nuclear-news

This week – nuclear submarines overwhelm the news

Well, Australia’s top marketing specialist, Scott Morrison, this week excelled himself, marketing his favourite product, himself for re-election in Australia’s coming khaki Liberal Coalition campaign.  World-wide fame – to play with the big toys of the big boys, even if President Biden couldn’t remember his name.  I did find the coverage of nuclear submarines and AUKUS quite overwhelming – hence this too-long news summary.

AUSTRALIA

TODAY’S NUCLEAR SUBMARINE NEWSUS nuclear submarines: a dangerous nonsense. One white elephant submarine deal replaced with a worse one. French ambassador says Scott Morrison gave no warning on the nuclear submarine deal. Maritime Union of Australia calls for government spending on health, not nuclear submarines. Transparency needed so nuclear-powered subs don’t turn into nuclear power subsidies What is Scott Morrison doing in New York? Nothing on climate, it seems. 

NUCLEAR SUBMARINE  AND AUKUS NEWS  OVER PAST FEW DAYS 

What does the nuclear submarines announcement mean for Australia?

 Politics.   Scott Morrison’s AUKUS deal designed to win election, not make Australia safe. We need a full and transparent Inquiry in the nuclear submarine deal. Nuclear good, batteries bad: Morrison’s subs deal is thin edge of wedge . Nuclear submarines may never eventuate; it’s just Scott Morrison’s giant new election ploy. Nuclear submarine deal – the start of Morrison’s election campaign.   Minerals Council quick to see nuclear submarines as step to nuclear Australia.  #ScottyFromMarketing’s propaganda triumph -nuclear submarines – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuP4jOc4ibo  

Opposition to submarines and AUKUS.  Australia’s anti-nuclear movement ready for a big battle. Greens pick anti-nuclear candidate to challenge Treasurer Josh Fraudenberg. Australian Greens blast nuclear submarine deal. Nuclear powered submarines for Australia. Nuclear by stealth? Senator Rex Patrick calls for Inquiry before Australia moves to buy USA nuclear submarines. anger grows over Australia’s submarine deal . Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine deal is fuelling anger in the country.  Concerns grow over nuclear submarine plan. Too slow, too expensive: Why nuclear power makes no sense for Australia 

Safety. Nuclear-powered submarines a ‘terrible decision’ which will make Australia ‘less safe – Australian Greens.  Doubts about the nuclear submarines, do they make Australia less safe? Hugh White wonders. Australia’s new nuclear submarines will have dangerous Highly Enriched Uranium, not the Low Enriched Uranium of the French ones. The AUKUS deal and nuclear submarine plan ties Australia in to any American engagement against China.

Cost Big questions remain about Australia’s nuclear submarines, but it’s a massive financial gain for nuclear corporations. How much will Australia’s nuclear submarines cost the taxpayer? Australia to lease nuclear submarines from USA, UK?.A nuclear explosionof taxpayers’ money in the new nuclear submarine plan.

(Earlier)   Morrison to tear up the submarine deal with France. Too late to pull out of Australia’s botched super-expensive submarines purchase?  

On a lighter note  $90 Billion Nuclear Powered Subs To Bring Australia Out Of Lockdown In Time For Christmas.

Napandee radioactive waste dump plan – a nuclear waste of money.

Ballarat Council considers supporting the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Review of book: Long Half-life – The Nuclear Industry in Australia 

INTERNATIONAL

New Australia, Britain, and U.S. military alliance—AUKUS— a serious escalation of the new Cold War on China. Nuclear-powered submarines have ‘long history of accidents.

New research shows drastic climate effects of even a ”limited” nuclear war.

Nuclear submarines and their disadvantages,

A bit of good news – Animal Doctor: Good news from Europe for farmed animals.

ANTARCTICA. Scientists still don’t know how far melting in Antarctica will go – or the sea level rise it will unleash.

JAPAN. TEPCO not informing the Regulation Agency for 2 years about the 25 damaged filters at Fukushima Daiichi NPP. Tepco technicians ignored Fukushima filters leaking radioactive water. Lethal radiation levels detected in Fukushima nuke plant reactor lid. New radiation scrubber begins cleaning water at Fukushima plant.

FRANCE. France angry about nuclear submarine cancelleation – recalls ambassadors to Australia, Aukus: France pulls out of UK defence talks amid row. USA. questionable rush to start Flamanville nuclear reactor despite its defects . Nuclear submarine deal planned for 18 months – French ambassador says this is treasonous

CHINA. China fears that the nuclear-powered submarines could be armed with nuclear weapons at short notice.

INDIA. Is AUKUS pact a signal to India to go for nuclear attack submarines? Aukus fallout: for years, US told India it couldn’t share nuclear submarine technology. ‘And now this.

USA. 

Tragically, Biden continues same nuclear weapons ”modernization” budget as Trump’s . China still way behind USA in nuclear weaponry: time for diplomacy and negotiations on arms control. Top U.S. general feared that Trump might start a nuclear war.  . Generals Should Not Have to Break the Rules to Prevent Nuclear War. Don’t Let Presidents Start Nuclear Wars on Their Own. Nuclear Modernization Casts Budget Shadow Over Air Force Plans.USA developing space-based electromagnetic warfare. U.S. generals planning for a space war they see as all but inevitable.  Latest on America’s plutonium ”pits” costly fiasco Illinois nuclear stations kept alive as Senate approves Bill to subsidise Exelon. Illinois approves $700 million in subsidies to Exelon, prevents nuclear plant closures. Turkey Point nuclear station vulnerable to hurricanes, sea level rise, as climate change continues.Bipartisan House group asks Biden to stop Canada’s Great Lakes nuclear storage plans.   NRC issues license to store’spent nuclear fuel‘ in Andrews  . Texas to fight on against dumping of spent nuclear fuel in Andrews County. New Mexico backs Texas in opposing nuclear fuel storage. Samuel Lawrence Foundation loses court case to keep spent fuel pools as safety backup at San Onofre nuclear station. Push for nuclear power in Pueblo unlikely to succeed: renewables win favour.

UKRAINE. Chernobyl nuclear zone is becoming more radioactive: they don’t know why..

CANADA. Nuclear power: Why molten salt reactors are problematic and Canada investing in them is a waste. Responses to Candidate Questionnaire: Radioactive Waste in the Ottawa Valley.

UK.

• AUKUS military agreement – bad timing ahead of Glascow Climate Summit. 
• UK’s nuclear industry decline is a permanent process. 
•  Climate change, sea level rise – real and present danger to UK’s Bradwell and Sizewell nuclear sites
•   Earthquakes Stopped Fracking – So Why the Monstrous Silence On “Likely” Induced Seismicity Five Miles From Sellafield? Exactly Who is Protecting Who?
•  Time to rethink Hinkley C nuclear plan – EDF’s biased research minimises harm to fish Protests against nuclear storage plans that could kill the tourist industry. 
•  The Cold War near disasters at RAF Lakenheath could have left Suffolk as a nuclear wasteland. 
•  A site once earmarked for nuclear power will now assemble wind turbines. 
•  Rolls-Royce’s grandiose plan to mine the moon and Mars.

MALAYSIA. Malaysia and Indonesia warn Australia’s Indo-Pacific pact could trigger nuclear arms race.

IRAN. The new AUKUS pact may have paved the way for Iran to move to a nuclear weapon. Iran appoints harsh critic of the nuclear deal to the Foreign Ministry. Iranian Guards Physically Harassed Female U.N. Nuclear Inspectors, Diplomats Say .

NORTH KOREA. North Korea says Australia’s submarine deal could trigger ‘nuclear arms race. N.Korea tests first ‘strategic’ cruise missile with possible nuclear capability . North Korea, nuclear proliferation and why the ‘madman theory’ is wrong about Kim Jong-ung.

RUSSIA. Russia urges IAEA monitoring, ‘transparency’ on US-Australia nuclear sub pact, Nuclear ballistic missile submarine meltdown, 1961. Russia developing more floating nuclear power plants.

ITALY. Italy launches national debate on nuclear waste disposal.

SPAIN. Nuclear power companies threaten to shut down plants if Spanish government takes action on soaring bills.

ISRAEL. Nuclear reactor worker wins NIS one million cancer compensation. Mossad assassinated Iran’s top nuclear scientist using an artificial-Intelligence-powered, remote-controlled machine gun.

CZECH REPUBLIC.. Czech government will subsidise nuclear power.

