that to speak rudely of nuclear power is like when it was just not nice to, in company,  mention sex or religion.

August 25, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | 3 Comments

To 24 August- nuclear, climate, Covid-19 news

the coronavirus scene –   it’s pretty much same same. Spain registered more than 8,000 new cases in 24 hours, France also reported a second consecutive day of more than 4,000 new cases.  USA leads the world in Covid-19 deaths, and exceeded 70,000 confirmed infections per day in July –  recorded 43,000 new cases on Thursday. With no usable vaccine yet available, the most prominent tool governments have at their disposal is to confine their populations or enforce social distancing.  Still, the World Health Organisation hopes that the coronavirus crisis can be over in two years.   Making everything more difficult, disinformation about vaccines is flourishing.

Climate change: 2020 Is proving another disastrous year for our Earth’s climate.  Don’t blame the IPCC – at least they warned us.  Once again, the Arctic is the star, in this ongoing global tragedy.

The nuclear lobby keeps toting small nuclear reactors as clean and green, and journalists and politicians keep buying that story. The U.S. Democratic Party now supports the nuclear industry, making it indistinguishable from the Republicans on this issue.

 Some bits of good news.  The Latest COVID-19 Tests Work Without ‘Tickling Your Brain’.    Large Blue Butterflies Were Extinct in England, But Now Those Beauties Are Back After 50 Years.    Beautiful Mural in Warsaw Eats Up Smog, purifying the Air, Equal to 720 Trees.

International Lawyers Make Urgent Appeal to British Government- not to extradite Julian Assange.

Artificial Intelligence brings a new worry into nuclear weaponry.

Take the money away from nuclear weapons – spend it on Covid-19 relief.  The Prospects of Nuclear Disarmament in the New Nuclear Architecture.

Greta Thunberg on the global inaction on climate change.

Unprecedented rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

28 trillion tonnes of ice have disappeared from the surface of the Earth since 1994.

Global warming is bringing new “fire regime”all too quickly.   Experts are calling for international collaboration to combat wildfires.

Book Review- Tempting Fate – Nuclear Politics.

ARCTIC.  Heat from the ocean’s interior contributes to loss of Arctic sea ice.  Permafrost will thaw faster, as global heating causes more rain in the North.  Greenland’s meltdown taking flight.

BIKINI ATOLL.  Bikini Atoll – food grown there is radioactive – but, it’s “technically habitable”!

FRANCE.  France’s nuclear energy continues to be hit by global heating, drought, water shortage.

USA.

• CLIMATE As climate extreme weather impacts grow, American nuclear reactors are threatened. Climate, weather extremes, threaten nuclear reactors, and costs of preparing for them are increasing.  High financial risks in nuclear power – from global heating.   Climate change a problem for nuclear waste dumps.
• See this How the climate crisis is already harming America – photo essay.  California: 10,849 lightning strikes spark more than 367 fires. California grid melts in record heat. Are renewables to blame?
• NUCLEAR POLITICS  Joe Biden will be just as pro nuclear as Trump– maybe worse?    .U.S. Democratic Party not really interested in reducing the bloated military spending.  U.S. Air Force mulls getting hypersonic nuclear weapons.     Supporting the UN Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons.  Nuclear power is not compatible with the fundamental tenets of a Green New Deal.
• CLIMATE POLITICS Bill McKibben not sure that Kamala Harris will be strong on addressing climate change. U.S. Senator Harris and Rep Ocasio-Cortez introduce Bill on climate harm.
•  Nuclear waste should no longer be exempt from environmental laws.
• Senators Warn Trump Saudi-Chinese Uranium Plant Risks Spread of Nuclear Weapons.
• Biggest bribery and money-laundering bust in Ohio history, but the crooked pro nuclear law still stands!   Will Ohio finally be able to use its wind resources, now that the nuclear corruption is being exposed?  Unleash the tremendous potential of Ohio wind energy jobs instead of bailing out nuclear plants.
•   NuScam’s not so small nuclear reactors need $1.4 billion subsidy, and might not be so safe.   Small Modular Nuclear Reactors costs jump by $billions. Logan city abandons NuScam project.  City of Logan cuts its losses, withdraws from risky NuScam “small” nuclear reactor project.
• Growing national opposition to Holtec plan for ‘temporary’ storage of nuclear wastes near Carlsbad, New Mexico.  Debate rages on for nuclear waste facility proposed near Carlsbad, more hearings scheduled.    Ohio school all too close to Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant – nuclear radiation dangers.
• Earthquake prompts inspections at Fermi 2 nuclear power plant; NRC virtual meeting planned.

TAIWAN.  USA’s nuclear weapons – not the best way to protect Taiwan.

UK. Is the £20 billion Sizewell C project right for the region and country? A real setback to UK”s Bradwell nuclear project: Colchester Council voted unanimously to reject the proposal.    Hitachi waiting for tax-payer funding, to start nuclear projects in UK.   Scotland’s Covid-19 recovery and Climate Policy. UK relations with China at a low point; bad news for nuclear power projects.

– Wow! Only the bare 313 years before the Dounreay nuclear power site could be used for anything else!

Installing solar PV can increase house prices by an average of £32,459 across the UK.    Huge electricity transformer will land on a Gwynedd beach, headed for nuclear power project.

JAPAN.  Japan’s Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant delayed, for the 25th time!  Resistance to nuclear waste survey in Hokkaido.

RUSSIA. Court actions over delays in delivering Russia’s giant nuclear icebreaker line.

CANADA.  Canada communities don’t want the so-called “clean” Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs).  Community opposition to South Bruce Nuclear Waste Repository.

EUROPE.  Northern Europe: detecting radiation and where it comes from.

IRAN.  Iran says sabotage caused explosion at Natanz nuclear site.

PAKISTAN.  A Pakistan threat of nuclear war with India.

SPAIN.  Cumulative exposure to ionising radiation from diagnostic imaging tests.

CHINA.  China feels India’s nuclear weapons programme driven by prestige: US report.

ISRAEL.  Report: Israel ‘deeply concerned’ by Saudi Arabia, China alleged nuclear cooperation,

YEMEN.  Danger in Houthi Smuggling of Thorium to Iran.

AUSTRALIA.  We’ve been electing governments that damage our children’s future.

August 24, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Week to 18 August in Climate, Nuclear, Pandemic News

As always, hard to know what is the most important issue this week. But, for sure, the coronavirus pandemic is still there.  Latest global data: Total cases 2, 534, 611   deaths 771,106. New daily cases 212,487  –  deaths 4,181. In the USA, in states such as Texas, a prevailing libertarian spirit prevents people from taking precautions, such as wearing masks. The world is headed for an economic depression, and recovery depends on a vaccine and effective treatment for Covid-19.

Meanwhile – global heating moves on inexorably. The last decade has been the Earth’s hottest on record-bringing weather extremes, heatwaves, fires, storms.  AND – there’s the pandemic infectious diseases  connection, too – while heat brings an increase in mosquito-affected areas, with the diseases that they transmit, it also thaws permafrost, releasing microorganisms. Climate study looks at humans’ exposure to extreme temperatures during 21st century.

Hiroshima and the normalisation of atrocities.   In August, attention goes to the nuclear disarmament movement,. There are moves towards achieving a nuclear weapons-free world, for example,  steps that put pressure on the nine nuclear weapons nations. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is working hard to achieve the 50 national ratifications that will make the Treaty on the Prohicition of Nuclear Weapons become international law. United Nations promotes the role of young people in ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

Some bits of good news:  New studies reveal good news about coronavirus immunity.     No cruise is good news for Venice.

Climate stabilization: Lessons from the corona crisis.  $6.6 trillion in annual GDP at risk as Asian climate warms – McKinsey Global Institute.  Business as usual equals many extra deaths from global warming.

Surviving the nuclear bomb at Nagasaki 75 years ago showed me nuclear weapons shouldn’t exist. A new splurge on nuclear weapons marks the Hiroshims/Nagasaki anniversary.

Nuclear weapons, nuclear war, remain a global existential threat.  Only luck has saved us from nuclear war, not planning.  All too often the world has narrowly avoided World War 3, due to mistakes.  A Major Nuclear Arms Treaty Expires Next Year. What Happens Next?  Urgent need to stop the erosion of nuclear arms treaties -multilateral disarmament forum.  Nuclear weapons countries have an obligation to lead in nuclear weapons control – U.N.

The development of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and the need for research.

ARCTIC. GREENLAND.  Past the tipping point: Greenland glaciers will continue to lose ice, no matter what.  Arctic permafrost is thawing, as the region experiences unprecedented heat.

BANGLADESH. Drastic flooding in Bangladesh, displaces over 1.5 million, increasing coronavirus risk.

UKRAINE.  Nuclear radiation and Chernobyl’s forest fires.

FRANCE.  Climate change bad for nuclear: Hot weather, water shortage, likely to curb output at France’s Chooz nuclear reactors.

GERMANY.  Germany’s ‘very, very tough’ climate battle.    German energy utilities now earn more money from renewables than fossil fuels.

JAPAN. Japan sabotaging nuclear disarmament – ICAN chief.  Plaintiffs angered by gov’t appeal in Hiroshima ‘black rain’ suit.  Japan gov’t to appeal ruling on A-bomb “black rain” victims,   Fukushima’s Contaminated Wastewater Could Be Too Risky to Dump in the Ocean.  Japan’s nuclear fuel imports almost zero in 2019 as industry stagnates, 1st time in 50 yrs.  No prefecture in Japan wants to host nuclear waste dump.

USA.

• California’s Wildfires Are 500 Percent Larger Due to Climate Change.   Extreme weather causes emergency shutdown of nuclear plant in Iowa.
• Trump Hints about Meeting With Putin to Discuss Nuclear Treaty.  US open to nuclear agreement with Russia before including China.   USA are drifting toward a fraught nuclear arms race.  Survey finds that U.S. Democrats and Republicans both want to phase out land-based nuclear missiles.
• Biden Condemns Trump’s Nuclear Plans, (but he himself supports nuclear power)
• A judge again denies Virginia Uranium Inc.  Nuclear watchdog opposes any agreement that would transfer ownership of Three Mile Island Unit.
•  Even with $1.4 billion government subsidy, NuScam’s nuclear station is still a dodgy prospect.
• Renewable energy a better choice for Ohio, than nuclear bailout.
• Work ongoing at US nuclear repository despite virus cases. Hazards in U.S, government’s plans for more locations for low level nuclear wastes.  What about Vermont Yankee’s nuclear waste? Or dealing with it.  Fort Worth doesn’t need dangerous nuclear waste rolling through on Tarrant rail line. North Dakota shows how to deter any plan for nuclear waste dumping.  Nuclear fuel canisters all stored at decommissioned San Onofre nuclear station in California.  Army finally tearing down Fort Belvoir’s nuclear plant.
• New book: The Apocalypse Factory – plutonium and the making of the atomic age.

UK.  Hitachi renews interest in Wylfa nuclear project, wants government assurance on funding.  UK Chancellor evasive on the involvement of China in building Bradwell nuclear plant.    Extinction Rebellion’s protest demonstration against building of Sizewell nuclear plant.     £20 billion Sizewell C nuclear project ‘Costly and dangerous’– actress Diana Quick.  Maldon District Council now to hold Nuclear Public Meeting in Secret.

Public Comment Due on Proposed Uranium Mining.     Robots may be used for clean-up of highly radioactive areas of UK’s Dounreay nuclear complex. Nuclear site evacuated after chemical found.  UK offshore wind becomes cheaper than nuclear and gas .

RUSSIA. Andreyeva Bay’s damaged spent nuclear fuel to be removed in 2021.  Fuel finally removed from Russia’s most radioactive ship.  Kremlin Warns The US Of Nuclear Retaliation If Russia Or Her Allies Are Targeted.

CANADA. Alberta premier’s small nukes pipe dream makes no economic sense.  Alberta joins Ontario, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan – led by the nose by nuclear NuScam?

NORTH KOREA. Vulnerability of nuclear reactors to extreme weather events. Flooding all too close to North Korea’s main nuclear reactor.

IRAN. Iran nuclear deal at further risk.  But then -The United States lost a bid to extend a U.N. arms embargo on Iran.

SOUTH AFRICA. Southern African Faith Communities oppose extending the life of Koeberg nuclear power plant .

FIJI. Fiji’s bold step for peace.

MALAYSIA. Malaysia rejects nuclear power, focuses on renewable energy.

ARMENIA. Armenia’s Metsamor nuclear power plant poses threat to region .

MIDDLE EAST.  Houthis are actively enriching Thorium extracted from Yemeni mountains and sending it to Iran for arms manufacture.

SAUDI ARABIA.  Germany urges S.Arabia to comply with nuclear arms control treaty.  Tehran urges IAEA to shed light on Saudi ‘covert’ nuclear program.

AUSTRALIA. Although Australians started a move to abolish nuclear weapons, The Australian government tried to sabotage the U.N. nuclear ban treaty. On 17 August the Senate Nuclear Waste Inquiry- Public Hearings go Secret.

