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TODAY. The California wildfires and the unmentioned threat of nuclear radiation

 Australian Independent Media, https://theaimn.net/the-california-wildfires-and-the-unmentioned-threat-of-nuclear-radiation/ 12 January 2025

So far, the corporate media is not mentioning the potential threat of the Los Angeles horror fires to the Santa Susana Field Nuclear Laboratory.

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) is located approximately 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Hollywood and approximately 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Downtown Los Angeles.  The Field Lab was the site of a nuclear meltdown in 1959, and its area is radioactively contaminated. Many locals and doctors condemn inadequate cleanup efforts, and link them to high cancer rates which are 60% higher for those people living within a 2 mile radius of the SSFL. 

In 2018 the Woolsey Fire, devastating swathes of Ventura and northwestern Los Angeles Counties, started at the SSFL. The fire burned 96,949 acres (39,234 hectares) of land, destroyed 1,643 structures, and caused the evacuation of over 295,000 people.

California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control said sampling by multiple agencies found no off-site radiation or other hazardous material attributable to the fire. But another study, using hundreds of samples collected by volunteers, found radioactive microparticles in ash just outside of the lab boundary and at three sites farther away that researchers say were from the fire. Here was a case of a wildfire that started at a nuclear facility, with the danger of ionising radiation affecting surrounding areas.

The Woolsey fire started in a nuclear laboratory, but what about wildfires that start elsewhere and spread to nuclear facilities?

In Texas in February 2024, the largest wildfire in Texas history came within 3 miles (5 kilometers) of the Pantex Plant, the nation’s primary nuclear weapons facility. A 2000 wildfire burned to within a half mile (0.8 kilometers) of a radioactive waste site. the 40-square-mile Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Also in 2000, a wildfire burned one-third of the 580-square-mile (1,502-square-kilometer) of the plutonium-contaminated Hanford nuclear site in Washington

Across the United States there are 94 operating nuclear power reactors, 54 nuclear power plants operating,  42 permanently shut-down ones, and 31 operating research reactors. Also there are nuclear military facilities, including government-owned sites, military bases, and laboratories.

So far, the corporate media is not mentioning the potential threat to the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, so here’s hoping that SSFL is not going to be impacted by the current wildfires raging in the Los Angeles area, – with the danger of widespread radioactive fallout.

But how long can the authorities and the media pretend that wildfires, that climate change, are not a huge danger to nuclear sites? For how long is the public supposed to believe the fairy tale that nuclear power is the solution to climate change?

The Los Angeles wildfire is a frightening and dramatic example of the new type of fire – an idea that people have not come to grips with. Our former view of wildfires, bushfires, was that they happen in forests. We’re not used to big grassfires. We’re not used to huge fires that travel at a much greater speed than before, that fling embers for great distances, that themselves create greater wind strength.

California has, over the past few years, experiencing drought, and big wildfires, In 2024 a total of 8,024 wildfires burned a cumulative 1,050,012 acres (424,925 ha). While many structures were destroyed, the current fire is a new development- with the shocking revelation that now, not only grassy areas, but cities can be wiped out.

For Australia -what a warning! It could all happen here. Much of Australia’s southeast coast has similarities with coastal California.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is opening his electoral campaign, with the Liberal Coalition’s plan for a nuclear Australia. And the Labor government in concert with the Opposition, is all for the AUKUS nuclear submarine project, with its nuclear problems of terrorism risks, and waste disposal. Neither political party seems aware of Australia’s great opportunity to be the almost completely nuclear-free continent, avoiding the dangers that global heating brings to nuclear sites.

January 11, 2025 Posted by | Christina's notes, climate change | Leave a comment

TODAY. A genocidal USA President to be followed by another genocidal USA President?

“If those hostages aren’t back, I don’t want to hurt your negotiations, if they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East and it will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don’t have to say anymore, but that’s what it is.”

“Democracy” is becoming a joke. With a sort of gerry-mandered system, the USA Electoral College, not the majority of voters, determines the result of the presidential election. Indeed, the majority of U.S. citizens don’t vote, anyway.

So the USA ends up with a lying, foul-mouthed, misogynist, convicted felon as President. But that really doesn’t matter all that much, as whoever gets in can only do so with the backing of the mega-wealthy owners of corporations and media, and indeed, of the “military industrial complex”. So however the President might want to, personally, avoid militarism, he can’t.

Joe Biden has been allout for promoting and supporting and paying, for the proxy war against Russia, and for Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. All the while, he’s had his slimy, silver-tongued Antony Blinken publicly pretending that the USA wants peace.

Donald Trump is an interesting contrast. From all that I could find out, he actually hates war, but has this unusual modus operandi of getting what he wants by bullying – so his weapon, preferably, is the threat of war, rather than war itself. He admires dictators, and likes to pal up with them. In the case of Ukraine, he’d probably go for a peace deal, as long as it somehow helps U.S. trade interests, and of course, his own business interests.

In the case of Gaza, perhaps the same thinking applies? If Trump could get the Gazans to hand over all their Israeli hostages back to Israel, perhaps that war would end, so perhaps Trump is using dire threats, to bully Hamas into that action.

Either way, by Biden’s consistent support and promotion of war, or by Trump’s inflammatory bullying tactics threatening war, – militarism is the way to go. And that’s how American business interests like it.

Both administrations are walking on a tightrope, that at any moment could erupt into World War 3. But that’s OK, – in the meantime, lots of weapons sales, lots of corporate profits, lots of shareholder gains, lots of jobs.

January 9, 2025 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. The polar playground for a suicidal species?

 https://theaimn.net/the-polar-playground-for-a-suicidal-species/ 7 January 25

Where to begin on this mind-boggling story about epic changes on a very small planet?

Well, let’s begin on the fun part. The Australian Antarctic Program encourages some pretty innocuous recreational activities, plus of course, encouragement for tourists to come, and to learn about the polar world. So that’s OK, I suppose. But lately, in the news, there is growing concern that tourists, Australians in particular, are taking such a playful attitude to Antarctica, that they are risking their personal safety.

Interesting that the video above puts the blame on TikTok for encouraging the fun and danger. But tourism itself is good for increasing education about Antarctica. As long as individuals personally behave safely, that’s fine, isn’t it?

But what about planetary safety?

What Australians, and most of the world, learn about Antarctica, is that it’s pretty, and has penguins, Oh, and the ice is melting a bit, too. And that’s about it. The media does not trouble our complacent little minds with information about the thermohaline ocean circulation, the atmospheric circulation patterns, the carbon-sequestration of krill, the polar vortex…. Much too hard for us, in this cricket-tennis season.

Right now, Northern Europe and parts of the USA are experiencing extreme cold weather. No doubt some people would say that this disproves global heating, climate change. Alas, these extremes, emanating from the Arctic, by the polar vortex, are exacerbated by global heating. The polar vortex is a complex system, difficult to grasp, for the average news reader, so it is part of the whole poorly known, global climate system.

Antarctica is at the other end of the world – not connected to all this? Well, not if you ignore the global thermohaline circulation, among other things like sea level rise.

Global thermohaline circulation

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Professor Elisabeth Leane, Professor of Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania says – What happens in Antarctica doesn’t stay in Antarctica. Its future will shape the future of the planet

Which brings me to the question of safety in relation to Antarctica – planetary, not just personal.

And here’s what the University of Tasmania says about it – Antarctica’s tipping points threaten global climate stability.

The map above is from the University of Tasmania’s report by international climate scientists . It identifies the various cascading tipping points and their interactions and pressures on the ecosystem.

For those who care about the climate change issue, and about Australia and the Antarctic, I would urge them to watch, and persist with, this brilliant report by climate researcher Paul Beckwith – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WccDhnM8R8

Beckwith explains the potential tipping points identified by the study and their interrelationships , and adds the issue of sea ice loss. Critical issues are ice sheets, ocean acidification, ocean circulation, species redistribution, invasive species, permafrost melting, local pollution, chemical impacts, social impacts, local pollution and the Antarctic Treaty System. He goes on to explain with excellent graphics, the global thermohaline circulation, and then, in-depth, the records on sea ice, and then on to his detailed study on the tiny krill or light shrimp, and their global importance. Finally, Beckwith outlines the politics, the various national claims in the Antarctic Treaty System. The scientists’ conclusion – the urgent need for action on climate. Heavy stuff. Fascinating stuff. He finishes with a reminder of the unique role of that amazing critter the krill.

If you want a more concise discussion of the University of Tasmania’s December remarkable workshop of international marine scientists – go to Radio Ecoshock – World-changing Tipping Points – In Antarctica !

The “mainstream media” rarely covers climate change in any depth. For decades, the public has been informed very superficially on this life and death matter for our survival. The dedicated scientists produce their research results, but the media seem to find these too difficult, or too “political” to bother to report on them properly. The December 2024 “emergency summit” of international polar scientists in Tasmania barely got a mention in the Australian or international press.

You have to go to alternative media, to get any real insight into what is happening to the climate of our planet home. For decades now, Paul Beckwith has being producing his highly informative and wonderfully illustrated videos, on Youtube. Meanwhile Alex Smith has been doing the same sort of thing on radio and podcast, and print, – on Radio Ecoshock, which is heard in Australia on Community Radio 3CR.

In 2025, it is ever more urgent for people to wade through the morass of “social” media, and corporate media, and “alternative” media, to find the facts on climate change. Paul Beckwith and Radio Ecoshock are two examples of a rare and endangered human species – journalists who do their homework on climate change.

January 7, 2025 Posted by | ANTARCTICA, Christina's notes, climate change | Leave a comment

Short nuclear news round-up -week to 5 January 2025

Some bits of good news – 86 Stories of Progress from 2024 ,

 A 12-year-old schoolgirl has designed a solar-powered blanket for the homeless. ALSO AT  https://nuclear-news.net/2025/01/04/1-a-12-year-old-schoolgirl-has-designed-a-solar-powered-blanket-for-thehomeless/

TOP STORIES

 2025, Iran is back in the U.S. crosshairs for regime change. 

Japan, US to communicate on possible use of nuclear weapons. 

Arms control is essential to prevent the total devastation of nuclear war. 

Protect your girls: We show that biological sex IS a factor in radiation outcomes, WIDELY. 

JIMMY CARTER: Commemorations by nuke watchdogs

Climate. A snapshot of climate devastation’: Study claims 2024’s biggest climate disasters cost $200bn – ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2025/01/01/2-b1-a-snapshot-of-climate-devastation-study-claims-2024s-biggest-climate-disasters-cost-200bn/ Skiing in France is slowly dying ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/12/31/2-b1-skiing-in-france-is-slowly-dying/deal for Ukraine ?

Noel’s notes.  Iran and the “right to have nuclear weapons“.  Is it realistic for Donald Trump to boast of a quick peace deal for Ukraine?

AUSTRALIA. The $80 billion question buried in Dutton’s nuclear power plan. The Coalition’s coal-keeper plan. Can true nuclear independence be achieved without ending the US Alliance? More Australian nuclear news at https://antinuclear.net/2024/12/31/australian-nuclear-news-30-december-6-june/


NUCLEAR ITEMS

ECONOMICS. Sizewell C faces calls for more scrutiny of costs ahead of Final Investment Decision. Government urged to review Sizewell C nuclear plant over ballooning cost.

Armed with Canadian taxpayer support, AtkinsRéalis and Westinghouse are competing to export nuclear reactors. Which one will prevail? -ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2025/01/04/1-b1-armed-with-canadian-taxpayer-support-atkinsrealis-and-westinghouse-are-competing-to-export-nuclear-reactors-which-one-will-prevail/
ENVIRONMENT. Some Types of Pollution Are More Equal than Others.Radiation is normal at Cesar Chavez Park, but it’s a different story underground, tests show.
ETHICS and RELIGION. The Moral Bankruptcy of the West.
EVENTS. Petition: Scrutinise Sizewell C
HEALTH. Where is the ‘mature debate’ about the health impacts of nuclear power? – ALSO AT https://antinuclear.net/2025/01/03/where-is-the-mature-debate-about-the-health-impacts-of-nuclear-power/

Cellphone radiation warning as researchers reveal new risk factor.
MEDIA. Examining Annie Jacobsen’s “Nuclear War: A Scenario”. BBC staffers reveal editor’s ‘entire job’ to whitewash Israeli war crimes.
PERSONAL STORIES. Toshiyuki Mimaki: Let’s save humanity from nuclear weapons.
One Week in the Carter Presidency: Brokering Peace and a Nuclear Crisis -ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/12/31/2-b1-one-week-in-the-carter-presidency-brokering-peace-and-a-nuclear-crisis/
POLITICS.Nuclear power had a strong year in 2024, but uncertainty looms for 2025.

No change in Iran’s nuclear doctrine, top security official says. 

US relaxes green hydrogen rules in race to boost nuclear sector  -ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2025/01/04/2-b1-us-relaxes-green-hydrogen-rules-in-race-to-boost-nuclear-sector/
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.
Iran says ready to enter talks soon with the West to agree on a new nuclear deal. Next nuclear talks between Iran and three European countries due on Jan 13.With successful Syrian regime change, will US set sights on Iran regime change 2.0? – https://nuclear-news.net/2024/12/31/2-b1-with-successful-syrian-regime-change-will-us-set-sights-on-iran-regime-change-2-0/

A Trump-Putin Deal Over Ukraine Does Not Look Good for Europe.Can Trump Trump China (or Vice Versa)?
RADIATION. Improved way to gauge radiation doses developed for Fukushima, (they studied only 30 people)
SAFETY. Incidents. The Time Navy Lt. Jimmy Carter Was Lowered Into A Partially Melted-Down Nuclear Reactor
SECRETS and LIES. EU officials will claim ignorance of Israel’s war crimes: a leaked document shows what they knew.

SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS.   The Quiet Crisis Above: Unveiling the Dark Side of Space Militarization

Departing Air Force Secretary Will Leave Space Weaponry as a Legacy.

TECHNOLOGY. Here comes Yakutia, Russia’s newest nuclear icebreaker.

WASTES. WIPP’s Legacy Transuranic Waste Disposal Plan Demonstrates DOE’s Broken Promises. Decommissioning: Pickering A nuclear power plant bites the dust!

WAR and CONFLICT. Biden discussed plans to strike Iran nuclear sites if Tehran speeds toward bomb.
Syrian minorities under threat as security forces carry out raids against ‘remnants of Assad militias’.
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.
Trump Wants Greenland to Deploy Medium-Range Missiles Aimed at Russia .
US Has Given Israel $22 Billion in Military Aid Since October 2023.

Biden spending last month shoveling billions to get more Ukrainians killed for nothing. Biden Administration Announces Nearly $6 Billion in New Ukraine Aid.

Canada’s atomic legacy

January 6, 2025 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. Iran and the “right to have nuclear weapons”

Today we learn that  “Biden discussed plans to strike Iran nuclear sites if Tehran speeds toward bomb”. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan presented President Biden with options for a potential U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities if the Iranians move towards a nuclear weapon before Jan. 20, 

Yeah! Fair enough! I hear many cry.

After all, it’s the wicked dictatorial Muslim state that we’re dealing with, isn’t it?

As against us good Western Christian countries, where the bishops bless both sides in every war, and where it was OK to obliterate with nuclear bombs, 2 Japanese cities .

Yes, we’re so righteous, that our great and exceptional defender of freedom, the United States of America has a quiet unspoken policy that it has the right to a pre-emptive nuclear strike on another country,.

The Islamic Republic of Iran regards use of nuclear and chemical weapons as a cardinal and unforgivable sin- with the fatwa that the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam and that Iran shall never acquire these weapons.

The Judeo-Christian beliefs apparently allow for the wholesale killing of civilians, by nuclear bombing.

Currently the world is witnessing a cruel genocide by Israel, and increasing threats by the Israeli government against Iran. We, the good Christian West, say tut tut about the mass killing of Palestinians, but seem ready to support any militancy against Iran.

What I can’t understand, given the USA’s terrible record of starting wars in faraway places, is why on Earth the USA is accepted as the fount of all goodness – able to decide the rights and wrongs of Iran’s defense and foreign policies?

How is it fair that USA, Russia, UK, France are all OK to have nuclear weapons, but no other countries can? (We frown that North Korea has nuclear weapons, but perhaps USA would have bombed them again, if they didn’t).

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and the USA, and endorsed by the UN meant that  Iran was banned from transferring, importing, and exporting arms, sensitive nuclear material and equipment. Iran in return got relief from sanctions.

Now that the Israeli government is involved in conflict with other Muslim groups across the Middle East, there is a possibility that Israel will make attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites, even use its nuclear weapons against Iran. With the USA pondering on a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, before 20 January, is it any wonder that the government in Iran is re-examining its nuclear weapons policy?

January 5, 2025 Posted by | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

Military mansplaining dispels any nonsensical ideas about “the sanctity of space”.

Australian Independent Media, 31 Dec 24,  https://theaimn.net/military-mansplaining-dispels-any-nonsensical-ideas-about-the-sanctity-of-space/

Doncha love mansplaining? It simplifies everything, takes away your worries, and you can now complacently forget about any silly way-out anxieties that you might have had about technological progress.

As our military defenders develop advanced and artificial intelligence weaponry for war in space , USA Air Force secretary, and former military contractor, Frank Kendall mansplained all this perfectly for us:

Mr. Kendall said when he first came into office, there was an understandable aversion to weaponizing space, but that now the debate about “the sanctity or purity of space” is effectively over.

“Space is a vacuum that surrounds Earth,” Mr. Kendall said. “It’s a place that can be used for military advantage and it is being used for that. We can’t just ignore that on some obscure, esoteric principle that says we shouldn’t put weapons in space and maintain it.

The threat is there. It’s a domain we have to be competitive in.”

One might ponder on where this threat comes from. It seems pretty clear to me that macho military men of one nation, for example the USA, devise killing machines, and then macho men of another nation, for example China, react by devising killer machines. Then the USA men have to go one better and so on. The cleverness of macho men is the original threat.

Of course many men do not have this blinkered macho attitude to exploiting land, sea, and now space, for weaponry that damages no only humans, but other species, and indeed, the whole ecosphere. Unfortunately these many other men are also not so good at confidently mansplaining the ideas that they might have – about caring for the ecosphere, about negotiation as an alternative to war. That takes a lot of hard work, to present those ideas, and they tend to do it in a careful way, rather than talking down to the rest of us..

It is really a lot easier and simpler to decide that becoming the top killer is the way to solve differences: much harder to really think about solving the problems.

The “sanctity and purity of space”. Where did Kendall get that from?

Well, the phrase contains both a religious and environmental significance. Originally from a very spiritual poem – it has caught the imagination of many – as a theme to respect the beauty of the sky, the environment, and our role as custodians of our ecosphere.

This kind of spiritual waffle is anathema to the mansplaining military macho men.

For one thing, it involves some complicated ideas that they probably can’t understand, with their one-track adversarial thinking. To give just one example: light pollution from spacecraft disrupts the lives of not only many tiny species like moths, but also of birds and sea turtles.

Then there are ethical questions – about space vehicles, weapons, debris crashing in various locations, including neutral, uninvolved countries. And, most concerning of all is the newest technology, artificial-intelligence-enhanced fighter jets and space-based warfare. Missile-carrying robot drones with A.I.-enhanced software will be able to independently decide on flying routes, and on identifying and attacking enemy targets. Robots will be able to make decisions on whom to kill.

For one thing, it involves some complicated ideas that they probably can’t understand, with their one-track adversarial thinking. To give just one example: light pollution from spacecraft disrupts the lives of not only many tiny species like moths, but also of birds and sea turtles.

Then there are ethical questions – about space vehicles, weapons, debris crashing in various locations, including neutral, uninvolved countries. And, most concerning of all is the newest technology, artificial-intelligence-enhanced fighter jets and space-based warfare. Missile-carrying robot drones with A.I.-enhanced software will be able to independently decide on flying routes, and on identifying and attacking enemy targets. Robots will be able to make decisions on whom to kill.

January 1, 2025 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news in the last week of 2024

So often, art gives us hope, points the way ahead. Over 40 years ago, the Australian folk band Redgum had hit songs, especially opposing war. Above is the cover picture of their first album, depicting the USA’s secret military intelligence hub in Central Australia. In this critical year of 2025, with nuclear war and climate catastrophe dangling over us, Redgum’s message about not giving up, is more pertinent than ever.And people, millions of them, are not giving up, with leadership from so many forward-thinking groups, like the 

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and many anti-nuclear, peace and environmental organisations world-wide. 

What didn’t happen in 2024 – Success on the ground and in court for the nuclear-free movement.

TOP STORIES

Another expert report finds Israel is committing genocide: The West yawns  

Trump suggests Zelensky consider ceding territories – El Pais. 

AI bigwigs want to go all-in on nuclear: they also happen to be behind nuclear companies. 

New Mexico’s Nuclear-Weapons Boom.

From the archives. Big tech, bigger lies.

Climate. We need to be prepared’: China adapts to era of extreme flooding. A year of extreme weather that challenged billions. Scientists should break the ice.

Noel’s notes. As the Gaza genocide continues, it cannot be a happy 2025.  The Australian election as a game of cricket: cost of living is the issue, but does Nature bat last?     The good Germans and the good Jews.

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AUSTRALIA.  This talk of nuclear is a waste of time: Wind, solar and firming can clearly do the job. More Australian nuclear news at https://antinuclear.net/2024/12/26/australian-nuclear-news-24-30-december/

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NUCLEAR ITEMS

ATROCITIES. Israeli Attacks in Gaza Kill at Least 32 More Palestinians Over 24 Hours. Israel Is Killing Civilians In Gaza On Purpose, And It’s Not Even Debatable.

Gaza babies ‘freezing to death’ amid Israel’s inhumane blockade: UNRWA. All Of Western Civilization Owns This Genocide.

CULTURE and ART. Philosophy Against Nuclear Power.

ECONOMICS. As construction of first small modular reactor looms, prospective buyers wait for the final tally ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/12/28/1-a-as-construction-of-first-small-modular-reactor-looms-prospective-buyers-wait-for-the-final-tally/

British energy supplier Centrica is prepared to “walk away” from a planned investment in the Sizewell C nuclear plant. ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/12/26/1-b1-british-energy-supplier-centrica-is-prepared-to-walk-away-from-a-planned-investment-in-the-sizewell-c-nuclear-plant/

Labour donor Dale Vince urges ‘rigorous financial scrutiny’ of Sizewell C costs.

Fault puts nuclear power station offline over Christmas.

ENERGY. Why tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta are betting big on nuclear power.
ENVIRONMENT. High tide for Holtec
INDIGENOUS ISSUES. Ontario First Nation challenging selection of underground nuclear waste site in court
OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR . Villagers oppose proposed nuclear plant in Arasinkeri.
PERSONAL STORIES. Japan’s fishing town of Suttsu faces nuclear waste dilemma amid population decline.
POLITICS. Chris Hedges: How Fascism Came. FRANCE’S NUCLEAR ENERGY POLICY: A CHRONICLE OF FAILURE – FLAMANVILLE 3. Israel to Annex the West Bank – Why Now? And What are the Likely Scenarios?
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. How Ukraine is Helping the HTS Militants Who Overthrew Assad. The rise and fall of Sweden’s nuclear disarmament advocacy.

RADIATION. Did Israel explode a small nuclear bomb in Syria? Spike in radiation report says…

SAFETY. Jeremy Corbyn speaks out on danger of Trident in Scotland.

There’s a Major Problem With the Nuclear War Bunkers The Rich Are Buying.

Incidents. Workers Seek Shelter As Hanford Nuclear Complex Issues Leak Alert. Earthquake-prone Indonesia considers nuclear power plan as 29 possible plant sites revealed.

SECRETS and LIES.US-Funded Group Removes Report Warning of Famine in North Gaza After Complaint From US Ambassador.Black Money, Black Flags: How USAID Paved the Way for Syria’s Militant Takeover.No more research for genocide at MIT!Pentagon Admits It’s Been Lying About the Number of Troops in Both Iraq and Syria.’ References to ‘inducing a North Korean attack’ found in ex-military official’s notes.
WASTES. Northwestern Ontario nuclear waste site selection raises concerns.Second Fukushima nuclear sample removal eyed for March.Complex plan for dismantling UK’s 27 dead, rusting, radioactive nuclear submarines.
WAR and CONFLICT. US Military Supported Syrian Rebel Offensive That Toppled Assad Government.Who’d want to survive a nuclear war?Iranian lawmaker warns Israeli strike could push Tehran toward nuclear weapons.
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. The Guardian view on arms control: essential to prevent the total devastation of nuclear war. China sanctions US defense firms.

December 30, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

As the Gaza genocide continues, it cannot be a happy 2025

I’m sorry. I can’t rejoice over the New Year and all that stuff. How can we keep pretending – with bells and whistles and fireworks, and worthy preachings from pulpits and parliaments- that it’s all going to be better?

It’s not. It’s going to be worse. Many atrocities have occurred inthe past – and we’ve been shocked to hear about them – afterwards.

Now the atrocity is going on – in Gaza – and we know all about it, while it is happening.

I just remember, when I was a little kid – seeing pictures of Auschwitz. How could people be so cruel to other people? I couldn’t believe it.

I read The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank , who died at 15 in Auschwitz. Anne Frank had written in her diary “I still believe that people are really good at heart”. That quotation has sustained me for decades.

I wonder what Anne Frank would think about what the Israelis are doing in Gaza. Would she join the many Jews who are trying to make it stop – and are being called “anti-semitic”, some being arrested as “terrorists”?

Jonathon Cook, writing in Middle East Eye, describes how “the wilfully blind, which includes western politicians and their media, are still in denial” .  “The West Yawns” as each new research report spells out the genocide that is continuing:

“Nearly 15 months on, the Gaza genocide has become entirely normal, it has become just another minor, routine news item to be buried on the inside pages.”

” those accounts made no impact on the western political and media consensus. Nothing has stuck, even when it is the soldiers themselves documenting their atrocities, and even when it is Israeli Holocaust experts concluding that these crimes amount to genocide.’

The UN Special Committee found Israel’s warfare methods in Gaza to be consistent with genocide, including use of starvation as weapon of war.

Amnesty published a 296-page report concluding that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Human Rights Watch issued an 185-page report . Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)  issued its report, titled Life in the Death Trap That is Gaza.

Of course the USA government immediately rejected the conclusion that Israel is committing genocide. UK and other allies, and the global corporate media dutifully followed suit, and continue to do so.

In 2025, the genocide in Gaza draws to its final stages. It looks as if the global corporate media is going to sigh about it all, spout politicians’ pious statements about the suffering, remind us of the Hamas’ conducted atrocity in October 2023, and of Israel’s “right to defend itself”.

Billionaire- run corporations already dominate the Western media. In the presidency of Joe Biden, it has been bad enough, as Biden continued to support the export of U.S. weaponry to Israel, while his hypocritical Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said “all the right things” about seeking peace in Gaza.

I wish that I could predict an optimistic development for Gaza, given that there is so much international awareness of the genocide, so many respected researchers who expose it. But there’s the incoming Trump administration in the USA. Trump’s appointees regarding foreign policy and the Middle East form a string of longterm supporters of Israel. Mike Huckabee will be his ambassador to Israel, Marco Rubio his Secretary of State,  Steven Witkoff Special Envoy to the Middle East. A further complication, however, might be Trump’s relationship and strong business connections with Saudi Arabia which is not Israel’s best friend and still does not recognize Israeli sovereignty.

The power and influence of a Trump administration over the media is sure to create confusion in the public mind, about many things, but especially about Israel and Gaza. Trump is supposed to have some sort of complex plan for ending Israel’s war on Gaza, but it seems to boil down to open slather on the people of Gaza.

Amidst the confusion the media has a splendid ability to distract attention away from this Gaza horror, making us all, in away, complicit.

Still there are millions, world-wide, who know that this evil should be named and stopped

There will be continued international efforts, including legal ones, to demand a fair cessation of this war. Michael Lynk writes in AA about support for the Palestinians – “a  global movement of solidarity – particularly among the young – that will continue to inspire courageous thinking and bold acts. Its lasting impact should never be underestimated.”

December 29, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The good Germans and the good Jews

Right now is supposed to be a great festive time – but it has become a spectacle of consumerism. Yet it’ is still good to spend time with dear friends and family.

But it’s a bit hard to forget what is going on in the world.

And grist to the media’s mill is -all the awful things, and the horrors still being done in Gaza.

A Martian, looking down on this sorry human race (and its media), might conclude that it’s a failed species, with extinction as its best option. But a more thorough examination would reveal so many thousands of people trying to be helpful to each other, and some quite heroically so.

It is a good time to pay tribute to the good people.

First of all, I’m in admiration for all those good people – the doctors, nurses, and humanitarian helpers in Gaza, risking their lives as they try to save the children, women, and men of this persecuted community.

And there are those who risk their jobs, their reputations, even their lives to stand up to the prevailing narrative that the Israeli genocide of Palestinians is OK.

The good Germans.

I bet that there are few people who realise that, back in the 1930s and 40s, there were many Germans who fought, did what they could, to stop the Nazis’ genocide in the holocaust. Catrine Clay has documented this in her book THE GOOD GERMANS:

Many ordinary Germans found the courage to resist, in the full knowledge that they could be sentenced to indefinite incarceration, torture or outright execution. Catrine Clay argues that it was a much greater number than was ever formally recorded: teachers, lawyers, factory and dock workers, housewives, shopkeepers, church members, trade unionists, army officers, aristocrats, Social Democrats, Socialists and Communists.

The Jews were the prime, though not the only, victims of the Nazi atrocities.

The good Jews

It is ironic that now there are Jews, people like the members of Jewish Voice for Peace, who bravely speak up for the best in their religion and culture, and denounce the genocide. They take the risks, and are often the leaders in student and other demonstrations

In Europe Having suffered throughout history, Jewish peace activists told Euronews Jews should identify with the oppressed and defend their rights – “whoever that oppressor may be.”   In Germany there is Jüdische Stimme (Jewish Voice)

In Britain there is Na’amod, a movement of Jews who oppose what they call Israel’s policies of “occupation and apartheid” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. There’s also the Jewish Council of Australia.

These courageous people face opposition from Western governments that align with Netanyahu’s Israeli government. But that’s not all. They risk alienation from family and friends, and condemnation as “traitors” to the community. In Israel itself, perhaps a very few are aware of the Gaza situation: they would be readers of Haaretz the independent newspaper (which will no doubt soon be shut down by Netanyahu).

We need to honour these brave and intelligent people, and to remember that there are many thousands who, in various ways, resist the prevailing culture of greed and war-mongering.

December 24, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Week to 23 December – news counteracting the nuclear-military-industrial-media complex.

Some bits of good news 

– Incredible progress in reducing infant mortality in South Asia – UNICEF, 

India extended health coverage to millions of elderly citizens, The green economy defied sceptics

TOP STORIES

 Syria Today, Iran Tomorrow, and Inevitably China. 

Finding the Unmentionable: Amnesty International, Israel and Genocide.          Israel’s War on Gaza Is a War on Children. 

AI goes nuclear. 

SpaceX Wants to Increase Launches at Boca Chica Without a Full Environmental Review. 

Olkiluoto 3 has been a financial catastrophe for Areva, Siemens. 

Dutton said a reactor’s waste would fill a Coke can: Try 27,000 of them.

Climate. World’s largest iceberg on the move again after months spinning on the spot.

Noel’s notes. ‘Tis the season to be fake about nuclear power, AI, plastic leaves, and a lot of other things.

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AUSTRALIA. The LNP’s nuclear policy is working just fine.    Don’t want nuclear power’: Wild scenes as protestors storm Perth’s CBD during inquiry into nuclear energy. 

The Coalition is playing voters for mugs once again with its nuclear costings.      Coalition’s nuclear plan will hit Earth with 1.7bn extra tonnes of CO2 before 2050.         The glaring gaps and unanswered questions in the Coalition’s nuclear plan and costings. More Australian nuclear news headlines at https://antinuclear.net/2024/12/17/australian-nuclear-news-headlines-17-23-december/

NUCLEAR ITEMS

ART and CULTURE. Power, control and symbolic masculinity: How Freud might diagnose the pro nuclear lobby
ATROCITIES. Israel’s Crime of Extermination, Acts of Genocide in Gaza.
CLIMATE. Major report joins dots between world’s nature challenges.
ECONOMICS.Privatizing Syria: US Plans to Sell Off A Nation’s Wealth After Assad.U.S. Corporate Land Grab in Ukraine Underlies War With Russia.France’s most powerful nuclear reactor joins grid after €13bn holdup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32XKveP01x4Foreign company withdraws from plans for Swedish nuclear power. 
ENVIRONMENT. Risky Revival: How Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plant could impact agriculture . Will the legacy of nuclear power ever disappear from our coasts?.
LEGAL. Nuclear company Orano seeks arbitration over Niger mining licence.
POLITICS. Martial Law Fiasco Casts Doubt Over Korea’s Nuclear Power Push. Starmer backs minister accused of embezzling billions in Bangladesh.
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. Israel, not the ‘liberators’ of Damascus, will decide Syria’s fate. Blinken Confirms the US Is in Direct Contact With al-Qaeda-Linked HTS. Blinded to Syria. How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus.

SAFETY.

SECRETS and LIES. “I don’t care if its tainted money”: Council leader’s telling admission in Nuclear Waste Services cash grab debate.
SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. US Space Force conducts ‘simulated on-orbit combat’ training.
TECHNOLOGY. Nuclear shipping will face significant challenges.

Decommissioning. ‘Long journey ahead’ for nuclear plant clean-up. Final German nuclear power plant enters dismantling phase.

WAR AND CONFLICT On Ukraine war, will Trump channel JFK or LBJ? Pentagon admits massive surge of US troops in Syria. Overnight Israeli Strike In Syria So Large It Caused Earthquake. Trump And Israel Can’t Wait To Start Bombing Iran.
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. With no real enemies, US poised to spend $1.8 trillion for national security in 2025. Despite 100% Pentagon Audit Failure Rate, House Passes $883.7 Billion NDAA. Israel’s not-so-secret nuclear weapons.

December 23, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Counteracting the nuclear-corporate- military-media complex -week to 16 December

Some bits of good news – 

Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun, have received a joint Nobel Peace Prize nomination this year.  Growing Corn in the Desert,No Irrigation Required.The Benefits of Gardening Just Keep Sprouting.


TOP STORIES . Trump Transition Team Considering Strikes on Iran.      Inside Israel’s opportunistic invasion of Syria.       Chilling Warnings for Syria: When Foreign Interventions Go Bad.           From ‘Terrorist’ to ‘Freedom Fighter’: How the West Rebranded Al-Qaeda’s Jolani as Syria’s ‘Woke’ New Leader.

Climate. Climate crisis deepens with 2024 ‘certain’ to be hottest year on record. Antarctica is in crisis and we are scrambling to understand its future.

Noel’s notes. Australia’s coming Dutton-deluge of nuclear propaganda. The legal decision on the Murdoch media – what does it mean for us?

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AUSTRALIA. Solar switch off: Dutton’s nuclear plan amounts to declaration of war against household energy systems. Biggest losers from Coalition’s nuclear plan will be Australia’s 4 million solar households, industry says. The Coalition’s master plan: Bring large scale wind, solar and battery storage installations to a halt. 

Dutton to reveal just how much he’s gambling on nuclear power. Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan: Mad, bad, and extremely dangerous. 

How anger at Australia’s rollout of renewables is being hijacked by a new pro-nuclear network .      Inquiry into nuclear power generation in Australia: Exposing Ted O’Brien’s dishonesty. Advance’s plan to destroy the Greens. Nuclear Neverland: The Lost Boys of Costings | The West Report -masse? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSeaybp9oAA   

 Peter Dutton in his ignorance is pushing nuclear reactors in Australia – including small nuclear reactors.  

Netanyahu and Australia. More Australian nuclear news at https://antinuclear.net/2024/12/13/australian-nuclear-news-10-16-december

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NUCLEAR ITEMS

ATROCITIES. Finding the Unmentionable: Amnesty International, Israel and Genocide.
CLIMATE. France’s New Nuclear Power Plant Is a Ticking Bomb.
ECONOMICS. Ed Miliband to bring more misery for Brits and send bills skyrocketing. Nuclear Stocks Were Super Hot Just A Month Ago: What’s Changed? France deal raises concerns over EDF dominance – Collective intelligence or failure?
EDUCATION. Congress Revives Cold War Tactics With New Anti-Communism School Curriculum
ENERGY. Murder, mayhem, and minerals: The price of the renewable energy revolution.
A nuclear-free energy future for Hydro-Québec, says Michael Sabia.

ENVIRONMENT.

MEDIA. US mainstream media missed biggest news story of 2024 . Rupert Murdoch loses his legal battle, leaving future of media empire in the balance. Why Murdoch’s succession case could be major blow to his rightwing legacy. Book: The Scientists Who Alerted Us To The Dangers of Radiation.
OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR . New generation must take up fight against nuclear weapons, Nobel laureate group says.

POLITICS.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.

SAFETY. Rocket fuel eating away at US, China nuclear weapons. Drone strikes UN vehicle on way to inspect Ukrainian nuclear plant.
SECRETS and LIES. Some Thoughts On The Mystery Drones.Anyone Can Buy Data Tracking US Soldiers and Spies to Nuclear Vaults and Brothels in Germany.
SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. Remember the dark skies?
SPINBUSTER. Atomic revival: A new age for nuclear?
URANIUM. How a uranium mine became a pawn in the row between Niger and France.

WAR and CONFLICT.

December 17, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. Australia’s coming Dutton-deluge of nuclear propaganda

 Australian Independent Media, 14 Dec 24,https://theaimn.com/australias-coming-deluge-of-nuclear-propaganda/

There’s something dramatically splendid about King Louis XV of France’s famous statement in 1757 – “After me, the deluge”, interpreted to mean that he knew his reign would leave France in a terrible mess, but meanwhile, let’s enjoy the wealth and fun.

Well, I’m not sure that the predicted election win in Australia for the Liberal-National Coalition will result in wealth and fun, but I think that its aftermath will be a mess.

But, in the meantime, as Peter Dutton has now delivered the Coalition’s statement on the costs of its nuclear power plan, Australia can expect a deluge of another kind – the pro-nuclear propaganda. Australia has had a preview of how this will work, in 2023, with the highly successful campaign to defeat the referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

One must give due credit to an American influence – the Atlas Network – for perfecting the spin system. To very briefly outline the work of the Atlas Network: it is a global infrastructure of 500+ ‘Think-Tanks’ including the Centre for Independent Studies, the Institute of Public Affairs and LibertyWorks. Posing as impartial advisers, these “Think Tanks” provide reports and articles designed to direct governments and educational and other social organisations towards policies that improve the profits of big corporations, and remove barriers to their profits. The barriers would be regulations, especially those involved with protecting the environment, and the rights of Indigenous people.

Apart from some funding, and training support, the real focus of the Atlas Network is on LANGUAGE – teaching the stink tanks how to use words to manipulate thinking. George Orwell alerted the world to the way in which fascism uses language, and wrote of “Newspeak”. Now the Atlas Network perfects the method – repetitively using vague and deceptive words to convey a lying message that is aimed at molding public opinion.

Sometimes these words are straight out lies: sometimes just vague words in which the meaning is distorted. The word “elite” is a good example – now used to discredit scientists and other experts so that the public comes to distrust them, and to rubbish their opinions, and their reports, particularly about regulations to protect the environment and Indigenous rights.

FEAR is indeed the currency of the Atlas Network. Fear and distrust of regulations, of officers and organisations involved in human rights and environmental protection. So these stink tanks work to weaken laws, and discredit agencies of human support – such as the United Nations.

Side by side with those messages of fear, come the lying messages of reassurance – for example the story that global heating is not happening, or, if it is, it has nothing to do with human activities such as greenhouse gas emissions. So we don’t need to worry or to do anything to stop these emissions. So we are reassured that nuclear power is “clean “green” “safe” “cheap” “nothing to do with weapons”.

Jeremy Walker explained the process by which the Atlas Network architecture of influence operated in the lead-up to the Voice referendum in 2023.

But we mustn’t let the Americans take all the glory for destroying the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. We have our own Australian spin network – called “Advance”, (sometimes “Advance Australia”). Advance has been around for some years. Financially and ideologically backed by a group of prominent business leaders, Advance’s membership and funding is obscure. Like Atlas, it teaches the think tanks, and some universities, how to word misinformation campaigns about climate change, indigenous rights, and nuclear power. It also spreads these messages via the conventional, and the social media, especially Facebook. Advance is at present working strenuously to discredit and destroy The Greens, the only political party genuinely opposing the nuclear industry.

So – how to deal with the deluge?

Australia has some fine journalists in the mainstream and the alternative media. They are already pointing out the flaws in the Coalition’s argument for nuclear power. Cost seems to be the main one: it is noted that Dutton’s costing is refuted by the CSIRO and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Other big factors are delay, the increased greenhouse emissions, the opposition of some rural communities.

So Australia’s reputable commentators are doing a good job, in shining light on what is now the Coalition’s big election policy – nuclear power for Australia.

The anti-nuclear movement has a history of respectfully answering peo-nuclear proponents, sometimes in the same detailed jargonistic language that nuclear physicists and engineers prefer to use. At the political and academic level, they have done so well, providing effective information and detail. However, apart from Helen Caldicott, no-one has been game to spit it out forcefully to the great unwashed. The result is that – being ‘dazzled with science’, we ordinary mortals are inclined to just give up, and “leave it to the experts”.

Australia, the only continent with one national government, is blessed with world-leading renewable energy resources, and is already well on the way to genuinely clean energy, especially in rooftop solar. Australia now has the opportunity to lead the world in this. Our nuclear-free movement can promote the consciousness of a positive clean energy future for Australia, by using clear, forceful, jargon-free messages.

My worry is that there will now be a well-funded barrage of simplistic pro-nuclear propaganda -that will reach people everywhere, of all levels, especially in the outer suburbs and the regions – where everybody is watching Facebook, YouTube etc, and where in the ‘mainstream’, Murdoch media dominates anyway.

Will the nuclear-free movement be able to counteract the Atlas/Advance language methods? Atlas/Advance are so very good at it – using brief, repetitive, misleading language.They have the “hooray” words – “justice”, “life”, “freedom” and those “positives” – “clean” “green” etc. They have the “negatives” – “Hitler, “taxes” – and words used negatively “elites” “bureaucrat”, “government official” and “public servant”. And as well, they use vague, really, almost meaningless words – that waffle, weaken, and obscure the argument- “may” “can” “could” “might”, “arguably”.

We don’t know when the federal election will take place. At the moment, Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan is receiving much media scepticism. But it’s very early days. Advance is already swinging into action – starting with the anti-Greens campaign. The deluge will follow in no time.

But – I’m hoping that sensible people across Australia will have learned from the debacle of the Voice referendum. There are some very sound and thoughtful people out in the regions – where Dutton says that nuclear reactors will be placed, and these people are already resisting in a clear and practical way.

December 14, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Counteracting the nuclear-military-corporate-media – week to 9 December

Some bits of good news:China completes its own version of a Great Green Wall.    Christian institutions divest from fossil fuels.    Incredible progress on AIDS for Africa and India .


TOP STORIES. Amnesty International investigation concludes Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza .

Gender and radiation: New report shows girls most at-risk group.
Biden’s Nuclear Going Out of Business Sale.

Climate . Just listen to Radio Ecoshock – it is way ahead of everyone else in climate information. Just Shut Up about Climate. Countdown to an ice-free Arctic:New research warns of accelerated timelines. Younger people at greater risk of heat-related deaths this century – study.

Plastic pollution. ‘Big Oil must be dancing for joy‘: Anger builds at failure to deliver Global Plastics Treaty. ‘The process is broken’: Major oil producing countries kill UN plastics treaty over cap on production.

Noel’s notes.  Misplaced jubilation as UK’s old brittle nuclear reactors allowed to crack on   Surprise ! surprise! – the nuclear lobby has co-opted an ex-politician with a dubious history – Tony Blair.

Plastic pollution. International talks on curbing plastic pollution fail to reach agreement.

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AUSTRALIA.
 The question of nuclear in Australia’s electricity sector
. Nuclear energy questioned again as new CSIRO report finds it will push up power prices. A sneak preview of Peter Dutton’s nuclear costings. 
Peter Dutton cops backlash over push to build seven nuclear power stations in Australia. The seven ways the Federal Coalition could cook the books on nuclear costings

Nuclear energy debate draws stark gender split in Australia ahead of next year’s election.

 Nuclear energy inquiry draws emotional response in Port Augusta. 

Senior Netanyahu Adviser Served in Victorian Court facing Genocide Charges. ‘Nothing to see here’ says Australia as third Thales corruption case starts globally. More Australian nuclear news headlines at https://antinuclear.net/2024/12/03/australian-nuclear-news-2-9th-december/

NUCLEAR ITEMS.

ATROCITIES. Gaza’s Civil Defense Says Nearly 100 Killed by Israeli Attacks Over 24 Hours
ECONOMICS. Tony Blair is wrong to love nuclear energy -ALSO AT …. Why NuScale Power Stock Slumped Today. Key partner quits EDF’s Nuward small nuclear reactor project- ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/12/06/1-b1-tony-blair-is-wrong-to-love-nuclear-energy/
UK Seeks More Investors as Sizewell Funding Talks Drag On. Starmer to court United Arab Emirates for British nuclear power investment.
EDUCATION. Midlands Regional Hub for Nuclear Skills officially launched.
ENERGY.The LA Times Makes the Case for Shutting the Diablo Canyon Nukes.Meta misguided in calling for massive nuclear energy scale-up.Baseload power generators not needed to guarantee supply, say science and engineering academies.Cost of switching off UK wind farms soars to ‘absurd’ £1bn.
ENVIRONMENT. Radioactive sea spray is dosing communities.
ETHICS and RELIGION. What happened to integrity and honor in the age of Technocracy?
HEALTH. Cancer mortality in the USA and atmospheric nuclear weapons test fallout ratio – Identifying the principal origin of the global cancer epidemic.Relationship Between Urinary Uranium and Cardiac Geometry and Left Ventricular Function: The Strong Heart Study.
INDIGENOUS ISSUES. Nuclear industry selects site in northwestern Ontario for waste disposal amidst regional opposition.
LEGAL. Campaigners lose bid to challenge Sizewell C licence decision in High Court.
POLITICS. The First Seven Billionaires Trump Has Tapped for Top Jobs. Gabbard has more intelligence than entire Intelligence Service she’s slated to head. Trump’s Pro-Israel Dream Team: Patel Nomination Caps Hawkish Cabinet.
Britain’s Energy Secretary Follows Tech Giants In Pursuit Of New Nuclear Power Stations
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.Assad Is Out, Woke Al-Qaeda Is In.
Zelensky Says He’s Willing To Cede Territory in Exchange for NATO Protection. Biden to Zelensky: ‘Our $210 billion not enough…send 18 year olds to die in our Russian proxy war.
Iran’s uranium enrichment ‘worrisome’ – nuclear watchdog.
SAFETY. EDF set to extend life of UK nuclear plants as Government replacement plans falter. EDF Brings Sizewell Back Online, Balancing UK’s Nuclear Grid. Delays to nuclear plants giving Sizewell B a new lease of life – ALSO AThttps://nuclear-news.net/?s=Delays+to+nuclear+plants
UK underestimates threat of cyber-attacks from hostile states and gangs, says security chief.Drugs found in control room at Dungeness Nuclear Power Station.
NRC Finds Apparent SecurityViolations at Pilgrim.
SPINBUSTER. Tony Blair think tank says UK needs to build new nuclear ‘at pace’ -ALSO AT  https://nuclear-news.net/2024/12/06/1-a-tony-blair-think-tank-says-uk-needs-to-build-new-nuclear-at-pace/
. TONY BLAIR: STILL A NUCLEAR NUTTER!
TECHNOLOGY. Hinkley update: mixed reaction as first reactor drops into place.
The Moltex Reactor and used CANDU Fuel.
URANIUM. Niger takes control of French nuclear firm’s uranium mining operations.
Green Group Sounds Alarm Over Meta’s Nuclear Power Plans
WASTES.Backfilling of Gorleben salt mine (former German nuclear waste dump) starts.Putin’s huge, rusting nuclear battlecruisers symbolise Russian naval decline.Lincolnshire county councillors demand answers on Nuclear Waste Services’ (NWS) proposed Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) at Theddlethorpe. Canada’s nuclear waste problem is not solved . Licensing of Finnish repository further delayed.Decommissioning: Explosives speed Sizewell A turbine hall decommissioning.
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. These Billionaires Subsidize the Israeli Military Through a US Nonprofit. We used to laugh at North Korean nuclear submarine boasts- Not any more.
The growing arsenals.

WAR and CONFLICT.  Netanyahu Takes Credit for Assad’s Overthrow, Israel Seizes Golan Heights ‘Buffer Zone’

December 9, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. Misplaced jubilation as UK’s old brittle nuclear reactors allowed to crack on

Joy and delight expressed by one corporate media outlet after another, as they report the announcement from (debt-laden) French nuclear company EDF that four UK nuclear power stations will be allowed to crack on, way past their use-by date.

“Crack” is the operative word here. Take for example, the Torness nuclear reactor in East Lothian – with 46 cracks in the nuclear core reported last July. It was scheduled to close in 2023.

Hunterston B, in North Ayshire is at long last to be decommissioned. In 2020  one of its reactors had an estimated 377 cracks, while the other had 209.  The reactors were beginning to crumble, with cracks causing at least 58 fragments and pieces of debris to break off.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR has said that cracking could cause debris to inhibit vital cooling of highly radioactive reactor fuel. This can lead to a reactor meltdown, which can result in the escape of radioactivity to the environment.

Nobody in the prevailing establishment – corporate media, politicians, industry executives – nobody is facing up to the huge problem and huge cost of dismantling dangerous old nuclear reactors – so much better to pretend that it’s the charitable thing to just keep them going, Then it’s “jobs jobs jobs” and “community benefit” and “clean cheap energy” and “improved safety” “isn’t it wonderful” So say EDF 4th Dec 2024, the BBC, and Business Green 4th Dec 2024, and  New Civil Engineer 4th Dec 2024, and Independent 3rd Dec 2024, The Herald,  Lancs Live 4th Dec 2024.

Nary a word about the costs and dangers of the transport of radioactive materials, the ever-growing piles on nuclear wastes, the risks of terrorist attacks – and the completely unethical postponing of problems – just leave them for future generations to cope with.

Not nearly as much fuss was made about  the world’s largest liquid air energy facility to be built at Hunterston – to store renewable energy, and provide 1000 jobs in the construction phase and 650 jobs in the local supply chain by its completion in 2030.

I try to be polite – but I empathise with Sir Jonathon Espie Porritt, 2nd Baronet, CBE  who has just got so fed up with the cheerful glowing stories about prolonging the lives of decrepit nuclear reactors – “the whole deep nuclear state working away behind the scenes – as well as the UK’s astonishingly gullible media which just goes along with all this nuclear crap, year after year after year.“

December 7, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. Fantasies for 2025 – perhaps the nuclear one tops the list?

I mean – there’s a lot of competition for this title – top fantasy. There’s the fantastic possibility that all will go well with Donald Trump in power in the USA. That’s a big one seeing that we have a narcissisitic sociopath at the top, appointing a bunch of other narcissistic sociopaths, all of whom are singularly unsuited to their jobs, and who probably don’t trust each other, and certainly don’t trust Trump.

There’s the fantasy that the ruling Great Powers are actually going to do anything real about reducing fossil fuel emissions, or really helping the indigenous peoples who are most affeced by global heating.

Then there’s the plastic one. The same Great Powers are happy to allow those same fossil fuel companies to churn out plastic, while they make pious motherhood statements about the fantasy of “recycling” and somehow or other “disposing” of plastic wastes. They’d love to have all that toxic crap dumped on poor indigenous people too. But – at least, there’s a certain democracy about plastic wastes – as teensy weensy bits of plastic are in every organ of our bodies now, including the brain.

Still, I’m backing the nuclear industry fantasy to trump Trump and climate and plastic pollution for the fantasy of the year.

As to public realisation of these fantasies – there is a general uneasiness about the coming Trump administration.

And across the world 87% of people know that climate change is real, and are concerned about it. Public awareness of plastic pollution is growing too, especially in the USA. But the public are still using the fossil fuel products – and in order to cope with global heating, are turning on air-conditioners fuelled by fossil fuels. People are aware, but they don’t know how to stop it. So the corporate polluters are happy.

But nuclear power had a bad name, over previous decades. It really has been a huge challenge for this industry to turn all that around, to keep their profits thriving , and to have nuclear portrayed as a public good.

The well-paid minions of the nuclear industry have done an excellent job in conning the public, world-wide. They had to work hard to overcome nuclear’s history of accidents, bungles, and failed projects, not to mention how it has proliferated weapons of mass destruction.

Then, from strenuously not believing in Climate Change, the nuke lobby did a flip – with the inspired realisation that they could pretend that Nuclear Power is the Cure for Climate Change.

Well, it’s not the cure for climate change -nor for energy shortage, and it’s not “cheap” nor “clean”.

But the industry faces other huge problems, too. Nuclear publicists studiously avoid the topic of the cost of shutting down, and pulling down, nuclear reactors and then dealing with the toxic wastes. It’s supposed to be cheaper and better to “extend the lives” of crappy old nuclear reactors with their embrittled and cracked pipes. I think that the well-paid engineers, executives, politicians, trade union leaders, and media nuclear “experts” are all figuring that it’d be better if the “decommissioning” were to take place conveniently, long after their own retirement or death.

So the expensive horror of dealing with the tail end of the nuclear industry is a topic not to be discussed. Nor is the horror of nuclear war – with its weapons provided by the nuclear industry -and promoted by the ever-more profitable arms manufacturers. The “peaceful commercial nuclear industry is an essential part of this.

So – what is acceptable to discuss?

Well, it’s the “energy miracle” of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors” (SMRs). “Start-ups” for SMRs popping up all over the place (though some of them are quietly closing). The whole idea is that these, so far mythical, beasts will be commercially viable. However, Governments have always propped nuclear ventures up well, with various subsidies and tax exemptions. China and Russia solved the problem, with government ownership of the industry. France did too, though that’s not working too well. Now the British Labour government has “Great British Nuclear” set up as a government run venture- (by a conservative party that’s supposed to hate socialism.)

So – in a clearly non-commercially-viable venture, the tax-payer is to save the day.

Paul Brown sets out the whole sorry story, in particular for the UK. He explains the work of two pesky academics Prof. Stephen Thomas and Prof. Andy Blowers and their report  – “It is time to expose the Great British Nuclear Fantasy once and for all.” The costs and delays of the Hinkley Point C big nuclear project, the planned Sizewell one, the £20 billion plan for unbuilt, untested SMRs – these are exposed, and make the pro-nuclear propaganda look absurd.

Yet the propaganda goes on. The big names in nuclear – Rafael Grossi, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos keep right on, maintaining the fallacy that all is well with the global nuclear industry, – and their sycophants in politics and media rebleat their message.

Thank you, Paul Brown, for explaining this so succinctly – if only the facts could be clearly set out in the mainstream media – and the public would not swallow the Kool-Aid. But of course, it won’t be, – the fantasy will prevail – until the shit finally hits the fan.

December 3, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

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