POLAND. Poland’s nuclear folly 

September 21, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

This week’s nuclear news

NUCLEAR. While the pandemic goes on, not much physically is happening. But on the lobbying scene, it’s at fever pitch. The target is the European Commission. The goal is to get the Commission to declare nuclear power as clean, green and sustainable in the European Taxonomy.  And then on to inclusion in the COP 26 Climate Summit in November, so that the nuclear industry can get the money that goes with that acceptance. Even more beneficial-  by saving this failing industry, they’ll be able to keep old reactors going for longer, thus avoiding the huge costs of demolishing them, and thus kicking that problem down the road, for our grandchildren to solve.Delay in climate change action helps, too, as nuclear power is depicted as ”transitional” from fossil fuels.

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

Climate change: Fossil fuels must stay underground, scientists say

A bit of good news – New data shows vaccines are cutting the risk of serious COVID-19.

We need global action on climate, just like global action on pandemic – Jane Goodall. Jane Goodall still has hope for humanity. Here’s why.

Vested interests — controlling the news about nuclear safety.

UN General Assembly President calls for halt to nuclear tests.

BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) reaffirmed commitment to preventing an arms race in space.

Nuclear ”ethics” – fatally ill man kept alive against his will, in the cause of nuclear research. Irradiated man kept alive .

British Scientist discovers the cause of cancer in the Hiroshima Black Rain survivors -2021.

Thorium nuclear fuel has risks.

‘‘Fossil Free Media’‘ aims to redress the balance of well-funded press that opposes action on climate change.

EUROPE. 

  Nuclear sharing must end in Europe .

The nuclear lobby gears up to take ”green” nuclear energy spin to the European Commission and on to COP26.  Expert response to the pro nuclear report by the Joint Research Centre.:  

Extracts from Expert response to pro nuclear JRC Report.  

• Small nuclear reactors, uranium mining, nuclear fuel chain, reprocessing, dismantling reactors. 
•  Radiation, nuclear wastes, transportation, uncertainties.  
• Future generations, participative decision-making, proliferation, uranium mining.

USA.  

• Pentagon taps industry for nuclear-powered propulsion for its satellites.
•  29 Democrats demand Biden cut exorbitant spending on new nuclear weapons. Dispute in U.S, Congress over costly nuclear weapons modernisation. How America’s war machine is bankrupting us, both financially and morally. 
• San Onofre’s nuclear waste buried under the beach – the best example of the failure of the nuclear industry and its poor outlook for the future.  Texas Legislature passes Bill to prevent import and storage of high level nuclear waste. Texas bans storage of highly radioactive waste, but a West Texas facility may get a license from the feds anyway.    
•   Prison sentence for corrupt nuclear executive.  
•   Exelon Corp hanging on in hope that Illinois government will bail out 2 nuclear power stations.
•   Iodide tablets offered as precaution to residents living near nuclear plants. 
•  Reflecting on 9/11: How the attack upped safety at nuclear power plants throughout Carolinas.
•  USA Bill to protect journalists – EXCEPT FOR JULIAN ASSANGE

RUSSIA. Russia aims to dominate the Arctic, with nuclear ice-breakers.

IRAN. Iran blocking UN atomic agency access to nuclear-related sites, IAEA says

FRANCE. Protests as France sends latest shipment of used nuclear fuel to Japan .

UK. Nuclear weapons out of Scotland within three years of independence, SNP agrees, The real-life anti-nuclear peace camp that is the subject of BBC drama ”Vigil”. Earthquake risks for proposed coal mine in Cumbria, all too close to Sellafield nuclear site. Planned UK-Australia trade deal – a dangerous precedent for climate change policy. Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council supports Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

JAPAN. Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party hopes that presidential contender Taro Kono will drop his anti nuclear stance. Energy Markets Bet Against Nuclear As Election Nears In Japan. IAEA Seeks Japan Transparency in Release of Fukushima Water. Media Coverage of Fukushima, Ten Years Later. Pharyngeal cancer recognized as work-related injury for two convergence workers after Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.

NEW ZEALAND. Mururoa nuclear test veterans fight for their children and grandchildren.

SOUTH KOREA. U.S., Japan, S.Korea to meet over N.Korea nuclear standoff.

SPAIN. Radioactive water leak in Valencia.

RUSSIA. Russia aims to dominate the Arctic, with nuclear ice-breakers.

IRAN. Iran blocking UN atomic agency access to nuclear-related sites, IAEA says.

FRANCE. Protests as France sends latest shipment of used nuclear fuel to Japan .

NEW ZEALAND. Mururoa nuclear test veterans fight for their children and grandchildren.

SOUTH KOREA. U.S., Japan, S.Korea to meet over N.Korea nuclear standoff.

  SPAIN. Radioactive water leak in Valencia.  

AUSTRALIA.  News Corpse’s climate change shame. News Corpse’s new snide approach on climate change – to help Morrison win next election? 

September 13, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news for the first week in September

While Afghanistan, and Covid-19 continue to be the main focus of news, climate change is getting a new kind of attention. I find it a worrying kind.  When Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, News Corps etc, were busily spouting climate change denialism, at least you knew what they were up to.  Now, I fear that the world is going to be subjected to propaganda that is much more subtle.  Just as Big Media and Big Business now ”support” action on climate change, I think that they will be spruiking technological fixes, ”clean coal” ”carbon capture and storage, ( perhaps even Big Renewables). On the coat-tails of this Big Fix movement rides the nuclear lobby. Nuclear is so far banned from participating in the COP26 Climate Summit in November.   I wouldn’t be surprised if it wriggles its way in.  World leaders like Biden, Johnson, Putin – all depend for their jobs, on the backing of big corporations.  So – COP26 is already under threat.

On the positive side, quiet and thoughtful voices speak up for a more holistic approach to climate action, and a measured study on the world’s energy needs. 

Covid-19 –    Coronavirus worldwide, despite nearly 65,000 deaths and nearly 4.3 million cases in the past week, is leveling off with 8% declines for each category, with every continent dropping except Europe in fatalities.

NUCLEAR. While not much is actually happening, the activity is – under the radar – the ever-increasing push to convince the world that nuclear is ”clean and green and the way to go.”

Some bits of good news –  India Today Group launches Good News Today, India’s first and only positive news channel. ”Good news” – as usual – very much individualistic stuff. I guess that the overall small drop in coronavirus cases is a small plus. 

A New Online Youth Platform Promotes Nuclear Disarmament.      After the Afghanistan war, the time for change is now.  Oblivion and 9 Other Best Dystopian Films About Nuclear War.

How much energy do we need to achieve a decent life for all?     Does technology really matter more than the natural landscape?

Greta Thunberg, critical of governments, may not attend COP26.      COP26 – the need to scrutinise hidden climate agendas.

Formidable radiation dangers in travel to Mars. Radiation could restrict crewed Mars missions to less than four years . Cosmic radiation will probably prevent growing crops on Mars, Virgin Galactic ‘ignored red warning light’ in Branson’s race against Bezos to be first billionaire to space.

New Nuclear: What’s At Stake For Wildlife? – Webinar October 7.

International Uranium Film Festival free online screenings September 13 – 19.

AFRICA. Nuclear Disarmament: What the World can Learn from Africa.

JAPAN. Not Seeing the Contaminated Forest for the Decontaminated Trees in Fukushima. IAEA team in Japan to help prepare Fukushima water release. Fukushima radiation monitoring posts to be renewed-. New type of fallout from Fukushima Daiichi found a decade after nuclear disaster.

PACIFIC ISLANDS. Pacific environmentalists call on Japan not to empty radioactive wastewater into the Pacific.

USA. 

• Hurricane Ida Forces Two Nuclear Plants in Louisiana to Shut Down or Reduce Power . Nuclear New Orleans: Another Fukushima? Post-Ida Dangers at Waterford Nuclear .  Hurricane shuts down Louisiana nuclear power station.
•  Since 9/11, US Has Spent $21 Trillion on Militarism at Home and Abroad. Global Cooperation, Not Endless War Should Be Future of US Foreign Policy. We can reduce the nuclear danger, contacting politicians, joining Back from the Brink. 
•  Advanced nuclear reactors need the government to create a market – nuclear loves socialism. 
•    Friends of the Earth and Sierra Club saw it coming – corruption is killing the nuclear industry.     Westinghouse Electric Co has paid $21bn and will co-operate with federal investigators over South Carolina nuclear fraud.
•   Illinois Senate passes bill to save nuclear plants. Illinois very soon to vote on a Bill for the state to prop up the nuclear industry. Illinois nuclear subsidy law – too late for Exelon’s Byron and Dresden nuclear plants. 
•  Uranium prices and the true financial and climate costs of the Megatons to Megawatts program. We mustn’t kick the radioactive nuclear waste can down the road any longer. It’s time to tackle the problem head-on. Nuclear waste – a heavy burden on the public of New Mexico. Highway safety concerns as DOE plans expanding nuclear waste transports to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Daunting costs of nuclear clean-ups. 
•  Downwinders Look to Renew and Expand Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

UK. UK might have to move its nuclear submarines overseas, if Scotland gains independence. UK government scared that Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon will use COP25 to further SCotland’s independence.  Trident: Scots urged to write to UN to demand removal of nuclear weapons. The Faslane Peace Camp inspired the BBC drama Vigil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRGZVM3f4SU        Chaotic discussion on nuclear waste proposal for UK’s Allerdale region.