August 17, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemoration week: nuclear and climate news

75 years on, the inhumanity, racism, and sheer immorality of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is becoming recognised.  Was the bombing of Nagasaki necessary, or more likely, done as a statement of threat to Russia? A Hiroshima survivor explains why 75 years of radiation research is so important.  On the Hiroshima anniversary, four  States ratify the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, bringing the number up to 43 ratifications, near to the required 50, to make it law.  This is a significant Treaty, making it clear that,  like chemical and biological weapons, nuclear weapons are not respectable, not justifiable.

The coronavirus, and climate change have their worst effects on underprivileged people, and regions at war harder hit by climate change.

A doctor who is a hibakusha speaks out for the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  Nuclear bomb devastation killed over 90% of the doctors and nurses in Hiroshima.  Hiroshima survivor Koko Kondo met the man who dropped that atomic bomb.  Untrue: claims that the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended World War 2.  The nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did NOT save lives and shorten World War 2.     Racism in nuclear bomb testing, bombing of Japanese people, and nuclear waste dumping.

Arms control, the new arms race, and some reasons for optimism.      The illusion that nuclear weapons are under control.

The longlasting impact of Fukushima nuclear disaster, and nuclear activities world-wide.

Nuclear waste – how to warn people for 10,000 years.

It’s not the energy salvation for the world – nuclear fusion.

LEBANON.  Beirut explosion was not an atomic bomb.

VATICAN. Vatican signed up to the U.N. Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty, provides moral guidance.

USA. 

• What can a pandemic teach us about nuclear threats?
•  “The Good Energy Collective” – a new nuclear front group getting the nuclear lobby into USA government.  Trump administration keen for nuclear power – so is Joe Biden.
• Nuclear crime seems to have actually still been worth it for South Carolina fraudsters.  How the Ohio nuclear bribery scandal developed. And what’s next.   Nuclear scandals in Ohio and Illinois raise serious issues about the role of government in the electricity sector. Bribery scandal haunts Exelon – casts doubt on future of Exelon’s Illinois Nuclear Plants.    Nuclear blackmail in Illinois –
• NuScam’s (not really  small) nuclear reactors rejected by Utah Taxpayers Association. Utah Taxpayers – NuScam nuclear power project costly and public kept in the dark.
• When it comes to nuclear tests in Nevada, numbers just don’t add up.
• Underground rockfall at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
• Provision in National Defense Authorization Act to ban testing. Anti-nuclear protests at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base.
• Joe Biden’s pro nuclear plan ignores the nuclear waste question.
•  USA could save millions of lives, by combating global heating.  Florida’s nuclear power stations could be at risk in hurricane times.

RUSSIA.  Surprisingly Rapid Increase in Scale and Intensity of Fires in Siberia.  Russia will regard any incoming missile as a nuclear attack.  Problems with Russia’s hype about “super weapons”– and risk of escalating war.  Russia plans removal of its nuclear trash from Arctic waters.

JAPAN.  Billing Olympics as ‘pandemic recovery games’ unfeasible: ex-Fukushima mayor.   Fukushima’s contaminated waste water – more serious than previously thought.  Opening the floodgates at Fukushima.  Japan needs to halt its plan to dump contaminated water from Fukushima immediately.   Particles from Fukushima meltdown contained plutonium.  Fallout over Fukushima fallout papers continues as two are retracted.

UK.  The continuing and ever more expensive saga of Britain’s Hinkley Point C nuclear project,   Conservative politicians in UK gathering opposition to China’s involvement in nuclear projects.  Grim financial news for weapons maker Magnox/Babcock.    Ballooning by $billions – UK’s costs for its nuclear weapons.

FRANCE.  Flamanville -the costly bloated shoddy leaky white elephant in France’s nuclear room.  Fire at the Belleville nuclear power plant reveals the disorganization of EDF.

NEW ZEALAND.  Glaciers in New Zealand – extreme melting due to global heating.

AFRICA. Ways to get rid of nuclear weapons –ideas  from Africa.

GERMANY. Hosting nuclear weapons is a danger to Germany.

UKRAINE. Nuclear radiation – potential danger in East Ukraine.

PORTUGAL.  Portuguese party PAN lodges complaint to U.N. about Spain’s ageing Almarez nuclear power station.

ARMENIA.  Armenian Ambassador on Azerbaijani threats of missile strike against Metsamor Nuclear Power Plan.

AUSTRALIA.  Links between Trump administration, Falun Gong, and Australia’s government.  Australia’s nuclear lobby targets young people, using Facebook and Instagram.

August 10, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The week in coronavirus, climate, and nuclear news

As the anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bombing approaches, there is “Psychic numbing” about the world’s suicidal nuclear weapons race.

This week there’s a striking example of how interconnected everything is. It’s Florida.  Florida is struck with two, – possibly three – awful calamities threatening this state all at once. There is Hurricane Isaias,  threatening Florida with flooding and destruction, at the same time as the state is overwhelmed with a record toll of coronavirus illnesses and deaths.

Possibly in the path of the hurricane are FPL’s two nuclear reactors 1,600-MW Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station located two miles east of Homestead, Florida, and about 25 miles south of Miami. There’s also FPL’s FPL’s 1,880-MW St. Lucie Nuclear facility located further up the Florida coast on Hutchinson Island.  Their output could be cut, or in a worse scenario, radioactive pollution could result, in the case of flooding.

California also suffers from record coronavirus deaths. At the same time, California is afflicted with wildfires, again raising the possibility of radioactive pollution at The Santa Susana site – America’s Secret Chernobyl.

So here, in two USA States, we have the conjunction of global heating effects, with increased extreme weather events, with the global pandemic’s effects, and the third, –  very real radiation risks from the nuclear industry.

A bit of good news – Renewables output outpacing coal and nuclear in USA.

The WHO says coronavirus is a once-in-a century crisis that will impact lives for decades.  Next type of coronavirus may be on its way.

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement urges all nations to end the nuclear era. Never mind about Hiroshima – a nuclear arms race is on – in space!. BOOKS on The New Nuclear Threat. Hiroshima survivor,  Setsuko Thurlow, 88, continues her fight for a nuclear weapons-free world.  US-Russia launch talks in Vienna on nuclear arms control.

Global heating – “best case” scenario is a scary rise of two and a half degrees.  As sea levels rise globally, we need to start planning now.  Need for Prediction of Marine Heatwaves.

Environmental injustice is rampant around the world.

Julian Assange: Denied Lawyer Access and Failure of Transparency International –Assange appears in court, as lawyers warn case may be delayed by new US indictment.

JAPAN. Hiroshima court recognises Hiroshima “black rain” victims outside designated area as hibakusha after 75 years.  Local approval still needed, as Japan’s nuclear regulators OK fuel reprocessing plant, despite safety concerns.     Rokkasho plant should be shut down in energy policy shift.   Tohoku disaster funds spent for wining, dining company execs.  Experts propose two methods to scrap Daiichi plant.  Activist Professor Unveils English-language Video Warning of Tokyo Radiation Risk.

BANGLADESH.  Bangladesh flooding – a victim of global heating, though not a contributor to it

UK. UK is lobbying USA for a controversial new warhead for Trident missiles. Chinese minority owner of Hinkley nuclear project appoints CEO from China’s military area.  Does UK nuclear energy have any future? The industry has big doubts.

USA.

• Donald Trump on nuclear proliferation and global heating – he’s incompetent about both.  USA’s budget for nuclear weapons goes up and up.
• Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA), sneaked into National Defense Bill: it will go back to U.S. Congress.
• South Carolina’s $9 billion nuclear fiasco – another legal saga develops, criminal investigation coming.
• USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to weaken safety standards for smaller nuclear reactors.  Examining NuScam’s deceptive claims about Small Nuclear Reactors.  Looks as if 20 municipalities in Utah have been NuScammed for those not so small nuclear reactors.
• Karl Grossman on the Ohio Nuclear Scandal 2020.   Should aging nuclear reactors get propped up with subsidies? Ohio scandal highlights this question.    Following the nuclear scandal An Ohio resident has filed a class action lawsuit against FirstEnergy.
• Costs of Vogtle nuclear expansion just keep going up, Coronavirus making this worse.    Legal case settled over nuclear plant Vogtle.
• U.S. Nuclear Agency Workers Say Cost-Cutting Is Hurting Safety.
•  New Mexico Governor opposes nuclear waste dump in that state.
•  Mystery over drone swarm above America’s largest nuclear power station.  Drones could be a real danger to nuclear facilities.
• Bill in USA Senate to help nuclear workers made ill by radiation exposure.
• Problems in USA’s rush to put a nuclear reactor on the moon.   As Dept of Energy officials enthuse over nuclear in space, they show their disdain for health and safety in pandemic.  USA Department of Energy enthuses about Highly Enriched Uranium in space. Not everyone agrees.
• Coast Guard To Deliver Nuclear Icebreaker Plan to White House.

INDONESIA.  Thorium nuclear plan with USA firm – a dubious deal for Indonesia.

MARSHALL ISLANDS.  U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard refutes the claim that Marshall Islands nuclear waste site is safe.  Marshall Islands leaders hope for better help over radioactively polluted weapons tests sites.

RUSSIA. For the nuclear industry, coronavirus is helpful, as nuclear wastes go quietly from Germany to Russia.  Gorbachev renews call to oppose nuclear weapons.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. United Arabs Emirate’s nuclear power station cut corners on safety.  United Arab Emirates new nuclear power   risks further destabilising the Gulf region.  Experts wonder why Oil-rich UAE is opening the Arab world’s first nuclear power plant..

INDIA. India’s nuclear power industry – unsafe and shrouded in secrecy.

FRANCE.  French company EDF fined – it spread false information on cost of Hinkley nuclear power project.  Huge, costly, enormous effort, ITER nuclear fusion far from ready.

NORTH KOREA. Kim Jong Un says that North Korea’s nuclear weapons guarantee its freedom from attack, and war

IRAN.  Iran’s Khamenei refuses talks with U.S., says Trump wants them only for election propaganda.

CZECH REPUBLIC.  Czech Republic and CEZ sign nuclear power plant expansion agreement: require EU approval.

AUSTRALIA. Black lives DO matter, but not apparently, to ANSTO and Australia’s nuclear lobby. Nuclear waste dump site selection process has made the Barngarla people “aliens in their own country”.

August 3, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The week in pandemic, climate, and nuclear news

It’s hard to know what are the most important news items of the week, or the day.  The Pandemic Really Has Changed The World Forever.  Here’s what we know so far about the long-term symptoms of COVID-19.  Nurses and other healthcare workers open up about ‘terror’ of catching coronavirus.  We underestimate the long term effects of the pandemic.

Climate emergency is ‘a danger to peace’.  In 100 days, the climate emergency may be even more serious.  Latest climate study predicts disaster for oceans, coastlines and life as we know it.

The global sweep of coronavirus and climate news makes nuclear issues seem minor, or at least fade into the background a bit. But nuclear threats are always there.  This week the corruption that is rife in the global nuclear industry has been highlighted in the legal case in Ohio – a huge criminal racketeering conspiracy that orchestrated the bailout of nuclear power stations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBx56QyrUjY&t=3s

 Some bits of good news –     The economy usually recovers quickly once pandemics end.  House Democrats just put out the most detailed climate plan in US political history.

Coronavirus update: US, Brazil and India lead world tally of 16 million COVID-19 cases .  Global surge in Covid-19 infections, over 600.000 deaths.

World must act now to protect wildlife in order to stop future virus crises.  With loss of biodiversity will come new pandemics.

Global heating will mean that many areas become too hot for human activities.    New research: global temperature increase will surpass 2.6 degrees Celsius: the role of clouds.  How Facebook fosters climate denial.  Crucial need to fix air-conditioning: it causes billions of tons of greenhouse gases.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brtog4AABBg

Clear evidence of excess cancer risk from low dose ionizing radiation.  New CT scan method lowers radiation exposure . The global scam: nuclear energy and the industry surrounding it.

In the event of a nuclear bombing, electromagnetic pulse would be the least of our worries.  Space archaeology, space junk and weapons, and long-lasting radioactivity.

Humans are blanketing the Earth with plastic.

Earth’s Human Population Is Not Sustainable.

ARCTIC.  Arctic heatwave:  temperature reach  possible all time high.  Arctic fires and sea ice melt, show need for urgent climate action.     Alaska’s permafrost degrading as summer rainfall increases.

ASIA. Global heating means more rain for Asian monsoon regions.  South Asia floods displace millions and kill 550. Millions of children affected by devastating flooding in South Asia, with many more at risk as COVID-19 brings further challenges.  A critical situation’: Bangladesh in crisis as monsoon floods follow super-cyclone.  Flooding in Assam and Nepal kills hundreds and displaces millions .

MIDDLE EAST  Nuclear power in the Gulf.

GREECE.  Greece wildfires rage out of control .

USA.  US tops 1000 coronavirus deaths four days in a row, as experts urge the country to shut down.  Pacific Islanders in US hospitalised with Covid-19 at up to 10 times the rate of other groups.

Update on wildfires in northeast California.    Number of wildfires has soared in Maine in 2020 .   America’s choice – environmental and climate catastrophe under Trump, or some hope under Democratic rule.

• Ohio’s tainted House Bill 6 likely to be repealed.    Ohio House Republicans introduce legislation to repeal controversial bailout of nuclear power plants.   Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder arrested in $60 million bribery case. As FBI investigates nuclear bribery, environmentalists call for review of controversial Ohio nuclear bailout bill.  What now for the nuclear power plants? USA’s nuclear woes highlighted by Ohio corruption case.
• Guilty plea by former SCANA executive – who will be a valuable witness to prosecutors in South Carolina nuclear scandal.  Settlement for ratepayers over failed VC Summer nuclear project.    UK will fund its nuclear power with the same schemes used by bankrupt US nuclear financing practices!   Nuclear power: Still a rip-off after all these years
• USA wants nuclear power stations on the moon and on Mars.
• Funding for nuclear weapons tests is blocked in U.S. Congress.   Union of Concerned Scientists, nuclear watchdogs and environmentalists push for elimination of funding for nuclear testing. Opposition to nuclear testing is led by Utah’s present and former Congressmen.
• Trump administration plans vast expansion of military budget. Trump uses fear of China to drum up hostilities, and diminish arms control.
• September 3 and 4 – new sentencing dates for Kings Bay PLowshares 7 anti-nuclear-bomb activists.
• 770-ton nuclear reactor pressure vessel completes trip to Utah.

UK. 

• Tory MPs angry about China’s involvement in British nuclear power plant. EDF denies that China has increasingly big role in UK’s Hinkley Point nuclear project. China takes a bigger role at Hinkley as nuclear reactor pressure rises.
• Bradwell B new nuclear project probably doomed, -on fragile shore subject to flooding.  UK public has been misled over plans for nuclear reactors in Essex.
• A series of accidents and near misses between surface vessels and submarines in the waters round Scotland.  Plan for Scotland to be free of nuclear weapons.

JAPAN. Robot to use brush to retrieve melted fuel at Fukushima plant. Plutonium Particles Scattered 200km From Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Site, Scientists Say. The Fukushima Daiichi Accident Chain, Part 6.

Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago are still claiming lives and causing suffering.  Virtual tours planned at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.  Arms Control Today interviews Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui .

FRANCE. France’s Flamanville new generation nuclear reactor “is a mess” – Energy Minister Barbara Pompili.        Takeover of UraMin – a scam linked to incompetence of leaders in the nuclear industry.

NETHERLANDS. Why the nuclear whistleblower exposing AQ Khan was ignored.

CHINA. Floods.  Will China change its policy on dams? China’s government-run nuclear institutions are experiencing a brain drain.

CANADA. Problems in planned nuclear waste dump at Chalk River.

IRAN.  Does Iran Really Want to Build Nuclear Weapons at Any Cost? Maybe Not. Cause of blast at Iran nuclear site – still shrouded in mystery.

RUSSIA.  Wildfires in Siberia have burned down an area larger than Greece .   Russian navy to get hypersonic nuclear weapons: Putin.

SAUDI ARABIA.  Saudi Arabia could become a pawn in a proxy nuclear war.

NORTH KOREA.  North Korea declares emergency over suspected Covid-19 case.  North Korea continues policy -no denuclearization talks until the US withdraws its “hostile policy”.

AUSTRALIA  New Federal radioactive waste agency flawed from day one  Spinbusting the extraordinarily inept nuclear waste media release from 3 Australian MPs.   Coronavirus cases aren’t coming down despite Victoria’s lockdowns. Experts seek to explain why.

July 27, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Coronavirus, Climate and Nuclear news this week

I had vowed to leave the pandemic for everyone else to cover.  But, it’s too much. It’s too big.  I think that we are all dimly aware, now, that we’re not getting back to normal any time soon.  Today’s news – Coronavirus deaths top 600,000 worldwide as pandemic infections surge.  Amid the global pandemic, humanity still faces simultaneous existential dangers – nuclear war and climate change.

The pandemic is certainly a global crisis. Scientists call for climate change to be treated as a crisis, too. Climate change will make much of the planet too hot for humans to function.

July 16 was the 75th anniversary of the first nuclear explosion, “Trinity” in New Mexico. This anniversary was a timely reminder of the harm done to workers, and soldiers, by the nuclear weapons industry. The “Trinity” explosion was the beginning of America’s nuclear oppression of its own people.

  Some bits of good news –  Oxford coronavirus vaccine triggers strong immune response, trial shows .    The Search Engine That Plants Trees With Every Search Has Just Planted its 100-Millionth Tree. (picture above)

Greta Thunberg calls for immediate action on ‘existential crisis‘ of climate emergency.   The ever-increasing threat of coronavirus, but the global heating threat is even worse.

More pandemics to come – bat research is critical for prevention.

Thanks to Botswana, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has now reached 40 states ratifying it.

Nuclear bomb testing – the cruellest legacy of environmental injustice and racism. July 16 1945 – the first nuclear bomb test – the start of many more.

Because of the pandemic, nuclear power plants have to have safety checks done by remote means.

Investigative journalism – mapping uranium.

ARCTIC.  Climate change may kill off nearly all polar bears by 2100

ANTARCTICA. Antarctic glacier melting at an alarming rate.

AFRICA.  HEAT – Climate science must stop ignoring Southern Africa.

JAPAN.   Remembering the victims of the atomic bombings 75 years ago.   Particulate plutonium released from the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns.  Video Testimonies from Fukushima in 7 Languages: “We want to protect the ocean of Fukushima, for the future of the fishing industry”.   Fukushima localities speak out against dumping radioactive water in sea.    Regulator demands TEPCO clarify responsibilities.    J-pop group TOKIO to promote Fukushima goods in new TV commercials.

Investigative journalism    Being Clear-Eyed About Citizen Science in the Age of COVID-19.

8 cases of inappropriately stored nuclear waste found at northern Japan reprocessing plant.  Japanese bishops’ anti-nuclear power book available in English.

USA.

• Global heating is turning cities into death traps.  Massive wildfire in rural central California.
• USA National coalition against nuclear weapons.  Peace cranes flyimg in Vermont , in support of U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  Reflecting on Cape Cod’s Cold War nuclear history.  A USA resumption of nuclear testing? -a green light for all other nations to start their own testing.
•     The effects of radiation on the “downwinders” – guinea pigs for nuclear bomb research.      Western Shoshone land stolen for nuclear weapons tests and waste dump. Church Rock Uranium Tailings Pond Breach Disaster in Navajo Nation – 40th Year Anniversary.
•  Purpose of US International Development Finance Corporation perverted in the interests of the nuclear industry.
• Alarm at USA plan to exempt NuScam etc new nuclear reactors from emergency planning.
•   Slow progress of Michigan bill opposing high-level nuclear waste dump.   Nuclear waste is piling up in California: leadership is needed.  Debate over San Onofre’s “nuclear waste dump by the sea,”   California Coastal Commission unanimously approves storage plan at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station .  State of Texas allows reduction in price of importing nuclear waste.  New Mexico nuclear facility is bad news.  Los Alamos Study Group press Santa Fe Council – to stop Santa Fe becoming a nuclear sacrifice zone.
• SCANA’s ex-top executive to plead guilty in a $9 billion nuclear fraud.   Kentucky man indicted after illegally dumping nuclear waste at landfill.
•   New fast test to detect ionising radiation.

BRAZIL.  Forest fires raging over wide areas of the Brazilian Amazon,

FRANCE.  Electricite de France (EDF) ‘s new nuclear reactors not financially viable.

CANADA.  The next threat: A high-level nuclear waste dump near Lake Huron.

KAZAKHSTAN. The nuclear test health toll – cancer and birth deformities in Kazakhstan.

GREECE.  Wildfire out of control in Greece?

RUSSIA. Siberia’s heat-wave – global heating is what made this possible.   Additional resources requested for Siberian forest fire; state of emergency.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warns about the risk of a nuclear war .

EUROPE.  Radioactive Contamination of Europe.  Nuclear power is excluded from European Commission’s strategies for a Green Deal.

INDIA.  India has not committed to the great transition to nuclear power it once envisioned.

UK.

• EDF’s UK nuclear projects in doubt after Court of Audit report.   Veteran  MP is calling for safeguards against a Chinese-built nuclear power station.  Maldon District Council Planning Committee does an about turn, now rejects Bradwell nuclear power project.    Suffolk coast – time to choose whether it is to be a nuclear or a renewable coast.
• Campaign group Geiger Bay press for full testing of Hinkley nuclear plant sediment–  How to deal with the thousands of fish threatened by Hinkley Point C nuclear plants cooling turbines.
• Too many near misses – get UK’s nuclear submarines out of Scotland.  British nuclear sub narrowly missed passenger ferry near Belfast.
• Rolls Royce Small Modular Nuclear Reactors: not small, not modular, not cheap, and not going to happen.

AZERBAIJAN.  Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman suggests bombing Armenian nuclear power station.

CHINA.  Why did over 90 nuclear safety scientists resign en masse from an institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)?

AUSTRALIA.      In federal environmental law review:  no change to nuclear power prohibition 

July 20, 2020 Posted by Christina MacPherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment