To 23 June – the week in nuclear/climate news
With a record world increase in coronavirus cases, Brazil and North America in the spotlight – media attention has been rightly focussed on the pandemic. FAIR exposes the false claims about China and COVID-19 . At the same time, global heating seems to be at a runaway pace, affecting the Northern Hemisphere, and especially the Arctic. To protect our planet – we need to transform, not grow, the economy.
Global nuclear news is mainly just the same old collection of handouts from the nuclear industry, faithfully regurgitated by journalists who want to keep their jobs. Otherwise, not much is happening.
A bit of good news – Coronavirus more than 1500 treatment studies are underway world-wide.
Now, the nuclear arms race has become even worse.
Joint Project Nuclear Risk and Public Control.
Explaining ionising radiation -a film about nuclear fallout
COVID-19, nuclear war, and global warming: lessons for our vulnerable world.
Covid-19 pandemic – ‘fire drill’ for effects of climate crisis. COVID-19 recovery plans – excellent opportunity for global renewable energy development.
USA.
- Time to act on Dr King’s call to tackle evils of racism, economic exploitation, and war. Why we must stop investing in nuclear weapons.
- How much did USA’s failed plutonium project cost? Now a giveaway sale of MOX equipment.
- Donald Trump’s extraordinary ignorance on which countries are nuclear powers. Let them eat weapons: Trump’s bizarre arms race . BOLTON BOOK: Trump Endorsed Israeli Airstrike On Iranian Nuclear Reactors. Scientists urge US not to resume nuclear tests.
- USA taxpayers’ money can now go to private companies overseas building nuclear reactors!
- Heaviest load ever through Nevada, the 770-ton reactor pressure vessel from dead SanOnofre nuclear station.
- South Carolina Electric and Gas lawyers and executives could face gaol for fraud. Massachusetts officials have dropped a lawsuit against Holtec over $1B Nuclear cleanup.
- Nuclear industry encroaching further into USA education, thanks to DOE funding.
- USA’s secret plan for “dominance”by exploding a nuclear bomb on the moon. False fright: religious group advertisement claims “Islam” about to make nuclear strike.
RUSSIA. The ‘chemical fingerprint’ of a 2017 nuclear explosion. Anti-nuclear resistance in Russia: problems protests, reprisals. Siberia’s alarming prolonged heat wave.
UK. UK’s Nuclear Future in Doubt amid Diplomatic Fallout over Huawai. EDF’s failing nuclear reactors in UK. Covid-19 pandemic being used to prevent proper public consultation on Bradwell nuclear project. Bradwell nuclear project “unsustainable, unsuitable and unacceptable” – and not a done deal. Sizewell nuclear power station could become a dangerous nuclear island. Sizewell C nuclear project threatens nationally important landscapes, habitats and species of the Suffolk coast.
PACIFIC ISLANDS. Pacific leaders do not want the coronavirus pandemic to distract from work on climate change.
FRANCE. Nuclear power sales heavily affected by COVID-19 in France: legal battles to follow.
SOUTH AFRICA. Financially ruinous coal and nuclear power proposals – will muck up post-Covid-19 recovery. South Africa’s environmental watchdogs warn government against new nuclear power. Renewable energy for South Africa – cost-efficient and quick – forget coal and nuclear.
SOUTH KOREA. Kim Jong Un’s cyberwar preparations. U.S. – China talks may cover North Korea nuclear issue
BULGARIA. French, American, Russian nuclear companies join forces to build Bulgarian nuclear station.
INDIA. Explaining the India-China conflict.
JAPAN. COVID-19 sheds doubts on Tokyo Olympics 2021.
IRAN. Europe’s effort to save Iran nuclear deal.
BRAZIL. 35 years in construction, Brazil’s very costly Angra 3 nuclear plant to be delayed yet again.
TURKEY. Environmental problems, and legal holdup for Russia’s $20 billion nuclear power project in Turkey.
This week in nuclear and climate news
News is, by its nature, all about bad stuff. Whatever is normal, reasonable, decent, is ordinary, and just not news, – a fact that we need to remind ourselves of, in these uncertain Covid-19 days. There’s a lot of good will for changing society’s trajectory towards ruining our planet. Half of the Earth’s ice-free land is still free from human impact. Post-pandemic packages could green up our energy systems for environmental and economic benefit. Some seemingly small ideas can have surprisingly large successes – for example, fast-growing mini-forests springing up in Europe are helping the climate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO0IWAgJdlk
Another bit of good news – Elders Around the World in Their 80s, 90s, and 100s Are Bouncing Back From Virus – and Sharing Advice.
Our existential threat – our extinction.
Cloud studies indicate that global heating may be more alarming than anticipated. Global heating to bring more frequent, more extreme, ocean waves. Seeking ways to remove carbon from the air.
The last major treaty for nuclear weapons control now hangs in the balance.
USA.
- USA’s reckless nuclear spending as coronovirus hits the nation. Bernie Sanders, and moving the money away from militarism. Sanders Proposes Slashing Pentagon Budget by 10% to Reinvest Funds in Communities ‘Devastated by Poverty and Incarceration’.
- As pandemic costs rise, USA plans costly,dangerous nuclear weapons tests. USA – resuming nuclear tests would wreck the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), with no military or strategic benefit. 80 Lawmakers Demand Trump Ditch Any Thought of Resuming ‘Dangerously Provocative’ Nuclear Tests – dangerous brinkmanship. Top Democrats demand answers.
- Trump wants costly armed nuclear ice-breakers – where will the money come from ?
- In U.S. Congress, a Bill to prohibit Trump’s possible plan to use nuclear weapons on hurricanes.
- USA’s International Development Finance Corp will remove its ban on financing exports of US nuclear technologies. Plan for USA’s taxpayers to fund nuclear power exports. USA offers to build Britain’s nuclear reactors.
- U.S. nuclear industry looks for salvation to hydrogen production – clutching at straws?
- USA’s failing nuclear industry will not be saved by new plan to stockpile uranium. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will prepare a full environmental impact statement (EIS) on nuclear license renewal for Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility.
- Continuing court battle against proposed nuclear waste site near Carlsbad.
JAPAN.
- Fukushima’s radioactive waste problem. Fukushima: Japan Must Not Ignore Human Rights Obligations On Nuclear Waste Disposal – UN Experts. Japan extends 2011 disaster recovery agency’s work by 10 years. Evacuation orders to be lifted even before radiation purged.
- Government, nuclear industry badly in need of a reality check. ¥10 trillion reserve to combat pandemic branded Abe’s ‘pocket money’ .
- A housewife will run as candidate for Iwaki City Election 2020: “I want to protect Iwaki’s children”.
- Tepco and Toshiba join forces to upgrade Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant.
- Japan should end its nonsensical effort to recycle nuclear fuel.
- Tracing Individual Perceptions of Media Credibility in Post-3.11 Japan.
- Island of Iwaishima‘s 30 year fight to stop nuclear reactors.
TAIWAN. Taiwan green groups urge Japan not to discharge radioactive water.
FRANCE. Fire on French submarine – luckily its nuclear reactor, nuclear fuel, had been removed for overhaul Risk of fire on a nuclear submarine. France’s lucky escape, due to reactor being removed for overhaul. French nuclear watchdog demands EDF fix faults at 5 reactors.
RUSSIA. Russia: commentary on its nuclear deterrence principles.
EUROPE. Radioactive cloud over Europe in 2017 came from a civilian nuclear reactor.
INDIA. India will follow with nuclear weapons testing, if USA resumes testing.
UK. Investigative journalism – Will Sellafields nuclear waste waft to Ireland? Or waft somewhere else? Why doesn’t debt-ridden EDF cut its losses and close its uneconomic UK nuclear reactors. Sellafield waste will stay on site after 2021, Cumbria County Council agrees. Grave climate risks to Sizewell C nuclear project – all too close to the sea.
NORTH KOREA. North Korea Vows to Boost Nuclear Program, Saying U.S. Diplomacy Failed.
SOUTH AFRICA. South African activists threaten to sue over nuclear plan.
CANADA. Canada’s proposed radioactive waste disposal rules are weak and industry-friendly. Delay to community vote on nuclear waste dump for South Bruce, Ontario.
ARMENIA. Armenia Rejects Russian Funding For Nuclear Plant Upgrade.
BELGIUM. Wallonia rejects nuclear waste disposal suggestion.
LUXEMBOURG. Greenpeace Luxembourg Protests against Belgian Nuclear Waste. No feasible solution found between Belgium and Luxembourg on nuclear waste disposal.
BRAZIL. Brazil government approves plan to complete third nuclear plant.
AUSTRALIA. Australia’s govt rushes nuclear waste Bill through Lower House, but this story is not over.All Users
This week’s nuclear and climate news
Going back to “normal”? But “normal” IS the problem. The world waits, to see how the plans of nations to get over , recover, from the pandemic period are actually going to work. Not too well, in some cases. New Zealand shines.
The nuclear lobby is enthusiastically promoting itself as a saviour in helping deal with the pandemic. Does anyone believe this spin? Meanwhile nuclear nations, led by USA, turn to a renewed burst of spending on nuclear weapons.
Time to transfer funds from weapons to making vaccines.
The world is sleepwalking toward a period free of nuclear arms control.
New report calls out banks that make nuclear weapons investments.
Loophole in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT): small military nuclear reactors lack safeguards.
Species are becoming extinct at an accelerating rate.
The most effective leader in the world – Jacinda Adern, Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Some bits of good news – For the First Time, U.S. Renewable Energy Surpasses Coal Every Day For An Entire Month. Coronavirus Cooking Survey’ Finds That People Are Eating Healthier and Wasting Less
USA.
- Nuclear detection helicopter Flies Mission Around Washington D.C. Amid Unrest .
- Top Democrats promote bill to ban live nuclear tests. Trump wants a nuclear test – adding to the sickness of the world. If he wins election, Joe Biden would restore Iran nuclear deal. Trump tells Iran they should get “a better deal” with him now, before the U.S. election.
- Many $billions for U.S. Air Force’s new nuclear weapons.
- USA nuclear-missile program data leaked, as contractor hit with Maze Ransomware.
- U.S. taxpayers bearing the crushing cost of nuclear waste. Legal challenge to “Interim” storage of nuclear wastes, before permanent disposal determined. Anxieties over the risks of spent nuclear fuel storage at San Onofre. Kentucky’s radioactive disaster site Paducah.
- Emergency preparedness at San Onofre Nuclear Plant – agreement approved. Beyond Nuclear files Federal Lawsuit Challenging High-Level Radioactive Waste Dump. Radioactive waste imported from Estonia for iconic Bears Ears, Utah?
- An American nuclear reactor flooded by an extreme rainfall event – during the pandemic.
- U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will run environmental study BEFORE relicensing South Carolina nuclear fuel plant.
- Exhumed AREVA – now “Framatome” acquires BWX Technologies’ US nuclear services business.
UK. Climate Experts Predict ‘Grim Future’ For Nuclear Power . UK’s Sizewell nuclear plan in doubt, due to cost and China’s involvement? China is reconsidering building nuclear reactors in Britain. Deep concern over environmental cost of planned Sizewell C nuclear station. Caring about Cancer? A UK and Irish perspective. Most UK pension providers are investing in nuclear weapons companies. Choosing nuclear narrows future energy choices.
FRANCE. Huge police squadron paid by nuclear industry to monitor residents of Bure. French state-controlled utility EDF has to inspect valve leaks at Flamanville, Taishan, Finland nuclear sites. EDF terminates nuclear electricity supply contracts. High rate of cancers among Mururoa nuclear veterans’ families. France goes back to its restrictive nuclear compensation law affecting Polynesian nuclear test survivors.
RUSSIA. Russian city Severodvinsk, (near site of nuclear accident) sealed off due to Covid-19. Russia will now allow use of atomic weapons against non-nuclear strike. Anti–nuclear resistance in Russia: problems, protests, reprisals. The Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant: Rosatom’s dirty face- and the courageous opposition. Uranium mining protests in Russia. Activists, despite government oppression, campaign for decommissioning of Russia’s aging nuclear reactors . Nuclear submarine accidents contaminating Russia’s Far East.
INDIA. Nuclear power plants in the path of oncoming Cyclone Nisarga.
GERMANY. German Parliament in debate on basing of nuclear weapons. Discussion on Poland, Germany hosting nuclear weapons.
CZECH REPUBLIC. Czech Fiscal Council warns on the long-term risk of financing a new nuclear reactor.
IRAN. Iran challenges Donald Trump to return to nuclear deal.
NORTH KOREA. Kim Jong Un unlikely to use nuclear weapons – an alternative leader of N Korea might be worse.
ITALY. Latina plant, the last of Italy’s 4 nuclear power stations to be dismantled.
EUROPE. The European Union plus France, Germany and the UK “deeply regret” US decision on Iran sanctions. Desperate nuclear lobby tries to con the European Commission with its bogus claim about climate solving.
CHINA. China’s nuclear power ambitions face delays, waste problems, and the growing success of renewables.
ISRAEL. Nuclear Weapons: The Reason Why Even Iran Fears Israel.
AUSTRALIA. Australia’s nuclear-free, anti-uranium movement adapts to this pandemic period – presenting a series of webinars – “Yellowcake Country“.
The week in nuclear, climate, pandemic news
The media’s, politicians’ and the public’s gaze has now shifted from the health aspects of coronavirus, to the economic effects of the pandemic, and of the response to it.
Which brings us to the question of – what should governments be doing with tax-payers’ money?
Well, one thing they shouldn’t be doing is wasting it. Yet, in the case of the nuclear industry, that is what’s happening, and especially in the cause of nuclear weapons. Alex Smith, of Radio Ecoshock covers not only the shocking economics of the nuclear industry, but its unsafety in this time of pandemic, the associated secrecy and bungling in America, Russia, Japan, China, Canada, Europe and beyond. And this includes the vulnerability of nuclear facilities to the effects of global heating.
Eminent Persons Warn Against Any Demonstration Nuclear Test Explosion. – “grave challenge to global peace and security” – Nuclear watchdog on potential U.S. nuclear test.
The Environmental Legacy of Nuclear Weapons Production: Five Case Studies — HUMAN WRONGS WATCH
‘The Triumph of Doubt‘ – corporations’ war on science.
Research is needed into health effects of 4G and 5G [electromagnetic] radiation.
SOUTH ASIA. Extreme heat, humidity, air pollution – combined threat to South Asia.
EUROPE. European Union’s recovery plan promotes renewable energy, omits nuclear
FINLAND. Finland’s new nuclear reactor hit by valve leak.
LUXEMBOURG. New Luxembourg law allows claims over nuclear accidents.
BELARUS. Lithuania, Belarus sign nuclear incident notification agreement.
SWEDEN. Sweden gets a new Nuclear Emergency Plan.
USA.
- Trump withdraws from Open Skies Treaty, throws more doubt on the future of the New START nuclear treaty.
- Resuming nuclear testing a Slap in the Face to Survivors. Trump’s ominous creation of the U.S. Space Force – for the purposes of war. During pandemic, U.S. military runs the largest maritime war games in the world.
- Nuclear industry brazenly exploiting Pandemic to get tax-payer funding. Now with the pandemic, it is a free-for-all for the nuclear operators . The claim that nuclear power is needed for national security is a masked money-grab.
- Nuclear emissions cause cancer.
- Here’s a supremely unaffordable nuclear fantasy – reactors on the moon and Mars.
- Nuclear deregulation threatens workers at Pennsylvania plants and nationwide.
- Federal report: 2019 Seattle radiation leak could have been disastrous, was a ‘near miss’.
- Heavy problems in transporting dead nuclear reactor, especially in hot weather. Huge task of carting 770-ton nuclear reactor from Southern California to Utah. Huge dead nuclear reactor is a tough haul on Nevada’s roads.
- Removing US caps on Russian nuclear fuel imports.
CANADA. Ontario’s nuclear re-build postponed due to pandemic. Opposition in Canada to nuclear waste dump on agricultural land. Canadian farming community not happy about taking on nuclear wastes.
RUSSIA. Oleg Bodrov on the status of the Russian nuclear industry.
UK.
- Estimated costs of Uk’s nuclear power projects – Sizewell C £18 billion ($22bn), Hinkley Point C £22.5bn. Soaring costs of UK’s Hinkley Point C nuclear project, and other nuclear plans, while renewables get cheaper.
- Sizewell nuclear planning application should be rejected until coronavirus lockdown restrictions are lifted. Sizewell C nuclear project now becoming prohibitively expensive? Government-owned Chinese company wants to build Sizewell nuclear plant. Chinese involvement in Sizewell nuclear plant the ‘next Huawei. Is it in the national interest?
- Opposition to unnecessary, environmentally destructive Sizewell nuclear project . Wildlife charities unite to oppose Sizewell C nuclear power station. UK’s National Trust says new Sizewell C nuclear power station poses threat to rare birds.
- Chinese nuclear reactors for Bradwell.
- UK’s new nuclear plants – nearly all parts are sourced and/or funded from China and France. Bankrupt French company AREVA, now resuscitated as Framatome to engineer UK’s nuclear fleet.
- Nationally important – to stop the dumping of radioactive mud off Cardiff coast.
JAPAN. Green light for Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant, but is it viable? Coronavirus pandemic hampers Japan’s nuclear regulators’ probe into Fukushima disaster.
FRANCE. Resistance developing to EDF’s plan to store nuclear waste at Belleville-sur-Loire. Safety lapses at France’s nuclear reactors, new delays at EDF’s Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor . Radioactive pollution at the Bugey nuclear power plant in France : EDF condemned. Court set-back to France’s EDF nuclear supply contracts.
IRAN. Iran tops the list of countries which accepted inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2019. Britain, France, Germany not happy that USA will end waivers for Iran civilian nuclear projects . Iran envoy says that Trump has pulled the final plug in violating nuclear deal. Trump administration to remove almost all sanctions relief to Iran.
CHINA. The way that China plans its nuclear weapons strategy.
UKRAINE. Ex-president Kravchuk estimates compensation for Ukraine’s nuclear weapons at US$250 bln.
FIJI. Fiji ratifies the TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
AUSTRALIA. Australian nuclear dump decision trashes indigenous peoples’ rights. The Australian government has officially given up on climate action.
This week’s nuclear and climate news
Can’t keep up with the pandemic news – I hope you can.
One thing, though. Beyond Nuclear has pointed out the significance of the floods in Midland, Michigan, where they do have one nuclear research reactor, but fortunately no commercial ones. They warn on ” the almost impossible challenge of evacuating people to safety during simultaneous catastrophic events.” The floods bring together the climate, pandemic, and nuclear dangers all in one area.
Public attention is not on this one. BUT, the 2020 Review Conference of a landmark international treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), is due soon, though postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is also at risk. It’s under the radar, while everyone worries about COVID-19 and climate, – but the danger of nuclear weapons use is escalating, as Donald Trump unravels the treaty system that is aimed at preventing nuclear war. He also wants USA to hugely increase its nuclear weaponry.
Some bits of good news – Maasai Nature Conservancy Asks For Help To Fight Pandemic—And 100,000 People Answer. World’s Most Endangered Primate Population Triples After 17 Years of Careful Conservation
A moment of reckoning – when coronavirus meets climate change. Coronavirus: How to prevent a new nuclear arms race – and future pandemics.
Australia, and other countries – deaths from global heatinge are being underestimated
The danger to children of low level nuclear radiation has been underestimated.
The international nuclear weapons race. Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty at risk, due to Donald Trump’s accusations ?
ANTARCTIC. Antarctic krill threatened by warming waters – climate change’s danger to the marine ecosystem.
UK. Ministry of Defence’s poor management of contracts for nuclear infrastructure projects. Sellafield’s safety dilemma– risk of coronavirus versus risk of nuclear accident. Britain will have to decide whether it wants nuclear power stations funded — and powered — by China. Doubts on the funding of Britain’s £18bn Sizewell nuclear plan. Move to prevent dumping of Hinkley radioactive mud on the South Wales coast. Shinfield residents urged to look out for update from nuclear weapons facility.
JAPAN. Time that Japan faced up to the folly of its nuclear fuel cycle dream.
NORTH KOREA. Kim Jong-un Moves to Increase North Korea’s Nuclear Strength.
USA.
- USA’s Plan to spend Russia and China ‘into oblivion’ in arms race will bankrupt only America. Trump Administration Weighs First Nuclear Test in Decades. USA wants thousands of Hypersonic Missiles, using artificial intelligence. USA’s F-35’s Nuclear Weapons Upgrade Delayed as Program Costs Top $1.6 Trillion. Coronavirus likely to put a dint in USA’s nuclear weapons spending.
- U.S. Unprepared for Nuclear Accident During Pandemic.
- The flooding danger to nuclear radioactive sites –Michigan dams fail.
- More about dirty nuclear tricks in Ohio.
- President Donald Trump and his administration have no plans to use Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository.
- COVID-19 in worker at Sequoyah Nuclear Plant.
- Over 120 local and national organizations urge U.S. Congress to help nuclear frontline communities. Coalition pursues extra $7.25B for DOE nuclear cleanup, job creation.
- Removal of Fort Belvoir’s SM-1 nuclear reactor to proceed after Army finalizes environmental assessment.
- US Congressman Engel Suggests Saudi Arms Sales Behind Firing of State Dept. Watchdog .
EUROPE. A mistaken idea, to put U.S. nuclear weapons in Poland.
INDIA. Climate: Cyclone Amphan disaster in India, Bangladesh.
SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia’s push for nuclear power – a nuclear weapons danger.
CANADA. Bruce Power and the Ontario Government ordered come clean on the cost of nuclear power.
SOUTH KOREA. South Korea risk of power disruption, as nuclear spent fuel builds up, with storage shortage.
NORWAY. Dismantling of Norway’s nuclear research reactors – up to 25 years, about $billion
AUSTRALIA. Misleading and inaccurate information provided by authorities on National Radioactive Waste Management. Australian Law on radioactive waste to be changed in order to prevent any judicial review!.
The week in nuclear, climate, and yes, coronavirus news
There’s no avoiding coronavirus news, and it changes all the time. The focus has shifted to”post – virus”, though it is not clear that it is “post” now, or even within 2020. At present, New Zealand and Vietnam are looking like shining success stories. The secret of their success? – strategic testing, aggressive contact tracing and effective public communications campaigns. That last point -all important -that everyone, down to small kids, understands the basic story, the national plan and what they need to do. Planning needs to be national, and then, international.
Who knows whether the post-Covid-19 period will move towards a cleaner and more humane world, or back to “business as usual” or worse? Meanwhile the non-stop news cycle takes its toll, and of course, being news, it’s all bad. It’s probably good to (a) take lots of breaks from the news, and (b) follow good news. Some examples:
- The IEA says greenhouse gas emissions will fall by more than 8% this year, the largest annual decrease ever recorded. NPR
- A decade ago over 40% of the UK’s electricity came from coal. This week, it clocked up its first full coal free month since the advent of the power grid in 1882. Gizmodo
- Sweden has closed its last coal-fired power station two years ahead of schedule, becoming the third European country to exit coal. Independent .
- Freshwater insect species have risen by 11%, possibly due to efforts to clean up rivers and lakes. Science
You can find good news at FUTURE CRUNCH, and at GOOD NEWS NETWORK.
The torture that awaits Julian Assange in the US.
Latest climate models suggest global heating could be worse than we thought. Killer heat and humidity already with us. Covid-19 highlights risks of doing nothing on global heating. Water loss in northern peatlands threatens to intensify fires, global warming.
How much radioactive waste is stored on our planet?
The race to nuclear suicide continues despite Covid-19 crisis. $73 billion world spent in 2019 on nuclear weapons, half of it by USA. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty– its promise and its failure.
THE ATOM: A LOVE AFFAIR – nuclear dream to global nightmare.
USA.
- Profiteering from the pandemic, the Pentagon and nuclear industry exploit the situation. USA’s record $3.7 trillion budget gap threatens Pentagon’s costly nuclear plans. If You Like Covid-19, You’ll Love Nuclear War.
- Dirty tricks department – FirstEnergy Nuclear in Ohio as a prime example.
- The leaning tower of Vogtle nuclear reactor: yes it’s literally sinking,-and also further into debt. South Carolina nuclear fuel plant treatment pool leaking, polluting groundwater?
- Corona and nuclear power. Fermi 2 nuclear station struggles with large COVID-19 outbreak among workers.
- NuScam’s “small nuclear reactor” project runs into yet more trouble.
- Controlled Nuclear Fusion Not Reached .
- General Electric Avoids Japanese Plaintiffs’ Suit Over Fukushima Damages.
- Diablo Canyon nuclear plant to be shut down, power replaced by renewables, efficiency, storage .
- $41 billion for Hanford high level nuclear waste clean-up: Fiasco of Pretreatment Facility.
- Judge Puts Hold on Move to Drop Flynn Case .
JAPAN. 3600 working in Nuclear power plants in Japan – concerns raised over coronavirus. Worker infection halts anti-terror project at Genkai nuclear plant. Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing, a pointless effort , to postpone coping with plutonium trash. Korean navy to study impact of Fukushima Daiichi’s radioactive water leak. Onagawa 2 upgrade faces further delay. Fukushima Daiichi buildings pose safety risks. The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and Civil Actions as a Social Movement.
UK.
- Sizewell and Bradwell nuclear projects unnecessary, but also security danger if Chinese company in control.
- Britain’s Ministry of Defence continues its costly mistakes in nuclear weapons and submarines. UK’s nuclear weapons programmes $1.67 billion over budget .
- University experts urge that UK promote renewable energy, drop expensive plans for small nuclear reactors.
- Pacific nuclear bomb tests interfered with rain patterns in UK.
- Preventing a climate catastrophe in the middle of a coronavirus catastrophe.
CANADA. ‘Small Modular Nuclear Reactor’ entrepreneurs trying to revive dangerous ‘plutonium economy’ dream. Investigative journalism –Nuclear waste plan divides South Bruce community.
RUSSIA. Russia proposes 3 year extension of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start-3): USA silent. Raising dangerously radioactive Russian submarines from the bottom of Arctic oceans.
NORWAY. Nuclear fraud in Norway could affect nuclear safety in other countries.
FRANCE. Coronavirus affecting France’s nuclear reactors’ safety and output. French government tries to downgrade radiation risk, avoid compensating Polynesian victims of nuclear testing.
SOUTH KOREA. South Korea, Germany to bolster ties in transition towards renewable energy.
IRAN. Iran’s Nuclear and Military Efforts in the Shadow of Coronavirus and Economic Collapse.
UKRAINE. How an innovative community overcame Ukraine’s nuclear trauma.
SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s nuclear waste problem– why plan to increase it?
GERMANY. Radiation leak at nuclear research reactor. As Germany transitions to renewables, massive nuclear cooling towers are demolished.
PAKISTAN. Nuclear war between India and Pakistan very unlikely.
AUSTRALIA. Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) question government’s plan for nuclear waste dump near Kimba, South Australia. 13 top Australian non government organisations say that the Kimba nuclear waste dump plan is illogical.
Climate, nuclear, coronavirus news this week
An unidentified member of AIM Native American woman sits with her rifle at ready on steps of building in Wounded Knee, South Dakota, March 2, 1973. Indians still have control of town having seized it on Tuesday. Eleven hostages they had taken were finally released. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
The movement is on, in many countries, to return things to”normal” as the infection “curve” is reported to be “flattening”. But as lockdown rules are eased, in Germany and South Korea, infection rates go up again. With 4 million confirmed cases globally, there is no slowdown in the rate of infection. USA’s death toll is 80,000, while Russia’s and Brazil’s are thought to be soaring. COVID-19 is such a strange disease. Like climate denialism, – is a form of coronavirus denial going on?
A potential US extradition of Julian Assange poses existential threats to democracy..
Tiny killer agents – Cornaviruses, and also, Nuclear Radiation. As with viruses, containment of atomic weapons may be good, but eradication is best. .
International co-operation – essential for Coronavirus action, and for Climate action . Can Covid-19 response be a model for climate action?. Climate change – a bigger still challenge follows coronavirus. A small window of opportunity to stave off rapid global heating.
2020 hurtles toward the warmest year milestone –Heat+ humidity – global heating has already made parts of the world too hot for humans.
Trilateral Track 2 Nuclear Dialogues Consensus Statement.
USA.
- As U.S. military is plagued by COVID-19, Trump could end America’s endless losing wars, but will he? Pandemic may force USA to cut back on bloated spending on nuclear weapons. Raytheon selected to Build New Nuclear Cruise Missile [ Trump has shares].
- Survivors of nuclear radiation exposure are at greater risk from COVID-19.
- U.S. Congress kept in the dark about government nuclear negotiations with Saudi Arabia.
- Trump plans to divert development aid for poor countries, to promoting the nuclear industry.
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans a dangerous deregulation of radioactive waste. Concern growing over plan for high level nuclear waste storage in West Texas. Time extended by 60 days for comment on planned New Mexico nuclear waste dump. NRC rejects contentions raised by Beyond Nuclear and others against nuclear waste proposed site.
- Alabama joins Kentucky, South Dakota and West Virginia to criminalize fossil fuel protests.
- Close to 100 USA Environmental Rules now removed by Trump govt: here’s the list.
- Investigative journalism – “Get the Hell Off”: The Indigenous Fight to Stop a Uranium Mine in the Black Hills.
- $25 million settlement coming, over failed V.C. Summer nuclear project, with no SCANA admission of wrongdoing.
- “Stand-down” of activities at Michigan nuclear reactor, due to certain number of COVID-19 workers. Workers at ‘most toxic place in America’ – Hanford nuclear site – in fear of coronavirus. Indian Point nuclear power station – Unit 2 permanently closed.
- Surprise surprise. USA Justice Dept drops charges against Michael Flynn. General Michael Flynn Fired From The DIA – Russia Connections: A Summary. (From the archives – The plot thickens, as Michael Flynn’s shady nuclear deals are exposed. Michael Flynn’s involvement in shady nuclear deals with Saudi Arabia )
- Planet of the Humans – Film Review
- America’s very dangerous $multibillion plan for a nuclear-powered fighter plane.
UK. Wide and growing coalition of real concern about EDF’s Sizewell C nuclear project. Delay in preparations for Wylfa nuclear plant. Barrow, UK – hub of nuclear weapons work and nuclear transport. As UK’s Torness nuclear power station deteriorates, – cheaper to build renewables than to repair aging reactors. UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) gags staff on subject of Trident nuclear weapons in Scotland..
BAHRAIN. Bahrain’s new environmental bill – strict laws against nuclear waste dumping.
JAPAN. More delay for Japan to open Onagawa nuclear power plant Unit 2: Unit 1 to be closed.
NORTH KOREA. Satellite images reveal North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s new nuclear facility.
RUSSIA. The pandemic is a direct threat to Russia’s secret nuclear cities – says Rosatom chief.
INDIA. Lockdown in Tamil Nadu: 800 guest workers stage protest at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, attack cops .
SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s financially difficult nuclear ambitions.
BOSNIA. Bosnia aims to stop Croatia’s plan for radioactive waste dump close to the border.
LITHUANIA. Lithuania presses Belarus to delay use of nuclear fuel, for safety reasons.
UKRAINE. Ukraine’s Energy ministry limits operations of nuclear power plants. Looking back to May 1986 – the exodus from Kiev, after the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe.
SOUTH KOREA. South Korea sticking to its policy of phasing out nuclear power, switching to renewables.
FRANCE. France’s Strategic Nuclear Forces. Big drop in France’s nuclear power generation..
SPAIN. The search for the 4th hydrogen bomb dropped over Palomares, Spain.
GERMANY. SPD, junior partner in Germany’s coalition government, calls to withdraw US nuclear arms.
AUSTRALIA. Bogus claims and dodgy Fed govt nuclear waste dumps process. Tilman Ruff: the Australian government has not made the case for Kimba nuclear waste site: a transparent public review is needed.
This week’s nuclear and climate news
Well, ya can’t get away from it. It’s always the pandemic! This week, the news moves on to considering the future. Biodiversity scientists warn that future pandemics are on the horizon, if we don’t stop our rapid destruction of nature. With increasing human population, encroaching on wild habitats, there’s increased risk of pathogens transferring between animals and humans.
But also, the pandemic is showing us how our trashed world can heal.
Amidst the continuing propaganda for the (still non existent) new “cheap ” small nuclear reactors, comes the sobering fact that the nuclear industry is in trouble, in this time of pandemic. It’s not just nuclear’s unique safety problem, but now the business problem. As wind and solar power thrive , nuclear power is going down the drain, with low prices and slumping demand.
A bit of good news – Hole in the ozone layer is now closed.
The nuclear pandemic. Nuclear Issues and Epidemiology. Low Oil Prices May Kill Off The Next Nuclear Boom Before It Begins.
New START is the only U.S.-Russian nuclear treaty still in effect. Time to renew it.
Petersberg Climate Dialogue to be held virtually this year. Climate change: lakes and rivers will become drier, increasingly infectious and toxic.
Solar and Wind Cheapest Sources of Power in Most of the World Solar heating.
ARCTIC. An Arctic island is warming SIX times faster than the global average.
JAPAN. 16 Japanese Financial institutions won’t invest in companies involved in nuclear weapons. Half of highly radioactive exhaust stack dismantled at Fukushima Nuclear Reactor 1,
RUSSIA. Coronavirus a big threat to Russia’s secret nuclear cities, as virus incidence rises. Russia warns US against using low-yield nuclear weapons, threatening all-out retaliation. With international finance help, Russia is dismantling its most radioactive ship.
USA.
- USA’s complicated and contradictory plan to punish Iran. Could President Trump launch a nuclear attack via Twitter? “Mrs America”- Phyllis Schlafly determined fan of nuclear weapons, like today’s pro nuclear women in public life.
- Federal appeals court dismisses case against GE over Fukushima nuclear disaster.
- To store surplus plutonium, USA’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will have to be enlarged. Beyond Nuclear and other groups challenge Holtec’s nuclear waste plan for New Mexico. Beyond Nuclear opposes Holtec nuclear waste plan: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not above the law. The Southwest Research and Information Center says that rules are ignored in nuclear waste construction in New Mexico. Comment Period For Proposed Nuclear Waste Dump In New Mexico extended by 60 days.
- Nuclear reactor pressure vessel to be shipped by rail to Utah, from Sanonofre. Indian Point nuclear power station‘s first step to closure, as one reactor shuts down.
- Do-it-yourself radiation monitoring.
- Offshore wind is General Electric’s great opportunity, not dodgy Small Nuclear Reactors. Michael Moore’s sham attack on renewable energy has had rigorous debunking
UK. UK ignored warnings about pandemic danger, cut health funding, spent up big on nuclear weapons. Report warns on the threat of sea level rise to Sizewell nuclear plan. Everyone is needed in bid for a future free of nuclear .
NORTH KOREA. Time to support humanitarian initiatives for North Korea.
ISRAEL. Netanyahu’s deceitful push to try to get USA to attack Iran.
INDIA. Hundreds of foreign companies procuring nuclear materials for India and Pakistan.
FRANCE. France’s unfairly heavy monitoring of anti-nuclear activists, treating them as violent criminals.
AUSTRALIA. Flinders Local Action Group want a new process for disposal of Australia’s nuclear waste. South Australian group calls – ” No to radioactive waste on agricultural land in Kimba or South Australia.” Dr Helen Caldicott explains the (virtually eternal) problem of toxic nuclear waste.
The week in climate and nuclear news
While we are preoccupied with the pandemic, global heating is not going away. Climate Change Made 2019 The Warmest Year On Record. Eleven of 12 hottest years have occurred since 2000, new climate report warns. What happens after coronavirus will determine our climate‘s future.
Coronavirus illustrates the unsafety of nuclear facilities. In the USA , and presumably in Russia and other countries, too, nuclear power stations have to be refuelled, a process that involves many hundreds of workers – a real problem for “social distancing”. Compare that situation with solar and wind power plants, where the fuel is delivered directly, all by itself – requiring no transport, no armies of workers.
That, and other considerations, such as astronomic costs, do not deter the American government, locked as it is in the embrace of the nuclear lobby. Now they are coming straight out with the admission, or perhaps the boast, that new nuclear reactors are essential for the nuclear weapons industry. I am sure that it is the same in Russia.
A bit of good news – For the First Time in 240 Years, White-Tailed Eagles Spotted Flying Over England
To save the planet, cultural, social and political transformation is essential; new technologies only part of the answer. Arctic marine life threatened as a result of Alaskan sea ice disappearing. International climate ministers meet to discuss green recovery post COVID-19. European Solar Generation Breaks Records, As Coronavirus Shutdowns Reduce Air Pollution.
Animals in radiation zones are not doing well.
Occupational Radiation Exposure: Serious Risks and Safety Solutions.
Animals in radiation zones are not doing well.
ARCTIC. North pole soon to be ice free in summer .
USA.
- Poll shows that Americans favour a no-first-use of nuclear weapons policy.
- Seven USA nuclear power stations allowed exemptions from working hour regulations. 16 hour days, 86 hour weeks for nuclear workers, amid pandemic panic? Some Grand Gulf Nuclear Station employees impacted by COVID-19.
- Ohio a clear example of corporate power and dark money shaping public policy.
- Formal petition to close Fermi 2 nuclear reactor in Michigan, from coalition of watchdog groups.
- Taxes, COVID-19 and nuclear weapons funding – America’s priorities.
- US. Dept of Energy wants to keep nuclear Waste Isolation Pilot Plant going till 2080.
- Trump administration to boost uranium mining, weaken environmental regulations. Trump’s new uranium plans threaten Grand Canyon area.
NORTH KOREA South Korea’s government dismissed rumours about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un being gravely ill. Expert reveals ‘power struggle’ for ‘control of nuclear weapons and military’. Kim Jong Un Mystery Grows on Reports of Train, Medical Team. North Korea already has its nuclear arsenal. even if Kim should die..
JAPAN. Tsunami could overtake Fukushima Daiichi’s seawall. Buildings around Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in poor condition, unsafe. Friends of the Earth and Peace Boat launch video series about Fukushima evacuees.
UKRAINE. Ukraine Continues Fighting Fires Near Defunct Chernobyl Nuclear Plant.
UK. UK govt again to try “astronomically expensive” plutonium reprocessing nuclear reactors . The end of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel has left an expensive UK plutonium stockpile with no peaceful use. Under cover of Coronavirus constraints, EDF could speed application for £14 billion Sizewell nuclear reactor build, without pubic consultation.
INDIA. A dire need to closely scrutinize Indian procurement and export practices in defense and nuclear deals. .
TAIWAN. Taiwan environmentalists mark Chernobyl nuclear disaster anniversary, call for renewables not nuclear.
CANADA. Canada on verge of investing in plutonium.
FRANCE. France’s nuclear company EDF in spiralling debt crisis. Fitch downgrades EDF’s Outlook to Negative. EDF nuclear power company looks to a profitable future in small-scale, distributed RENEWABLE energy. France: The Forgotten Nuclear Power That Could Kill Billions of People.
RUSSIA. Russia dumps its plans for costly huge Nuclear Destroyer and supersized Frigate Programs. Russia building 69,700-ton nuclear powered icebreakers to keep the Northern Sea Route navigable year round.
FINLAND. Latest delay inuclear-news.net/…/latest-delay-in-olkiluoto-nuclear-fuel-loadings-leads-to-fitch-revising-outlook-to-negativen Olkiluoto nuclear fuel loadings leads to Fitch revising outlook to negative.
AUSTRALIA. Australian govt’s devious ploy to further dispossess the Bangarla Aboriginal people. South Australia’s $27.9 billion food, wine and tourism markets endangered by Kimba nuclear waste dump plan.
The past week in climate and nuclear news
Everything’s quieter, as we all batten down the hatches, and wait for that Covid 19 curve to flatten ….
The planet needs a green recovery. But are governments up for this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1e7zXAGMKQ
Some bits of good news – Optimistic COVID Updates – Himalayan Mountaintops Visible for the First Time in 30 Years as Air Pollution Continues to Plummet in India.
2020 predicted to be Earth’s warmest year on record. Climate Change Multiplies the Threats of Infectious Diseases. To tackle the climate crisis, the world cannot return to normal after Covid-19. Changes for a low carbon economy are possible: we must advocate for this.
Artificial Intelligence in nuclear weapons and military systems.
UKRAINE. Smoke from Chernobyl area wildfires made Ukraine’s capital have the worst air pollution in the world. With dry and windy conditions, new areas of ‘smoldering’ reported near Chernobyl nuclear plant. Heavy winds fan new fires breaking out in Chernobyl exclusion zone. Criirad final report on Chernobyl Fires – Recommendations and findings. Abandoned Chernobyl nuclear plant is threatened by approaching wildfires.
USA.
- Coronavirus doubters follow climate denial playbook . Georgia’s Nuclear Plant Vogtle, workforce cut due to coronavirus, costs increase, and costs flow through community. Impacts of coronavirus on the technical, financial and legal mess that is the Vogtle nuclear project in Georgia, USA. Will nuclear refuelling workers at Limerick nuclear station spread Coronavirus to each other, and to the wider community? Coronavirus cases at Hanford nuclear waste site and at Nuclear Fuel Services. Multiple COVID 19 cases confirmed among Nuclear Fuel Services employees in Erwin.
- Outcry as uranium industry exploits Covid 19 to call for financial bailout.
- Increased tensions between USA and China, as U.S. accuses China of secret nuclear tests. President Trump ‘talked about nuclear weapons’ with Vladimir Putin in a call to the Kremlin over the weekend as START Treaty’s expiration looms.
- A warning to Idaho residents on the danger of Hanford’s nuclear wastes. America’s eternal nuclear waste problem.
- COVID-19 Lessons from Three Mile Island #2 — the NRC . Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection wants delay to license for moving radioactive Nuclear reactor 2 at Three Mile Island.
- Global heating dries up vast areas of the American West, could bring long-lasting megadroughts. Climate change will bring regular major floods to USA – no longer “once in a lifetime” floods.
UK. UK’s plutonium problem as it shuts down its last nuclear reprocessing facility. Environmental rules governing radioactive waste, fish farming, recycling and other sectors are being weakened due to Covid 19. For UK’s new Labour leader, climate action and Green New Deal will be key goals
FRANCE. Covid 19 outbreak causes EDF to extend outages of nuclear reactors for several months. EDF cutting back on its nuclear energy goals.
RUSSIA. Opening the lid on Russia’s super-secretive nuclear industry. No easy fix for Russia’s troubled Arktica ice-breaker – delivery delayed for at least a year.
BELARUS. Belarus to get a new nuclear reactor along with $10 billion debt to Russia.
PACIFIC ISLANDS. With the threat of Covid 9, nuclear test affected Pacific Islanders need Medicaid restored.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. United Arab Emirates’ new ‘cheap and cheerful’ Barakah nuclear reactor adds to danger and Middle East tensions.
SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia’s nuclear reactor will eventually lead to a Saudi nuclear weapon, and to its use.
AUSTRALIA. Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) is critical of Government propaganda on Kimba nuclear waste dump plan. Parliamentary committee finds that Kimba nuclear waste dump law may breach Indigenous human rights. 1
Climate and nuclear news – week to 13 April
With the whole world in the grip of anxiety about coronavirus, and preoccupied with responding to the pandemic, climate scientists and activists ponder the opportunity to develop a green economy when it is over. And indeed, the global climate, and the world’s biodiversity are right now benefiting from the lockdown response. But, alas, the signs are already there, that, in recovering from the health crisis, governments are more likely to promote polluting industries and consumer spending, and to relax environmental safeguards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XhzBSMBpuY It’s too early to tell.
As for the nuclear lobby, it continues to battle bravely on, with propaganda about nuclear’s role in diagnosing COVID 19, and with promoting small nuclear reactors. Despite the nuclear industry’s present urgent problem with Coronavirus and staffing– or perhaps because of this, it is heavily promoting “clean”, “safe”, “cheap” nuclear power to Africa.
A bit of good news – Reports Find Social Restrictions Are Working to Curb New COVID-19 Cases From Italy to Seattle
The coronavirus pandemic, like other global catastrophes, reveals the limitations of nationalism.
Climate change could cause sudden biodiversity losses worldwide.
Ordinary people can beat the nuclear establishment: it’s been done before.
New START treaty must be extended, a U.S. – Russia nuclear arms race an intolerable threat to the whole world.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation in a Deadlock.
Nuclear fusion, too hot, too costly? And not ready before 2050.
UKRAINE. Chernobyl wildfires now ‘close’ to exploded nuclear reactor. What is causing the Chernobyl Wildfires? Year on Year, mostly in the Summer. Fukushima forests future? CRIIRAD monitoring Kiev nuclear risk of Chernobyl radioactive plumes #Strontium90 #Plutonium #Cesium137/134. Satellite Imagery of Chernobyl Fires April 8 and 9 2020 – NASA. Ukrainian firefighters continue to struggle with Chernobyl are fires, amid radiation fears. As at 5 April, radiation levels in Chernobyl area were 16 times above normal, due to forest fires. The unsafety of Ukraine’s nuclear reactors: Ukrainian Association of Veterans of Atomic Energy and Industry fear “another Chernobyl”.
USA.
- Denial, Defunding, Downplaying — First COVID-19 Leadership Failures. Trump uses the pandemic, to decimate environmental restrictions. Nuclear waste to landfill decision is just one example.
- Pandemic makes a nuclear disaster more likely than ever.
- . More workers infected with coronavirus at Georgia Power’s Vogtle nuclear project. Georgia’s Vogtle nuclear project way over budget, way behind time, and now Coronavirus hits.
- Refuelling continues at Limerick nuclear plant, but three more workers test positive for Covid19. Coronavirus complicates refuelling of nuclear reactors, Fermi 2 has undisclosed number of Covid19 workers.
- Bankrupt FirstEnergy Solutions is resuscitated as ‘Energy Harbor’: House Bill 6 subsidises Perry and Davis-Besse Nuclear Power plants. Massive subsidies to aging nuclear reactors – a recipe for disaster.
- NuScam and other nuclear companies weasel their way into University of Tennessee. U.S. Nuclear
- Regulatory Commission proposing dumping some nuclear wastes in landfills – a huge public health danger. Idaho lawmakers want nuclear waste ready to get trucked away.
- Confusion over which American military satellites are “nuclear” and which are “nonnuclear.”
- Finally, they might investigate America’s most fatal nuclear submarine disaster.
- Gamma radiation found ineffective in sterilizing N95 masks.
- Critical comments on the claim that “Nuclear Energy Could Power The Trillion-Dollar Space Race”.
UK. Who has the UK nuclear button while Johnson is ill? No comment. David Lowry: Covid-19 spread shows up vulnerability at heart of nuclear programmes. With coronavirus problem, Hinkley Point C nuclear project should be paused. Sellafield nuclear construction stalled – pause in construction extended to April 27. Call to stop construction at Hinkley Point C nuclear project, due to coronavirus risk.
More delay in planning application for UK’s Wylfa Newydd nuclear project. Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) call for more stringent safety measures, and the closure of EDF’s old nuclear reactors. Microbes in nuclear fuel ponds slow down the decommissioning process. University boffins discuss the eternal problem of nuclear wastes. U.S. taxpayers might cough up for a private company’s new “Small Nuclear” space travel gimmick.
JAPAN. To help future generations, Fukushima mothers have become radiation scientists’.
SOUTH KOREA. The Carbon Brief Profile: South Korea.
INDIA. India’s dangerous nuclear triad.
BOSNIA. Bosnia might need international arbitration over Croatia’s nuclear waste dump plan near the border.
PAKISTAN. Pakistan’s tactical nuclear weapons, even defensively used, could usher in a larger nuclear war.
RUSSIA. Russia wants to extend New START nuclear weapons treaty, but the U.S. has not revealed its plans. Russia gambles on safety and cost, in extending life of fast breeder reactor.
BANGLADESH. Russia evacuates some employees from Bangladesh nuclear site.
VIETNAM. 277,700 Vietnamese support “Appeal of the Hibakusha “ – call to eliminate nuclear weapons.
SWEDEN. Sweden’s wind power on the way to putting nuclear out of business.
ISRAEL. USA has helped Israel to develop a mighty armory of nuclear missiles.
Nuclear and climate news this week
Global problems intertwine. Global heating contributes to epidemics of infectious diseases, by promoting the spread of disease vectors, like mosquitoes. There is no established link between covid-19 and climate change. However, the way we are altering the planet will make the spread of some diseases more likely. National responses to the coronavirus pandemic bring the opportunity to tackle climate change. To get a perspective – the climate crisis is a greater catastrophe than Coronavirus.
The current story of Captain Brett Crozier, captain of the nuclear aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, illustrates the moral poverty of the secretive nuclear culture, and the moral poverty of USA’s nuclear commander-in-chief, Donald Trump. The ship, with nearly 5000 crew, had a number of cases of coronavirus. The captain wrote to the Navy, begging to have the sailors evacuated, a plea which was rejected. Later, the sailors were evacuated, but the captain was fired. President Trump explained that what Crozier did “was terrible” .
But that’s just one nuclear ship – what about the world’s nuclear ships and nuclear submarines? How safe are they, with warship crews now falling victim to COVID-19 ?
Some bits of good news – Another Roundup of Positive Updates on the COVID Outbreaks From Around the World. Earth’s Ozone Layer Continues to Repair Itself. (Also – if you can persevere with the video “Sam and the Plant Next Door”- it’s quite uplifting. )
Despite propaganda from nuclear/coal front group, Breakthrough Institute, NOW IS the time to talk about climate change. The Climate Crisis Will Be Just as Shockingly Abrupt as the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Put people and health before nukes. New hypersonic weaponry complicates Nuclear Arms Control Regime. Noam Chomsky on the urgent need to eradicate nuclear weapons.
Covid 19 and government responses are affecting nuclear construction world-wide. The nuclear industry and the impact of coronavirus. A creeping catastrophe: the world’s nuclear reactors are getting dangerously old.
JAPAN. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s deadly hazard – highly radioactive sandbags.-TEPCO plans to take 30 years to release Fukushima nuke plant water into sea or air . Countries may use coronavirus crisis to rein in climate commitments: Japan a case in point. Protective gear shortage hits Fukushima workers. Coronavirus question mark still hangs over Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
UK. Doctors warn on coronavirus danger for Australian citizen, Julian Assange, imprisoned without conviction, in a coronavirus incubator. Expert opinion recommends furloughing Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons. EDF’s hypocrisy –Hinkley C nuclear construction continued, despite pandemic, as “essential” work. Sizewell C nuclear project: community has lost faith in the integrity of EDF. UK ‘s new nuclear projects further delayed. Sam and the Plant Next Door – growing up by the nuclear power plant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMhYngrEgZU
USA.
- Sailors on nuclear aircraft carrier cheer their captain who put their health above his career. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayaLwHW-244.
- Trump’s stringent sanctions on Iran could result in a dangerous backlash. The Kings Bay Plowshares 7 in gaol for 2 years, awaiting sentence for their protest action against nuclear weapons.
- 214 airmen tested positive for COVID-19: but USA still ready to wage nuclear war.
- Nuclear Regulatory Commissions plans for lengthy lifetimes for U.S. nuclear power plants.
- Indian Point communities oppose Holtec’s bid to take over nuclear station.
- PANDEMIC. The pandemic is being used by Trump administration to help polluting industries. Workers at Limerick nuclear station in fear of getting coronavirus. Limerick nuclear station worker tests positive for coronavirus. Pennsylvania Senators concerned about coronavirus response plan at Limerick nuclear plant. Pilgrim Nuclear Plant transfer to go on despite coronavirus concerns. Cook nuclear station employees prepared to camp at the plant. Cordova Exelon nuclear plant has worker with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. Nuclear plant contractor at Susquehanna Steam Electric Station nuclear power plant in Salem tests positive for virus.
- EFFECTS OF PANDEMIC Worker fatigue is a worry at U.S. nuclear stations, as NRC allows longer shifts. Nuclear Regulatory Commission pulls back inspectors, because of Covid 19. Problems of New England nuclear reactors most are offline. Action on pandemic means that Hanford nuclear waste clean-up is stalled.
- Anxieties over proposal to allow some nuclear waste to be disposed in landfills. Danger in transporting spent nuclear fuel to New Mexico.
- Radiation poses major obstacle to future deep-space astronauts bound for Mars.
- Different federal laws complicate legal case about radiation exposure and teenager’s brain cancer.
UKRAINE. Wildfires in Ukraine: authorities say that those near Chernobyl are now extinguished. Firefighters battle forest blazes near Chernobyl nuclear site. Radiation spike as forest fire hits Chernobyl nuclear zone .
RUSSIA. Russia’s response to coronavirus risk for nuclear stations – isolate the nuclear workforce. The Russian point of view on nuclear arms control.
CANADA. Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization to spend millions on propaganda.
CHINA. Nuclear power plant shut down by host of tiny shrimp clogging filters.
BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA. Bosnia and Herzegovina oppose Croatia’s nuclear waste plan.
SWEDEN. Sweden’s Vattenfall AB’s 44-year-old Ringhals-1 shut down, as energy prices fall.
GERMANY. Germany averages more than 50% renewables over March quarter.
The week in climate and nuclear news
Yes, I know, it’s bad form to be writing about anything but the virus. But here goes, anyway. As to climate change, the current dread of the coronavirus feels awfully like a familiar version of the anxiety that many of us have felt about the climate crisis. There’s a bit of a silver lining, in that global greenhouse has emissions have dropped.
The pandemic, and its consequence – social isolation, have stalled industry, and are expected to wipe out global growth in renewables deployment in 2020.
The nuclear industry has put a bold face on it, claiming that construction of huge new reactor stations are essential, so that workers at UK’s Hinkley Point C build, and USA’s giant Vogtle nuclear build can count as “essential” so the building programmes can stay on track. But, even more remarkable, the USA nuclear industry uses coronavirus to gouge $billions of tax-payer money.
Anyway, what should we do about this truly awful global situation? I can think only of Voltaire’s famous advice – given by his fictional character Candide – “we must go and work our garden.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcTsMirQoG0&t=8s
A bit of good news – Chinese Company Ships Crates of Masks to Italy , Covered in Italian Poetry: We Are ‘Leaves of the Same Tree’
AUSTRALIA
A major scorecard gives the health of Australia’s environment less than 1 out of 10. With the pandemic, and the bushfires, we now must strengthen the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC). Webinar: Yeelirrie – A Case for Environmental Law Reform .
Action on Covid19 gives a lesson for action on climate change.
Pandemic brings a danger that is unique to the nuclear industry. Nuclear security must not be forgotten, even in times of pandemic.
With all eyes on pandemic, Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty still needs attention.
Nuclear waste disposal: Why the case for deep boreholes is … full of holes.
How will the IAEA spin the mind-boggling costs of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs)?
JAPAN.
- 2020 Olympics – Abe’s plan to help the nuclear industry has fallen through. Kansai Electric Power Co’s history of nuclear corruption. Olympic Torch Relay stopped – another blow to the nuclear propaganda about “Fukushima recovery”. Thousands flocked to see Olympic flame in Japan despite COVID-19 fears.
- 12 Fukushima decontamination locations likely to leak radiation, in heavy rain. Study: Cesium levels in fish in Fukushima lakes, rivers differ. Film dramatizing the reality of a nuclear meltdown. Tepco has drafted a plan for disposing of Fukushima’s accumulation of waste water.
UK. Call to suspend all contractor work at Hinkley new nuclear site, because of Covid19. EDF, French company building Hinkley Point power station, shifts workers’ costs to UK govt. Government under pressure to suspend non-essential construction work (such as building nuclear plants) Hinkley nuclear construction work continues, while rest of UK is in lockdown. UK and Fench govts consider nuclear construction as “essential”, so can remain open.
RUSSIA. Entire crew of nuclear submarine in coronavirus quarantine. Moscow preparing highway though nuclear waste site, despite protests.
USA.
- Trump missed his chance to lead the world on tackling coronavirus. Coronavirus IS a concern for USA’s nuclear military awareness. Nuclear-powered U.S. Aircraft Carrier Roosevelt now carrying Coronavirus.
- COVID-19 Threatens Outages Scheduled at 97% of U.S. Nuclear Plants in 2020. Coronavirus brings a big problem for nuclear reactors’ scheduled outages: the industry demands special exemptions. Pandemic plan for PalisadesNuclear Power Plant could make employees isolate at the reactor. The nuclear industry’s 2007 NEI’ s Pandemic Licensing Plan still accepted, but not really safe.
- LANL Plans to Release Twice the Amount of Tritium Allowed .
- Plutonium clean-up workers at Hanford had inadequate protection from contamination. Investigative journalism – Plutonium contamination at Rocky Flats.
BELARUS. Belarus to swap gas dependence on Moscow for nuclear dependence on Moscow .
TURKEY. British small nuclear reactors to help Turkey to get nuclear weapons?
A weird week of news in nuclear, climate, Covid19
graph above is of world total.
Events happen so quickly. It becomes important to know what news is true, and what is not. It is something of a crisis in journalism, – which analysis, which interpretation is credible? I try to follow articles that make sense, and come from reliable writers and journals. Reported numbers vary a lot – of those infected with Cov19, of the deaths. For one example – USA infection numbers are almost certainly far greater than reported, because of inadequate testing. In interpretation, Donald Trump’s phrase the “Chinese virus” feeds in to xenophobia, an unfortunate theme when global co-operation is needed, to combat a global epidemic. Politicians exploit false conspiracy theory that the coronavirus is a bioweapon.
What action is needed? I found this article, with its excellent graph, a reliable guide. It helped me to conclude that the drastic shutdowns and “social distancing”will have awful results, but that inaction on coronavirus would be worse.
Some bits of good news – 10 Positive Updates on the COVID-19 Outbreaks From Around the World
Coronavirus Covid-19 Testing Per Capita By Country; The US Near The Bottom; India Worse
Tokyo Olympic Games‘ costly chaos: they can’t be held in 2020.
“Balance” a dangerous practice – journalists presenting as equal -Trump’s and scientists’ opinion on coronavirus science.
Coronavirus threatens nuclear power plants with staff shortages, possible shutdowns.
Destruction of habitats, loss of biodiversity, bring pandemics.
Impact of coronavirus is curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
Paul Ehrlich on Coronavirus and the growthmania that drives environmental destruction. Bill McKibben on the Virus and the Climate Movement. Global warming influence on extreme weather events has been frequently underestimated. Coronavirus Halts Street Protests, but Climate Activists Have a Plan.– Ozone-depleting chemicals appearing again in the atmosphere.
Nuclear Power Plants: Tritium is a lot more hazardous than they say. Dr Ian Fairlea on Epidemiological Evidence of Cancer Risks.
“Peaceful” and military nuclear reactors always inextricably linked. Nuclear-powered submarines – fraught with legal and political problems. New research on the global climate impacts of a small nuclear war. The catastrophic danger to nuclear weapons complexes, of climate change’s extreme weather.
A new low-cost solar technology for environmental cooling.
USA.
- “Military Intelligence?” 30,000 U.S. soldiers to Corona-infested Europe for “war games”.
- Democrats may not support Trump’s new W93 nuclear weapons program.
- 6 Ways Trump’s Denial of Science Has Delayed the Response to COVID-19 (and Climate Change). Meet the Climate Science Deniers Who Downplayed COVID-19 Risks. Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, on climate and nuclear power.
- USA nuclear industry exploits coronavirus, seeking tax-payer funds. America’s economic plan for Covid19 directs money to big corporations.
- Navy sailor assigned to US Central Command headquarters tests positive for coronavirus. Coronavirus means staff shortages at North Carolina nuclear power stations. Seabrook Nuclear plant operating with limited staff.
- Military use: that is clearly the reason for developing Small Nuclear Reactors.
- Nuclear waste dumping for the beautiful landscape of the Northwoods?
UK Sellafield nuclear facility cuts back drastically on staff working onsite. Sellafield nuclear waste site to close due to coronavirus. Nuclear waste transport disrupted by measures to stall coronavirus. Hinkley nuclear worker concerned at coronavirus risks at the site. EDF reassures UK that during coronavirus epidemic, nuclear operations will continue. Britain’s Trident nuclear submarine base is in the grip of a Coronavirus scare.
The Sizewell C project would tear through preciously fragile nature preserve. The Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG) protests the lack of full information on nuclear plans.
JAPAN.
- Japan Olympics Official Tests Positive For COVID-19 As Training Camps Canceled Across Country.
- Japan’s 3/11 Recovery Stalled by Fukushima Decommissioning Delays.
- Japanese govt moving to transfer renewable energy funds to Fukushima nuclear clean-up. ‘Fukushima’s radioactive water discharge is important to Koreans’. Fukushima cleanup struggle focuses on what to do with contaminated water.
- ‘Fukushima 50 ‘ – a new film about the nuclear meltdown.
- Terrorism fears for Japan’s nuclear reactors – safety measures still not implemented.
- Tokyo High Court slashes damages to Fukushima nuclear disaster evacuees. After ‘miracle recovery’, Fukushima brewers look to the Games to push sake globally.
RUSSIA. Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News. Big European bank offers to help Russia retrieve 1000s of radioactive junk from the Arctic sea.
FRANCE. French nuclear workers in fear of coronavirus infection. Coronavirus cluster in the area – construction stalled at France’s Flamanville nuclear reactor.
CANADA. Canada pushing Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, but the outlook for uranium/nuclear industry is bleak.
IRAN. Iran, hit by hardship and coronavirus, gets callous sanctions from Trump administration.
BULGARIA. Bulgaria delays deadline for Belene nuclear project bids.
NORTH KOREA. What effect will pandemic have on tensions with North Korea?
AUSTRALIA. Doctors again call on Australian govt about Julian Assange’s precarious health, risk of coronavirus. The Morrison govt’s emergency measures are a massive subsidy to Australia’s largest corporations.
Nuclear, climate, coronavirus news
Awareness about infectious diseases seems to have faded, up until suddenly just lately. It really is a long time between epidemics, and now we have a pandemic. The quickly spreading Coronavirus disease is being handled differently, according to each country. Climate scientist Paul Beckwith explains this, and warns on the necessity of urgent action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_udREjTrBo&t=59s Another excellent resource is Corona Virus – With Dr. John Campbell. There is also the inhumane theory of “herd immunity”, being recommended by some as a strategy for Britain.
Climate scientists are bemoaning the slowness to take action on the coronavirus, but, even more so, the continuing slowness to act on global heating.
A bit of good news – One Million ‘Wonder Plant’ Seedlings Are Planted in Wales to Fight Climate Crisis—and Create Healthy Seas
Polar ice melting at an accelerating rate. The planet’s largest ecosystems could collapse faster than we thought.
Global response to Covid-19 is rapid. Response to climate change is too damn slow. Coronavirus poses threat to climate action.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists warns on doomsday. Hypocrisy: new commitments to Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) include push for nuclear power.
Nuclear modernisation, cyber operations, raise a dilemma for nuclear deterrence.
Investigative journalism – Fukushima, and the ocean’s history of nuclear waste dumping.
Tritium – more hazardous than gamma rays and most X-rays.
JAPAN.
- Japan’s Olympic Games propaganda really tops the lies that cover up the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. Japan may have to cancel the Olympics, Will coronavirus cancel the Tokyo 2020 Olympics? Fukushima’s huge accumulation of radioactive water – a pressing problem as Olympics approach.
- Nine years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster: back to normal towards a bright future? Fukushima – Invisible Fallout documentary from CRIIRAD March 2020. Map of Soil Radioactivity in 17 Prefectures in Eastern Japan. Starting the Olympic torch relay in Fukushima should remind us of. The price of staying. The half lives of the abandoned. Soil from decontamination work kept in communities. What ‘Fukushima 50’ can teach us about crises. 9 Years On: Fukushima N-Plant Lawsuits Await High Court Rulings. Reporters Without Borders urges Japan to stop pressuring the media on Fukushima-related topics.
USA.
- Steps to nowhere on nuclear disarmament – USA’s “Creating an Environment for Nuclear Disarmament” (CEND). In southern Nevada, some form of advanced B61-12 testing is underway.
- Joe Biden to encourage nuclear power, and Bernie Sanders is not all that anti nuclear.
- A ruse to save the nuclear industry? Dangerous, expensive portable mini-reactors. Pentagon’s latest scam for tax-payers’ money; dangerous, costly portable nuclear reactors.
- They’ve licensed Exelon’s Peach Bottom Nuclear Plant for 80 Years – but it mightn’t last.
- Canisters for high level nuclear wastes likely to corrode faster than expected. U.S. Department of Energy’s plans could mean delay in Hanford nuclear waste clean-up. Angst in Nevada over law designating Yucca Mt for a national repository.
- Renewables surpass coal and nuclear says USA’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
UK. UK’s nuclear regulated asset base (RAB) financing passes all financial risks to electricity customers. Nuclear waste transport disrupted by measures to stall coronavirus. Bradwell B Nuclear power plant consultations cancelled amid coronavirus fears. Groups question the viability of the three coastal sites for UK’s new nuclear plants. The lies about nuclear waste dumping in Scotland – from U.S. nuclear submarines.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. Nuclear power, then nuclear weapons? for United Arab Emirates.
SOUTH AFRICA. Murky links between the nuclear and coal lobbies in South Africa. Eskom nuclear troubles – the outcome of years of corruption.
INDONESIA. Nuclear Agency employee accused of illegally storing radioactive waste at his home. Indonesia warned on dangers of nuclear power, advantages of renewable energy.
GERMANY. German grid and nuclear plant operators step up coronavirus precautions.
IRAN. Iran continues to provide international inspectors access to its nuclear facilities.
AUSTRALIA. Australian govt rejects a report that recommends nuclear submarines. Small Nuclear Reactors, like large ones, are out of the question for Australia, due to staggering costs. Small nuclear reactors, (just like large) can survive only with massive subsidies. This week’s uranium report- prices fall again, Australia’s “nuclear future” going nowhere.
1 This Month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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