CANADA. More issues at Bruce power station raise concerns about aging nuclear infrastructure.

INDIA. Over 200kg uranium theft in India poses threats of nuclear terrorism.

AFRICA. A Just Recovery Renewable Energy Plan for Africa.

SOUTH AFRICA. As South Africa restarts nuclear plan, critics and advocates clash over its clean energy credentials. Walking the nuclear dog – a South African tale.

NORTH KOREA. U.S. says North Korea nuclear report shows “urgent need for dialogue” -official.

SOUTH KOREA. South Korea developing a missile as powerful as a nuclear weapon.

FRANCE. Chinon nuclear site again leaks coolants that turn into powerful greenhouse gases . An EDF employee contaminated in the Cruas-Meysse nuclear power plant.

POLAND. Two Billionaires Join Forces in Poland’s Nuclear Energy Push. 

IRAN. Germany calls on Iran to resume nuclear talks . Iran’s new foreign minister Warns Tehran May Not Return to Nuclear Talks Until November. What’s next for the Iran nuclear deal? Analysts In Iran Pessimistic Over Nuclear Talks, Oppose Further Delays.

CHINA. China’s nuclear missile silo expansion: From minimum deterrence to medium deterrence. In China, wind and solar energy are the clear winners over nuclear.

ISRAEL. Israel’s ‘alarmist claims’ raise the stakes against Iran.

AUSTRALIA. The ANZUS treaty does not make Australia safer. Rather, it fuels a fear of perpetual military .   New Australian law allows security agencies to spy on, and manipulate your data – mainstream media ignores this. threat  

 Murdoch’s News Corpse hasn’t seen the light on climate – they’re just updating their tactics.

September 7, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

Nuclear news for the last week in August

The tragic situation in Afghanistan dominated the news.

In the USA, Hurricane Ida reminds of the effects of global heating – increasing the intensity of extreme weather.

The mainstream media carefully avoids discussion of the dangers to Louisiana’s nuclear power stations.

Coronavirus. For most of the world, the pandemic is not over – devastation in countries such as Uganda, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Peru and Brazil.

Climate.   Even 1.5C warming will still leave world’s coasts exposed to extremes. Radio Ecoshock re-examines the facts on the new megafires. 

Hard to find good news – mostly very individualistic stories, like these ones about bees:  A friend bumblebee.  Saving the bees. A bit of good news (sort of)  University of Michigan reports that CO2 can be stored away in concrete,

29 August 2021 International Day Against Nuclear Tests https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5PRZh_C0e4  Reaffirm commitment to ban nuclear tests, UN chief says in message for International Day.

How to remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki – Sign the nuclear weapons treaty.   Humanitarian Impacts of Nuclear Weapons. Shadow World reveals the shocking realities of the global arms trade – the only business that counts its profits in billions and its losses in human lives

Weaponising space -the high road to World War 3, but profitable for weapons and space companies. Exposure to radiation can affect DNA: Astronauts on long-duration missions in space at risk .   Rocket launches may be damaging the ozone layer

Military Contractor CACI Says Afghanistan Withdrawal Is Hurting Its Profits. It’s Funding a Pro-War Think Tank.

Nuclear energy is anything but clean, despite the media hype.

‘ Every euro invested in nuclear power makes the climate crisis worse‘  Don’t Expect Real Climate Solutions From COP26. It Functions for Corporations.

JAPAN. International Atomic Energy Agency doubts the ability of Japan to clean up Fukushima nuclear wreck by intended date 2051. UN urges Japan to investigate damaged Fukushima nuclear reactors for clean-up.

EUROPE, European Leadership Network aims to build a new nuclear network.

USA. 

• Hurricane Ida Shuts Down One Nuclear Plant in Louisiana. 
•  U.S. Strategic Command general tries to stir up trouble about nuclear arsenals.
•   Media avoid the truth about nuclear wastes. Cover-up? Unreported event of Hanford nuclear workers’ sickness. Texas lawmakers oppose high level nuclear waste coming into their State. 
• Space Force brass want live warfighter training in orbit, This space-based weapon remains in the dark—for now .
•  Groups call for no US nuclear bailouts. 
•  Nuclear Regulatory Commission finds cable issues in special inspection of Vogtle Unit 3.  Danger if sirens are turned off: Point Beach Nuclear Reactor courts disaster. Point Beach Nuclear Unit 1 Emergency Shut-Down.  
• Los Alamos nuclear laboratory warns it might shoot down drones.

UK. 

• Scotland could be dragged into the accelerating nuclear arms race. Scotland: campaign against Trident nuclear weapons.
• Greater powers to be given to UK’s armed Civil Nuclear Constabulary – a threat to peaceful protest? 
• Communities react with shock to news they are being considered as locations for nuclear waste facility. Secret nuclear waste proposals initiated by private landowners and companies.
•   Anti-nuclear campaigners slam plans to install new nuclear reactors in Wales.
• ‘Critical issues’ with Sizewell C plans to be discussed at public hearings .

IRELAND. Nuclear power “just doesn’t make sense” for Ireland, a leading energy expert says.

GERMANY. German utility aims to expand renewables, rejects keeping nuclear reactors open.

CANADA, Nuclear Safety Commission Directs Bruce Power To Assess Fitness For Service Of Reactors.

FINLAND. Ho hum … the umpteenth delay for Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor.

RUSSIA. Russia begins constructing nuclear submarines amid increasing friction with West.

ISRAEL. Israel accelerates plans for a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear programme.

BELGIUM. Engie nuclear subsidiary Endel in bad shape about to be sold.

SWEDEN. Swedish government decides to increase interim storage capacity for nuclear waste.

AFGHANISTAN. U.S. Lawmakers anxious that Taliban may try to get nuclear weapons.

AUSTRALIA. Federal nuclear waste dump plan.  Australia’s nuclear waste is best managed in interim storage at Lucas Heights, with an independent review on permanent disposal.  The status of two current federal processes related to radioactive waste and the Kimba plan.  Farmer Jeff Baldock is excited at prospect of nuclear waste dump on his land. Other nearby farmers not impressed, (Stock Journal).

August 30, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 2 Comments

Nuclear news: week to 24 August

As the Afghanistan crisis continues, many writers consider the underlying causes of the USA’s prolonged wars, and reveal the staggering profits made by the weapons-making corporations. From the corporate point of view, the 20 year war has been a great success.

Coronavirus:more than 212.1 million cases of COVID-19  The reported global death toll stood at more than 4.4 million.  The Delta variant puts  a strain on health systems. Several countries struggle, with lockdowns needed – e.g.in Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand.  Case numbers rise in France. Debates go on about child vaccination, mandatory vaccination, and booster doses of vaccine.

Climate. Global heating and its effects, extreme weather events keep on. The IPCC Report finds we will cross the 1.5C warming  danger line in the 2030’s, pretty well no matter what we do. 

NUCLEAR, Very quietly indeed – you could easily miss this, – come two positive events for the nuclear-free movement; exclusion of nuclear from the Green Zone at COP26, and USA’s nuclear regulator rejecting the push to weaken radiation safety standards. 

Some bits of good news:  What went right this week: how we saved Earth before, plus more positive news,  Australia’s ‘healing journey’.

USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission affirms that a little ionising radiation may be bad for health.

Nuclear lobby miserable, but Friends of the Earth relieved, that nuclear industry is excluded from the Green Zone at COP26 Climate Summit.

The tie between climate change and nuclear weapons.

Action on climate change is stalled by unwise spending on small nuclear reactors.

Frozen conflicts and forever wars. WikiLeaks and the Crimes of the West in Afghanistan.

Renewables are beating nuclear,

Bill Gates and the corporates behind the fake solutions to climate change. Arnie Gundersen writes to Bill Gates – about public funding for Gates’ false Natrium nuclear solution to climate change.    

 Why Cosmic Radiation Could Foil Plans for Farming on Mars.

IRAN. Biden’s Iran envoy calls nuclear deal’s fate ‘one big question mark”. Russia, Germany, hope efforts to save Iran nuclear deal will be continued — Putin.     Iran Foreign Ministry defends latest nuclear measures.

JAPAN. Safety review of reactor at Tsuruga nuclear plant halted over data tampering. Radioactive snakes may monitor Fukushima fallout. 5.2-magnitude quake strikes off Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, no tsunami warning issued .

CANADA. Canada’s nuclear reactors may not be fit for service. The final costly burden of Ontaria’s nuclear decommissioning will fall to the great-grandchildren of babies born in 2021.

 UK.

• Strong local opposition to a proposed nuclear waste dump. Secretive process of Allerdale Working Group studying potential dump sites for UK’s vast stockpile of nuclear waste. Where’s the water coming from?
•  In dry East Anglia EDF has no solution for Sizewell nuclear power’s insatiable thirst? 200 million fish + millions of other sea creatures will be killed by cooling systems of Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C nuclear power stations.
•   Public comment period regarding Bradwell nuclear project is drawing to its end. As renewable energy powers ahead, the UK government’s prospects for funding nuclear power projects look very risky. Chinese nuclear power firm CGN could be pushed out of UK’s Bradwell nuclear power project – and then what? 
• UK’s Marine Management Organisation gives the OK for dumping Hinkley radioactive trash in the Bristol Channel.
• Dungeness area in England set to go underwater as global heating continues.
•  If children are to live with the climate crisis, we must green the curriculum.
•   Greenham Common’s renowned Women’s Peace Camp, the world’s longest-running anti-nuclear demonstration.

USA. 

•  Big winners from the Afghan war -the weapons-making corporations. The military-industrial complex had a successful Afghanistan war – better still than Vietnam. The next will be better, and by remote warfare. US nuclear policy reflects a hypocritical Cold War mindset.
•  President Biden Can Reduce Nuclear Dangers Without Congress . Pentagon Poised To Unveil, Demonstrate Classified Space Weapon. The nuclearization of space. Covid Defense Act – new Bill to prioritise U.S. health, vaccine spending over weapons spending ! 
• America’s nuclear waste non-policy – a treacherous betrayal of future citizens.   Secrecy, delays, budget problems as USA tries to clean up Hanford, the most radioactively polluted site in the nation. NRC responds to New Mexico’s legal bid to stop Holtec’s planned nuclear waste dump. 
•  Top Westinghouse Nuclear Executive Charged with Conspiracy, Fraud. Another former Westinghouse top executive faces criminal charges over failed South Carolina multi $billion nuclear power project.
•   Shareholders of Georgia Power Co now at greater risk for Vogtle nuclear station’s escalating costs?.
•  Exelon Prepares to Shutter Illinois Nuclear Plants. Time to stop the bailout of America’s insanely expensive nuclear industry. 
•  Small nuclear reactors – questionable on safety, on toxic wastes, and on costs. Hurdles and nagging doubts remain, facing Bill Gates’ pet project – multi $billion Natrium nuclear. 
•  Whistleblowers Like Daniel Hale are Vital Checks on Government. 
•  Boys fight over nuclear space toys. Jeff Bezos sues NASA over its contract with Elon Musk.

CHINA. The health and environmental costs of China’s nuclear bomb tests,

FRANCE. France’s oldest nuclear reactors allowed to operate for another decade. France returns high level nuclear waste to Germany (What happens to it then?)

SOUTH  AFRICA. South Africa’s Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) opposes plan for new nuclear power.

SOUTH KOREA. Nuclear Weapons in South Korea? Not So Fringe Anymore.

PHILIPPINES. An expert explains that the Philippines’ nuclear power plant would be OK, but solar power would be faster and better.

PACIFIC ISLANDS. No apology from France, as new report reveals the harm done to Pacific islands by atomic bomb tests.

POLAND. Opposition to nuclear power plants in Poland.

IRAQ. Iraq needs energy, but nuclear power is not the answer.

RUSSIA. Russian nuclear power plants insured for $27 billion. 

AUSTRALIA. Australia’s participation in America’s wars. Was it worth it?     Little chance for genuine community consultation on Napandee nuclear waste dump decision.

August 23, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

This week – nuclear news

News – oh dear – it’s all too much. And a kind of lethargy sets in, in this uncertain time of pandemic.  I’ve started to type in green bold just those items that I selected as particularly interesting.  

The big news this week is the Afghanistan story.This  USA -led futile military adventure comes to an end. We now prepare for the next one, as weapons industry leaders  salivate in anticipation –  will it be against Iran, North Korea, China …?

With the delta variant – the pandemic rages on.

Climate change news and views continue, with fires and floods, and following the IPCC Report.  I’m finding that only Radio Ecoshock and climate scientist Paol Beckwith seem  to put this all together, clearly.   And someone raised the heretical suggestion that we should give up the system of endless economic growth via consumption.

Some bits of good news –   Rainforest agriculture brings a climate-friendly system to Honduras and other South American nations.  English moor transformed into ‘giant sponge’ to absorb CO2.

The War On Afghanistan Was A $2 Trillion Scam. U.S, costs to date for the war in Afghanistan  in $ billions, 2001-2021.      How War Profiteers Manufacture Consent. 

NO SUPPORT for NUCLEAR in the new report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Urgency of the IPCC climate report makes it clear that new nuclear is not the answer. If nuclear power is adopted as the way ahead, the climate fight will be lost.

World careering towards irreversible climate impacts, top scientists warn.

A Day in the Death of British Justice – the case of Julian Assange.

The real photos of the Hiroshima bombing tell the story – no need for fictionalised ones.

JAPAN. Nagasaki remembers the atomic bomb, Olympic officials refuse to allow a minute’s silence. UN pledges full support to Nagasaki voices fuelling ‘powerful global movement’ against nuclear arms. Japanese teenager calls for nuke-free world at U.N. disarmament confab .

CHINA. China starting new nuclear power project, with technology from Russia. Why China is increasing its nuclear deterrence capacity.

CANADA. Canada’s political leaders oblivious to the dangers in making plutonium accessible? Canada’s Moltex small nuclear reactor project -its plutonium process brings danger of nuclear weapons proliferation. Revell River Action Draws Attention to Nuclear Waste Burial Site, USA. 

• Hidden in the U.S. Infrastructure Bill, a fat subsidy for the nuclear industry, and another $50 billion in the offing. Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Bill gives $50 billion to bail out the nuclear industry. Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger champions inclusion of nuclear power incentive in U.S. Infrastructure Bill. 
•   New ”Natrium” nuclear reactors – a very risky gamble. Utah Taxpayers Association is very wary of Small Nuclear Reactors. 
•  Why Are We Still Building Nuclear Weapons? Follow the Money.  America’s ground-based nuclear missile silos – expensive and unnecessary.Strong call for New York City to legislate against investment of pension funds into nuclear weapons production.  Baltimore urged to strengthen its opposition to nuclear weapons.   
•  The importance of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act and of coming to terms with USA’s nuclear history. 
• Comparing solar and nuclear costs. 
•  Elon Musk to take part in a project to place advertising in space?
• Inventor of video games was also part of developing atomic bomb – later opposing it.
• Academies Panel to Consider Future of Revived DOE Low-Dose Radiation Program.
• Widening concrete cracks in Seabrook Nuclear Station. 

UK. 

•  UK High Court sides with US against Assange.    Jailing of a British blogger Should Worry Journalists on Both Sides of the Atlantic.  
•  Men, Conservative Party supporters and Brexit-backers more likely to support use of nuclear weapons.

• French nuclear company EDF is postponing its decision on whether or not to go ahead with the Sizewell nuclear project in Britain. Will Sizewell C nuclear project finish off UK’s Avocet bird species?   . Rhetoric for Bradwell nuclear power project is far removed from reality.
• UK’s Radioactive Waste Management employs ”behavioural science” group to monitor online talk about nuclear waste dump plan. Nuclear waste – we don’t want that muck here!.  Concern over plan to bury nuclear waste offshore.
• Limited consultation on UK’s commercial nuclear ships’ safety regulations. 

IRAN. Iran’s research reactors prove the nuclear deal is still working. Hopes rise that Iran hardliner will rejuvenate nuclear deal.

NORTH KOREA. The Case for a New North Korean Nuclear Deal.

TURKEY. Turkey’s Akkuyu nuclear station a cause for anxiety in the Eastern Mediterranean,BELGIUM. Inconclusive findings on attempted sabotage of Belgian nuclear reactor.

AUSTRALIA.  Seven vital questions about Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and its nuclear wastes., 

August 16, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Hiroshima/Nagasaki week – nuclear news

I’m thinking of changing my name to ”Cassandra”.(Greek goddess of  gloom and doom) The media in my country, and elsewhere,  has been ecstatic about Olympic Games medals. I guess that’s a relief from the virus/vaccine focus.  But it seems that nobody knows that this week has been the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that Fukushima ”recovery” has not really happened. That the Japanese government, despite the pandemic, in fact did not have the power to cancel the Games – under the contract, only the IOC can do that. That vast sums were spent, and will leave the Japanese people with vast debt, right when they have a crippling health crisis. . That the extravagant arenas and  buildings will become white elephants.That 430 athletes and others in the Olympic Village  got Covid-19.

Similarly, in the news we heard some whispers about wildfires around the world, and catastrophic floods, too. You really need alternative media to put all this together. A leader in this is Radio Ecoshock –  ”I’ve Seen Fire and I’ve Seen Rain”.  

I’m thinking of changing my name to ”Cassandra”.(Greek goddess of  gloom and doom) The media in my country, and elsewhere,  has been ecstatic about Olympic Games medals. I guess that’s a relief from the virus/vaccine focus.  But it seems that nobody knows that this week has been the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that Fukushima ”recovery” has not really happened. That the Japanese government, despite the pandemic, in fact did not have the power to cancel the Games – under the contract, only the IOC can do that. That vast sums were spent, and will leave the Japanese people with vast debt, right when they have a crippling health crisis. . That the extravagant arenas and  buildings will become white elephants.That 430 athletes and others in the Olympic Village  got Covid-19.

Similarly, in the news we heard some whispers about wildfires around the world, and catastrophic floods, too. You really need alternative media to put all this together. A leader in this is Radio Ecoshock –  ”I’ve Seen Fire and I’ve Seen Rain”.  

BUT – just as I write this  – up comes the UN Climate report 2021 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDSySmJChXgSurely this will wake up the mainstream media, even in Australia.Coronavirus – there’s still a surge in cases, worldwide, with a clear trend to the pandemic affecting the un-vaccinated.

Some bits of good news. Hard to find – but here’s a place – Empathy in the English Channel and A bird recovery programme, and Africa’s largest forest  reserve in recovery. 

Global average temperature rise of 1.5c likely to be reached 10 years early. The world is getting “dangerously close” to running out of time to avert catastrophic climate change.

Towards a clean and sustainable energy system: 26 criteria nuclear power does not meet .

Nuclear weapons cannot be used, but their danger persists. Now, in the times of the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty, nuclear deterrence continues, but becomes increasingly discredited. Renounce the use and further development of nuclear weapons. The hard fought campaign continues – to ban nuclear weapons.

The myth that the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified.

Complicit – The countries, companies and think tanks that support the deadly nuclear arms trade.

JAPAN.Hiroshima City remembers the sudden cruelty of the atomic bombing . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWP3GWFI7nk  Tokyo Olympics part of propaganda strategy to downplay Fukushima nuclear disaster, as Olympics have been previously used to downplay Hiroshima bombing. Tokyo Olympics were touted as a showcase for Fukushima nuclear recovery. That didn’t work.

RUSSIA. Fire, floods ravage Russia, threaten nuclear research site  .

USA. 

• .. David Swanson explodes the myths about why the USA nuclear bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.   How the USA fabricated a movie, full of falsehoods about the nuclear bombing in 1945.  
•  Jesuit Steve Kelly has done jail time for protesting nuclear weapons. He’s willing to do it again
•  Group of USA Republicans and Democrats united in $trillion Bill to subsidise the nuclear and carbon capture industries. 
•  Stalemate between environmentalists and unions on keeping Illinois nuclear reactors going. Exelon keeps up its drive for subsidies to keep uneconomic nuclear reactors going. While State and Federal governments hurry to subsidise nuclear power plants, Exelon is closing Illinois nuclear stations anyway. 
•   Delay in demolition of Three Mile Island Nuclear Station. Stockton Professor: Nuclear Power is “Terrible Neighbor. 
• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to give OK for spent nuclear fuel storage in Texas. 
•  US Renewables Generated More Power Than Coal Or Nuclear In 2020 For First Time. US companies announce plans for nuclear-powered bitcoin mine. 
• The nuclear industry is dying. Bitcoin to the rescue?

CANADA. Costs of Ontario’s nuclear program will be the burden of the great-grandchildren of babies born in 2021.

UK.

• Britain joins the craze for war in space – reviving the evil ”Skynet”?. The UK’s Nuclear Escalation Flagrantly Violates International Law. 
•  More Nuclear Power Isn’t Needed, So Why Do Governments Keep Hyping it? The impact of climate change on nuclear reactors should be a key part of COP26 Climate Summit. 
• UK Taxpayer funding will pour in, to get Rolls Royce’s small modular nuclear reactors happening.
•  Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) publishes analysis of report of-”Just Transition Commission in Scotland” – moving to renewables, while providing jobs.
•  EDF’s plans to produce pink hydrogen at proposed 3.2GW nuclear plant are ‘daft’: argues influential independent analyst Liebreich. 
•  Housing market affected in Lincolnshire, as villagers react against UK government plans for a nuclear waste dump. 
•  Campaigners dismayed as application to dump Hinkley Point mud in the Bristol Channel is approved. 
•  British Navy secrecy over nuclear submarine crashes.

IRAN. EU optimistic on nuclear deal despite Iran leadership change. Problems continue for Iran nuclear talks as new Iran President takes office.

ISRAEL. Israel Says Iran Should ‘Never Become a Nuclear Power.’ But What if It Already Is One? Mainstream media ignores how Israel continues sabotaging the Iran nuclear deal  .

GREECE. Apocalyptic scenes hit Greece, as Athens besieged by fire.

FRANCE. Framatome’s sub-standard nuclear fuel is threatening the survival of France’s nuclear company EDF . The incident that caused the shutdown of the Taishan nuclear power plant occurs regularly in France. France’s secrecy and censorship on the atomic bomb tests in the Pacific.

BELGIUM. Belgium’s mayors show solidarity with nuclear victims, support the UN nuclear weapons ban Treaty.

DENMARK, NORWAY. Russian nuclear submarine lost propulsion in Danish waters, sails submerged outside Norway now.

AUSTRALIA. People of the Pacific condemn Talisman Sabre Military Exercises.

August 9, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The week in nuclear news

This week s news –   Olympic ecstasy – all those lovely medals. It’s hard to get past that, – for example, to find out how many of the 220  or more coronavirus positive people associated with the Games, are actually athletes. It is not polite to discuss the costs of the Games, – money that could have gone into tackling Tokyo’s heath problems, as Tokyo’s state of emergency  hits 4,000 new Covid-19 cases daily.I’m sorry, but I can’t get enthused about an event designed as the ”recovery” from the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. It’s so in line with that other timely myth, that it was OK, in 1945, to obliterate  two whole cities of children, women and men, in each case, with just one diabolical new bomb. (Attached is a video, 5 years old, but still valid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-07xiaBl2vk)World coronavirus–  case numbers keep growing. Climate change:  Critical measures of global heating reaching tipping point.  Climate Change Is Driving Deadly Weather Disasters From Arizona To Mumbai

Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki – no excuses for having nuclear weapons !

Degrowth: the necessary climate solution no-one is talking about. – terrific, thought provoking article 

Small nuclear reactors, a dangerous experiment, and distraction from real climate action – David Suzuki.

If man cannot overcome his desire to kill, we are doomed.

JAPAN. A-bomb survivor activist, 89, calls Japan’s failure to back nuclear ban ‘disgraceful‘. International Symposium for Peace 2021: The Road to Nuclear Weapons Abolition- online international conference – held from Hiroshima.

UK. 

  UK debate should not be about excluding China from nuclear build, but about whether nuclear build is even necessary. All logic says that UK’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power project should be abandoned now. 

Britain’s secret shortlist of areas earmarked for the dumping of nuclear waste. English and Welsh concerns – call on Marine management leaders to postpone the dumping of Hinkley radioactive mud in te British Channel. Over 1.5k people sign petition against nuclear waste storage in Lincolnshire, UK.

USA. 

•   Vogtle nuclear power project – more costs revealed, and even more likely to come. Vogtle nuclear power project’s costs – $27 Billion and rising! 
•  Exelon moves to shutdown 2 nuclear power stations in Illinois, amidst subsidy negotiations. 
• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission doing a ‘special investigation’ at Davis-Besse nuclear station. 
•   Renewables overtook coal and nuclear power generation in the U.S last year .

CHINA. Taishan nuclear reactor shut down for repairs to damage. Over a month after radioactive leak, China decides to shut down Taishan nuclear reactor ”for maintenance”.

IRAN. U.S. Weighing New Sanctions on Iran as Nuclear Deal Hangs in Balance.

ALGERIA. Algeria: deep resentment of French colonialism and the effects of nuclear bombing -still very real today.

AUSTRALIA. Higher cancer and stillbirth rates in Aboriginal people living near the Ranger uranium mine.

August 2, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The week in nuclear news

It has been a funny week in the news, funny not as in ha ha, but as in weird.  The news here prioritised the Olympics. Oh goody, my countrymen and women won lovely medals, for doing sporty things, very fast.- so, extensive coverage of all that. 

You wouldn’t know that the host city, Tokyo, is now daily getting close to 2000 new cases of coronavirus. You wouldn’t know that megafires are torching U.S. Western  States, and North Eastern Siberia. Briefly mentioned – huge floods inEurope and China.  Oh, and by the way, I think that the pandemic is still on, world wide, with the highly infectious delta variant.
The second biggest story, after the glorious Olympics, has been the success of the billionaire space playboys – Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos. The media can’t wait until Elon Musk and Bill Gates do their next thing – missile envy bringing great things for the world,(though we”re not quite sure what things)

Moral Intelligence or Nuclear War.

The world’s climate catastrophe – there is little time left to act.  All We Can Save”: As Climate Disasters Wreck Our Planet, Women Leaders Are Key to Solving the Crisis.  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) preparing assessments for COP26.

Climate change, extreme weather, is taking its toll on the nuclear industry. The nuclear industry determined to influence climate talks before COP26.

Racism and the misguided efforts to expand nuclear energy around the world,

After the lab-leak theory, US-Chinese relations head downhill.

Progressive lawmakers join across the world in a Global Alliance For A Green New Deal.

Huge carbon emissions of space tourism, Space tourism: environmental vandalism for the super-rich . Climate change report: Jeff Bezos & the new wild west show. Jeff Bezos and the corporate colonisation of the stars. Perils to austronauts’ health – high radiation and low gravity.

Emerging technologies and nuclear stability. Small Nuclear Power Plants No Use in Climate Crisis. Bill Gates’ fast nuclear reactor ”Natrium’‘ – not so safe and a nuclear weapons proliferation risk.

Why Scientists Plant Sunflowers After Nuclear Disasters.

Energy-guzzling Bitcoin must be allied to dangerous costly nuclear power.

 ARCTIC. Environmental degradation, illness, international tensions – small nuclear reactors had bad results in the Arctic.  

JAPAN. ”Nuclear Games” expose Japanese government’s spin about the Olympic Games. The fantasy of the Olympic Games as ”recovery” from nuclear disaster, and from Covid-19. Softball match in Fukushima was intended to showcase ”recovery from nuclear disaster”, but that has fallen flat. Fukushima effect: Now, South Korea to check food at Olympics for nuclear radiation. 

 Safety blunders fuel Japan’s mistrust of nuclear power. Using snakes to monitor Fukushima radiation, Radioactive cesium found in honey produced near Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. 

 New Analysis Shows Japan Would Accept U.S. No First Use of Nuclear Weapons Policy 

 Japanese govt’s new Basic Energy Plan will prioritise renewable energy. Japan’s cleaner energy vision marred by burden of nuclear power.

USA.  

• Trump insurgents came within seconds of capturing ‘nuclear football‘ on Jan. 6. Pentagon review: What happens if ‘nuclear football’ is lost?
• Democrat lawmakers call on President Biden to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in the upcoming Nuclear Posture Review.    Biden administration approves $25 Billion Pentagon budget increase, despite calls from House Democrats opposing this. 
• Pro nuclear U.S. lawmakers again introduce Bill to promote nuclear industry. 
•  Most Hanford nuclear site workers report exposure to toxic or radioactive chemicals.      
• Advanced’ Nuclear Reactors? Don’t Hold Your Breath. Small nuclear reactor project cut back to half size, due to financial worries. The impending cost of small nuclear reactors is a real worry, as Utah halves the number of reactors planned. 
• First Energy company to pay fine for bribing Ohio officials to bail out nuclear power stations. Judge rules distribution of compensation for investors who lost fortunes in multi billion-dollar nuclear reactor failure in South Carolina.
•  Wiscasset – just one of thousands of American communities stuck with stranded nuclear wastes.  
•  Problems of nuclear power in space.

PACIFIC ISLANDS. Maohi Lives Matter’: Tahiti protesters condemn French nuclear testing legacy . Emmanuel Macron in French Polynesia – not likely to satisfy campaigners resentful of France’s nuclear tests legacy.

EUROPE, Floods threaten nuclear power stations: call for endangered reactors to be shut down.

UK. China’s nuclear power firm could be blocked from UK projects. The Green Jobs Taskforce. Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior aims to help workers to transition to renewable energy work. Facebook blocks users from Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)’s website. Villagers in England very apprehensive about government plans for a nuclear waste dump..

FRANCE. Macron dithers on nuclear power investment as issue divides France. Despite the rain, France’s nuclear reactors are still threatened by global heating.

CHINA. China threatens Japan with nuclear war over intervention in Taiwan,

Problems at China’s nuclear power plant at Taishan are serious enough to warrant shutdown, French co-owner warns. China to activate molten salt nuclear reactor, but it’s not clear if they have solved its safety problems.

CANADA. Risk of cracks in pressure tubes of Canada’s ageing nuclear reactors – how long can they keep operating safely? Canada’s small nuclear reactor project is looking like just a pipe-dream. Moltex Energy’s nuclear pyroprocessing project with plutonium would produce weapons grade material and encourage weapons proliferation. Investigation of uranium miners’health to be carried out by pro nuclear bodies. City Council in Calgary not happy about ”rushed” agreement to own stranded nuclear wastes in Maine.

GERMANY. Do Germany and the Netherlands want to say goodbye to US nuclear weapons? 

NORTH KOREA. The tally of North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

INDONESIA. Shoddy, shoddy, shoddy: How they built the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

ARCTIC. Environmental degradation, illness, international tensions – small nuclear reactors had bad results in the Arctic.  

AUSTRALIA Opposition to nuclear waste transport through the port of Whyalla, South Australia. 

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

Nuclear news – week to 19 July

Today, Dr Helen Caldicott speaks out forcefully on the omnicidal threat of nuclear war, on male aggression, and the need for women to take control in national governments.

On matters nuclear – not much is happening – news items this week, from UK, Canada, France and USA show that  nuclear development is stalling.    Meanwhile renewable energy is charging ahead globally – cheaper and faster. I am not able to keep up with solar, wind, developments etc.

CORONAVIRUS –  What’s happening in Canada and around the world.

CLIMATE.  Cascading Tipping Points & Permafrost. Germany the latest victim of extreme weather.

A bit of good news. Huge Supply of Water is Saved From Evaporation When Solar Panels Are  Built Over Canals 

AUSTRALIA

• ANSTO aims to speed up return to Australia of highly hazardous nuclear wastes. 
• Military exercises put the Great Barrier Reef in danger. US and Allies’ military machine – out of Afghanistan (where it’s needed)and into the Pacific – against its new enemy – The Great Barrier Reef.  
• Australia’s weapons lobby drumming up fear of nuclear attack by China, against all logic.
• Liberal-led committee raises concerns about Morrison government’s charity crackdown.
• Australian cities not prepared for the coming heatwaves- poor urban planning.

INTERNATIONAL.

With all its wisdom, the human race is killing itself.

As the world starts to panic over climate change, nuclear evangelists offer spurious solutions.

British court ruling heightens danger of Assange extradition to the US.

How Right-Wing Extremists Pose A Nuclear Threat.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is well aware of that danger we don’t discuss – NUCLEAR TERRORISM.

Automation in nuclear weapon systems: lessons from the man who saved the world.

The Catholic Worker Movement, and its anti-nuclear heroes in prison.

EUROPE. Expert opinion: why nuclear energy should not be included as sustainable in Europe’s green taxonomy financing.

USA. 

•  If you thought that space research had nothing to do with weapons – think again! Astronauts to Mars – a game of cancer-russian-roulette, especially dangerous to women.
• Most Hanford nuclear cleanup workers exposed to hazardous materials: Washington state report. 
•  USA’s Department of Energy brushes aside the community’s concerns about the so-called MARVELlous small nuclear reactor plan. USA keen to market nuclear reactors to Poland (and indeed – to anybody).
•  A worrying combination – nuclear + Bitcoin.   The unholy alliance – nuclear power and bitcoin?
• New book ”I Alone Can Fix It” -raises question that Trump could have been ready to launch a nuclear war. 
•   Significant downsizing of NuScale’s small nuclear reactor project for Idaho – (cost of project unknown). 
• Students from North Arizona researched and wrote about the effects of uranium mining, especially on indigenous people.

CANADA. Small Nuclear Reactors are all the hype. But here’s the reality.

FRANCE. French nuclear company EDF struggles with increasing debt and poor prospects for its nuclear fleet. A new problem for France’s nuclear company EDF threatens to further delay its plans for new model European Pressurised Reactor (EPR2). Costly dismantling of France’s Brennilis nuclear power plant continues, 35 years after shutdown.

PACIFIC ISLANDS. Nuclear-free Asia Pacific Report.

SPAIN. Spain’s nuclear regulator blocks permit for a uranium concentrate plant.

JAPAN. Japan’s government acknowledges that solar power will be cheaper than nuclear. Japanese government considers extending maximum nuclear reactor lifespan beyond 60 years. 

3rd-gen Nagasaki A-bomb survivor continuing decades-long work for nuclear free world

UK. UK government’s pointless pursuit ofnuclear power, as renewable energy proving to be cheaper and faster. UK government plan – residents on the hook in advance for costly Sizewell nuclear plan that will be useless to combat climate change. Green energy suppliers protest at UK government’s funding plan to promote nuclear power, with residents exposed to nuclear cost overruns. Nuclear colonialism.

ISRAEL. Israel determined to“maintain military superiority’‘, in preparation for a nuclear Iran.

GREENLAND. Greenland moves toward a stricter ban on uranium mining.

July 19, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

To 12 July – nuclear news this week

No – there’s not really much happening in the nuclear sphere.  What is happening is the increasing pro nuke propaganda. It is so noticeable in my country, Australia. Not that it’s widespread (yet), but the pro-nuke spiel from the Murdochracy is so patently, silly, and ill-informed that it deserves mention for its absurdity. I hope to write more about this next time.

CLIMATE  Serious as the pandemic is, –  I’m thinking that in the total picture,  it does not compare with the weather extremes, the suffering, the forced refugees, that the world faces from global heating.

 When it happens in America, the media does sit up and take notice. It’s happening in California, with raging temperatures and raging wildfires. I know that this is terrible, and not funny, but still, I wonder if some climate change denialists might be having second thoughts , as they’re finding it hard to get oysters and other luxury shellfish –   seeing that these coastal marine organisms are being cooked now, before they can be harvested.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTZD5K6JBGk

CORONAVIRUS.  World Health Organisation sounds alarm as global deaths top 4 million, delta variant spreads to 100 countries.

 If They Chose, Biden and Putin Could Make the World Radically Safer,   Nuclear arms control hasn’t worked. We need a new approach.

Key witness in Julian Assange case admits to lies in indictment.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlLbAVSHeA8    U.S. government offers meaningless assurances on Julian Assange’s well-being, as it gets right to appeal on UK court ruling against his extradition. U.S. proposals about extradition of Julian Assange are designed to keep him in prison for life.

Rapid growth of global renewable energy: it’s the major energy source in Europe.

Mobile phones/cellphones – the health danger from electromagnetic radiation.

JAPAN. The 44 year process for demolishing TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 2 nuclear station, – with nowhere to put the radioactive trash. Japan’s nuclear regulator to order review of earthquake risks of Genkai nuclear plant. The danger of Japan’s increasing stockpile of plutonium.  Fukushima’s ”nuclear recovery Olympics’‘ has gone even more wrong, as spectators banned.

EUROPE. Both UK and European Commission want nuclear energy excluded from clean energy investments -”otherwise clean energy finances would not be credible”.

GERMANY, As Germany’s election approaches, political parties differ on the future of U.S. nuclear weapons based there,.

UK. 

• 
  As wind power becomes half the price of nuclear, nuclear power may not be an election winner. British households will pay for nuclear construction long before it supplies any electricity, under the govt’s new plan. Investors won’t back the nuclear ”white elephant’‘, neither should the UK taxpayers. UK residents face higher electricity bills, paying in advance, for the construction of new nuclear reactors.
•   Green party makes gains in East Suffolk Council by-election – area that includes planned Sizewell nuclear station.
• Nuclear fusion – a very unlikely development for Bradwell. 
•  The UK and Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) deplore the new secrecy on defence nuclear safety reports.

IRAN.Iran trying to enrich uranium metal that could help develop nuclear weapon, UN watchdog says.

FRANCE. “EDF’s Chinese dream seems well and truly over“- a minor nuclear incident becomes a major industrial disaster for the French nuclear firm. France’s government helps settle the debts of bankrupt nuclear company AREVA (which is now resuscitated as ORANO) France refuses to hand over maps of nuclear tests in Algeria.

TAIWAN. Taiwan Shuts Another Reactor as Part of Nuclear-Free Goal,.

USA. 

• William Perry and Jerry Brown address the unwisdom of spending $2 trillion on new nuclear weapons. U.S. Space Force opens new centre to facilitate war in space. Nuclear weapons testing has never really stopped. We just call underground testing ”subcritical”. 
• The nuclear rort in Georgia. Consumers may end up paying for billions of dollars in cost overruns on the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion. In the USA State of Ohio, pro nuclear legislation is helped along by misinformation on renewable energy. 
•   U.S. nuclear lobby wants to sell advanced nuclear technology to China, on the spurious claims of ”safety” and ”advancing climate action”. 
• Nuclear injustice in New Mexico must end.
•  EPA Withdraws Disastrous Trump-Era Radioactive Roads Approval.

RUSSIA. Dialogue between Russia and USA must include subject of offensive weapons in outer space – says Russian Foreign Minister.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea Needs the Bomb to Protect Itself From America.

AUSTRALIA. South Australian law demands an Inquiry into the Federal government’s nuclear waste storage plan. Australian Members of Parliament from right and left parties call on US President Biden to drop charges against Julian Assange,

July 12, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

To 6 July – nuclear news this week

Today I found an article which, although it’s about America, expressed a dilemma for the whole world.  Tom Engelhardt  of  Tom Dispatch discussed the 3 global horrors of  – the pandemic, climate change, and nuclear weapons. I recommend his article, lucidly explaining how vast sums of money now goes into nuclear weapons, and not into defeating the pandemic, nor saving the world from the slow apocalypse of global heating.

Coronavirus: What’s happening in Canada and around the world.Climate Change Disaster Isn’t a Future Threat — It’s Already Here.

Good news?  I’m sure there is some, but it’s hard to find.  News is, by  its nature, bad – because most people behave fairly reasonably –   and therefore, reasonable behaviour and normal life are not newsworthy.

Even this conservative journal recognises renewables as the only meaningful future energy source – nuclear is irrelevant.

The world is bequeathing to our descendants the costly nightmare of unsolved nuclear waste disposal,

Canada is a warning: more and more of the world will soon be too hot for humans.

The space tourism plans of Bezos, Musk and Branson are morally reprehensible.

JAPAN. Japan is not being transparent about the radioactive content in Fukushima wastewater. The hybrid boars of Fukushima. Fukushima: Radioactive boars create mutant hybrid species decade after nuclear disaster.

EUROPE. 5 European nations warn the European Commission that nuclear energy must be excluded from the EU’s green finance taxonomy.

MIDDLE EAST. Nuclear Reactor Security Risk: Middle East and Gulf Region.

GERMANY. Protest week beginning July 4 outside Ramstein Air Base, Germany.Germany’s success in phasing out nuclear energy, and remarkable uptake of solar. Germany joins 15 other nations to call for an end to nuclear testing ‘once and for all’.

CHINA. China’s handling of Taishan nuclear plant leak shows need for transparency. How Taishan almost became China’s Chernobyl.  

UK. United Kingdom will not finance any nuclear-energy related expenditures under its Green Financing Framework Dounreay nuclear waste clean-up– an enormous job, for just a temporary solution. Bradwell anti-nuclear campaigners may face fight against nuclear fusion plan. UK’s Ministry of Defence kept ‘devastating’ nuclear accident risks under wraps.

USA. 

•  The all-American story of the twin horrors climate change and nuclear weapons.
• Short time left to make a comment on this very dangerous costly USA Hypersonic plan.    Further developments for space warfare planning. NASA pretending that space radiation is sort of OK for women, but it’s not. Time for US nuclear strategy to embrace no first use. Need for a USA”no first use” of nuclear weapons policy – the concern of regional U.S. allies. 

CANADA. Five good reasons to support the City of Ottawa’s request for a regional assessment of radioactive waste disposal projects in the Ottawa Valley.  In extreme heat wave, forest fire threatens Sakatchewan uranium mine – another example of global heating hitting nuclear activities. Hundreds dead as record-breaking heat wave hits Canada and United States.

FRANCE. 

•   EDF launches the “EPR2” After the Flamanville and Finland fiascoes, what could go wrong? 
•  Under cover of the nation’s preoccupation with the pandemic, France changes the rules, to permit nuclear installations in urbanised areas. 
•  European Court of Justice condemns France for preventing anti-nuclear group from access to legal justice.

ALGERIA. Buried in the sand of Southern Algeria – the radioactive pollution from French nuclear tests.

IRAN. US must guarantee it will not leave nuclear deal again, says Iran. U.N. chief urges U.S. to remove Iran sanctions as agreed in 2015.

RUSSIA. Russia tests giant nuclear submarine equipped with secret weapons.

TAIWAN. Taiwan’s strategy to phaseout nuclear energy and move to renewables. Taiwan on its path toward denuclearization.

SEYCHELLES. Seychelles Votes to Ratify the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons,.

AUSTRALIA. Maralinga nuclear bomb tests – British and Australian governments’ callous cruelty to First Nations people. 

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

End of June, news on Nuclear, pandemic and climate

Pandemic.  Daily Update: What you need to know about the coronavirus around the world right now. World Coronavirus Dispatch: Three studies hint at where pandemic is headed.

Oh dear – I promised myself that I would not digress off into the pandemic discussion.  But – I’m finding it scary – to come across people who think that the pandemic is not real, or that vaccination is some plot to take over the world, or who’ve decided that they don’t need vaccination..  Dammit – vaccination is our best bet.……

Climate. As if anti-vacc isn’t enough to worry about, now we’ve got climate complacency – possibly more dangerous than climate denialism –   as global heating moves on inexorably.  Hundreds of millions of people worldwide at risk from rising sea levels.  Canada sets all-time record-high temperature as North America’s north-west cooks under ‘heat dome‘.

Nuclear. Well it’s the drums of war beating. The one thing that Wester conservatives and progressives agree on –  we’d better boost our nuclear weapons ready for a war on China. Meanwhile, the promotion of new small nuclear recators goes on. See below –  excellent article  by  Victor Gilinsky, Henry Sokolski, (highlighted in yellow) 

A bit of good news –  Park it! Why the world is greener.

INTERNATIONAL

Nuclear power is in the front line of climate change – and NOT in a good way. Ten reasons climate activists should not support nuclear. Rising sea levels might mean the end for many nuclear power stations. Increasing carbon emissions from uranium mining.

Increasing numbers of nuclear warheads globally.Nuclear fusion’s unlikely future, – too late for climate action.

Old cracked infrastructure – the Florida building collapse – a warning for old cracked nuclear reactors.

CANADA. Scientists say New Brunswick’s plutonium plan is undermining the global nuclear weapons non-proliferation regime. High school lobbyists ‘thrilled’ as Winnipeg unanimously supports ban on nuclear weapons, 

UK. 

• Britain facing a massive series of nuclear decommissioning. French corporation EDF will close down all 7 of its advanced gas-cooled reactor nuclear power stations in Britain within the next decade. 
•   French company EDF’s Plan A – Britain to legislate finance for Sizewell nuclear plant: there is no Plan B.
•  UK government’s fantasy of a nuclear fusion energy plant at Bradwell. 
•  The dangers of transporting nuclear weapons and other nuclear materials. 
•   New UK energy report – need for investment in wind and solar, no need for new nuclear.
•  Russophobia – British warship had no business being in the Black Sea near the Crimean coast.
•  We’re marching at the People’s Assembly demonstration because there’s an alternative to nuclear weapons. 
•   Magnox Silo Liquor “Crack Under Control.” note: it isn’t.

USA. 

•   Countering the “China Threat”–At What Price?   The Pentagon is upgrading its full-spectrum dominance, with China as the primary target.
• Justice demanded for the ‘Atomic Marines’ of America’s botched Bikini Atoll nuclear test. 
•  Duke Energy planning for a fleet of 80 year-old nuclear reactors.  Old cracked infrastructure – the Florida building collapse – a warning for old cracked nuclear reactors. Physicians raise doubts on environmental and safety risks of extending life of Wisconsin’s ageing nuclear plant.
• The U.S. Nuclear Weapons Program Left ‘a Horrible Legacy’ of Environmental Destruction and Death Across the Navajo Nation . 
•  Federal Licensing Board to consider. U.S. Democrats launch bill allowing existing nuclear plants tax credit. 
• Serious questions about government funding Bill Gates’ new confidence-trick, the NATRIUM nuclear reactor.
• California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG and E) settles over nuclear plant’s environmental violations.  
•  Senator Markey urges the NRC to improve safety and security of nuclear decommissioning process.  
•  NASA wants to increase allowable radiation exposure for astronauts – women affected most.

RUSSIA. Russia,China Pledge to Not Use Nuclear Weapons First, Avoid Firing Missiles at Each Other . Russia unveils largest nuclear submarine built in 30 years.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa the only country to have dismantled its nuclear weapons capability,.

NEW ZEALAND. New Zealand Greens want to stop New Zealand’s participation inthe militarisation of space.CHINA. China’s Taishan nuclear reactor has 5 damaged fuel rods. EDF will try to minimise the radiological leak at thr Taishan nuclear plant – but the damage is done. China’s plans for a huge nuclear waste bunker.

INDIA. Yet another incident of stolen nuclear materials in India.

JAPAN. Alarm at Japan’s plan to restart Kansai’s ageing No.3 nuclear reactor. TEPCO begins process to scrap Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant, Japan’s murky management of Fukushima nuclear wastewater.

FRANCE. Protests against France’s Tricastin nuclear station, Greenpeace activists face gaol..

IRAN. Sabotage attempt on Iran nuclear reactor. Iran refuses to give nuclear site images to IAEA. Iran says Nuclear Deal Salvageable But Will Not Negotiate Forever.

IRAQ. Iraq’s stability depends on Iran and the US re-entering the nuclear dealALGERIA. Long legacy of France’s nuclear tests in Algeria.  

AUSTRALIA. Australia’s collective voice should silence the ‘drums of war‘. Federal nuclear waste dump plan.  Nuclear waste Bill passed. This is what will happen next.  Australia’s failed nuclear front group bites the dust.

June 30, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news – week to 22 June

Pandemic.    COVID-19 Is Still Raging in Much of the World  South America Is Now Covid-19 Hot Spot, With Eight Times the World’s Death Rate.

Climate.Warming stripes show that climate change is here and now. Climate in a Fiery World.

NUCLEAR.  Not a lot is happening, probably  largely due to the pandemic.   There is, of course, the continued stream of articles in the mainstream media,extolling the virtues of new nuclear reactors –  most look like handouts from the industry, faithfully regurgitated by relatively ignorant journalists.  
A  leak at China’s showcase Taishan nuclear reactor has raised global concern for the industry. Radioactive leak at Chinese reactor could finish French nuclear exports.

A bit of good news – The pandemic has revived hope that a more sustainable world is possible.

INTERVIEW/ Daniel Ellsberg: Smart statesmen can make bad decisions leading to nuclear war. Biden and Putin agree: ‘Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’. Why can’t world leaders agree that a nuclear war should never be fought?  ICAN chief urges Biden and Putin to push for deep cuts in nuclear arsenals, encourage China to back away from arms race.

‘‘Advanced” nuclear reactor designs – the latest version of nuclear wishful thinking.

Earth is now trapping an ‘unprecedented’ amount of heat, NASA says.

Julian Assange and the Collapse of the Rule of Law.

JAPAN. The Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Tokyo Olympics.

EUROPE. NATO’s hostility to the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty is in conflict with its true goal – to become a non-nuclear alliance . NATO readies for a collective response to attacks in space.

UK. Fire at Hinkley Point C building site. We don’t need costly, slow, nuclear power: solar, wind, tidal and wave power can amply do the job. House-building plans thrown into doubt as doubts grow about Wylfa nuclear project.

USA. 

•  The real welfare cheats are weapons makers. U.S. Space Force wants to use directed-energy weapons for space superiority,.
•  The Pentagon’s Project, Pele Military micro-reactors – creates more problems than it solves.  
•  20 Years After Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg Reveals US weighed 1958 nuclear strike on China over Taiwan, 
•  Why Utah really does not need Bill Gates’ small nuclear reactors. 
•  Nuclear Regulatory Commission launches special investigation at Southern Georgia Vogtle 3 nuclear unit. 
• Tough when even a pro nuclear voice has to deplore the corruption in the nuclear industry. Countering a love letter to the nuclear industry .
• Renewable energy consumption grew in 2020 as fossil fuels and nuclear shrank.

CHINA. Is China covering up a nuclear leak? What actually happened at Taishan? French nuclear company and Chinese government once again have a problem with their much vaunted EPR nuclear reactor design. About the radiation leaks at Taishan nuclear power station. The public is always the last to know. Safety concerns on Taishan reactor, but China wants to be world’s nuclear leader by 2050.

RUSSIA. Collaboration between Russia and Europe finally cleans up the most dangerous nuclear ship in the Arctic..

FRANCE. Is the leak in a nuclear reactor in China due to a Framatome manufacturing defect ? Climate and weather hazards to France’s nuclear reactors in summer 2021.

IRAN. U.S. wants nuclear deal done before Iran’s new president takes power.

LIBYA. For the first time, drones autonomously attacked humans.

PAKISTAN. No need for nuclear arsenal once Kashmir issue is resolved: Pakistan PM.

AUSTRALIA. Nuclear waste storage facility legislation passes Senate. Racism on show in the Australian Senate. Premier Marshall must enforce South Australia’s legislation prohibiting nuclear waste dump. 

June 22, 2021 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 2 Comments