nuclear-news

Nuclear news – it’s been a big week

Some bits of good news – Climate-resilient coral species offer hope for the world’s reefs           How China uses renewable energy to restore the desert  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Uv-Yw9MZFE   Solar-Powered Desalination Device is a Game-Changer: Requires Only Cheap Common Materials and Sunlight.

I’m sorry, people, but they’re putting it over us big-time, on the root causes of  the current Ukraine disaster.. This week, I am shocked at the propaganda blanketing all media .  Universally we are brainwashed with the depiction of Putin as an evil madman, and of the need to buy ever more weaponry from the big USA, UK and German corporations. No – Putin is not a nice man, and Yes, the attack on Ukraine is illegal , cruel and wrong.   

BUT – there is never a mention of genuine negotiation, which would accept Russia’s genuine cause to not be surrounded by NATO and its missiles, not have Ukraine as a NATO base.  There is no consideration of the plight of ethnic Russians in the Donbass area, nor of the existence of the Nazi faction in the Ukrainian side  And there’s the mindless repetition of lies about Crimea, where 87% turned out to make a 97% vote to rejoin Russia. President Biden is doing his best, I suppose, but can he hold out against the belligerent calls for an air war against Russia?

  Julian Assange denied permission to appeal      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFk7Gqfmih8   Lies leave the Assange case exposed – this is a political persecution.

Los Alamos Study Group outlines a clear solution to the Ukraine war. So many half-truths from Zelensky, and from the nuclear industry! The politics behind Ukraine’s alarming nuclear warnings. Western media trumpets blanket condemnation of Putin, without any consideration of the circumstances. 

Ukrainians will pay the price in suffering for long drawn-out USA’s proxy war on behalf of wealthy corporations. Hypocritical cries of grief from weapons and other corporate businesses, as Western governments and media ramp up war fever.

Umm….. Are we the baddies?

Women leading the fight against climate change. New IPCC Report Calls for Adapting Today to Ensure Tomorrow’s Climate Security .

 ‘Limited’ Tactical Nuclear Weapons Would Be Catastrophic. Markets are in denial about nuclear risk.

The importance of continuous cooling of nuclear spent fuel.

I was a nuclear missile operator. There have been more near-misses than the world knows.

Ukraine war fills Pentagon’s, NATO allies’ war chests.

UKRAINE. Nuclear facilities targeted in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Video analysis reveals Russian attack on Ukrainian nuclear plant veered near disaster.

 Ukrainian military to blow up experimental nuclear reactor at Kharkov Institute. Russians fire at Kharkov Institute nuclear reactor. [two versions of the story]. Research reactor in Kharkiv has been completely destroyed. IAEA doubts that the attack on Kharkiv Institute was a serious radiation hazard. 

External electricity returned to Chernobyl.     Chernobyl workers still stranded at the power station. Chernobyl nuclear workers ”exhausted and desperate’‘. Fears are growing over nuclear safety atthe Chernobyl nuclear plant as staff remain hostage. Chernobyl’s radiation monitoring system has stopped sending readings to IAEA. What a Power Cutoff Could Mean for Chernobyl’s Nuclear Waste.      The dangers of uncontrolled releases of the vast amounts of radioactivity contained in the Ukrainian reactors and their unprotected fuel stores should not be underestimated. 

EUROPE.. NATO fighters integrate with U.S. nuclear-capable B-52s in Black Sea region . European Union won’t be including nuclear power in its plan to get off Russian gas. European countries report a rush in sales of iodine tablets, in fear of nuclear war. Nuclear option is not the best for transition away from Russian fuels. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) very anxious about Chernobyl nuclear situation. Former Yugoslav FM: U.S., NATO expansion root cause of Ukraine war.    EU military aid to Ukraine to exceed $1 billion.

RUSSIA. Russia prepared to stop war, if Ukraine agrees to conditions, including independence of Donbass areas. Russia’s disinformation machine, (and Trump’s, in USA).    Rosatom’s woes before and beyond the war: implications of Russia’s embattled nuclear industry.

SERBIA. Serbian parliament president: When Hitler entered Ukraine, the U.S. did not declare war. Serbia will not join NATO, will never forget bombing victims – president .

USA The US And Ukraine Have Every Reason To Lie About The War . Ukraine is a sacrificial pawn on the imperial chessboard. USA cheers Ukrainian fighters on, makes sure to keep Americans out of it.

JAPAN. Greenpeace statement on anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear accident. Japan’s power companies move to reduce plutonium stockpiles held overseas. Court rejects bid to suspend nuclear reactors in Takahama. Eleven years on and impact of Fukushima still felt in Japan.  Japan to finish radioactive soil transfer to interim storage site . Fukushima Workers Tell The Harrowing Story Of How They Tamed One Of The World’s Worst Nuclear Disasters.   Fukushima nuclear tragedy hovers over Japan and region 11 years after tsunami and accident.

GERMANY. German government concludes that it is unwise to extend the life of its remaining nuclear power stations.

UK.      UK love-in between Tories and Labour, on wasting billions of pounds on new nuclear reactors. Nuclear threat: Faslane, home to Trident, symbol of humanity’s power and folly.   UK’s Ministry of Defence called out for lobbying MPs on nuclear weapons. Investors keen on renewable energy, while UK govt is trapping consumers into paying upfront for nuclear power plants to be built in a decade or more, Hopes for Bradwell nuclear power station now fading away like the ebbing tide.

  Cumbrian campaigners’ strong opposition to nuclear waste dump in the Lake District. ‘‘Save the Severn Estuary’‘ fights to stop EDF dumping Hinkley Point’s nuclear mud into this Marine Protected Area. 

FRANCE. Macron government considering nationalising France’s debt-laden nuclear company EDF.  

AUSTRALIA. Morrison’s selected sites for nuclear submarine base were not the Defence Dept choices – and opposed by the local towns. Directors net $3.7 million in selling off their Paladin Energy uranium shares, then uranium stocks plummet. Scott Morrison has been urged to act over fears Australian uranium could be used to fuel Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

March 14, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

This week in nuclear news

A bit of nearly good news. On International Women’s Day we can reflect that, in some parts of the world, justice and equality for women continue to improve. Also, the role of women in addressing climate change is becoming apparent – WOMEN LEADING THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE.  In the nuclear-free movement, too, women continue to show their leadership – going on from Dr Rosalie Bertell, Alice Stewart, to Setsuko Thurlow , (pictured above),  Dr Helen Caldicott , Beatrice Fihn, Linda Pentz Gunter  and so many more. Their work has slowed, if not yet stopped, the development of the nuclear horror.

Ralph Nader: Everyone Loses in the Conflict Over Ukraine 

Now Is the Time for a Global Movement Demanding Nuclear De-escalation. Freedom & Democracy Via Censorship. NATO Intervention In Ukraine Could Spark Nuclear War. Here’s How It Could Happen. The US and NATO’s Sacrifice Of Ukraine.

As Russia’s Ukraine war intensifies, some warn nuclear escalation is possible. Russia’s nuclear alert means Nato must tread carefully. Countries Flood Ukraine With Military Support After Zelensky’s Appeal.

Noam Chomsky: US Military Escalation Against Russia Would Have No Victors.  How the U.S. Started a Cold War with Russia and Left Ukraine to Fight It. Calling Russia’s Attack ‘Unprovoked’ Lets USA Off the Hook. Mapping the unthinkable: inside the new nuclear war games. A fatal disconnect? the different narratives of Russia and the West on the Ukraine crisis. Ukraine war – a great opportunity – each new NATO country was a new customer for the weapons industry.

Kevin Rudd on the ‘decisive decade’ between USA and China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeZBMvyJ9bU

The US and NATO have never been sanctioned for starting wars. Why? — RT World News.

UKRAINE. The situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. ‘Grave concern’ as Ukraine Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant under Russian orders. The Risks of Russian Attacks near Ukraine Nuclear Power Plants. Fire Is Out at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Seized by Russian Forces, Officials Watch for Leaks. Ukraine: Fire breaks out at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. The very perilous situation of Ukraine’s nuclear power stations. Greenpeace analysis of nuclear power plant vulnerability during military conflict – Key Findings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEqpc1b03rs .   New analysis on severe nuclear hazards at Zaporizhzhia plant in Ukraine– only solution is immediate end to war.    Russian military claims Chernobyl nuclear plant under joint protection with Ukrainian forces. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noFe_iNnAbk.   Setting the record straight on the background to events in Ukraine.     Western govt, media, and public, ignorant about the complex history of Ukraine.

JAPAN. 

Japan’s Supreme Court rules on damages for people whose lives were disrupted by Fukushima nuclear catastrophe.  The Fukushima disaster ruined their lives.   The Fukushima taboo  

 Chain cutting device breaks off this time, and no progress in removing contaminated piping at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant .   TEPCO begins removal of pipes contaminated at the time of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.

 Radioactive waste stuck at 830 sites with nowhere to go.   Greenpeace says Fukushima dismantling, dumping not credible.   Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning: “It is Impossible to Foresee the End Date” says the Nuclear Regulation Commission.  Statement by Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency: 11 Years of Oblivion: An Alarming Abandonment of a Culture of Safety,

FINLAND. Experts: Finnish nuclear project “directly supports Russian nuclear weapon production”.

IRAN. Russia still part of Iran nuclear talks, US hopes for progress, White House says.

UK. British government searching for investors, needs to raise billions of pounds for Sizewell nuclear project.  Coal and Nuclear Interests Linked — RADIATION FREE LAKELAND  LAKELAND

AUSTRALIA.  Australian Security Policy Institute – funded by weapons corporations, and federal govt – drumming up the frenzy for war with China. Australia’s Defence Department silent about its slippery dealings using tax-payers’ money, involving Russian contractors .    While Scott Morrison froths against Putin, Australia rushes to become a top weapons seller to the world.

March 7, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The week in nuclear news

Some bits of good news (hard to find this week!):

India’s Mass Tree Planting Success: Forest Cover Grows by Half-Million Acres in Two Years
Humpback whales no longer listed as endangered after major recovery.

What can I say ?–  No breakthrough at Ukraine talks as Russian assault continues. Ralph Nader: Everyone Loses in the Conflict Over Ukraine We’re in a new era. Not only is the war situation now so different, with the nuclear threat looming as never before.   But also, the media war has become so very complex and confusing. Social media plays its role –   but increasingly  – much information is crooked, devised to mislead the recipient. Bad enough from Western sources, but Russia has turned this deception into a pervasive mass art.

A rogue journalist ponders on Ukraine situation. Glenn Greenwald: war propaganda about Ukraine becoming more militaristic, authoritarian, and reckless. Blanket anti-Russian propaganda leaves no tolerance for nuanced reporting – media censorship is expanding.

As Russia Seizes Chernobyl Site, Ukraine’s 15 Nuclear Reactors Pose Unprecedented Risk in War Zone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20gVRaQdVmY

Climate impacts should be a regular part of war coverage

UN report on global increase in wildfires due to climate change change.

ANTARCTICA. Antarctica’s pristine snow besmirched with horrid black pollution, scientists say

UKRAINE. Ukraine has 0% of winning, so sending weapons is a pointless exercise, except for the money. U.N. nuclear watchdog to hold emergency meeting on Ukraine. Russian control of Chernobyl may have been aimed against alleged Ukrainian plan to produce nuclear weapons. 

Ukraine’s reactors – largest nuclear complex in Europe – IN DANGER Russian forces now control Chernobyl, inviting speculation and uncertainty. The Most Immediate Nuclear Danger in Ukraine Isn’t Chernobyl. 

Increased radiation levels around Chernobyl probably due to military’s disturbance of soil around exclusion zone.    Radiation levels increased at Chernobyl, after Russian troops seized the area.     

Why nuclear risk from war in Ukraine isn’t missiles but accidental hits on reactors. Putin says that Ukraine is a nuclear threat. Abandoned mines and old Yunkom nuclear test site in Donbas region of Ukraine pose ”singular threat” of radiation contamination.

RUSSIA. Russia President Vladimir Putin puts his nuclear forces on alert.

EUROPE. EU to purchase weapons for Ukraine — live updates, DW.

JAPAN. PM Kishida rules out Japan’s possession of nuclear weapons. Radioactive farm to be leased to wind farm without decontamination. Online Tour by Reconstruction Agency to Consider Decommissioning of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. 46% of school lunches use ingredients from Fukushima Prefecture, the highest rate since 2010. Miyagi prefectural assembly: “Don’t hand out flyers to schools about treated nuclear water.

UK. The U.K. Wanted to Extradite Assange to the U.S. From the Start. .Britain’s nuclear submarine base at risk from climate change. UK government study shows that nuclear test veterans were more likely to have cancer and die. On shaky ground? Latest EDF planning application casts doubt on suitability of Sizewell site.

USA. Activist groups to rally against plutonium disposal project at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Doubts about extending the lives of USA’s nuclear reactors as federal regulators halt 80 year extension time for 3 reactors. Vogtle delayed again — $30 billion reactors may never be completed.

FRANCE. Warning on faults in EPR nuclear reactors – Commission de Recherche et d’Information Indépendantes sur la Radioactivité. 12 nuclear power reactors in France shut down, 6 because of corrosion problems. 

Limitless power arriving too late: Why fusion won’t help us decarbonise.French nuclear regulator halts assembly of huge ITER nuclear fusion reactor. France’s nuclear company EDF fined a measly 300 million euros for its decades of deception and misuse of its position. France’s nuclear ”energy independence” is a fake, as it has to import all its uranium fuel. 

BELARUS. Belarus to end its non-nuclear-weapon status.

FINLAND. Finland’s Russian-backed Fennovoima nuclear power station project now coming to a halt.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. Drone and missile attacks on UAE’s Barakah nuclear plant.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa removes critic of nuclear power from regulatory board.

IRAN. Iran rejects deadline – wants IAEA to drop politically motivated claims in nuclear talks.

AUSTRALIA. How Australian uranium ended up in war-torn Ukraine. Meet Australian Public Affairs, the lobbying firm that pushed the Kimba nuclear waste dump for the Federal Government. 

March 1, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

This week in nuclear news

The news about events in Ukraine is just coming in. Vladimir Putin would have us believe that it is at last the end of the 8 years of war in the two self-proclaimed rebel republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.  But it could be the beginning of something worse.

Russia-Ukraine live updates: United States and UK expected to announce sanctions against Kremlin

Some bits of good news:   Replacing environmental despair with hope and action   ECUADOR’S SUPREME COURT: NATURE WINS OVER MINING  .

The Ukraine Crisis Could Trigger a Nuclear Catastrophe – Tilman Ruff   Media forecasting on Russian invasion is just like religious cult leaders predicting the apocalypse.

Western Democracies Have Mutated Into Propagandists for War and Conflict. Headlines that cause wars.

Antarctica and Greenland’s polar ice shelves are melting from below

Public Opposition to Nuclear Power.

 Terrifying “nuke map” reveals danger zone if nuclear bomb dropped on YOUR city.

The supposed new rise in nuclear power and the uranium business is doubtful!

Reality check: The green inflation myth

Highest Number of Reactor Closures in a Decade.

ANTARCTICA.  Antarctica will likely set a record for lowest sea ice extent this year

  UKRAINE. Russian President Vladimir Putin orders Russian forces to ‘maintain peace’ in eastern Ukraine‘s two breakaway regions. Nuke Power at the Brink of Bankruptcy, War, Apocalypse. Standoff ending, Ukraine and Russia both claim victory? Today’s Crisis Over UkraineUkrainian Pacifists Say US, NATO and Russia Share Responsibility to Avoid War.  ACURA ViewPoint. Ambassador suggested that Ukraine might drop its bid for NATO membership – but he was quickly corrected. UK trained Ukraine military, including a thousand-strong neo-Nazi unit.     Aspects of the Ukraine crisis and some suggested solutions for de-escalation.

JAPAN. 

• I just wanted to live a normal life – Akiko Morimatsu.
•   IAEA ‘will not approve or oppose’ release of treated water from Fukushima plant, ‘responsibility of each country’.  UN to review Japan’s plan to release Fukushima water into Pacific  
•  Where to in 2045? Contaminated Soil from the Nuclear Power Plant Accident: Current Status of Interim Storage Facilities in Fukushima.  11 years after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, residents angered by the retreat from decontamination of the entire area.
•   Legal action on Fukushima nuclear disaster’s impact on health. 
•  . Latest look inside Fukushima ruins show mounds of melted nuclear fuel . Robots used to remove Fukushima’s highly radioactive used nuclear fuel, but they’re still problematic
• . Shadow of Hiroshima” at Fukushima nuclear power plant: Animation depicts history of nuclear power.

UK.

• Plutonium problems won’t go away. Brief summary of Engineering and Technology’s fine article on UK’s plutonium problem.
• Should the Taishan nuclear plant shutdown worry UK regulators?
• Update on the status of Britain’s Rolls Royce Small Nuclear Reactor project. Mini-reactor for Highlands -too “high cost and high risk” says Scottish MP Maree Todd.
• Bradwell nuclear project -dead in the water? – partly due to work of BANNG (Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group).
• Time is running out to save the Severn Estuary. Severn Estuary – internationally significant fish nursery – threatened by Hinkley radioactive mud. Legal challenge to license for EDF to dump radioactive mud in the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary. Super Furry Animals call out alleged nuclear mud dumping at Hinkley Power Station. The case for Saving the Severn Estuary from the dumping of radioactive wastes.
• New report: Nuclear waste’s shifting sands on the lakeland fringe.
• Lord Truscott questioned the idea that a thermonuclear war with Russia would be an ”unwelcome outcome”.
• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament marks 40th anniversary of Nuclear Free Wales Declaration.  
•    Julian Assange appeals to the Supreme Court.

CANADA. Michigan Senators Oppose Canadian Nuclear Waste Site Near Great Lakes. MPs and groups oppose hearings to license Canada’s first permanent radioactive waste dump. Proposed license for the NSDF includes no enforceable requirements for “waste characterization” — Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area. In-Depth: Dangers of Burying Nuclear Waste.

USA. 

• Damage limitation and US nuclear strategy . Are You Ready for the Big New War? You Damn Well Better Be.
• Nuclear power doesn’t belong in the Green New Deal. ‘Serious problems’ with NuScale’s proposed small nuclear reactors .
• USA’s Department of Energy (DOE) will give $6 Billion in a program to to stop uneconomic nuclear reactors from closing down.
• Beleagured Vogtle nuclear project delayed yet again. 
•  Opposition to Holtec dumping nuclear waste into Cape Cod Bay. 
• Maryland Couple Conspired to Sell Nuclear Secrets. 
• New USA Federal Report Warns of Accelerating Impacts From Sea Level Rise.  

IRAN. Why the Iran nuclear talks have stalled.

ISRAEL. The Iran Nuclear Deal Isn’t a Threat, and Israel Must Find a New Approach.

RUSSIA. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov informs UN chief about Russia’s talks with NATO on security guarantees.

EUROPE. Any missile launch may be perceived as nuclear strike amid tensions. EU greenwashing nuclear power: Short sighted &  counterproductive.  Europe’s nuclear power plants will need investments of EUR 500 Billion, so they need to be labelled ‘green” !   The EU’s ‘green taxonomy’ classification system – no longer fit for purpose, if nuclear and gas are included.

FRANCE . French government to subsidise EDF nuclear power company by another €2.1bn, to prop up its failing share price. French utility EDF will check auxiliary cooling circuits, or RRAs, at its 56 domestic reactors, after faults found. No end in sight as the French nuclear industry reduces its output.

BULGARIA. Nuclear project with Russian reactors shakes Bulgarian politics.

NORTH KOREA. Radiation fears after earthquakes at North Korea nuclear test site.

INDIA. Tamil Nadu people’s lives are more important than Kudankulam nuclear reactors: PMK.  Concern in Tamil Nadu over spent nuclear fuel storage at Kudankulam site .

BELGIUM. ENGIE Doubles Down On Renewables And Reaffirms Closure Of Belgian Nuclear Industry.

GERMANY. How dare Germany oppose USA over nuclear power !

AUSTRALIA.  Early closure of coal plant, battery and renewable developments – all spell the end for nuclear power hopes in Australia . 

February 22, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

UKRAINE Special – the madness continues

It is almost unbelievable that the entire Western media and just about all governments are mindlessly jumping on the war bandwagon again. All that Russia wants is for the West to keep to the 2014 Minsk agreement , and not to be surrounded by hostile NATO and its weaponry.

But no – Biden’s USA is intransigent, and all the lackey nations just fall into line, (including my own, Australia). ”National Security” – my foot! Russia is not threatening any of them.

Haven’t they learned?

There was Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya – all unmitigated disasters, all unnecessary – and now the sheep are going in for fleecing again!

And fleecing it is. Ukraine and everybody else is buying not only the story, but more importantly the weaponry from multinational weapons corporations led of course by the USA. (Probably Russia and China’s equivalent macho men love weaponry, too)

When do we all wake up? The USA government is in the grip of the military-industrial-complex. Remember – the Pentagon brass, the weapons executives and big shareholders are NRB (Not Real Bright), and don’t quite grasp that even they themselves are not immune from the effects of war.

February 19, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

Nuclear news- week to 15 February

Some bits of good news:      The green bucket list When you’re immersed in environmental science and environmental politics, it’s sometimes hard to step back and measure progress. Here are a few gains and victories to charge your batteries .

The stunning recovery of a heavily polluted river in the heart of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area.

Nuclear.   Ukraine dominated the news. The map above might help to explain why Russia really doesn’t need another NATO base on its doorstep.

Coronavirus:  COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 14 February

Climate.   Adapting to climate change ‘happening worldwide’, essential. Fixing the Climate: Hopes and Hazards.

Today’s Crisis Over Ukraine.

Ukraine Special – 11 February 22

Conflict resolution – the positive way out of the Ukraine crisis. USA does not have to march into war with Russia over Ukraine. It can choose to keep to the Minsk-Normandy process. Amid Ukraine Tension, US Deploys Nuclear-Ready B-52 Bombers to UK.

Comfortably numb . CounterVortex Episode 110: Nuclear power? No thanks! .

Oceans are better at storing carbon than trees. In a warmer future, ocean carbon sinks could help stabilise our planet

JAPAN. Kenichi Hasegawa, former dairy farmer who continued to tell the truth about the nuclear accident in Fukushima, passes away. PCB waste treatment plan in Fukushima: “Insufficient explanation” and opposition from many people. Robot photos appear to show melted fuel at Fukushima reactor. Zero Contaminated Water” and “Dismantling of Reactor Buildings” Missing from the Plan: The Final Form of Decommissioning the TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

RUSSIA.   The goal of Russia is to destroy NATO by exposing its impotence.   Russian Congress of Intellectuals: An Open Letter to the Russian Leadership.

UKRAINE. In Ukraine, USA to finance American companies to sell nuclear technology there, and to other States. USA’s plan – far right Ukrainian militia to attack Russia-speaking Donbass Region – drawing Russian support – USA then to claim Russia aggression.

CANADA. Canadian First Nations do not want small nuclear reactors on their lands.
INDIA. India’s Nuclear Weapons Could Kill Millions Of People- a matter of pride?

UK 

• UK spends over £80m on media in 20 countries around Russia. 
• What to do with dead nuclear submarines? 
• Hinkley nuclear mud.  Judicial review on the dumping of Hinkley Point C radioactive mud. 
• Local Councils are signing up to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. 
• Government approval for Bradwell B project does not really give a green light for nuclear reactors to be built. 
• BBC Cons the Public with Reports of “Sadness as Somerset nuclear power station nears closure” Tell us the Truth. The radioactive 
• ‘Cumbrian mud patch’ would be shaken up by a coal mine at the Sellafield site. 
• Fusion delusion – unsafe, too uncertain, too expensive, and too late – even if it worked.

EUROPE. European dispute over the Taxonomy plan to class nuclear power as ”green”, qualifying it for billions of euros in subsidies. Hugely costly venture – nuclear fusion – now going private – but success is as elusive as ever.

FRANCE.    Macron pledged to close down over a dozen nuclear plants, but now he’s done a U-turn . Macron goes for a new nuclear renaissance, despite the industry’s woes in France.    President Macron assures France’s EDF of tens of billions of euros in public financing for new nuclear reactors. Macron promises 52 billion euros for 6 new EPR nuclear reactors – but this ”nuclear renaissance” is far from certain. As presidential elections approach in France, only the far right and communists support nuclear power. 

French government suppressed, postponed, distributing report that recommended no new EPR nuclear reactors. EDF predicts more cuts in nuclear output, as repairs needed for defects in reactors.

USA. 

• The RAND Corporation’s plan for regime change in Moscow. 
• Environmental Working Group (EWG) urges Biden to reject ‘outrageous’ call for more nuclear power subsidies in clean energy agenda. 
• Ahead of regulatory approval the US Dept of Energy wants Govt to grant $4 billion for Small Nuclear Reactors development. 
• Safety concerns as counterfeit parts found in U.S, nuclear reactors. 
• Entergy nuclear plant accused of overcharging ratepayers – customers could now get $millions on refunds. 
• Temporary spent nuclear fuel storage isn’t temporary. South Carolina Bill to compensate the region for federal govt’s failure to clean up plutonium contamination. 
• Space rocket with NASA satellites launched, but now lost in space.

SWEDEN. Reactor at Oskarshamn 3 nuclear power plant in Sweden shut down due to ‘fuel damage.   Sweden takes a chance on Forsmark.

SLOVAKIA. Slovak government plans to tax nuclear power plants, owners threaten bankruptcy.

ASIA. EU plan to call nuclear power ”green”, but for Asia, nuclear’s outlook is poor. 

CHINA. As China tackles plastic pollution at home, it feeds the scourge globally

PHILIPPINES. The case against coal, other fossil fuels and nuclear power.

AUSTRALIA.   Practical considerations may hamper Australia’s path to nuclear submarines.

February 14, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Ukraine Special – 11 February 22

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We might have been better off under Donald Trump? A heretical thought – I admit. But at least Trump had an idea of his own (even if it was only about his own glory and money).

Joe Biden, the Democrats, the Republicans are so beholden to the military industries, that they have no option but to pursue the ”Hate Russia” doctrine – even to the point of national and global suicide? Will there be a Stanislove Petrov around as in 1983, to refuse to fire a nuclear missile, – the next time some mistake or misinterpretation happens?

The USA just HAS to surround Russia with weaponry through its puppet organisation NATO?

Things have changed. Nuclear weapons, even nuclear power plants, (especially in Ukraine) have become omnicidal time bombs. The ”Hate Russia” philiosophy, going for over 100 years – (and soon if we survive this one, also the ”Hate China” philosophy), will have to change – the human race needs an alternative to the lucrative road to omnicide

February 11, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news this week- (too long: pick out bits)

Some bits of good news. Not much of it about. But I did find, in nuclear history, a story that can give some hope. From 2000 to 2012, 47 nations co-operated, in a clean-up, led by Kazakhstan, Russia and USA, of ”Plutonium Mountain” – showing that it is possible for countries to work together, to heal this wounded world.  Small island communities – pioneers for sustainability and climate action.  Renewable energy: The past decade has seen stunning change. Australia -the next 10 years will be breathtaking.  

Coronavirus. In the USA  case numbers are dropping. In other countries mounting numbers are breaking records

Climate change.  Fixing the Climate: Hopes and Hazards.

 
UK court should slap down the US Justice Department in the Assange case.

Claims Over Broken Promises About NATO Simmer at the Heart of the Ukraine Crisis.

Can Space Tourism Co-exist with Space being turned into a War Zone?

The nuclear future and the dread factor. Time to start stopping the wars: No war in Ukraine, then no war anywhere. How giving AI bots control over nuclear weapons could spark World War III.

Electromagnetic radiation, said by telecom companies to be harmless, could be hurting wildlife..

UKRAINE. Stop the lies about Ukraine. Claims Over Broken Promises About NATO Simmer at the Heart of the Ukraine Crisis. Lake animals near Chernobyl have mutations.

FRANCE. The nuclear power dilemma: where to put the lethal waste. Cracks found in Civaux nuclear reactors, both 1 and 2. French nuclear capacity low in February, need for vigilance remains .

EUROPE. 

THE ILLEGALITY OF NATO    

The European Commission declares nuclear power to be green, but the devil is in the detail. Inclusion of nuclear and gas is ”attempted robbery”. European Taxonomy – more like Fakeonomy – now including coal and nuclear. Despite scientific objections, the European Commission sticks to its draft plan to include nuclear and gas in “taxonomy for sustainable finance”. Austria, Luxembourg to take green label for nuclear and gas to EU courts. ‘Nuclear is neither green nor sustainable” – Austria to sue European Commission if it approves nuclear power for financial incentives.

FINLAND. Electricity production at the new Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor in southwest Finland has been hit by yet further delays.

UK. Wastes  A big pile of Plutonium – UK reprocessing ceases, leaving deadly waste and no plan. Community Partnership” alerted to surveillance and “intimidation” by Radioactive Waste Management . The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) of the UK and Ireland call for truly green energy on old nuclear sites. Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) of the UK and Ireland call for clear commitment to employ LOCAL nuclear decommissioning workers. Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) demands deadly plutonium stockpile be placed ‘out of use’ BBC Inside Science Nuclear Waste Podcast Kicks Off With a Big Fat Lie – Fact Check!?

 Predictions of technical problems for Hinkley nuclear design turn out to be well founded.Sizewell C nuclear project issues have been glossed over. Sizewell nuclear developers co-opting Suffolk New College. UK close to opening coal mine under Marine Conservation Zone just 5 miles from Sellafield nuclear facility!

USA.US created Ukraine mess, now it must repair Russia relationship. Even the right-wing Cato Institute wants USA to deal with Ukraine crisis by diplomacy, not weaponry.America’s military leaders reassure their staff ”We will win a nuclear war!” Raytheon and Lockheed Martin boast to investors that Ukraine-Russia crisis is a boon for their business

. Chomsky: US Approach to Ukraine and Russia Has “Left the Domain of Rational Discourse” . As Ukraine Crisis Raises Specter of Nuclear War

 Veterans Call for Disarmament and Peace. 

• Nuclear baloney in today’s media. US DOE announces clean-up progress at Savannah River Site. 
• Terra Power chose Wyoming because it is an oligarch and dictator’s paradise.  
• Nuclear weapons plutonium pits developmnt planned for Los Alamos National Laboratory, but there’s strong opposition on safety grounds. 
• Nuclear power: CO2 fix or cost disaster? 
• COVID-19 an obstacle for nuclear waste disposal at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, officials say. 
•  Cornell University Library launches online Nuclear Freeze documents. 
•  Give Nuclear Exposure Victims a Break. Indigenous support for Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. Shoshone Nation need radiation exposure compensation. In 2022, compensation funds for the nuclear-affected ”Downwinders” are due to expire. 
•  UK preparing for ‘exo-atmospheric nuclear attack’ as greatest threat in space war, government report warns.
• New Mexico’s Bill to stop the State becoming a ‘sacrifice zone’ for nuclear wastes. Bill To Ban Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage In New Mexico Passes House Committee. In New Mexico, two Bills to block the storage of high level nuclear waste. Decommissioning is just the beginning of the huge nuclear legacy problem. Bill to help build small nuclear reactors in Indiana passes Senate. 
•   Increased risk of flooding due to population increase and global heating ,

terans Call for Disarmament and Peace. 

NORTH KOREA. North Korea, Perpetual Victim of the US Military-Industrial Complex. North Korea isn’t going to give up nuclear weapons, but that’s not a crisis.

RUSSIA. Russia calls for USA to remove its nuclear weapons from European countries.

JAPAN. Japan to renew subsidies for plutonium nuclear recycling . After the hibakusha: the future of Japan’s anti-nuclear movement. 

Fukushima.  Doubts grow on water-release schedule at Fukushima plant. Japan’s Bid to Dump Tons of Radioactive Water From Fukushima Into Sea Hits Snag. I couldn’t tell anyone for 10 years, Kishida says statement by five former prime ministers ‘inappropriate’:. Thyroid cancer caused by Fukushima nuclear accident. A Step Toward Fuel Debris Removal: Robotic Arm Arrives at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant “debris” storage method to be reconsidered – Chairman of the Regulatory Commission, Mr. Sarada. Homesick. Russia, China concerned over Japan’s plans to dump Fukushima radioactive water.    

IRAN. Iran says nuclear talks have made ‘significant’ headway. US Grants Sanctions Relief To Iran,Inches Closer To Nuclear Deal Renewal. A nuclear end game as 2 stubborn nations dig in . Movie on assassination of nuclear scientist Dariush Rezainejad premieres at FajrCulture.

SOUTH AFRICA. Fight Over Africa’s Sole Atomic Plant Entangles Energy Minister Mantashe.

ISRAEL. Israel Simulated Attack On Iran’s Nuclear Facilities In Recent Drills.

RUSSIA. Russia, China call on nuclear powers to abandon Cold War mentality.

KAZAKHSTAN. Kazakhstan calls on CANWFZ states parties to join Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 

AUSTRALIA. The coming Khaki election: will Labor join in the belligerence against China?   Nuclear waste dumping.  Channel 10’s ”The Project” had the guts to show Australia the Kimba nuclear waste dump story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGwsbGufXc0 

February 7, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

Nuclear news – to wind up January 22

The Ukraine crisis drags on – no American soldiers will be fighting, but American weapons companies making great sales.  Here’s hoping that in the event of war, nobody will strike Ukraines’s nuclear reactors  – each of them in them in themselves a sitting nuclear bomb.

Some bits of good news : Chinese Method For Growing Veggies Year-Round in Frigid Canada Really Works–And Has No Heating Costs.    South Australia Smashes Renewable Record Using 100% Solar And Wind For Full WeekSolar Power Will Account for Nearly Half of New U.S. Electric Generating Capacity in 2022

CoronavirusLPandemic or endemic: Where is COVID heading next?
Climate, Hot Oceans & Escaping Consumerism

The rulers of the great powers are playing with fire. Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons .   The threat of nuclear winter hangs over our warming planet. 

 Swapping one dangerous fossil fuel technology for another dangerous nuclear technology is NOT progress.  Former nuclear regulators say that nuclear power is not a feasible option for tackling the climate crisis.

Russia proposes US returns American nuclear weapons from NATO countries close to Russia. U.S. and Russian Threats Over Ukraine—What They’re About .

US and British governments are effectively using “lawfare” to ensure Assange’s continued detention. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2KuzriLnaU UK High Court gives very little chance for Julian Assange.

Rockets Destroy Ozone and Cause Climate Change – Aerospace Programs’ Deadly Impacts to the Earth.

Scientists say no to Solar Geoengineering . 

Nuclear incidents and meltdowns – far more than we realised. ‘We have to stop believing the nuclear hype’ , former chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and other leaders.  Busting the nuclear propaganda about Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR).

UKRAINE. Full scale war in Ukraine? With its 15 nuclear reactors – no more Ukraine, no more Europe. Increased mutations in animals affected by Chernobyl radiation. “Nuclear warfare without bombs”.
JAPAN.Japan needs a realistic debate instead of new push for fast nuclear reactors. Momentum building for nuclear ban treaty, with hopes that Japan will participate.
Fukushima.Leakage of coolant water from ice wall around crippled Fukushima nuclear power station. Can reactor fuel debris be safely removed from Fukushima Daiichi? Fukushima nuclear radiation has had strange effects on plants and trees. The more radiation, the weirder Fukushima’s fir trees became. Father continues to suffer in court over Fukushima nuclear accident: “I exposed my son to radiation.

USA, 

•  ”All options on the table”to punish Moscow –could bring about a nuclear conflict.   Democrats urge Biden to keep pledge to limit nuclear weapons. Anniversary Of The Night Nuclear Bombs Fell Near Goldsboro.  Militarized Dolphins Protect Almost a Quarter of the US Nuclear Stockpile.    
• Montana communities have better options than nuclear power. Leaders say nuclear will save Kemmerer. Residents aren’t convinced. West Virginia public weighs in on nuclear power plant prohibition repeal . 
•   Another case of the nuclear industry bribing a university.    
•   Forensic experts are working to recover texts deleted by ex-FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones after he was fired. Lawsuit looks to force nuclear regulator to turn over records from San Onofre ‘near-miss’ incident. 
•   Nuclear-Testing ‘Downwinders’ Speak about History and Fear.
• Nuclear waste storage in New Mexico would be blocked if Senate, House bill pass Legislature.
•  Elon Musk SpaceX rocket on collision course with moon. 

CANADA. NB POWER seeks unprecedented 25-year licence for Point Lepreau nuclear power station.   Unease in Ontario about planned nuclear waste dump (nobody suggests that they stop making this trash?) Canada’s nuclear waste body ousted liaison officer for being ‘too much on the side of the community,’ lawsuit claims. 
 Chief Hugh Akagi will present the case against having a CANDU-6 nuclear reactor on Peskotomuhkati land. NB Power and New Brunswick government gamble on untested, non existent ”small” nuclear reactors (SMRs). 
Canada’s state broadcaster CBC peddles lies and slanders about jailed journalist Julian Assange.

UK. 

•  What’s plan B if the government can’t attract investors willing to fund Sizewell C? Sizewell C nuclear project– subsidised construction, subsidised power generation, subsidised waste management, subsidised company. Sizewell C nuclear plant will have catastrophic effects on nature, and the Minsmere nature reserve. UK’s Green Party opposes £100 million government bailout for Sizewell C nuclear project.    Nuclear power – a burden that will only slow the energy transition – UK Greens 
• Tight timetable for the Rolls Royce-led conglomeration to ever get their small nuclear reactors built. Local MP has vision for a non-nuclear future for Hunterston.  
• The escalating costs of decommissioning UK’s nuclear reactors pose a warning about new nuclear reactors. Decommissioning of the AGR nuclear power stations: National Audit Office UK. 
• Anti-radiation pills handed out in case of nuclear emergency at BAE Systems
•  Map shows the horrible impact a nuclear bomb would have on Coventry.

SWEDEN. Swedish government to decide on construction of nuclear waste dump. Sweden approves plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100000 years. The Swedish government allows the nuclear industry to build https://www.mkg.se/en/the-swedish-government-allows-the-nuclear-industry-to-build-an-unsafe-repository-for-spent-nuclear   an unsafe repository for spent nuclear fuel.

FRANCE.  Marine Le Pen has pro nuclear, anti-renewables policy for the coming election.   Striking workers reduced France’s nuclear power generation by 2.2gigawatts (GW). France’s far-rightEUROPE.Debate flares in Amiens over the attempt to include nuclear in the ”green taxonomy”. Europe must get serious about energy conservation.

ITALY. Nuclear not competitive’ and too late for energy transition: Enel Green Power CEO..

IRELAND. “Ireland must take firm stance against greenwashing of EU Taxonomy” – Member of European Parliament.PACIFIC ISLANDS. What’s the situation of Bikini atoll and its people now?

IRAN. Iran ‘will consider’ direct talks with US, says foreign minister. Nuclear deal unlikely unless Iran releases US prisoners: Report. Iran nuclear negotiations reaching final stage. MOST of Iran’s nuclear facilities are vulnerable to devastating drone attacks.

ISRAEL. Shadowy battle – Israel’s attacks on Iran’s facilities and personnel.

GERMANY. Germany’s dramatic departure from the nuclear industry. Other European States follow.

CHINA. China now well and truly the world leader in offshore wind.

RUSSIA. Russia’s nuclear powered container ship is sailing into thick ice. NATO practices nuclear missile sorties near borders of the Russia-Belarus Union.NORTH KOREA. Nuclear-armed North Korea tests long range missile.        

AUSTRALIA. Massive flooding in Kimba district, – the Agricultural (no it’s now the Nuclear Waste) Town of the Year. Serious doubts that the Australian government has a plan for nuclear waste dump vulnerable to flooding. Kimba flooding: Australian government must immediately abort nuclear waste dump project.

January 31, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

To 24 January – the week in nuclear news

Readers of this news summary seem to like the ”Bits of good news” – so I think I’ll put them at the top:  Meet the scientist moms fighting climate change for their children,  . Transition to genuinely clean energy has succeeded in many cases, including economically.When it rains, it soars: Wetland birds come back from the brink 

Coronavirus: What’s happening in Canada and around the world

Climate Change. What will the climate be like in the year 2500? Provocative new science.

Nuclear.  Ukraine is the urgent news this week-   it’s not nuclear news? – well, I certainly hope that is the case.  France is the country of most interest this week, as Emmanuel Macron tries to hold it all together. In the lead-up to the presidential election, Macron must convince everyone of a positive future for the nuclear industry, despite its multiple problems.

Common Security Approaches to Resolve the Ukraine and European Crises.

Washington pumping up war fever .

January 22 -one year since nuclear weapons became illegal. U.N. Treaty on the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons – in force one year. Doomsday clock stays at 100 seconds to midnight. Doomsday Clock continues to hover dangerously.

Nuclear energy too costly for humans — and the planet .

2021 was one of the hottest years on record – and it could also be the coldest we’ll ever see again .     Research shows planning for climate change will save billions

Changing from a consumer economy to a conserver economy – painful but necessary.

Chemical pollution has passed safe limit for humanity, say scientists.      Nanoplastic pollution found at both of Earth’s poles for first time    

NATO to apply Article 5 collective war clause to outer space.

ANTARCTICA. Giant canyon discovered underneath Antarctic glacier, adding to history of rising sea levels.     World’s largest iceberg melted – now one trillion tonnes of ice – gone

UKRAINE. What the heck is going on with Ukraine? Ukraine crisis is a terrifying impasse. 200,000 pounds of lethal arms and ammunition, “directed by Biden,” arrive in Ukraine.

JAPAN. Call for Japan to join nuclear ban treaty on first anniversary.    Robot for removing nuclear fuel debris at Fukushima Daiichi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyJ_Or6Vzdw&t=5s        Six people to sue Tepco over thyroid cancer after Fukushima disaster. Class action suit against Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (TEPCO) by 6 thyroid cancer sufferers.

EUROPE. Redesigning nuclear arms control for new realities. Why nuclear power can never be green. European States opposing inclusion of nuclear in ‘green’ taxonomy warn on diverting investement from genuinely clean technologies. Europe’s nuclear waste remains an unsolved and highly dangerous problem – EU Assessment Report.       ITER nuclear fusion – a spectacular waste of time, money, and political clout.

GERMANY. Germany formally opposes inclusion of nuclear energy in EU’s ”sustainable” taxonomy.

AUSTRIA. Austria preparing for a legal battle to prevent EU from calling nuclear power ‘sustainable’.

SWEDEN. Having sat out first two world wars, NATOzied Sweden gearing up for third . Drones sighted over Sweden’s nuclear power stations.

SWITZERLAND. Swiss reactor meltdown.

CANADA. Holding in the deep: what Canada wants to do with its decades-long pile-up of nuclear waste. New radioactive waste plan poses ‘Milennia of Risk” for Ottawa River communities.

ISRAEL. Nuclear Notebook: Israeli nuclear weapons, 2021.

USA. 

• UKRAINE CRISIS: US ‘Toolboxes’ Are Empty, Hypocritical Scolding Won’t Stop a Russian War on Ukraine.
•  Missouri Bill to honour nuclear veterans. King’s voice thundered: “It costs $500,000 to kill every enemy soldier while we spend only $53 a year for every poor person. Nuclear weapons must be relegated to the past – Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Nuclear weapons standout calls for US commitment to UN treaty. 
•  On Cape Cod, a nuclear nightmare arrives. Officials at San Onofre conspicuously silent on the risks of tsunami waves to nuclear waste storage. In Georgia   Could Plutonium Shipping in New Mexico Lead to Disaster?  
• Bloated Costs Take Over a Nuclear Power Plant and a Fight Looms Over Who Pays.  

FRANCE. 

• How France greenwashes nuclear weapons. 
• France’s nuclear company EDF accused of cover-ups over ‘serious and unexpected’ corrosion on Tricastin and other reactors. Electricite de France has become a nightmare for investors, and a danger to regional energy security. EDF’s costly EPR nuclear reactor failures – in France, UK, China. Contradictory demands on EDF 
• Does the Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor have a design fault? Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) warns France on problems, costs, safety in nuclear projects. Design flaws in Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor vessel, and attempts to solve these. The tribulations of France’s Flamanville nuclear reactor. 
• Difficulties at Orano nuclear elements site adds to France’s nuclear woes. 
• France’s Nuclear Safety Authority considers abandoning the reprocessing of nuclear waste. France’s nuclear regulator warns on the ”security fragility” of both the reactors, and the reprocessing system. France’s nuclear waste problem, and the lack of transparency on military wastes.

UK. 

• Mayors for Peace UK / Ireland Chapter and NFLA celebrates first nuclear weapons ‘banniversary’. 
• Anglesey does not need nuclear energy – Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA).  
•   Small nuclear reactors a poor solution for UK’s and the world’s climate action. Small nuclear reactors for Scotland? Expensive, unpopular, and not even small. 

• Largest increase in the UK nuclear liability regime for 50 years. 
• Row over plans to reform groups at nuclear sites.  
• Anti-radiation pills given out to residents, nurseries, schools, care homes and clinics near UK’s nuclear submarine ports. The production, servicing and berthing of nuclear-powered submarines in or near population centres present unacceptable health risks. 
• Rolls Royce aims to market its Small Nuclear Reactors to Saudi Arabia (a good step towards nuclear weapons?) 
• 13 wards in Cumbria recommended against their will, for UK’s nuclear waste dump. Hinkley Point mud dredging and dumping plan faces a legal challenge.

CHINA. China hits back at US, Japan over nuclear transparency call.

RUSSIA. Stranded in Vladivostok: KIMO International and NFLA express concern at mysterious plight of Russian nuclear-powered freighter. Just a reminder. Russia did not INVADE Crimea.

ASIA. EU plans may boost Asian nuclear ambitions but progress likely to stutter, say analysts. (journalist)

AUSTRALIA. A mutual suicide pact: Australia’s undeclared nuclear weapons strategy. Australia-UK talks – all about nuclear submarines and military co-operation against China. 

January 24, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

This week in nuclear news

The undersea volcano near Tonga is bad enough. But one wonders what would be the effect of disrupting nuclear wastes undersea, whether they  be from atomic bomb testing, or from the dumping of nuclear trash.

Coronavirus.  It’s not that I have given up on studying this: it’s just that the news, and changes, come thick and fast, and we all live in uncertainty.

Climate change. It’s all happening. Keep up with the latest at Radio Ecoshock – Arctic Will Change Your Life. Nitrous Oxide, Sea Ice, & Western Fires.

Nuclear. This week,  Ukraine stalemate, and the same old issues drag on – Europe’s struggle to depict nuclear as ”green”, UK’s struggle to finance the nuclear industry, France’s struggle with old, (and some cracking) reactors. And Fukushima’s crisis springs eternal.

Some bits of good news. By the way, – biggest response ever this newsletter has received on any subject –   about the butterfly story last week!   Some wins for the planet in 2021.  Nice stories about animals – including several ”non-extinctions”.   Beavers Saved From Euthanasia Transform and Replenish Rivers in the Utah Desert.

Is US extradition inevitable for Julian Assange? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aw4Yz0Va1c

In 2022, nuclear power’s future looks grimmer than ever.   Nuclear: economically unsustainable, inherently dangerous and absolutely unfeasible as a solution to climate change.      A hopeless pursuit? National efforts to promote small modular nuclear reactors and revive nuclear power. Small modular reactors (SMRs) offer no hope for nuclear energy.

Climate change crisis ranked as the biggest threat facing the global economy ahead of wars and pandemics. The environmental impact of emissions from space launches: a comprehensive review .

The Guardian view on The Green Planet: verdant and necessary

We study ocean temperatures. The Earth just broke a heat increase record.

Global heating linked to early birth and damage to babies’ health, scientists find

Stoltenberg: NATO ready for war in Europe.

Horrors of Hiroshima, a reminder nuclear weapons remain global threat.

ARCTIC. Climate change destroying homes across the Arctic. Fieldwork in the High Arctic found cataclysmic impact of climate change happening 70 years ahead of what the scientific models expected.

UKRAINE. The media downplays Ukraine’s ties to Nazism, as they promote weapons sales, and war against Russia.  This is how I feel about the Ukraine crisis.

UK.

• UK’s Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill passes in House of Commons. UK’s Nuclear Financing Bill – very strange logic – with £40 billion to £60 billion for a new nuclear power station seen as a good thing. ‘Nuclear obsession’: Tory bill to let firms charge customers to build plants. Scotland’s electricity consumers will pay up for UK’s Hinkley nuclear plant, though it’s not even built. Regulated Asset Base – UK’s nuclear tax on electricity consumers – supposed to attract foreign investment. Labour tries to curb cost overruns from Sizewell C development 
• Cracked’ nuclear power station retired.  EDF’s Advanced Gas Cooled (AGRs) reactors should be shut, as they are vulnerable to cracking. 
•  Just the bare 144 years of above-ground storage for UK’s Chapelcross Intermediate Level Nuclear Waste. Factoring in the full cost of the radioactive wastes, the price to pay for nuclear power is astronomic. 
•  You thought Rolls Royce’s Small Nuclear Reactors would be for electricity on Earth? 
•   Scots plan to celebrate anniversary of Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)
• The desperate nuclear industry now looks to get its claws into electric cars.

JAPAN.  Fukushima Takes a Turn for the Worse . Survey at Fukushima No. 1 reactor container halted.   Severely damaged fuel at Fukushima No 1 reactor – survey to find this has been halted.   Robotic failure: “We don’t know the cause, and the outlook is unclear…” High barrier to internal investigation of high radiation dose at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1.     Japan to join with NuScale, Bill Gates’ TerraPower, to develop plutonium fast reactors and small nuclear reactors.

FRANCE. 

•  Ho hum – Flamanville nuclear power project delayed again. France’s new-generation nuclear plant delayed again. 
•  Claim that EDF contract for nuclear emergency generators was rigged. 
• Drop in EDF’s 2022 production target due to nuclear outages because of cracks. 10 out of 56 French nuclear reactors are currently shut down.
•  A fifth French nuclear reactor affected by corrosion in safety system. Greenpeace France calls for a halt to Flamanville EPR nuclear project, to assess viability of EPR reactors. Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity (CRIIRAD) wants transparency on the safety of EPR nuclear reactor design. Cracks on safety-critical pipes in France’s nuclear reactors.
•    President Macron’s plan for electricity price cut could cost EDF €8 billion. Big fall in EDF’s shares. Why Emmanuel Macron is slow to clarify his nuclear promises. France’s nuclear company EDF in trouble, and with election looming.

NORWAY. Norway Activists Protest After Docking Of US Nuclear Submarine In Tromso: Reports.

USA.

• Joe Manchin and Big Coal are destroying the planet Jeff Goodell. 
•   Sydney Poitier film ”The Bedford Incident” was based on true nuclear war near misses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA-rgKBq7Ss
•   Rogue nuclear regulator/former NRC chair Jaczko spills the nuclear beans on Fukushima, reactor “safety,” nuclear politics.  
• The US and China Could Soon Be In Race For Nuclear-Powered Satellites.
• Biden is urged to eliminate land-based nuclear missiles, as US policy is revised.    Biden team weighs killing Trump’s new nuclear weapons. To Avert ‘Global Nuclear Holocaust,’    US Groups Demand Abolition of ICBMs       Can Santa Fe survive as a nuclear weapons suburb?
• Legal case over compensation for workers in ”uniquely dangerous” nuclear sites.   Texas ‘downwinders’ should be eligible for nuclear radiation compensation, advocates say.
•  Claims of strange unidentified craft flying over top secret US Air Force base.

SOUTH KOREA. Why joint US-South Korean research on plutonium separation raises nuclear proliferation danger .

IRAN. Former Israeli premier says notion of destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities mere ‘nonsense’.

EUROPE. The science-based case for excluding nuclear power from the EU taxonomy. EU delays deadline on green investment rules for nuclear and gas. The detail in the European Commission’s draft for ”sustainable nuclear energy” makes nuclear energy unfeasible – even the nuke lobby hates it!  Downright absurd to classify a technology with the potential danger of nuclear power plants as green and sustainable. The European Union will need to invest 500 billion euros ($568 billion) in new generation nuclear power stations! The European Association for Renewable Energie Eurosolar rejects inclusion of nuclear and natural in the EU taxonomy.

RUSSIA. Russia finds worrisome NATO’s wish to lower nuclear threshold — diplomat.

MIDDLE EAST. Nuclear war is a genuine threat, so why have non-proliferation efforts stalled?  

CANADA. What motivates Canadian province Premiers to enthuse about costly, probably useless, Small Nuclear Reactors?

GERMANY. Germany to stick to its guns on phasing out nuclear and coal energy . Germany’s admirable record in promoting renewable energy, as it leaves nuclear behind.

FINLAND. No plans for new nuclear , and Fennovoima project hampered by the Ukraine crisis.

LUXEMBOURG.. Luxembourg’s Energy Minister denounces France’s actions on promoting nuclear to Europe.

SWEDEN. Large drone observed over Forsmark nuclear station . Police hunt for drone seen flying over Forsmark nuclear station.  

AUSTRALIA.  AUKUS an unwelcome guest at the table of nuclear disarmament.  In Western Australia, first Cameco’s Kintyre uranium project was disallowed, now Toro’s uranium project also rejected. 

January 17, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

This is how I feel about the Ukraine crisis.

We should study the whole context of this. Russia does not want to be encircled by threatening military systems, and probably nuclear missiles. Just as America felt threatened when Soviet Russia had placed missiles in Cuba. That caused a crisis, resolved when Russia removed those missiles. USA is obsessed with surrounding its perceived enemies with military installations.

The Ukraine government is corrupt, ( yes, I know Russia is corrupt, too) . Sections of Ukraine are ethicnally and linguistically Russian. Quite frankly, a return of Ukraine to Russia is no threat to America.

But NATO in Ukraine is a threat to Russia. USA is at grave risk of starting an uncontrollable war. What use would it be to bomb your enemy to obliteration, if you yourselves are also bombed to obliteration?

January 16, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 2 Comments

This week’s nuclear news

It’s a critical time for the world, as Russia and USA face off over Ukraine – the mainstream media showing an extraordinary ignorance on the background for all this. In Australia we get only the USA government’s point of view – I don’t know about other countries.

The UK government is poised to legislate for electricity consumers to pay for nuclear reactors long before they are built, and to cop the costs of delays, things going wrong, or the wonderful new reactors not actually operating anyway.. Meanwhile Europe continues to contort itself with the conundrum of deciding that nuclear is ”green” and worthy of tax-payer funding. 
Coronavirus news– it’s all too much for me. We’re all in limbo – and a kind of mental paralysis sets in !

Climate Change.  No, it hasn’t gone away. The last seven years were the hottest on record.

Some bits of good news . To cheer myself up, I’ve been reading a lot about butterflies. AND, the nearly endangered Monarch Butterflies are back  – in their many thousands,  Developing food crops that can thrive in dry and hot conditions. 

Extraditing Julian Assange Threatens Journalists Worldwide.

 Treaties, Constitutions, and Laws Against War — limitless life What if deterrence doesn’t work?

Ukraine crisis.  US-Russia Talks May Be the Last Chance .     What War With Russia Would Look Like. NATO chieftain to Russia: Georgia, Ukraine belong to us, take it or leave it. On eve of Biden-Putin, NATO-Russia talks, Blinken blasts Russia as threat to European continent.

Emissions from the five major economies set to cause a doubling of extremely hot years in many nations. “Don’t Look Up:” Hollywood tackles the myths that fuel climate denial — RenewEconomy

Nuclear energy backers say it’s vital for the fight against global warming. Don’t be so sure. Nuclear is not a practicable means to combat climate change.

Six reasons to say ‘no’ — Beyond Nuclear International

To preserve the planet, we must reduce our consumption of resources..

UN chief welcomes P5 statement on nuclear war prevention . Five world powers vow to prevent spread of nuclear weapons.

Changing patterns for spreading misinformation on pandemics and climate change.

Going nuclear: Should nations unilaterally decide?

Hundreds of thousands of satellites brightening the night sky with negative effects on the ecosphere.

ANTARCTICA. Enormous Antarctic glacier becoming unstable. Maori workers exposed to radiation in cleaning up USA’s failed nuclear reactor in Antarctica.

UK. 

•   Why is support for nuclear power noisiest just as its failures become most clear?  Parliament to debate Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill on 10 January – may transfer billions of new nuclear costs to consumers. Nuclear Energy Financing Bill – a poisoned chalice for the UK public. To bankroll the failing nuclear industry, the UK government will push thousands into fuel poverty, with its Nuclear Energy Bill.
• Coronavirus cases doubled in a few days at Sellafield nuclear site.
•  Climate Noise Has Obscured Nuclear Dump Cronyism and Nuclear Impacts of Coal Mine – Why Bother With Traffic Light System for Induced Earthquakes?
•   Government failure behind energy crisis. Government Wants YOU to Pay for New Nuclear. Safety concerns:  
• Hunterston nuclear power workers need a just transition to sustainable work. No more subsidies to the nuclear industry.  . Hunterston nuclear station shut down – then comes the long cleanup. BBC Report on Closure of Hunterston B Fails to Mention that All the Nuclear Crapola will Come to Cumbria. UK’s Heysham nuclear plant to shut down two years
•  Falkland Islands in a nuclear-free zone, yet Britain deployed 31 nuclear weapons there earlier than planned
• Scotland very nearly reached goal of 100% renewable energy over 2020. 
•  Blackburn and Darwen Council approving and old nuclear dump site for commercial development ?

ARGENTINA.
Argentina pressures UK over deployment of nuclear weapons in Malvinas conflict .

USA. 

• Weapons and war,  Will Biden stay the course toward nuclear disarmament? President Biden should pledge never to use nuclear weapons first. Nuclear weapons states like USA must end the hypocrisy. Blinken on CNN: Unrelenting bellicosity, full-court offensive for control of former Soviet territory.
•  What ratepayers should know about the Plant Vogtle expansion.
• NRC was right to deny OKLO’s plan for small nuclear reactors.
•  What’s going on at Michigan’s nuclear power plants? A troublesome past, and present. 
• Wastes.  Xcel in Minnesota wants to use different nuclear waste casks from the approved TN-40 type. Concerns in New Mexico, about taking in out-of-state nuclear waste, as Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has limited space. Very quietly, NRC plans mass shipments of high level radioactive waste. Texas residents affected by New Mexico nuclear tests – radioactive fallout ignores state lines.     Progress in nuclear waste cleanup at Idaho nuclear site   
•  Six men stood directly under a nuclear explosion test – all got cancer.

EUROPE. New generation European nuclear power will need investment of 500 billion euros by 2030. Existing plants will require 50 billion. European citizens divided over nuclear energy . European Commission’s divisive plan to label nuclear power ”green”, revealed on the sly? Anger as European Union is poised to subsidise the corrupt and rapacious nuclear industry. Including nuclear power as ”sustainable” completely undermines the European taxonomy’s original aim of the Green Deal.

AUSTRIA. Austria ready to take legal action against inclusion of nuclear power in Europe’s ”green taxonomy”.

RUSSIA. Russia’s nuclear submarine construction reaches a post-Soviet high. Russia’s secret nuclear waste city – Ozersk, City 40.

FRANCE. France – a serious anomaly detected in several EDF nuclear reactors. Fault found in France’s Chooz 2 nuclear reactor – its outage shutdown now extended.

GERMANY. German government struggles to unite on EU energy proposal.

NETHERLANDS. Facebook’s gigantic data farm planned for Netherlands causing a severe energy problem.

IRELAND. Ireland’s EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness insists that nuclear power is ”green”, amidst backlash over the EU ”taxonomy”.

GIBRALTAR. Nuclear submarine visiting Gibraltar puts people and the environment in danger.

NORTH KOREA. What we know about North Korea’s nuclear weapons and their military power.

SOUTH AFRICA. Nuclear power station life-extension project running late — even before it starts.

AUSTRALIA. The Australian government is complicit with USA and UK imperilling the health of Julian Assange, may well cause his death. The Australian media colludes with USA, UK and Australian governments’ persecution ofJulian Assange -”Crikey journal” typifies this .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-OEJks1ldA .     

January 10, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

Nuclear news – week to 4 January

As Omicron rips around the world, attention turns to medical science. In this ever-changing story, conspiracy theories are rife, and trust in science is shaken. Trust in science is diminished, too, in climate change. By and large, media and governments seem content with a ”business as usual” policy.

And now, the European Union is about to declare that nuclear power has miraculously become ”clean”, ”green” and ”sustainable” – worthy of tax-payer funding – this is a real blow to the credibility of science.

Why a U.S.-Russia War Would Inevitably Be a Globe-Annihilating Nuclear War.

Will the European Commission buy into the lie that nuclear power is clean and green? Angry response in Europe to the draft European Commission plans to accept nuclear power ”climate-friendly” – eligible for tax-payer financial help.

Land and water ecosystems ‘stressed to a critical point’ .

Nuclear Twilight – the ”limited” nuclear war.

Germany, France, Britain, U.S. discuss Ukraine crisis, Iran nuclear talks.

The murky world of financing Small Nuclear Reactors (SMRs).

Increased compensation for those damaged by nuclear accident – OECD.

Threat of nuclear war: Not a thing of the past. UN Nuclear Ban Treaty conference postponed again because of Covid-19.

Radioactive radiation could damage biological tissue also via a previously unnoticed mechanism.

More fusion folly — Beyond Nuclear International

World urgently needs a Paris-style agreement for biodiversity .

COP 27 – the risk of the climate summit becoming a stalemate.

Our Oceans Are Not Sewers.

UKRAINE. A Ukrainian invasion could go nuclear: 15 reactors would be in a war zone. Ukraine aims to produce enough uranium for nuclear energy needs.

GERMANY.   

• German Greens fight plan to funnel billions of euros into the nuclear industry via deceptive taxonomy ”sustainable” label. Q&A: Why is Germany phasing-out nuclear power and why now?   Nuclear power in the EU taxonomy and Germany’s position. (Extract)    A technology that leaves behind hazardous wastes ”cannot be sustainable”.
• Germany’s Brokdorf nuclear station closes, so activists end their 35 year vigil against it. Germany shuts down half of its remaining nuclear plants. Germany will pull the plug on three of its last six nuclear power stations. 
• In Germany, coal-produced electricity has dropped, along with nuclear, while renewable-provided electricity continues to increase.

EUROPE. Dismantling of nuclear reactor will be expensive, but provide jobs for several decades. Germany aiming for far-reaching methods to reduce carbon emissions across all sectors. European Commission drafts plan to label gas and nuclear investments as ”green”. EU Commission’s draft taxonomy plan – ”a licence to greenwash”.

JAPAN. Growing radioactive waste crisis at Fukushima nuclear power plant. Despite widespread opposition, Japan plans to dump water from Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean. Japan’s plan for dumping nuclear waste-water into the sea. Protesters call for abolition of nuclear weapons. Naoto Matsumura Guardian Of Fukushima in TokyoPop March 2022. Japan to implement compensation rules for losses by Fukushima rumors.

USA. 

•  Biden’s First Year Foreign Policy Record May Be Worse than Trump’s .
•  Pentagon retains aircraft carrier, strike group in Mediterranean to confront Russia. 
•  NuScale’s Small Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) to go public with the dodgy Special Purpose Acquisition Company System . Japan to help build Bill Gates’ high-tech Natrium nuclear reactor in Wyoming. 
•  Wastes.  Harry Reid’s legacy – a staunch opponent of Yucca nuclear waste disposal site. USA reclassifies nuclear waste, with new interpretation, making it easier to move to storage. State of New Mexico demands federal investigation into Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and federal nuclear programs. Vermont nuclear decommissioning committee drafting advisory opinion on nuclear waste policy. Yucca Mountain remains in debate over nuclear waste storage.

UK.

•  UK govt delays final decision on Sizewell nuclear project. Britain’s National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) advises government against new nuclear power projects. Risky for UK to plan for small and advanced nuclear reactors.   
• Britain under pressure to follow Joe Biden’s plan to honour nuclear test veterans.
• Scottish MP slams UK plans to increase nuclear arsenal.    Consider the potential risks of having nuclear submarines at Devonport Dockyard .
• Plutonium found on a beach near Sellafield. 
•   Strong local Council opposition to Hartlepool plan for hosting Britain’s nuclear waste dump .     Hard to swallow the manipulations going on in nuclear waste decisions on UK’s Geological Disposal Facility  
• Why nuclear power is a bad way to balance renewable energy .   UK’s fossil fuel use at an all-time low , as renewables generate 67% of Britain’s electricity.     
•   What it’s like to live in an energy efficient ‘power home’ I haven’t had to put my heating on in December  .

FRANCE. 

France to lead the European Council – a worrying situation as Macron cosies up to polluting corporations, especially nuclear. Massive leak of tritium at France’s Tricastin nuclear power plant. Nuclear authorities dismiss a massive tritium leak from nuclear reactor as unimportant. But should they?  France’s oldest nuclear power plant, shut in 1985, still highly radioactive. 

 With 15 nuclear reactors shut down, France faces risk of power cuts. France’s electricity consumers face curbs as EDF struggles with problems and shutdowns. Long and difficult dismantling of EDF’s graphite technology nuclear reactors to continue.

CHINA. China hits back at ‘double standards’ amid US tech war, Washington’s nuclear weapon concerns.

SWEDEN. Rare stoppage in Sweden’s Forsmark nuclear power station.

KAZAKHSTAN. Kazakhstan may build nuclear power plant to provide electricity for energy-guzzling Bitcoin mining. Bitcoin miners in Kazakhstan will rely on government building new nuclear power plant.

INDIA. India  Launches Nuclear Submarine With ‘Vertical Launch System’. India, Pakistan exchange list of nuclear power installations.

FINLAND. FINLAND. Finland’s underground nuclear waste facility in construction, seeks operating licence.

IRAN. Iran launches rocket into space as nuclear talks continue. Will 2022 Bring A Revived Iran Nuclear Deal — Or A Hard-Line Plan B?SOUTH KOREA. South Korea presidential contender vows to seek nuclear-powered submarines, months after Australia’s Aukus deal. 

AUSTRALIA. Australia’s nuclear-free collective efforts and achievements in 2021. The Australian government’s Kimba nuclear waste decision rides roughshod over Australia’s obligations under international law.

January 3, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news – last week in December

It would be so good to welcome in the New Year with really great news. But, at least there are some indications of better news on the way, both in the unfolding pandemic story, and in efforts to stall global heating.    

As for nuclear, in a bizarre way, the pandemic has been helpful to the clean energy cause.  The pandemic has caused delays in the ”supply chains”. Among other effects, this has made the push for small nuclear reactors (SMRs)  even more likely to fail. For example, despite the hype, Rolls Royce’s plan for SMRs for Qatar resulted in a fall for their share price, as the transport of parts is problematic.

Pandemic.  Omicron: bleak new year or beginning of the end for the pandemic?.   Scientists are cautiously optimistic that the variant may be a sign the virus is losing its power, despite the high infection figures.

Climate.  Earth’s Climate: Rapid and Dramatic Changes.

Julian Assange’s lawyers start process for UK Supreme Court appeal against his extradition to America.

The science-based case for excluding Nuclear Fission Technologies from the EU Taxonomy .

Spent Fuel, The risky resurgence of nuclear power.

Nuclear power has no business case and could make climate change worse.

Is the thorium-fueled “Molten Salt” reactor a proven technology?

Report:  “Moving Beyond Missile Defense and Space Weapons”

Nuclear liabilities – the tax-payer is the insurer of last resort.

Some bits of good news – Costa Rica was the star at COP26 Climate Summit.   The rare spots of good news on climate change.

ARCTIC. A second great nuclear ice breaker for Russia to keep the Northern Sea Route open.

EUROPE. European Commission experts call on EU not to label nuclear ‘green‘. European Commission will decide in 2022 if it considers nuclear energy as a ”climate friendly” investment. European Commission facing a backlash from Greta Thunberg and environmentalists over plans to include nuclear and gas in the EU ”green” taxonomy.

FRANCE. France short of electricity, as it shuts down 2 nuclear reactors due to safety concerns.

BELGIUM. Belgian government to close its nuclear plants by 2025 .

ASIA. Rapid shrinking of glaciers in the Himalayas.

JAPAN. Plight of Fukushima’s fishermen . USA puts pressure on Japan to not attend nuclear ban treaty meeting, not even as an observer. TEPCO files for approval of Fukushima plant water release. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear powerplant out of action for many months due to 74 instances of defective welding..

CHINA. China opposes Japanese decision to release nuclear-contaminated water into ocean.

CANADA. Canada to be the guinea pig for America’s probably unviable small nuclear reactor.

USA.

•   U.S. congressional delegation arrives in Ukraine to discuss threat of war with Russia — Anti-bellum . Archbishop calls for nuclear disarmament . USA is examining its ”nuclear declaratory policy’‘, while Biden considers how to reduce the role of nuclear weapons. Cyber Threats and Nuclear Weapons: Assessing Risks.
•  USA has 85,000 metric tons of spent fuel from nuclear power plants, 90 million gallons of weapons wastes – robots to the rescue. America’s nuclear waste problem becoming more urgent, as the nuke lobby tries to ramp up the industry. 
•   Holtec gets approval to acquire and dismantle Palisades nuclear plant: not everyone is happy. Holtec, owner of closed Oyster Creek nuclear station faces security violation fine. 
•  NASA seems to be struggling with the fact that ionising radiation is a greater risk to women, than to men.
•   Inept cover-up of faulty nuclear work – Nuclear Regulatory Commission gives no penalty.
•   U.S. can get to 100% clean energy with wind, water, solar and zero nuclear, Stanford professor says.
•  Former Westinghouse CEO Danny Roderick now a government witness in South Carolina nuclear fraud case

FRANCE. The French government asked EDF for earlier restart of nuclear reactors (now on maintenance). EDF HAS DECIDED TO CLOSE TWO NUCLEAR PLANTS AFTER FINDING CRACKS. Tricastin nuclear power station: a radioactive leak in groundwater. The Environmental Authority requires a list of all the problems encountered in building the Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor.

GERMANY. Germany steadfast in rejecting nuclear power, aims for 100% renewables.

IRAQ. Environmental Ruin in Modern Iraq – largely due to depleted uranium.

IRAN. Iran holds air defence drill near Bushehr nuclear plant. Iran Diplomat Condemns West’s ‘Psychological Warfare’ in Nuclear Deadlock. The chance for nuclear diplomacy shouldn’t be wasted. Iran Simulated Attack On Israel’s Dimona Nuclear Site In Recent Wargames.

UK. 

• Inspections of Britain’s ageing nuclear weapons facilities. 
•  In Cumbria – Dangerous Nuclear Waste Dumping- Mission Creep and Obfuscation. 
•  Changes in UK nuclear third party liability . 
•  ROLLS ROYCE FALLS 3% ON QATARI INVESTMENT IN SMALL NUCLEAR BUSINESS. 
•  Radiation Free Lakeland joins the call against watering down safety regulations for nuclear fusion reactors..

FINLAND. Olkiluoto EPR nuclear reactor starting up, 12 years late .

SWEDEN. Swedish environmental groups sound a warning on the government’s plans for a new radioactive waste dump.

SLOVENIA and CROATIA. Lack of transparency on radioactive waste , on intake of international nuclear waste.

RUSSIA. Depleted uranium exports to Russia are not a ”resource” – they are radioactive waste.

TANZANIA. Tanzania seeking information on ‘nuclear waste’ ship detained in Mombasa.

AUSTRALIA. Australian government and Labor opposition ignore the suffering of Julian Assange. Can they afford to, as election looms?    Traditional owners lodge legal challenge to planned Kimba nuclear waste dump.

December 27, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment