nuclear-news

Climate and Nuclear News: week to 2nd April

Serious indeed, as the nuclear threat is, the climate change threat is upon the world right now, and it’s accelerating.  Paul Beckwith’s videos explain how Every spring, for the past 25 years, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) releases their State of the Climate report. This years edition clearly shows how dire our climate situation is becoming e.  While the rich world braces for future climate change, the poor world is already being devastated by it.   It’s also an issue of generational injustice with the children at the losing end of this betrayal.

The unique role of the Earth Journalism Network (EJN).

Research group finds that ending the USA-Russia arms pact will bring about a nuclear weapons race.  The huge financial risks of nuclear incidents.

Age and Gender Bias in Radiation Research.

USA. 

• Trump’s ?ultimatum piece of paper to Kim Jong Un – insulting and provocative. U.S.
• Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, approved 6 secret nuclear technology companies’ sales to Saudi Arabia.   Concerns in USA Congress as the Trump administration OKs nuclear energy transfers to Saudi Arabia.
• Trump budget for fiscal year 2020 to spend up big on nuclear weapons.
• 15 USA senators re-introduce bill to promote new nuclear reactors.    Government funding for dodgy Westinghouse “micro-reactor”.
•  Three Mile Island nuclear accident exposed residents to far more radiation than officials claimed. 40 Years Ago: US President Jimmy Carter Pushed For Renewable Energy Funding After Three Mile Island Nuclear Disaster.
• The very dangerous history of making plutonium weapons triggers – “pits” at Rocky Flats.
• Unanswered questions about the decommissioning of Pilgrim Nuclear Plant.
• Earthquake dangers near nuclear materials store at Nevada National Security Site.
• Denver-based Professional Case Management suing federal govt over delaying process in nuclear workers’ access to care.
• Fukushima Radioactive Contamination Detected in Northern Bering Sea Alaska.
• Eleven nuclear resisters with the Pacific Life Community were arrested, More arrests at Des Moines.
• Chelsea Manning back in prison after refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigating Wikileaks.

JAPAN. “Tokyo 2020 – The Radioactive Olympics“.    Behind the Scenes / Labor shortage plagues nuclear industry.  ‘Shocked’ Fukushima evacuees say Tepco ruling fails to fairly compensate them for suffering.  Japanese people have turned away from nuclear power.

UK. UK Parliament: protesters disrupt Brexit debate by baring bottoms over inaction on climate change.  The insanity of building Sizewell nuclear power station on the beach.

IRELAND. Nuclear Resisters .

BELGIUM. Nuclear resisters. Members of European Parliament among 16 arrested at Belgian air base where U.S. nuclear weapons are stored.

NETHERLANDS. Catastrophic insect declines in Europe: butterfly numbers have fallen dramatically in Netherlands.

CANADA.  Proof now clear with evidence that Canadian government lied about the SNC Lavalin corruption case

INDIA.  India is waking up from nuclear energy dream, as renewables become safer, cheaper.

SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia announces 2.6GW solar project near Mecca .

April 2, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

This week, in climate and nuclear news

Why single out one ecological disaster – when there are so many? I originally dedicated this weekly post to nuclear issues. Now it’s hard to prioritise nuclear.  We have the biodiversity crash now going on, and picking up speed. Climate change is always there -its most notable expression this week is in the drowning of Mozambique.

A huge global wake-up call- the human devastation of climate change.

Drastic decline in insect numbers – the bugocalypse.

Small and Medium Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) – cost estimates, and what they cost to build.  The sorry history of small nuclear power reactors.

AFRICA. Cyclone Idai Lays Bare Deadly Reality of Climate Change in Africa.

SOUTH KOREA. Limits to South Korean President Moon’s ability to negotiate US-N. Korea nuclear deal.

UK. Strong opposition in Holywell County Council to hosting nuclear waste dump.  Despite £1 million just to listen , UK County Councillors not keen to host nuclear waste dump. Sizewell C and nuclear accidents. Bradwell B nuclear project – a risk to UK’s national security? The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) dismiss the need for Sizewell C nuclear station, and call for renewables.  Dangers of nuclear weapons convoys travelling through Northampton. Fukushima 8th Anniversary: 2 events in London.

BRAZIL. Brazil’s former president Michel Temer arrested on charges of corruption relating to Angra 3 nuclear plant.  Nuclear convoy in Brazil attacked by armed men.

USA.

• The nuclear industry mislead and misinformed the public about the Three Mile Island nuclear accident.
• Residents around Three Mile Island nuclear accident exposed to far more radiation than officials claimed.
• Trump tried to close federal loan program, but now wants it to fund Vogtle nuclear station!  Too cheap to meter – nuclear now needs a bailout? Despite recently renewed licences, Texas nuclear power stations look like closing before long. Pro nuclear governor and lawmakers to bail out Ohio nuclear plants?
• American nuclear lobby keen to market new nuclear reactors to overseas, to anyone!
• U.S. accuses Iran of plotting to restart nuclear weapons program.
• A battle in U.S. Congress over the extremely costly nuclear weapons modernisation.  Communities, lawmakers call for action to reduce nuclear threat.  Veterans Demand Congress End the Forever Wars.
• Proposed cuts to Hanford funding unacceptable.

FRANCE. French Nuclear test victim ordered to repay compensation. Earthquake in France, not that far away from nuclear reactors. Orano (makeover of bankrupt AREVA ) not getting anywhere in selling nuclear reprocessing plant to China.

CANADA. Ontario’s govt about to sabotage energy saving systems, – in the interests of the nuclear lobby.

JAPAN.  Cost of the Fukushima nuclear disaster estimated at up to 81 trillion yen.    To increase energy self-sufficiency after the 2011 nuclear disaster, renewables are Japan’s only option. REMEMBERING Katsuko Saruhashi THE TRAILBLAZING SCIENTIST WHO UNCOVERED NUCLEAR FALLOUT IN THE PACIFIC.

MIDDLE EAST.  In the Middle East, world’s most volatile region, nuclear power is taking off – what could possibly go wrong?

ISRAEL. UN raps Israel’s use of ‘unlawful force’ against Gazans .

SOUTH AFRICA. Energy expert dismisses Zuma’s nuclear deal comment.

SPAIN. Power firms agree on route to close Spain’s oldest nuclear plant.

March 27, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 2 Comments

The week in Climate and Nuclear news

Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs

The various human-caused threats to life on this Earth are becoming more apparent. Sometimes, it seems almost silly to separate them out -as climate change, pollution, deforestation etc, as they all add up to one grand global human disrespect for nature. The latest U.N. study reports loss of biodiversity as a even greater crisis than climate change.

It’s a global disgrace, that it’s been left to children to take the lead on climate action. World wide climate protests, by hundreds of thousands of school students. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtZ12FOat_8

Southern African States, Mozambique, Zimbabwe,  are now devastated by Cyclone Idai.  Sure, they’ve had cyclones before, but climate change is increasing the intensity, to record levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S5RlM7KGZI

On the nuclear scene, one veteran correspondent asks  “Who will be the world’s next nuclear policeman?”, as USA abandons its historic role as  the world’s chief advocate for de-nuclearis.ation.  Meanwhile, Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton leads us back to the Nuclear Precipice. Trump’s USA is committed to dominating the world – heading for weapons in space. 

Over 1.4 million young people went on strike for climate action.  Mary Robinson, international climate badass, on why green solutions require a feminist lens.

JAPAN. 

• Eight years after triple meltdowns and explosions at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, major problems remain and many impacts are yet to manifest.   Fukushima radioactive water – a million tons, and still coming.  Court absolves government of blame in nuclear disaster. Fukushima forests contain ‘most of 2011 accident cesium’.  Congenital heart disease operations rose 14% after Fukushima nuclear accident.    Fukushima grapples with toxic soil that no one wants.  ‘Recovery Olympics’ moniker for 2020 Games rubs 3/11 evacuees the wrong way. Most evacuees under 50 from three Fukushima towns near nuclear disaster have no plan to return.  Fall in numbers of children in Fukushima municipalities.  Fukushima Prefecture to lose 15 high schools, due to population decline.
• Japan’s Tepco fights for return to nuclear power after Fukushima. TEPCO takes risk over soaring costs at Tokai nuclear plant.  Yamaguchi court rejects residents’ call to halt last Ikata nuclear reactor in Ehime Prefecture.

INDIA. Indian military confirms deployment of nuclear subs amid rising tensions with Pakistan.

USA.

• Democrats propose policy to use nuclear weapons only in response to attack. Democrat presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard calls for end of ‘wasteful wars,’ nuclear tension. Senators want probe of Trump admin nuclear energy talks with Saudi Arabia.
• Nuclear power plants under threat from climate change. The incessant statement that nuclear is “carbon free” is untrue, and the nuclear industry knows it.
• Trump to the rescue of nuclear industry – $3.7 billion in aid for troubled Vogtle nuclear project.  Nuclear industry pushes for weaker regulations:NRC Board dominated by Trump appointees.
• Continuing concern over thyroid and other cancers, due to Three Mile Island nuclear accident. Changes in Congenital Anomaly Incidence in West Coast and Pacific States (USA) after Arrival of Fukushima Fallout .
• Trump administration plans to cut spending on Hanford nuclear waste clean-up.  USA Government Accounting Office reports lack of financial oversight at Hanford and other nuclear sites.
• USA pushing mini-nuclear reactors for military reasons.
•  Chelsea Manning – an American hero! Daniel Ellsberg explains.
• Nebraska nuclear station  threatened by flooding, as Missouri River continued to rise. The climate change “generation gap” .  The children’s climate fight is a fight against despair.  How Leonardo DiCaprio is fighting climate change with finance.

NORTH KOREA. The merits of letting North Korea keep its nuclear weapons, for now.

UK. UK Labour undermines renewable energy pledges with state ownership plan for new nuclear power plant.  UK pledges to fully fund EU nuclear-fusion facility.  EDF Energy extends outages at UK’s Hunterston B nuclear plant.  Are the UK’s cracked Hunterston nuclear reactors safe?  UK communities not convinced by bribes to host nuclear waste. UK govt’s health study of nuclear veterans – but they’ve lost half the records.

RUSSIA. Danger in Russia’s nuclear- powered icebreakers parked at Murmansk.

BRAZIL. Nuclear transport trucks in the thick of gang gunfire in Brazil.

IRELAND. Irish Council opposes dumping of UK’s nuclear waste in any part of Ireland.

ROMANIA. NuScale includes Romania in its desperate search for taxpayer funding for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.

NORWAY. Teenage Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Has Been Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

March 21, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

11 March – news on this Fukushima anniversary week

Today we remember the catastrophe at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station, and the fact that this is a continuing disaster for that local area, for Japan, and for the world.  Eight years later, Fukushima nuclear wreck is still resulting in mounting tons of radioactive water, with no solution in sight. Japan continues its  culture of cover-up and denial about this national tragedy. An indigenous leader continues the fight for the truth on Fukushima’ s radioactive impact on the world, and condemns the University of California, for its role in the cover-up and denial of the seriousness of the situation. Eight Years on, the Fukushima  disaster still poses health risks.  “Recovery Olympics” does not impress everyone.

Nuclear insanity – education is desperately needed to alert the world to the nuclear weapons danger.  IAEA calls for more funding for its safeguards activities. The very dubious “market” for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.

Global politics made more dangerous by climate change.

Rising temperatures threaten health of fetuses, researchers say.  On this warming planet, mosquito-borne diseases are increasing. Climate change and the uncertain future for migratory birds.  Mining company Glencore behind global campaign to undermine climate change information.

ARCTIC. Melting of Arctic sea ice will greatly enhance warming in Arctic.

INDIA. Nuclear threat still hangs over India and Pakistan.

KASHMIR. People of Kashmir – stuck in a dangerous, potentially nuclear, conflict.

JAPAN. The stigma continues, however much the propaganda spouts about the Fukushima nuclear ‘recovery‘. “Ice wall” – the effort to contain Fukushima’s radiation. Fukushima No. 1 storage tanks hold 1.1 million tons of treated water.   Fukushima nuclear workers still facing radiation danger, eight years on. Accusations of scientific misconduct concern city in Japan. 8 Years On: Tainted Soil Use Plan Draws Backlash from Fukushima Residents.    Schools refitted in Fukushima, but enrolment remains dismal. Former PM Junichiro Koizumi now a formidable foe to the nuclear industry.

UK. The future of Britain’s Hinkley C nuclear project is in doubt.   Misleading inaccuracies in BBC report on Hunterston nuclear reactors.  Europe’s oldest nuclear reactors, with cracks in their barrels, Hunterston B – should not be restarted.  Ceredigion County Council has reiterated a long-standing nuclear-free commitment.

SAUDI ARABIA. International Atomic Agency would require Saudi Arabia to have the same nuclear safeguards as Iran has.

EUROPE. Nuclear lobby groups Foratom and Romatom propagandise for nuclear – at “climate-friendly” event.

LITHUANIA. Lithuania wants Belarus to convert its Russian-built nuclear power plant to gas.

SOUTH KOREA. South Korean President Moon Jae-in praised North Korea’s offer to dismantle a key nuclear production complex.

USA. 

• A former US missile-launch officer says Trump’s nuclear policy could get us all killed. U.S, Navy accelerates production of attack submarines.
• Act introduced to U.S. Congress- would stop Federal Govt from imposing a nuclear waste dump on any State.
• Mobile nuclear reactors for U.S. army -‘a COLOSSAL mistake’ – could bring about World War 3.
• A billion dollar bailout for Three Mile Island Nuclear Station? Beyond Nuclear challenges license extension for Peach Bottom nuclear plant. Atlanta Adopts Plan To Get Off Fossil Fuels And Nuclear By 2035.
• Claim that SCANA executives deliberately lied to investors about the future of a doomed nuclear construction project.
• Ohio has a lovely new ANTHEM in praise of nuclear power.
• Trump’s endeavour to nuclearise Saudi Arabia is driven by family business interests and tacitly approved by Israel.

FRANCE. Many infringements found in Orano’s (formerly Areva) nuclear site at Tricastin.  France France facing the burden of nuclear waste.  Nuclear industry manages to cancel a film showing, about Fukushima nuclear disaster.  Bay of Biscay graveyard of nuclear-armed Russian submarine.

RUSSIA. Russia considering making spaceplane powered by a nuclear reactor.  Russia ready to enter deal to build nuclear power plant in Czech Republic.  Russia keen to have Bulgaria go into debt to Russia, to implement Belne nuclear station.

GERMANY.  All use of nuclear power will end in Germany by end of 2022.

CANADA..  JUSTIN TRUDEAU FACES CALLS TO RESIGN RE: SNC-LAVALIN SCANDAL

SOUTH AFRICA. No nuclear power future for South Africa.  South Africa’s Jacob Zuma regime went all out for nuclear power, with secretive manipulations.

March 11, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 2 Comments

To 5th March – nuclear and climate news

Well, Donald Trump and Kim Jong had a nice little photo-shoot in Vietnam. Nothing actually came of it. But , look on the bright side.  It could have been a lot worse.  Meanwhile USA and South Korea officially call off annual military exercises amid nuclear talks with North Korea.

Climate change’s impact on the oceans is already affecting marine life, and the world’s seafood stocks are declining. How to face what is happening – global environmental collapse. Good news – The young are stepping up to the climate challenge – The Sunrise Movement

Cold War-like arms race is likely to follow the collapse of a historic nuclear treaty.

The possibility of nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

Oxygen in oceans declining – climate change brings another threat to marine life

YouTube has become a leader in climate change denial.

Energy companies  should be planning for an industrial revolution driven by renewables.  Completely impractical to replace coal power with nuclear.

ARCTIC. Arctic ice – summers without it could happen sooner than predicted.

JAPAN. Japan’s long-drawn out nuclear “comeback” – safety and cost issues.  ‘Ionising radiation’ not so bad’ – subtle cover-up of the dangers, by Japan’s Centre for Environmental Creation. Japan’s nuclear watchdog concerned at possibility of volcano near nuclear station.

Nightmarishly high radiation levels –robots the only chance to deal with Fukushima reactors’ molten fuel. 2020 Olympics A grand propaganda effort – to minimise the reality of the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns. Fukushima’s mountains of radioactive soil – community opposition to recycling it.  The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tokyo Olympics. Along the 2020 Olympics torch route in Japan – higher radiation levels.   Japanese Govt Olympic Games campaign to “showcase” Fukushima’s recovery is not really working.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea’s major nuclear reactor has been shut down for months.  North Korea’s frighteningly strong non-nuclear artillery.

IRAN. International Atomic Energy Agency chief again confirms that Iran is keeping to the nuclear deal.

RUSSIA.  Vladimir Putin signs decree suspending Russia’s membership of  Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).  Russia to lease nuclear-powered attack submarine to India for a cool $3 billion.

PAKISTAN. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh warns on Pakistan’s readiness to use nuclear weapons.  Imran Khan to consult nuclear chiefs after India’s first air strike on Pakistan in decades.

USA.

• Despite U.S. Congress’s concerns, Trump is still pushing for sale of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, helping Saudi Crown Prince towards getting nuclear weapons? Trump Ordered Officials To Give Kushner Security Clearance Despite FBI-CIA Concerns Re Kushner’s Foreign and Business Contacts With Israel, Russia, UAE, and Others.  Bipartisan pair of Michigan congressmen aim to limit any USA deal to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.
• New report highlights the inability of USA to deal with nuclear waste.  No way to get rid of spent nuclear fuel (but they still keep making it anyway!) It was easy enough to build U.S army’s nuclear stations – but it’s difficult to get rid of them. Kim Kardashian West demands Trump, Newsom, lead cleanup of Santa Susana Nuclear Site.
• U.S. army wants risky small modular nuclear reactors. Is it safe to keep Peach Bottom and other ageing nuclear stations running until 2054?  Political push for small modular nuclear reactors in Utah. Santee Cooper continues search for new owner after failed nuclear project.  USA taxpayers again forking out money for dodgy new nuclear reprocessing.    Bankrupt Pacific Gas and Electric wants to restart Diablo Canyon Nuclear Station,without prior inspection.
• A BIG boondoggle – Nuclear And Emerging Technologies For Space.
• Radiation in a crematorium traced back to a human body.
• Major presidential candidate in USA running on climate action policy.

UK. Faslane nuclear submarine base had hundreds of health and safety incidents in 2018. Rolls Royce largely getting out of the nuclear industry.

FRANCE. New defects, after a series of problems and delays, in France’s supposed “nuclear flagship” Flamanville. Huge workforce at Flamanville nuclear reactor, employed to fix unsafe welds.

March 5, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

To 27 February – Climate and Nuclear News

I’ve tried to find good news – we need it. But, good news, by its nature, is not news. Most people try to behave decently, reasonable. When they don’t – that’s actually unusual , remarkable – and therefore is news. Anyway – here’s a good bit.:

Changing climate change“2040” paints an optimistic picture of the future of the environment, Youtube 2040 teaser http://www.whatsyour2040.com/

Meanwhile  – New report warns of climate Armageddon in less than 150 years.  New research indicates that world efforts towards climate change targets are likely to be too slow to take effect.  Climate change bringing crises, population displacement, wars to Middle East countries.  Climate change taking its toll on the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz2pmSw4aWU

Another good bit?  South Korea offers hope that the Trump-Kim nuclear summit could bring an end to the Korean War.

Meanwhile –  We are closer to a nuclear war than we would like to believe – new smaller bombs make this more likely. Indian and Pakistan relations have again reached a dangerous level.

What the planet needs from men .  New York Times – it’s time to panic about climate change. Sudden rises in methane levels – scientists warn on need for urgent action on climate change.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges the United States and Russia to save nuclear arms safeguards.

Future is not looking good for thorium nuclear reactors.  The nuclear lobby’s dream of small modular nuclear reactors is not likely to come true

INDIA. India. With escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, could India consider a pre-emptive nuclear strike?  Union ministry of mines protects beaches from mining for thorium.

PAKISTAN.  Tensions in Kashmir: Pakistan readies for war.

RUSSIA. Russia flexes nuclear muscles , warns on its ability to strike nuclear targets in USA.  Call for Solidarity with the Russian Environmental Organization Ecodefense.

BELARUS. If USA US deploys nuclear weapons in Europe RUSSIA and Belarus will consider a joint military response.

JAPAN. Okuma, the host town of crippled nuke plant to lift evacuation order.  Japan and Tepco again ordered to pay damages to Fukushima nuclear disaster evacuees.  Tokyo governor won’t speculate on Olympic bribery scandal.  Robot claw grasped bits of molten nuclear fuel in Fukushima reactor.  Probe shows challenges posed by melted nuclear fuel at Fukushima plant.

NORTH KOREA.   North Korea sees nuclear weapons as key to its survival.   North Korea blasts Japan, claiming that Japan in “nuclear weaponizing”.

FRANCE. France’s nuclear corporation, EDF, faces the first of many mammoth nuclear plant burials.

FINLAND. Safety problem at Areva’s Olkiluoto nuclear reactor in Finland.

BELGIUM.  Three Green MP’s arrested after anti-nuclear protest at Belgian military base.

USA.

• Global weapons trade, war profiteers, booming, in the era of Donald Trump.  Danger signs in Trump and Co’s continuing push to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. Senior White House officials, retired generals and Trump’s close relatives continuing secret deal to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.  U.S. Congress starts investigation into Trump administration’s plan to build nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia. Donald Trump involved in murky effort to get Qatari investment for the Tennessee nuclear power project.  Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner linked to unusual dealings about nuclear reactor sales to Russia – Congressional report.
• Ending The U.S. Doctrine of Perpetual War.
•  U.S. Department of Energy changed safety rules for nuclear lab – workers excluded from health oversight.
• Waste Isolation Pilot Plant under federal investigation for worker exposure to radiation and chemical hazards. Utah Senate gives preliminary approval to bill that could usher in millions of tons of depleted uranium.    Bill Gates at Global Energy Forum just quietly did not mention his $7 billion involvement in unsatisfactory radioactive waste management company.
•  Utility JEA on the hook for billions of dollars for Vogtle nuclear station. Tough times ahead for America’s nuclear industry. Pressure on California’s Governor Newsom to Inspect Aged Diablo Canyon Nuclear Unit One Before it Re-Fuels.  Nuclear kickback scheme in tickets for sports events.
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal seen as a winner. William Happer, a climate sceptic, to be appointed to USA’ s White House climate change panel.

UK. Britain’s energy policy in a right mess, as new nuclear power stations are shelved.  A hard Brexit is going to be really hard for UK’s nuclear industry.   Packed church in East Suffolk hears residents’ opposition to Sizewell C nuclear project. Church of England backs further action on climate change. Offshore wind could replace UK’s failed plans for new nuclear power.

CHINA. Wind and solar power in China – fast outstripping nuclear power

IRAN. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accuses USA of hypocrisy over planned nuclear technology sales to Saudi Arabia.    International Atomic Energy Agency says that Iran is sticking to the terms of the nuclear deal.  Iran’s nuclear power station struggling financially.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa inquiry hears how former president Jacob Zuma pressed for ‘astronomically expensive’ nuclear deal.

February 27, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Climate and nuclear news to 13 February

The discussion on climate change is subtly switching from warnings, and debates on, climate change impacts, to adaptation, preparation for those impacts.  What prevents us from thinking ‘meaningfully‘ about climate change.

While all seems quiet on the nuclear front, the nuclear arms race is now grimmer than ever.  Meanwhile angst over nuclear waste continues on both sides of the Atlantic. And I really wish that there were news from secretive Russia and China, about their waste problems.

Global warming temperatures to rise by 1.5 Celsius in 5 years – India to get knocked out. Climate change increasingly ranks as the world’s most pressing security threat – Pew Poll. Climate chaos ahead, as Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melt?

Increasing danger of the radioactive by-products from the nuclear industry.

Growing cancer rates: the focus must be on prevention, on researching environmental causes.

CENTRAL AMERICA. Central American immigration driven by climate change, but this fact is being ignored.

JAPAN. TEPCO firmly at fault for balking at payouts to disaster victims.  The State of Medical Nuclear Emergency Declared after the Fukushima Meltdown is Still On Today!  Japan’s Reconstruction Agency to air ad for Fukushima products on TV, online and at cinemas. Fire extinguisher system at nuclear plant freezes.

UK.

• British school children in their thousands will strike for climate action.
• Suddenly no public access to Scotland’s nuclear history.
• Likely areas of Wales to be targeted for nuclear waste dumping. UK radioactive trash for Northern Ireland? Newry is being considered. Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein warns about UK considering nuclear waste dumping in Northern Ireland. ‘Plutonium-fuelled ‘madness” – the idea of Britain’s nuclear waste transported for burial in Northern Ireland.
•  Scotland represented at Global Peace Forum, calling for Scotland as nuclear-free zone. Scottish Energy Minister pressed to back closure of Hunterston B nuclear power plant in favour of renewable energy.
• Calls to make Calder Hall the first nuclear reactor in the UK to be decommissioned.

BRAZIL. Brazil prosecutor calls for emergency safety measures at tailings dam at former Poços de Caldas uranium mine. Brazil moving towards nuclear-powered submarine.

BELGIUM. Google refuses to blur its satellite images of nuclear facilities. Belgium heading for a nuclear-free future.

RUSSIA. Russia is open to considering new proposals for a broader nuclear weapons treaty.  Russia’s very threatening new 100-megaton underwater nuclear doomsday device.

NETHERLANDS.  Red Cross urges Netherlands to sign UN nuclear weapons ban treaty.

USA.

• What is USA willing to offer to North Korea at Vietnam Summit?
• Investors in Northrop, Boeing, etc rejoice! USA to spend $500 billion on nuclear weapons.
• U.S. Congress needs to look hard at this – Are Washington’s ‘Advanced’ Reactors a Nuclear Waste?. Call for taxpayers not to fund Bill Gates’ small modular nuclear reactor folly.     Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project an example of the folly of nuclear reprocessing.
•  Potentially criminal activity in Trump campaign – a nuclear connection.
• Reclassifying nuclear wastes: Mayor of Richland, and Tri-City Development Council argue in favour of this.
• Economist doubts the need for New Jersey to subsidise nuclear power stations.
• U.S. Dept of Justice suing Hanford contractor for fraud.  Cost of USA’s cold war nuclear weapons waste clean-up now estimated at $377 Billion.  California disapproves of Federal Dept of Energy’s plan for cleaning up radioactive Santa Susana Field Lab.
•  California’s Dangerous Diablo Nuke Hangs in Gov. Newsom’s Hands.  Denver Federal Center nuclear reactor violations lead to fine, short shutdown.
•  Radioactive dust from nuclear work found in workers’ homes and beyond.
• Nuclear commission overrules judge, upholds license for company to mine uranium in southwest South Dakota.
• The Green New Deal goes to Washington. Controversy over nuclear power, as Green New Deal is unveiled.  Yes, the Green New Deal is expensive,but nothing to compare with the nuclear boondoggle.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea’s moves to hide its nuclear missiles from US strikes.

FRANCE. France to build hypersonic nuclear weapons.

ARCTIC. Secret USA nuclear base in Greenland revealed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a328G8sxoQ

AFRICA. Is nuclear power REALLY a clean-power fix for Africa – as Russia and China push it.

UGANDA. Despite the severe disadvantages to Uganda, of nuclear power, Uganda’s govt succumbs

February 13, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The week to 5 February, in climate and nuclear news

This week has seen extreme weather in both North and South hemispheres. Yes, there have always been cold snaps and heat waves – “one in a hundred years” events, but climate change is making them more frequent and more extreme.

The world seems to be taking it all too calmly, – that USA and Russia are both about to withdraw from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty , opening the way to a renewed arms race, and, with Putin and Trump in charge, increasing the risk of nuclear Armageddon.

2 billion people at risk, as Himalaya’s glaciers melt.  Paradoxically, extreme cold weather indicates that global warming is accelerating. Atlantic ocean circulation is being altered, by climate change.

China urges dialogue, as Russia and USA ramp up nuclear weaponry, pull out of weapons treaty.– Why so little public anxiety about risk of nuclear war? With Putin and Trump in charge!!

How the utilities financial system is rigged to give the nuclear industry the advantage.

Storage of nuclear waste a ‘global crisis’ as stockpile reaches 250,000 tons, Greenpeace warns.

Sending dummies into space, to test effects of radiation on women.

ITALY. Radioactive poisoning by the world’s military – the scandalous case of Sardinia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6-6AYQYJm8&t=6s

JAPAN.

• Propaganda for 2020 Olympics, and for the nuclear industry is behind lifting evacuation order for irradiated town of Namie.  IAEA urges Japan to slow the Fukushima wastes clean-up – delay release to Pacific till after Olympic Games.  Radioactive cesium above legal limit detected in fish caught off Fukushima.  Governor of Fukushima Prefecture promotes Fukushima foods in Hong Kong.
• Radiation leaks at Japan’s Tokai plutonium lab; ‘no workers exposed’.
• Reflection on PM Abe’s sales pitch for nuclear at Davos.

USA. 

• There’s money in climate denialism, as 150 U.S. Congressional Republicans have found!  Extreme cold shuts down N.J. Nuclear Reactor, due to an unusual ice phenomenon.
• IAEA criticises USA’s efforts to sabotage Iran nuclear deal. Donald Trump confirms U.S. withdrawal from INF nuclear treaty.  Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduces Bill to outlaw first strike use of nuclear weapons.
• New radiation panel leader appointed by EPA in the interests of nuclear corporations, not of the public.   FirstEnergy nuclear bailout would be crony capitalism at its worst .
• USA’s $43 billion nuclear waste fund – but no nuclear waste has been buried. Nevada State Officials Are Outraged that the Trump Administration Secretly Shipped Plutonium in from South Carolina. Cleanup estimate for Hanford nuclear site increases by $82B.   North Dakota Community Alliance urges public to watch progress of Bill on high-level radioactive waste.     Clean-up of molten salt nuclear reactor continuing (shut in 1969)M – new plan to reduce the costs.
• Is Vogtle nuclear station expansion now further behind schedule? Report is delayed? Low-flying choppers monitoring radiation in Atlanta (fears of nuclear terrorism?)
•  Judge refuses to unseal criminal charges against Julian Assange.

UK. UK’s ageing nuclear power stations are likely to close early. UK’s Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit’s under-reported analysis – renewables cheaper than new nuclear.

INDIA. India’s Kudankulam nuclear power station means big debt to Russia.

HUNGARY. Countries going into deep nuclear debt to Russia; Hungary the latest victim of this political blackmail.

CANADA. SNC-Lavalin, with its record of corruption should be barred from federal contracts. Grim outlook for uranium industry -financial analyst Jayant Bhandari.

SWITZERLAND. Employee faked radiation test data at Swiss nuclear plant.

FRANCE. Pump malfunction causes shutdown at Flamanville nuclear reactor.

BANGLADESH. Nuclear power: Surviving on secrecy and misinformation.

TAIWAN. Taiwan to abolish nuclear power in 2025.

RUSSIA. Russia also to withdraw from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, weakening weapons control. Russia’s Plan to Solve the North Korea Nuclear Crisis?

CZECH REPUBLIC. Czech industry minister: nuclear reactor tender not realistic in 2019 .

February 5, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 7 Comments

The week that was, in climate and nuclear news

It must be harder for residents of the Northern hemisphere to get their heads around the idea of global warming causing extreme cold weather, but – climate scientists tell us that this is the case. Easier for residents of the Southern Hemisphere , especially Australia and New Zealand to accept the idea of global warming.

A great pity that government secrecy and the language barrier combine to prevent us learning anything about nuclear matters in China and Russia. Are they finding nuclear power cheap?  Do they have no problems with nuclear waste?  I doubt that.

Meanwhile the British government flounders about, pretending that its nuclear industry has a future, when informed opinion, and the stopping of new programmes indicate that it does not. In the USA, there’s a concerted push by nuclear companies, and some politicians, for “new nukes”, specifically for tax-payer funded Small Modular Nuclear Reactors – the push is led by Bill Gates.

A bit of good news – Radioactive Cesium-137 diminishing in 2 Fukushima rivers, after close to 8 years.

Rapid Arctic Warming Linked To Mid-Latitude Weather Extremes. How global warming can lead to extreme cold weather, too.

Climate change reshaping how heat moves around globe. Our global home”is on fire” – Greta Thunberg at the World Economic Forum 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7dVF9xylaw

Doomsday Clock at 2 minutes to midnight – “The New Abnormal”       Nuclear disarmament, non proliferation, “peaceful use” on the agenda as France, Russia, Britain and the United States meet in China. Storage of nuclear waste a ‘global crisis’: report

USA.

• Extreme cold to hit 55 million people in the US as polar vortex brings life-threatening temperatures. This Is Why Global Warming Is Responsible For Freezing Temperatures Across The U.S.
• A rosy time coming for investors, (such as Donald Trump) in nuclear weapons!  USA’s nuclear weapons modernisation plan to cost $494 billion over the next decade. America may be overspending on unnecessary nuclear weapons – the nuclear triad now obsolete?
• USA hoping to profit from nuclear power, by exporting waste clean-up technology.  Activists vow to stop Holtec’s nuclear waste plan for New Mexico.  Holtec defends plans for nuclear waste storage facility in New Mexico.
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission votes 3-2 to weaken nuclear power safety rules.  US Senator Markey Blasts Dangerous New Trump NRC Post-Fukushima Nuclear Safety Rule . Scrutiny on Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s decision to award funding to an advanced nuclear enrichment facility.   It makes sense to exclude Nuclear, Fossils With Carbon Capture,and Biofuels from the Green New Deal.
•  Bill Gates urging U.S. Congress to spend $billions of tax-payer money for developing new nuclear reactors.
• Tiny mobile nuclear reactors for U.S. military – a plan fraught with dangers.
•  Nuclear Regulatory Commission agrees to delay relicensing New Hampshire’s Seabrook nuclear power plant.

JAPAN. Greenpeace slams Japan’s plan to dump radioactive Fukushima water into the ocean.  TEPCO failed to spot leak of contaminated water.  Japan’s plans to sell nuclear plants overseas derailed.

EUROPE. NATO chief says ‘no real progress’ on nuclear treaty.

FRANCE.  France’s government snidely changes law to avoid paying compensation to Polynesian victims of atomic bomb testing. French nuclear company EDF considering retreating from operations in UK.

UK.

• Genetic effects of radiation, and other pollutants, in children of Gulf War veterans.
• Aldermaston – Britain’s bomb factory – it’s a slow motion train crash.
• UK’s new nuclear projects are a financial dead end.  A financial necessity – UK’s nuclear industry to fall into China’s hands. Nationalise the UK nuclear industry– the only way to save it – says Hitachi chairman.
• Tax-payer funding for yet another nuclear folly? Rolls Royce’s Small Modular Reactors.
•  In Britain’s new energy era of wind and solar, nuclear power just does not add up. As a nuclear power project collapses, leading utility chief calls on UK government to increase targets for offshore wind energy.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea’s Nukes and the ‘Forgotten War’.

SOUTH KOREA. South Korea looks for nuclear dismantling pledge by Kim at second summit with Trump.

GERMANY. Germany phasing out coal, but will not import nuclear power as replacement.

SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia could be planning for nuclear weapons. 5 countries scramble to sell nuclear reactors to Saudi Arabia.

CZECH REPUBLIC. Shares slump for Europe’s biggest publicly traded power company, due to Czech Republic’s PM’s nuclear power dream.

HUNGARY. Hungary’s problems in financing new nuclear power plant.

January 31, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

To 22 January – Nuclear and Climate News

I promised to find good news. It’s not that easy. But  – Sir David Attenborough says ’Human activity has created a new era, yet climate change can be stopped.    And, again, I am struggling with the reality that it is nearly, perhaps already is, too late, to stop the progress of global warming. Which makes climate change a more urgent problem than the nuclear threat.

Even if climate change is now irreversible, it’s no time to give up: the effort now must be to slow its progress, and to plan and adapt to its impacts.

Latest nuclear news indicates that Britain’s nuclear dream is collapsing. Japan’s plans for selling nuclear reactors overseas are collapsing. USA is embroiled in nuclear waste problems. Not so in totalitarian Russia and China, where the State runs the nuclear industry, education, and the media, and maintains secrecy about nuclear costs, unsafety, and waste problems.

GREENLAND. Greenland ice melt is happening at an unexpectedly fast rate.

ASIA. The threat to millions of people, as glaciers in Central Asia melt.

AUSTRALIA.   Australia leads the world in global warming – with the 15 hottest sites.  Australia bakes as record temperatures nudge 50C.   Australia faces ‘new normal’ of year-round bushfires . Heat in New South Wales – bushfires, health impact, and roads melting.

USA. 

• Increasing rate of melting in North American glaciers.
•  USA to begin pullout from Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, rejecting Russian offer.
• How US and China’s African nuclear mission could provide model for disarming North KoreaSC.      Trump plans North Korea nuclear summit with Kim Jong Un for February . The Trump administration’s dangerous strategy of provocation – led by John Bolton.
• The nuclear lobby has “zero chance” of nuclear getting into a Green New Deal in USA.
• The ‘fatally flawed’ nuclear waste storage facilities at the decomposing San Onofre nuclear site.  Federal Plan Could Reclassify Hanford Nuclear Waste — And Leave it in the Ground.
• Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board says that Los Alamos National Laboratory still has long-standing safety problems. T
• rump signs new bill to weaken nuclear energy regulation.  USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission extending license for Seabrook nuclear power BEFORE THE HEARING ON ITS SAFETY PROBLEMS.

NORTH KOREA. Kim Jong Un continuing to play to the vanity of Donald Trump?

UK.

• Britain’s severe nuclear financial headache.   UK government’s proposed ‘Regulated Asset Base’ (RAB) financing – a cover-up for a nuclear bailout.  Costly saga of Hitachi nuclear power project in North Wales comes to an end.  UK Secretary for Energy reveals the staggering amounts of tax-payer money offered to Hitachi to build nuclear reactors in Wales. Why the UK government is losing its enthusiasm for nuclear power.
• Dungeness B nuclear station – safety problems, reactors still shut down.
• Wind energy ready to supply UK electricity: time to remove the ban on onshore subsidies.  Renewable energy can replace UK’s Moorside, Wylfa and Sizewell C nuclear power at a much cheaper cost. Offshore wind leads, as UK’s renewable energy is on course to overtake fossil fuels.   UK govt’s plan to let down solar householders has not gone down well.
• UK government waits for nuclear test veterans to die, prevents research on genetic effects.

TAIWAN. The pitfalls of Direct Democracy- Taiwan’s referendum and the vote on nuclear power.

ISRAEL. Super Weapon: Israel Could Arm Stealth F-35s with Nuclear Weapons.  Secret Handwritten Memos Reveal How Israel’s Nuclear Program Came to Be.

JAPAN. High radiation levels in Fukushima area, but the Japanese government is pushing people back there.   Time to retire Japan’s aging nuclear reactor at Genkai.   Nagasaki: Life after Nuclear War – the past and the future.

RUSSIA. Russia’s plans for nuclear-powered unmanned underwater weapons.

CHINA.  Pentagon report on China’s nuclear weapons program, still “significantly below” the U.S.  Concerns about safety of China’s planned 46 nuclear reactors within a radius of about 100 km from Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese residents concerned over imports of rice produced near Fukushima disaster area.

GERMANY. Germany urges Russia to destroy missile to save nuclear treaty.

FINLAND. Wild mushrooms in Finland still containing high radioactive cesium from Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.

January 22, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 8 Comments

To 15 June – climate and nuclear news

I scratch around for good news on climate. Alex Smith, of Radio Ecoshock, notes that ‘several long-time climate bloggers and Facebook activists are “retiring” to their private lives.’ He quotes one: “I’m no longer interested in awakening the masses. The masses made it clear that they are not interested.”

The grand old man of coastal science Dr. Orrin Pilkey warns: start withdrawing from the coast-line now, or wait for the coming panic. As Australia’s government promotes coal mining and coal power, and avoids any action on climate change, every State and Territory in Australia is being  hit with record heat.  Decentralising the energy supply system – renewables are creating a new world order.

On the nuclear scene, the New Nuclear Arms Race remains the biggest threat in 2019. Meanwhile, as the nuclear industry fails economically, the mainstream media continues to pour out articles about “new nukes” – Small and Medium Nuclear Reactors (SMRs),  Molten salt reactors. – articles that read like straight handouts from the nuclear lobby.onal Park to get $216 million boost.

Space travel? The human body is not compatible with ionising radiation.

Japan, the U.S. and France failing in their efforts to sell nuclear reactors overseas, (or at home).

UK. UK to use Regulatory Asset Base (RAB) funding for Wylfa nuclear plant, exposing consumers to financial risk?  UK’s nuclear energy renaissance derailed, as Japanese companies step back from nuclear investment? Hitachi to post $2 billion special loss, will suspend UK nuclear power operations. Hitachi looks certain to cancel its plans for a £16bn nuclear power station in Wales. Increasing major cracks in Hunterston nuclear reactors: call to close them permanently.

USA.   State of Washington opposes federal plan to reclassify Hanford nuclear waste. State of Oregon not happy with federal govt plan to declassify some high level nuclear wastes.  Iowa Utilities Board OK’s Alliant ending nuclear power purchase: Duane Arnold nuclear plant to shut down. “Nuclear modernization” a euphemism that ushers in a new and dangerous global nuclear arms race. USA Dept of Energy again confirms its plans to use SRS plutonium for nuclear weapons.

JAPAN. Funding deadlock looks set to sink Japan’s last overseas nuclear project.  Japan abandoning ambition to sell nuclear power reactors to Turkey.   Major financial group in Japan bans lending to those developing, making or possessing nuclear weapons.  Radiation doses underestimated in study of city in Fukushima. Japan Atomic Power Co. (JAPC) denies granting local prior consent for Tokai reactor restart

OCEANIA. Nuclear weapons tests in the Enewetak Atol: rising sea levels add to the toxic legacy.

RUSSIA. Russian blogger reveals photo of venting cloud of radioactive dust from 1987 nuclear test gone wrong.  Russia might revive its fearful automatic nuclear weapons launch system.

January 15, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 4 Comments

To January 7 – Nuclear and Climate News

I’ve made my New Year’s vows –  to keep this newsletter shorter, and to include good news – good things happening. I am mindful of Greta Thunberg’s dictum – “Look for action – then the hope will come”   Climate change: six positive news stories you probably missed in 2018

All the same, climate change’s drastic and rapid impacts must not be ignored. Paul Beckwith keeps us up to date on developments, especially in the all-important Arctic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIbVpgejDo4&t=303s

I wish that I knew the Russian language, and had access to Russian information, because climate change in the very Northern region is profoundly affecting Russia – its business, agriculture, and especially its operations in the Arctic. It is a chilling thought (no pun intended) that Putin has now put the nuclear industry in charge of shipping safety in the Arctic.

Russia certainly has toxic nuclear sites. This, along with Putin’s fervour for nuclear imperialism, means that, without media coverage, the world is ignorant of Russia’s nuclear health, environmental, and safety toll.

Then there’s the reality of escalating nuclear weapons tensions. While there is hope, in The U.N. Nuclear Ban Treaty, the Doomsday Clock  (monitoring the risk of nuclear war) is at a record 2 minutes to 12.

Weather – perhaps our best hope of bringing home the urgent message of climate change.

Between USA’s John Bolton, and Russia’s nuclear hawks – the fragmentation of nuclear arms control spells global danger.

The nuclear power industry is moribund.

Brave environmental journalists face increasing threats and dangers.

Climate change brings a boom in jellyfish, and a threat to nuclear reactors.

ARCTIC. Tons of methane being released into atmosphere by melting ice sheets.

UK. Academic whitewash of leukaemia incidence near Sellafield nuclear site. The nuclear lobby will be delighted with this knighthood, earned for obscuring the cause of leukaemia.  UK govt offers up to £2.5million to prospective “nuclear dustbin” communities, but not to communities endangered on nuclear transport routes. UK govt now prevents any one local council from pulling out of plans for a vast underground nuclear waste dump in Cumbria.

USA.

• USA’s new Speaker in Congress, Nancy Pelosi states climate change as ‘The existential threat of our time’.
• Longtime NBC News reporter slams Pro-War Posture of Corporate Media.
• Donald Trump should negotiate with Kim Jong-un, who may be willing to limit nuclear production capability.
•  New Mexico could get more nuclear waste, and perhaps high level nuclear waste.
•  High-Paying Jobs in Nuclear Power Aren’t Looking So Safe Anymore.
• Trump’s done one good thing – stopped the Bill Gates- China “new nuclear power” push.
• Arrests at the Pentagon, of 4 peaceful Catholic protesters against nuclear weapons.

JAPAN. Fukushima prosecutors demand TEPCO execs get 5 years for negligence that led to nuclear meltdown.   Japan losing hope for having a nuclear export industry. Japan abandoning ambition to sell nuclear power reactors to Turkey. Costs for scrapping 79 nuclear facilities estimated at 1.9 tril. Yen. Farmers struggle to keep cows left behind near Fukushima plant.

RUSSIA. President Vladimir Putin’s new secret weapon –NUCLEAR drone which sends 1,640ft high WAVES.

NORTH KOREA. Earthquakes still being set off due to North Korea’s September 2017 nuclear test.

INDIA. Uranium mining brings disease, deaths, deformities to Jharkhand, India.

GERMANY. Renewables beating coal energy in Germany.

CHINA. Chinese state media boasts nuclear weapons escalation, in response to Trump.

AUSTRALIA. Dave Sweeney reflects on the achievements of Australia’s nuclear-free movement in 2018.  The global nuclear lobby co-opts academia– now they’ve got University of Tasmania.

January 8, 2019 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 3 Comments

To 19 December – the week in climate and nuclear news

Climate has to dominate this week’s news. It seems that it takes a 15 year-old schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg to best spread the message, the reality of the planet’s situation. . Radio Ecoshock introduced some hard questions that have been ignored:

What social disruptions are being caused by global heating –  increased levels of malnutrition, starvation, disease, civil conflict and war – and not ecluding affluent nations?

Should we tell young people what we’ve done to the climate? (Too late: they are telling us.)

Far from perfect, but still, nearly 200 nations reached an agreement on climate action rules.

Some good news in the climate battle – over 1000 institutions to divest from fossil fuels. Makoma Lekalakala: ‘There should be no nuclear in climate financing’. Nuclear power is no answer to global heating – even if only because nuclear power is unaffordable. Global nuclear industry aggressively lobbying climate negotiators.

The drying of soils due to climate change is shrinking the world’s water supply.

Numerous nuclear accidents at sea (doesn’t inspire confidence for nuclear-powered space travel). No restraints on nuclear weapons use, if USA abandons Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

ARCTIC. Degrading permafrost puts Arctic infrastructure at risk by mid-century.

JAPAN. Japan’s nuclear export industry about to get the fatal blow.  High Iodine distribution, low intake among children after Fukushima nuclear accident.

UK. 

• Britain’s nuclear nightmare -the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant. UK’s Sellafield nuclear reprocessing – a financial black hole for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.    Just the bare 60 years later, they will start to dismantle UK’s Dounreay nuclear reactor.
• Hitachi having trouble financing new nuclear reactors in Wales – may pull the plug on Wylfa project. Hitachi calling on Britain to further subsidise new nuclear reactors for Wales.  Cost of Chinese-designed and largely Chinese-owned nuclear reactor for Bradwell UK will probably blow out hugely.  Concern that Hinkley Point C will have ‘devastating’ impact on sea fish numbers in Burnham.
• UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to prosecute Sellafield over worker’s exposure to radiation.

USA.

• Amazon planning to run a “global brain” for the Pentagon.
• USA Congress Democrats and Republicans want strict controls on any nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia.  USA govt will appease murderous Saudi Arabia regime – or maybe not?. Saudi Arabia, the Khashoggi murder case: the nuclear connections with Terra Power, Bill Gates, Breakthrough etc.
• Radioactive fallout killed up to 690,000 Americans from 1951 to 1973.
• Trump wants to reclassify radioactive waste from nuclear weapons to ‘Low Level’ so disposal is cheaper. Environmentalists fear that reclassifying some nuclear wastes means abandoning clean-ups. Maine watchdogs keep close eye on Trump’s bid to change nuclear waste storage rules.
• What to do with used nuclear fuel, from Illinois to California.  The mad plan to store nuclear waste on the beach.  Transport of nuclear wastes to USA’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is stalled while maintenance work is on.
•  Washington helping nuclear workers to get compensation: State will defend its law.
• Magnitude 4.4 earthquake strikes Tennessee near nuclear power plant .

AUSTRALIA. Australian government’s hypocritical performance at UN Climate Summit.

FRANCE. How France multiplies hazardous nuclear waste. Replacing nuclear with renewables would save France $44.5 billion.

RUSSIA. Russia claims US ignoring outreach on nuclear treaty dispute. Russia woos China to join nuclear framework with US.  Russia marketing nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.– White House fury as Russian nuclear planes visit Venezuela .

TAIWAN. Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CFTPP) held over Taiwan , because of its referendum rejecting food from Fukushima.

GERMANY.   Explosion and fire at German Advanced Nuclear Fuels plant.     Residential batteries ready to compete with fossil fuels and nuclear in Germany.

FINLAND. Radioactive reindeer in Finland and Norway.

IRAN. Iranian hackers take aim at foreign nuclear experts and US official.

INDIA. India has 140 Nuclear Warheads – And More Are Coming.

BULGARIA. Bulgaria’s planned nuclear power station unlikely to ever be built.

BELGIUM. Call for Belgium’s unsafe Tihange nuclear reactor to be shut down.

CHINA. Chinese military is building a test facility to simulate thermonuclear explosions.

December 19, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

Climate and nuclear news – to 12 December

William Perry,  formerly of the Pentagon, and former U.S. Secretary for Defense, is renowned for his work aimed at limiting nuclear weapons, and warning the world of the great threat of nuclear war.

But now, even Perry is recognising that, in some ways, climate change is an even greater existential threat to the world. He points out that nuclear catastrophe can happen quickly, but that it’s possible to prevent it. But climate change is happening slowly, inexorably, and could be irreversible.

He’s convinced me, and I had always thought that nuclear disaster was the most important danger.

With that new realisation in mind, I’m seeing the events in Poland this week – the COP24 UN Conference on Climate Change, with a more acute interest.  This international meeting comes right after the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

Fabricated media attacks on Julian Assange. The article that a Fairfax journalist didn’t want to write, about Julian Assange. Rallies will demand that Australia insists on Julian Assange’s safe departure from UK.

Do corporations have a legal right to destroy the planet’s ecosystem?

The worst performing countries for climate action- USA and Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia, the US, Kuwait and Russia tried to erase meaning of UN’s report on the impacts of 1.5C warming. Coal lobby is prominent at COP24 U.N climate change conference.  Climate denialist group held fringe meeting in Poland, banning access by environmental reporter.

New nuclear power plants, prolong existing ones – to solve global warming?

A wave of change is coming to our planet’s water resources.

Energy efficiency the starting point for effective climate policies.

Assessing the effects of planetary electromagnetic pollution.

USA.

• U.S. preparing to wreck the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)?  If USA dumps the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) – Putin threatens arms race.
• Michael Flynn’s involvement in shady nuclear deals with Saudi Arabia.
• USA’s intractable nuclear waste problem: a new approach is needed. No answer to clean up Washington’s Hanford nuclear site. Idaho closure of nuclear-waste treatment plant to affect Hanford.
• Public health and safety endangered by weakening The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).
• USA Energy Dept extends period for public comment on classification of High Level nuclear waste.
•  S.C. ratepayers still vulnerable to next billion-dollar disaster.

JAPAN. Former mayor expresses anger at Tepco in trial over Fukushima crisis. Results of the first-round thyroid examination of the Fukushima Health Management Survey. Thyroid cancer impact on children and teens following Fukushima nuclear accident.  Fukushima evacuees forced back into unacceptably high radiation zones.

TAIWAN. Taiwan Votes to Maintain Import Ban on Fukushima Food Imports.

FRANCE. Despite President Macron, France’s government report calls new nuclear power uneconomical.

UK.

• With Brexit, thorny nuclear problems about the ownership of EU nuclear materials stored in Britain.  UK must explain its plans for civil nuclear power security under ‘no deal’ Brexit scenario. UK tax-payers, not the nuclear industry, will pay for the new safeguards regime, post Brexit !
• As UK’s planned Wylfa nuclear power station might be axed, UK’s whole nuclear project is in doubt.  UK govt allowing Chinese nuclear technology for Bradwell reactor? China’s push to take over the abandoned Moorside nuclear project.  New nuclear station next to Minsmere wildlife reserve? Sizewell action group to hold EDF to account.
• Scotland’s wind power output over 100%.

NORTH KOREA. If USA does not lift sanctions, North Korea could revive nuclear weapons development.

INDIA. Nuclear Expansion in Kaiga: Is India Ready for the Risk?

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa Energy Minister Fires Nuclear Corporation’s Board .

RUSSIA. Russia sends 2 nuclear-capable bombers to Venezuela.

GERMANY. Germany a leading solar power producer, despite its low hours of sunshine.

IRAQ. Depleted uranium – the cancer-causing weapon still taking its toll in Iraq.

BELARUS. TOR-M2 air defense missile systems to protect Belarus nuclear power plant.

December 11, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

This week in climate and nuclear news

The world is at the crossroads as U.N. Climate Change Conference takes place in Poland. Many experts think that we have passed the point of no return. UN Climate Conference faces the daunting need for the world to quit coal. World Bank funding for action on climate change, and for adaptation to climate change.  David Attenborough urges world leaders to LEAD .

Nuclear power, touted as the solution to climate change, is on fact, only a hindrance to action on climate change.

World Meteorological Organization warns: world running out of time to combat climate change. World’s Worst Public Health Crisis  – Climate Change. The over-looked solution to climate change – equality for women. Flawed arguments in nuclear industry’s push to be seen as climate change solution.

The other big Trump-Putin story: Nuclear weapons treaty hangs in the balance as Russia-US tensions rise.

Molten salt nuclear reactors not commercially viable, but useful for military.

NORTH KOREA. A mistake to expect Kim Jong Un to give a full renunciation of nuclear weapons in advance.

FRANCE. Why France must shut down many nuclear reactors. Report shows how unprepared France is, in the event of a nuclear accident. Appeal lodged to stop commissioning of Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor vessel. France abandons plans for the Astrid (Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration).

TAIWAN. Taiwan Votes to Maintain Import Ban on Fukushima Food Imports. Taiwan doesn’t know what to do with radioactive trash, so decommissioning of 1st nuclear power plant is delayed.

UK.

• Will 1000s of Small Nuclear Reactors, built super-fast, save the world from climate change?
• “Marking your own homework” – Britain’s plan for inspecting its own nuclear safeguards – Brexatom !
• UK’s Defence Safety Authority (DSA) suppresses reports on safety of nuclear weapons. UK’s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)‘s failure to deal with its high level nuclear waste – now sending it to Sellafield.
• EDF plans to restart Hunterston nuclear reactors because – hey! some of the 350 cracks are only small!
• UK’s so-called “nuclear renaissance” is in crisis again.
• Radiation Free Lakeland investigates radioactive beach, while Cumbrian media doesn’t bother to.
• False claims against Julian Assange pave the way for USA to imprison him (DOES AUSTRALIA NOT CARE?)

USA.

•  Exposing The Pentagon’s Massive Accounting Fraud. The danger of nuclear war through irrational decision-making by Donald Trump. Trump may need Congress approval to withdraw from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.  U.S. Congress could stop the endless wars.
• Massive problem of USA’s high level nuclear waste – scientists struggling for a solution. U.S. Energy Dept plans to reclassify Hanford nuclear sludge – from “high level”to “low level”. Holtec nuclear waste casks at San Onofre are too thin-walled and must be replaced.  San Onofre plant aims to resume transfers of nuclear waste in January.
• Delay in compensation for NUCLEAR LAB EMPLOYEES WITH RADIATION-LINKED CANCERS.
• Dark money, so-called “independent” Nuclear Matters, Georgia’s Public Service Commission and regulatory capture. Deal to purchase Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant is off.

JAPAN.  Japan to scrap Turkey nuclear project.     Thyroid cancer impact on children and teens following Fukushima nuclear accident. 2020 Olympics being used to put a nice gloss on nuclear industry, and Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. Fukushima evacuees forced back into unacceptably high radiation zones.

CANADA.  Saskatchewan sues federal government over cost to clean up abandoned uranium mine.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s Portfolio Committee on Energy (PCE) praises Nuclear power, glosses over cost, waste, problems.  Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa) embroiled in dodgy deals, conflicts of interest.

AUSTRALIA. Australian schoolchildren on strike for action on climate change.

INDIA. Political connections in Holtec’s plans for boosting nuclear power in India.

BELGIUM. Belgium re-authorised nuclear power without having an environmental assessment – EU Magistrate criticises.

December 4, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment