nuclear-news

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

This week in nuclear news

Just when we thought it was safe to go out again, along comes the Omicron variant of Covid-19.  It’s almost comic, watching our (Australian) politicians twisting themselves into knots telling us to go out and rejoice, while the medical experts are more quietly advising us to wear masks and steer clear of crowds.Meanwhile more populous countries struggle with the sheer numbers of infections, and the load on health services.

While the pandemic swamps the news –  weather extremes keep happening.  

On the nuclear scene, all seems quiet, BUT, there’s something of a crisis brewing in France, where climate effects and aging technology are causing problems in nuclear power supply, cracks both real and symbolic, are appearing as Macron gallantly pushes for a new ‘nuclear renaissance’.

 COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 20 December,   Fauci warns Omicron COVID variant ‘raging through the world’       Top US infectious diseases expert warns hospitals in the country could face stresses in coming weeks as COVID-19 infections surge.

CLIMATE.  2021: when the link between the climate and biodiversity crises became clear.

INTERNATIONAL

Chris Hedges on the Execution of Julian Assange.   Classified Documents Invalidate United States‘ Appeal Against Assange — Richard Medhurst. The disgraceful case mounted against Assange by a corrupt U.S. Department of Justice and their hired guns in Britain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trzrUK_fmZI

Nuclear power’s economic failure – a ”renaissance in reverse”. Dr Jim Green dissects the hype surrounding Small ”Modular” Nuclear Reactors. Why Nuclear Power Is Bad for Your Wallet and the Climate.

Small nuclear reactors for military use would be too dangerous – excellent targets for the enemy.

15 minutes to save the world’: a terrifying Virtual Reality journey into the nuclear bunker.

Climate change has crashed Earth’s ”air – conditioners” – the North and South poles. Warmer winters are happening across the globe.Adapting to climate change will only get more expensive 

  Nuclear Energy Can­not Meaningfully Contribute to a Climate-Neutral Energy System . Energy economics – getting the fuel -oil and nuclear -for continued expansion of capitalism – is costing more all the time.

Understanding cobalt’s human cost

PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ constantly cycle through ground, air and water, study finds

‘Anti-5G’ necklaces are radioactive and dangerous, Dutch nuclear experts say.

Some bits of good news – 10 inspiring environmental victories of 2021 Don’t Look Up: A movie about climate change that is actually good

ANTARCTICA. An Antarctic glacier the size of Britain could ”shatter like a car windscreen” in the next 5 to 10 years. Humanity should not test whether Antarctica’s ice will hold out.

ARCTIC. U.N. sounds alarm bells over highest Arctic temperature on record. Fukushima toxins in Arctic add to pressure on Japan.

CANADA. Nuclear Plants Masquerading as Climate-Friendly Shouldn’t Qualify for Green Finance.

JAPAN.. Fukushima.    Steel Pipes to be Driven into Thawed Parts of Frozen Earth Wall at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Japan’s Fukushima water set to be dumped as critics attack ‘flawed’ Tepco report. Greenpeace says that TEPCO ignored risks to South Korea when assessing radiological impact of releasing Fukushima nuclear water waste. TEPCO starts offshore drilling to release Fukushima water Japan urged to revoke decision to dump nuclear wastewater after study finds Fukushima radioactive material reaches Arctic Ocean

EUROPE. European Union’s rift over nuclear power. EU countries at odds over green investment label for nuclear energy. Accepting nuclear and gas as ”green” (or even ”amber”) would jeopardise the credibility of the entire European Green Deal. French nuclear plants out of operation, exacerbating Europe’s energy crisis.

USA. 

• The reasons for the USA’s persecution of Julian Assange : Glenn Greenwald spells it out. 
•  How to keep US-China rivalry from starting a nuclear arms race. Hundreds of Scientists Ask Biden to Cut the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal. We the People: What led to the Cold War? 
•  Taxpayer funding might not be enough to save USA’s failing new nuclear, specifically the ”Versatile Test Reactor”. Buyer beware: NuScale tries a new way to get funding for its small nuclear reactor plan.
•   Biden administration must end the environmental injustices of the nuclear era.
•  Federal inspector falsified safety reports at North Anna nuclear plant.
•   Westinghouse keen get new 40-year operating license for nuclear fuel plant, despite pollution, leaks and spills. 
•  Jimmy Carter hailed as ‘action’ hero for stopping nuclear meltdown at 28.
•  Nuclear power is never safe or economical.
•   USA govt moves towards getting an interim storage for nuclear wastes.
•   The climate change impact of Manchin’s “no” on Biden plan.

FRANCE. France’s Association for the Control of Radioactivity in the West (ACRO) reveals plutonium pollution in La Hague.

  Uncertainties persist, as France shuts down the 4 largest nuclear reactors, because of corrosion and cracks. EDF shares slide after faults found at nuclear plant. EDF shuts down nuclear reactors on safety concerns. France’s EDF takes more nuclear reactors offline after faults found. Lower output from France’s nuclear power stations is causing electricity prices to soar. French Environment Minister asks EDF to conduct audit on nuclear power availability, following safety shutdowns. EDF to delay maintenance outages at 3 nuclear reactors in France, to avoid a supply shortage.

 To obtain authorisation to commission the Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor, EDF must get full infomation on the incident at the Taishan EPR reactor. 

 France’s Court of Audits demands information on the costs of future EPR nuclear reactors, and cost implications for waste management. 

 ”Green” taxonomy.  Protesters denounce French push to label nuclear as sustainable energy. French President says discussions continue with Germany about nuclear power as ”green”. France ready to join forces with fossil fuel promoters, in order to put nuclear at the heart of European environment policy. 

RUSSIA. Russia is offering to USA and NATO an alternative way out of the present Ukraine crisis.

UK. UK’s nuclear test veterans ‘were victims of a crime. 

 Natalie Bennett, a Green member of UK Parliament deftly separates nuclear facts from nuclear fantasy. 

 Call to halt Hinkley Point C new EPR nuclear reactor until problems at similar reactor in China resolved. Independent advice to British government said that no further nuclear plant is needed, beyond Sizewell C. Cracks cause Torness nuclear plant to close early.   Heysham 2 nuclear power station to close earlier than planned,

Nuclear Free Local Authorities call for ”no watering down” of safety regulations regarding future nuclear fusion reactors . 

INDIA. Prominent Indian activist Medha Patkar urges Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister to close down Kudankulam nuclear power station.

IRAN. Because Trump left the nuclear deal, we might have to learn to live with a nuclear Iran . Iran nuclear talks to resume ‘soon’ after modest gains in Vienna. Iran and UN inspector reach agreement on reinstalling camera’s at Karaj nuclear facility.

FINLAND. Finland’s Olkiluoto nuclear plant to power up 12 years late.

SWEDEN. Sweden’s Non Government Organisations want the government to reject nuclear repositary plans, on safety grounds.

CHINA. China to lead in global wind power.

TAIWAN. Residents on Taiwan’s Orchid Island hope that the nuclear waste storage facility will now be closed . Taiwan rejects nuclear power in referendum

SOUTH AFRICA. Call to rally against extending the lifespan of ageing Koeberg Nuclear Power Station.

GERMANY. German experts argue that high costs, delays and toxic wastes mean that money for nuclear power would be better spent elsewhere.

VIETNAM. Vietnam set to restart nuclear power project, with Russia’s help.  

AUSTRALIA.

•  What’s next for Julian Assange? and for media freedom? Julian Assange trial is political hypocrisy. Julian Assange’s freedom must be an Australian election issue.
• Submarines.   Australian taxpayers up for $170Billion, for American nuclear submarines. No problem?

December 20, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news this week, and news on Julian Assange

It’s not exactly ”nuclear” news. In fact, not at all. I heard that Julian Assange supports nuclear power, but that’s not the point. But what’s happening to Julian Assange is a frightening precedent for anyone who dares to publicise American military atrocities . Actually, it’s not all that new.  Now forgotten – Wilfred Burchett, the Australian journalist, was the first to visit, photograph, and report on the sufferings of the Hiroshima atomic bomb victims. Burchett was censored, persecuted, and his character smeared by the USA  government and its faithful vassal, the Australian government.

Meanwhile – back at the subject –   the West beats the drums of war, over Ukraine.

Coronavirus; Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update.Climate change:  EXTREME: We Just Left the Old Climate Behind. 

Some bits of good news –  Largest Farm to Grow Crops Under Solar Panels Proves to Be a Bumper Crop for Agrivoltaic Land Use.
   Hundreds of Solar Farms Built Atop Closed Landfills Are Turning Brownfields into Green Fields      Once Biologically Dead, London’s River Thames Rebounds – With Seahorses and Seals

Even when he is silenced, immobilized, locked up and hidden from public view, Julian Assange continues to shine a light on the abusive mechanisms of power. The latest court case for Australian Julian Assange – and the death of democracy. Appeal to UK’s Supreme Court will just lengthen Julian Assange’s legal torment.

FIRES OF WAR Biden is pushing us to brink of NUCLEAR WAR over Ukraine in chilling echo of Cuban missile crisis, Russia claims.

What happened at COP26? Six compelling arguments why nuclear energy is spectacularly unfit to power a just transition. Nuclear can’t deliver on climate .    Buyer beware: greenwashing is becoming more sophisticated 

Japan’s upcoming nuclear waste dump.

UKRAINE. Who’s Telling the ‘Big Lie’ on Ukraine? Russia Angered by Senator Roger Wicker’s Nuclear Strike Remarks on Ukraine. Ukraine Is a Problem Only as Long as the West Makes It One.

EUROPE. U.S. European Command, NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Command Europe leaders meet to “improve warfighting readiness”. European Union passes sustainable taxonomy law, but postpones decision about nuclear power. President of the European Commission to have the final say on whether Europe considers nuclear power to be ”clean” and ”green”?

CHINA. Inside information from China could sink the French nuclear flagship EPR. Taishan Problems. An investigation is still under way into leaks at nuclear power plant. China Wants to Join Southeast Asia’s Nuclear-Free Zone.

JAPAN. Japan PM to push for progress at NPT meet to scrap nuclear weapons. A lonely evening at home for Fukushima man retracing past.

MIDDLE EAST. Nuclear reactors in the Middle East are vulnerable to missile strikes.  Push for a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East, BUT Israel is the elephant in the room.

IRAN. Iran nuclear talks pulled back from the brink as Tehran shifts stance. Iran slams Europeans over nuclear deal stance. Tough talks ahead for Iran nuclear deal.

USA. 

•   USA considers deploying nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
•  Nuclear weapons proliferation: the great danger in the USA exporting advanced fast nuclear reactors. Nuns against nuclear weapons. Options for the future of the US intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) programme -the Carnegie Endowment fo International Peace. Saudi Arabia Arms Sale Is One of Biden’s Many Militaristic Actions in First Year,  
• ‘The Catalog of Nuclear Death’: The U.S.’s Hair Raising Plan to Obliterate Russia. 
• Nuclear Command and Control Satellites Should Be Off Limits – here’s why. 
• Proposal would expand aid to more victims of nuclear weapons tests.
•  Editorial: No, California shouldn’t extend the life of its last nuclear plant. There are better ways to fight climate change . 
• Opposition to small nuclear reactor project for Oyster Creek.
• U.S. government struggles with the ever-accumulating nuclear waste problem. 
• 100% renewables possible for USA – study demonstrates ,

UK. 

• UK High Court orders Assange extradited: A pseudo-legal travesty.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUJ6ntoieMs&t=67s 
•  Inherent design flaw in EPRs (European Pressurised or Evolutionary Power Reactors) casts doubt on future of UK’s Hinkley and Sizewell nuclear projects.
•  Radionuclides found from Hinkley nuclear mud Bristol Channel Citizens Radiation Survey. 
• UK’s Hinkley B nuclear power station to shut down permanently next summer.   Hunterston and Continuous Decommissioning. 
• British pensioners funding France’s ”nuclear renaissance” with white elephant nuclear projects? UK’s Nuclear Energy Finance Bill Committee hears problems about funding of new nuclear projects, that will be too late to affect climate change. UK government will ”prove the potential”of advanced nuclear reactors with its Advanced Modular Reactor Research, Development and Demonstration Programme. 
•  ‘Spend money on the National Health Service – not nuclear submarines’  
• Industrial action set to ”cripple” the effective running of UK’s nuclear submarine base. 
• Nuclear fusion – not as clean as they say: it produces considerable amounts of radioactive trash.
• UK’s failure to reduce energy demand – the most important measure to address climate change.

FRANCE. “Nuclear power has no future inFrance“.

GERMANY. The shutdown of Germany’s last nuclear power plant could enable the North to cover 160% of its electricity needs with renewables. Nuclear exit to unleash wind power in Northern Germany,

TURKEY. Turkey’s nuclear plans threaten Eastern Mediterranean ecosystems.

AUSTRALIA. Assange facing extradition to US: where is the outrage? PM under pressure to end Assange ‘lunacy’. Australian government urged to push UK and US to free Julian Assange. Independent MP Andrew Wilkie implores the Prime Minister to pick up the phone to the US president and UK prime minister to end the prosecution of Julian Assange.   

How the military-industrial complex has captured Australia’s top strategic advisory body

December 13, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 2 Comments

Nuclear news – week to 6th December

Coronavirus.    Omicron proves we’re not in control of Covid – ‘only global action can stop this pandemic’
Climate Change.   Heating at the Poles will determine the fate of this life on Earth.
Nuclear. Last week, it was France that dominated nuclear industry news. This week, it’s Russia and Norway.  The news brings together the issues of climate change and of nuclear danger. The melting of the Arctic now enables Russia to forge ahead with its search for mining fossil fuels there, with the result that  Norway is taking a keener than ever interest in monitoring levels of ionising radiation in the region,

Analysis: Small Modular Reactors Are Decades Away. That Suits the Fossil Lobby Just Fine..

Nuclear risks are laid bare by COVID-19

Omicron Variant: For Better or For Worse?NATO foreign ministers meeting ends with veritable declaration of war.
Nuclear power is a failure – former French Environment Minister.
The nuclear consequences of cyber vulnerabilities.

Fact check: Is nuclear energy good for the climate? 

COP 26 agreement that energy efficiency investments needed for at least half of the investments needed to stall global heating..‘Deluge of plastic waste’: US is world’s biggest plastic polluter

Renewable energy growing at a fast pace, China and India leading the way.

EUROPE. The nuclear fuel chain – uranium mining to radioactive waste problem- European Commission to decide if it is ”green” and”sustainable”.NORWAY.Norway faces up to fast increasing radiation risks. Drones monitor the nuclear ships, icebreakers, submarines that clutter the Arctic.
BELARUS. President of Belarus – ready to host Russian nuclear weapons if NATO moves atomic bombs to Eastern Europe.

UK. 

• Not Before Time EDF’s Hunterston B is Switched Off For Good.
•   UK and Israel pledge to stop Iran gaining nuclear weapons. 
•   UK government secretive about its Net Zero strategy,especially on tax-payer funded projects like small nuclear power plants.
•  Why is so little attention paid to the fastest, cheapest, most effective action on climate – ENERGY SAVING?. 
•  In the next extradition court case for Julian Assange, we can expect the judge there to be very biased against Assange.  

USA. US Ex-Senator warns – US, NATO allies risking ‘all-out nuclear conflict’ with Russia. Urgent need to correct exaggerated claims about China‘s nuclear arsenal and its intentions. Nuclear industry handouts to universities continue. New Name- Same Scam. NuScale small nuclear reactors become ‘VOYGR”, universities co-opted. More delays and extra $1 billion expected for Georgia nuclear plant.

CANADA. 9 top US nuclear no-proliferation experts write to Prime Minister Trudeau requesting a review of Canada’s planned nuclear reprocessing to recover plutonium. Gordon Edwards critiques a Canadian documentary on the ”Nuclear Revival” and small nuclear reactors. Canada to get its version of the mythical beast – the Small Nuclear Reactor – GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) BWRX-300.

JAPAN. Fukushima Daiichi Frozen Wall Section Fails. Study: Fukushima discharge to affect entire Pacific Ocean in 10 years. Tracking contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear accident.

CHINA. China puts forward proposals as Iran nuclear talks resume. Design flaw: the incident that shut down China’s EPR nuclear station could happen to other EPR reactors.. Design flaw could explain problem at EDF’s Chinese nuclear plant. Whistleblower explained the tank design problem that caused the shutdown at Taishan nuclear power station. Safety fault in China’s European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) does not bode well for UK’s Hinkley Point C and Sizewell nuclear projects.

TAIWAN. Taiwanese Group walks for 30 hours to protest nuclear power.

RUSSIA. Global heating brings easier Arctic passage for Russia’s floating nuclear power plant to open up Arctic for more fossil fuel mining, more global heating.

MIDDLE EAST. UN chief calls for nuclear weapons-free Middle East.

IRAN. Guarded optimism among Western diplomats, as Iran nuclear talks progress in Vienna.

KAZAKHSTAN. At the Global Alliance of Leaders for Nuclear Security and Nuclear-Weapons-Free World (GAL) meeting, Nursultan Nazarbayev proposes  Global Forum on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament

FRANCE. France joins the Small Nuclear Reactor frenzy, bringing out its odd version ”NAAREA“.

AUSTRALIA. Nuclear waste dump plan, Legislative and regulatory obstacles, highly dangerous wastes – Kimba nuclear dump is still an uncertain project.  Kimba temporary nuclear waste dump plan is unnecessary, now that federal government has approved upgraded storage plan at Lucas Heights.  
 The people of South Australia are being excluded from the discussion and decisions about the Federal govt’s planned nuclear waste dump. 

December 6, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news – week to 29 November

  PANDEMIC.  WHO Reaches Draft Consensus on Future Pandemic Treaty   More omicron cases pop up as world rushes to learn more.
CLIMATE CHANGE –  it hasn’t gone away. Keep up to date with Radio Ecoshock, and – Rebel Against the Crash.  Also Paul Beckwith – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IubZzo97p-A

NUCLEAR.  Again,France is in the news, as President Macron, (formerly opposed to nuclear) pushes for the industry. Meanwhile safety issues continue, and also concern over radioactive releases from La Hague into the seaMeanwhile the global nuclear industry watches with concern, as Britain struggles to organise the funding ( Regulated Asset Base) for its new nuclear plans.

Nuclear power being hyped in the media, but its prospects are grim.

Nuclear power for MINDLESS, ENDLESS, ENERGY use – data”farms” and Bitcoin.

Small modular reactors not the solution . Are small nuclear reactors actually small, safe, economic ?

Nuclear Fusion Recedes Into Far Future For The 57th Time.

Climate 129 reputable European and international organisations have signed up to letter opposing inclusion of nuclear and gas as being ”sustainable” and ”green”.

Latest COP 26 pledges will lead to 16% increase in carbon emissions, NOT the necessary 45% decrease.

Climate and biodiversity: mapping the irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. IEA: Rate of energy efficiency improvements needs to double to put world on track for net-zero.

Economic Cost Of Peak Population: Japan, China, The World.

ARCTIC. Arctic Ocean started getting warmer decades earlier than we thought – Study Melting Arctic sea ice linked to ”worsening fire hazards” in Weatern USA  .

 EUROPE. Europe to pay half for raising Russia’s dangerous sunken submarines, – while Russia builds new ones!

NEW ZEALAND. This world of pandemic and climate change can no longer afford the luxury of nuclear weapons proliferation.

UK

• Environmental Social and Governance investors have upset polluting and tobacco industries – now they’re coming for nuclear. 26 UK investment funds pouring money into nuclear weapons companies: some have links to UK government.
• British military moving closer and closer to, nuclear bombers 12 miles from Russian border: envoy. 
• Nuclear financing.   The UK’s nuclear plan is a financial, environmental and political risk.    UK government tries to save its nuclear skin by turning to dubious Regulated Asset Base funding. UK Parliament debates Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill, with anxiety over the Government’s big nuclear plans. UK govt’s budget – £1.7 billion direct government funding to enable Regulated Asset Base funding for new nuclear. Energy consumers are likely to spend over £1000 each to complete Sizewell C Nuclear …..and then pay a high price for the electricity it produces. 
•  Despite the USA’s V.C. Summer nuclear fiasco, a consortium plans to build the same type of reactor, with same funding model, at Wylfa.
•   Question hangs over Bradwell nuclear project – Bradwell B (BRB) a partnership 66.5% China’s CGN and 35% France’s EDF. Boris Johnson quizzed over future of Bradwell, (Essex) nuclear plant. 
•   Labour has called for clarity on how the government plans to remove China’s state-owned energy company from nuclear power projects in the UK. Boris Johnson avoids detail on how China will be removed from Sizewell C deal.
•   New nuclear for Scotland– would be a tragic mistake? Nicola Sturgeon reaffirms the Scottish Government’s opposition to nuclear power. Newly released Government documents reveal safety, terrorist, dangers of Scotland’s nuclear power stations . 
• Two British nuclear power stations closing years ahead of their expected time. 
•  Hurdles ahead for Rolls Royce small nuclear reactor development. What might trip up the Rolls Royce plan for small nuclear reactors?
•   Nuclear fusion for UK – to save the dying nuclear industry, and UK as a nuclear weapons state? 
•   Powerful greenhouse gases emitted from Hunterston A nuclear station . 
• UK’s Ministry of Defence makes unprecedented attempt to dismantle dead nuclear submarines. 
• Protest against plan for nuclear waste dump in West Cumbria, close to National Park . 
• Gordon Frederick Coggon – a Nuclear Test Veteran’s Experience.

CHINA. China calls on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to make Southeast Asia a nuclear-weapons-free zone.

JAPAN. Tepco to repair Fukushima nuclear station’s partially melted protective ice wall. Robots to probe Fukushima No.1 reactor from Jan.

FRANCE.

  France quietly benefiting from the neglect of international commitments to protect the seas from radioactive discharges. Radiation control organisation calls for significant reduction in toxic releases from La Hague nuclear facility.

 As presidential candidate, Emmanuel Macron opposed nuclear power, now he’s all for it. France’s Court of Auditors warns on the ”uncertainties” surrounding the future of nuclear power. France’s government in some confusion about when construction of new nuclear reactors will begin. 

Risk of lack of electricity: is EDF’s nuclear fleet properly managed?

  Costs of electricity from Flamanville nuclear power station will be three times higher than from the most competitive renewable sources.

  Tricastin nuclear power plant: cascading cover-ups. Manager at Tricastin NPP files complaint about safety issues and harrassment .

ITALY. Residents in the Basilicata region again gear up to fight against hosting a nuclear waste dump.

CANADA. Bipartisan USA lawmakers Press Biden to stop Canadian plan to store nuclear waste near Lake Huron. . Financial hypocrisy – the pretence that nuclear power is green and cheap .

USA. 

• Christmas bonanza from USA tax-payers to the nuclear industry. 
•   Exelon Generation Co changing its name to the more appropriate (Nuclear) Spin Co. 
•  The US Faces Pressure To Do More To Address Its Nuclear Legacy In The Marshall Islands. USA rehearsing launching nuclear attack on Russia. 
•  Another step in the effort to clean up Hanford’s massive nuclear waste problem. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) gets 13,000th nuclear waste shipment, and plans for much more. Pilgrim nuclear plant may release 1M gallons of radioactive water into bay. 
•  US rehearsed dropping nuclear weapons 20km from Russian border – Moscow.

KAZAKHSTAN. Crypto currency mining is rampant, so Kazakhstan looks to nuclear energy, despite its dreadful history there..

INDIA. A silent killer is choking Delhi. For millions, there’s no choice but to breathe it in

ISRAEL. US warns Israel its attacks on Iran nuclear program are counterproductive . The U.S. Is Bracing for Blows With Israel as Iran Nuclear Talks Near.

GERMANY. Will Germany’s Next Government Ditch U.S. Nuclear Bombs? Incoming German government commits to NATO nuclear deterrent. New German government aims for coal exit, and 80 pct renewables, by 2030, German nuclear power shutdown will not lead to power shortage: report.

HUNGARY. Nuclear power in Hungary: Green, cheap and independent?

IRAN. UN nuclear watchdog fails to reach access deal with Iran.

BULGARIA. Belene nuclear plant: Bulgarian far-right leader threatens to send opponents to a labour camp.

MALTA. Prisoners and families exposed to undocumented, possibly risky radiation levels.  

AUSTRALIA. AUSTRALIA. Kimba nuclear waste dump plan. Minister Keith Pitt confirms that the federal government has bought the land at Kimba for the national nuclear waste dump.  To set up nuclear waste dump , the Australian government will have to override South Australian State government laws 

November 29, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

This week in nuclear news – France and more

Miles too long again this week  – sorry.  I put the most interesting bits in  bold.

Nuclear. The interesting thing right now is France’s struggle to get Europe to agree that nuclear power is ”clean” and ”green”. The background to this is that France’s nuclear industry is in a pretty bad state. Debts, scandals and safety problems. Most reactors getting near their use-by date. Strangely, the prestigious and independent Court of Audits has reported that nuclear power has a dubious future, but President Macron is ignoring that report, and promising a global nuclear revival, led by France.
Coronavirus –  it’s all still happening.Climate: COP 26 is over – but global heating is all still happening, too.
Some bits of good news:   The EU drafted legislation to tackle deforestation.   The UK’s largest urban rewilding project was approved. Refugees in Cameroon Have Turned aTreeless Desert Camp Into a Thriving Forest.

The consumerism that destroys life is also the cause of the environmental emergency.

The 2015 Paris climate agreement – a weak ‘treaty’, but it is working up to a point.  Nuclear energy: a distraction on the road to climate solutions. 

Global agreements against the dumping of nuclear waste into the world’s oceans.

America’s relentless pursuit of Australian Julian Assange is a threat to any journalist who might expose a USA massacre of civilians.

Gorbachev: claims that nuclear weapons guarantee peace are a delusion. The elimination of nuclear weapons a moral imperative – Vatican. New film: The ‘Mothers of the Revolution’ Who Stared Down Nuclear Weapons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWirc-uWGgQ Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons Takes a New Approach With Informative Videos for Children and Young Adults.

Low dose radiation has its medical benefits, but has harmful effects on the immune system.

Use Less Stuff Day-Thursday November 18th

ANTARCTIC. Antarctic ice sheet changed alarmingly quickly in past – and may be happening again now.

FRANCE. 

•   France’s Court of Audit wants a debate on nuclear power decisions – in view of delays and costs in this sector.
• The fairy tale of cheap French nuclear power.  The real cost of France’s reliance on nuclear energy? 
• Hidden incidents at France’s Tricastin nuclear site. The degraded state of France’s nuclear fleet, and concealment of series of accidents.  Non government organisations anxious about Tricastin nuclear station, and about historic law to protect whitleblowers. 
• French unions complicit with EDF in harrassments and other scandals.France has multiple nuclear problems – costs, wastes, safety and more …..  No greenwashing in Europe to save the nuclear industry!

GERMANY. Germany’s Chancellor Merkel maintains stand against nuclear power being classified as sustainable. German banks sceptical about nuclear and gas inclusion in green taxonomy.l

EUROPE. Over 100 European non government organisations urge the European Commission to block nuclear power from being accepted as a clean green investment . EU Council stresses the need to fully implement and universalise the NPT treaty.

AUSTRIA. Austria prepared to sue European Union if it includes nuclear in green finance taxonomy.

SWEDEN. The growing unsolved problem of nuclear waste – becoming desperate in Sweden.

FINLAND. Finland’s nuclear power project collapsing – unprofitable and unnecessary.

BELARUS. Belarus’ new nuclear power station has further problems, shut down at present . Belarus leader says he wants Russian nuclear-capable missile systems.

RUSSIA. Russian diplomat calls for coordinated global efforts to enact Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. ‘The graveyard of the Earth’: inside City 40, Russia’s deadly nuclear secret.

CANADA. Disastrous floods intensified by climate change.

UK. 

• The British public wants NATO to renounce the first use of nuclear weapons. Targeting Trident: how divestment is impacting the nuclear weapons industry. 
• UK’s planned Sizewell nuclear reactor at risk – same design as Taishan reactor which has been shut down since July for safety reasons. 
• Regulated Asset Base model may save Hitachi’s Wylfa Newydd nuclear project. Bradwell nuclear project is likely to be scrapped, despite the Planning Inspectorate having supported the project. “Rather than contributing to net zero, Bradwell B nuclear plant would be ‘ideally placed’ to become the casualty of climate change.” 
• Hinkley Point C could ‘wipe out’ 11 billion fish, Bristol Channel campaigners say. 
• Rolls Royce asks to govt begin 5 year process to get regulatory approval for its small modular nuclear reactor. Rolls Royce dilutes its stake in consortium for mini reactors, as Qatar makes small investment . UK’s small nuclear reactor consortium indicates that it will be relying on tax-payer funding if it is to go ahead.   Despite the frantic nuclear lobbying at COP26, Rolls Royce’s small nuclear reactors will be of zero use against greenhouse emissions – Jonathon Porritt. 
• Industrial action could ‘cripple’ Clyde nuclear base. 
• Plan for solar power to UK via cable from Morocco, as nuclear power closes. 
• Scottish earthquake was nuclear waste ‘wake-up call‘.

JAPAN. Japan’s PM Kishida resolved to achieve nuclear-free world . Japanese municipalities are finding resistance to hosting nuclear waste dump, despite substantial government bribes. 

Temperature of Fukushima Daiichi’s “frozen earth wall” rises again. Japan’s nuclear regulator inspecting seismic risks at Shika nuclear power station..
U. N. nuclear agency team to review plans for release of Fukushima water.

USA. 

• Heritage Foundation – murky think tank funded by the nuclear weapons industry, wants weapons-makers to be exempt from climate and pandemic regulations. 
• USA’s $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure bill provides $6bn to prop up ailing, aging, unprofitable nuclear power plants. 
• Nuclear power company First Energy prosecuted for corruption, but still finds it worthwhile to bribe politicians. 
• U.S. govt brings early Christmas to Bill Gatesand the nuclear industry – tax-payer funding! Scientists Warn Experimental Nuclear Plant Backed by Bill Gates Is ‘Outright Dangerous’.  X-energy, NuScale, Terra Power overselling their small nuclear reactors, which face big challenges.
• Report: Nuclear Plant Failed to Prevent Flooding During Ida. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission found violations of federal regulations at Vogtle nuclear site. 
• G and E’s Humboldt Nuclear Power Plant is officially all cleaned up. Environmental groups are not so sure. Humboldt nuclear reactor is dead and gone, but its highly radioactive wastes live on. 
• Kamala Harris became the first woman to have control over US nuclear weapons, but only briefly. 
• NASA seeks ideas for a nuclear reactor on the moon – submissions due by February 19 2022. ”Billionaires who fly into space to produce nothing of scientific value” -on hearing that, Jeff Bezos hires lobbyist!

MARSHALL ISLANDS. “Blown to Hell: America’s Deadly Betrayal of the Marshall Islanders” 

NORTH KOREA. North Korea replaces, punishes 14 cadres and technicians working on nuclear-powered submarine program. The Central Committee criticized the technicians for failing to follow party policy to “localize” production . No North Korea nuclear, ICBM tests for the time being.

KENYA. Kenya’s $5billion nuclear power dream is delayed by 10 years.

EGYPT. COP 27: Growing concern that civil society groups will have restricted access.

NEW ZEALAND. The global nuclear weapons race is back on: New Zealand needs to continue its stance for disarmament.

AUSTRALIA. New files expose Australian govt’s betrayal of Julian Assange and detail his prison torment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I185pwCWNo8 Australian TV blatantly advertises weapons sales, in absurd claims about China invading Australia. Morrison’s tactless belligerence towards China, while USA moves to mend relationship to China.

November 22, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment