nuclear-news

Merging threats – nuclear and climate news

It’s a critical time for human and other species, as the threats from climate change and nuclear power are now merging. Climatologist Paul Beckwith explains this in his latest podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRu-Xs4U2r4&feature=push-u&attr_tag=jW6Jq2IuMN0E13lZ-6  Carbon in the Atmosphere is Regularly Exceeding 410 Parts Per Million for First Time in Human History.

This crisis in the global ecosystem is manifested in other ways, notably in loss of biodiversity.

Professor Majia Nadesan explains “Nuclearity” – how politics trivialises the nuclear threat bringing the probability of global nuclear catastrophe. Nuclear scientists have lower awareness of risks, compared to “life”scientists.

Earth Day and the climate message of the “hockey stick” graph.

NORTH KOREA. Trump’s North Korea talks not likely to succeed.   Report from China that North Korea’s “nuclear mountain” test site has collapsed. Was the collapsed nuclear test site Kim Jong Un’s REAL reason for suspending nuclear tests?

SOUTH KOREA. Hotline set up between North and South Korea.

USA. 

• Trump says North Korea must get rid of its nuclear weapons. Donald Trump has no strategy for following through after talks with Kim Jong Un.
• French President Macron says that Donald Trump is likely to scrap Iran deal. US President Donald Trump and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron called for a “new” deal with Iran.
• Government Accountability Office slams Hanford nuclear waste plant operations.
• Trump administration considers adding a special new military branch – for weapons in space.
• Westinghouse CEO admits that the 2000s “nuclear renaissance” was never going to happen.
• America’s mounting piles of plutonium cores – to be removed, perilously, by contract workers.
• SAN ONOFRE’S NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE TANKS ALREADY BREAKING. Danger of rising sea levels to nuclear waste canisters at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
• Will Trump take emergency measures to bail out 2 economically failing nuclear power stations?
• Trump’s Nuclear Posture Review makes allowance for NEW NUCLEAR BOMB TESTING  

UKRAINE. United Nations report finds Chernobyl radiation has caused many cases of thyroid cancer.  New gigantic confinement dome over Chernobyl nuclear wreck is now almost completed. The true impacts of the 1986 nuclear disaster on people and the environment. Caring for Chernobyl’s children. Sisters now ill, exposed to Chernobyl radiation, – urge others to get cancer checks .

FRANCE. Electricite de France (EDF) now recognising the reality that new nuclear power is not economically viable.

UK. 

• Conflict of interest in the appointment of UK’s Chair of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Council. UK government struggles to get community consent for nuclear waste dumping.  Flawed UK government policy in drive to make Cumbria host nuclear waste dump. UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) flip flops in its plans for Trawsfynydd wastes.
• Safety problems at Flamanville nuclear project throw Britain’s Hinkley C nuclear project into doubt.
• High cancer rates in UK’s nuclear test veterans.

IRELAND. Concern raised by Kilkenny County Council over proximity to Hinkley Point nuclear power plant.

RUSSIA. Loss of ice in Russian Arctic has doubled over past 10 years. Future Nuclear-Powered Spaceships (oh by the way, one crashed to Canada in the past).   Nuclear corporation Rosatom partners with National Geographic – to promote nuclear power!

IRAN. The ‘demonising’ of Iran, by USA and other Western powers, despite Iran’s good record on the nuclear deal. Investigative journalist Gareth Porter refutes the spin and deception in claims that Iran is a nuclear threat. Iran’s warnings if Donald Trump tears up 2015 nuclear deal.

OCEANIA. Sea level rise will force evacuation of communities from low-lying islands. Many low-lying atoll islands could be uninhabitable by mid-21st century .

NEW ZEALAND. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Just Stood Up to One of The Most Powerful Industries in The World.

CANADA. Indigenous, environmental, groups warn that Canada is mismanaging nuclear wastes.

SOUTH AFRICA. 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize goes to South African anti nuclear activists.

JAPAN.  Japan ‘covering up’ Fukushima nuclear danger-zone radiation levels and blackmailing evacuees to return to radiated areas swarming with radioactive pigs and monkeys.    Japanese trading house Itochu ‘pulls out of nuclear plant project in Turkey’.

BELGIUM. Belgium’s move away from nuclear power – now pushing offshore wind parks,

April 27, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

To 20th April – nuclear news this week

Donald Trump says he’s ready to pull the plug on the summit meeting with Kim Jong Un, if he feels it’s “not going to be fruitful.”   It took years of careful multi-national negotiations to develop a nuclear deal with Iran. Trump apparently expects Kim Jong Un to quickly agree to “complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement of the North Korean program”.  That can’t be done quickly, even if Kim agreed. And what would Kim want, in return?

Remembering that Donald Trump’s main aim is to be the centre of attention – what better centre-stage position, than walking out of the summit, and bringing us all to the nuclear brink again?

Dr Helen Caldicott – forthright and clear – on Donald Trump, and the nuclear war danger.

JAPAN. Japan ‘covering up’ Fukushima nuclear danger-zone radiation levels. Soil contamination data of East Japan.  Interest on TEPCO loans to cost taxpayers 218 billion yen.    Contractors siphoned 1.6 million yen off pay of Vietnamese trainees sent to Fukushima.  Fukushima export ban maintained by Hong Kong.

FRANCE. A quiet French village has become a centre of anti-nuclear protest. France’s EDF faces handicap to exporting nuclear reactors, with flaws found in European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs)

AUSTRALIA. Climate change – unseasonably hot weather made bushfires near Lucas Heights nuclear reactor become “apocalyptic” blazes. Government and media silence on the bushfire danger to Lucas Heights nuclear reactor.

USA.

• Plutonium contamination forces shutdown of demolition process for Hanford nuclear site.
• Tragic future for space colonists – cancers, blindness and brain damage from radiation. At tax-payers’ expense, NASA will produce nuclear KILL-o-Power in space.
• U.S. Supreme Court considers forcing changes to reduce Savannah nuclear sites leaking into the river.
•  America’s Nuclear Posture Reviews (NPR) – inconsistencies, limitations, and questions unanswered.
• Communities that hosted nuclear reactors now stuck with stranded radioactive trash.
•  “No New Nuclear Plants To Be Built in the U.S” – says top Exelon official.
•  Workers allege fraud in the clean-up operations on radioactive shipyard contamination.
• USA government keen to promote Westinghouse sales of nuclear power projects to India.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea just promised a huge concession on its nuclear weapons. It’s done that before.

EUROPE. European lawmakers urge USA to stick with the Iran nuclear deal. International experts unsure on origin of last year’s radioactive cloud over Europe.

BELARUS. Unsafe development of Belarus nuclear power plant.

IRAN. Magnitude-5.5 quake strikes near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant .

UKRAINE. Ukraine fears ‘second Chernobyl’ if militants flood nuclear bomb mine. HBO miniseries will examine the 1986 nuclear disaster in Ukraine.

UK. 30 UK civil society organisations call on Britain to sign UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).  UK government will need to lift the bribes for communities to accept nuclear wastes. West Cumbria plea against Lake District being targetted for nuclear waste.

SYRIA. First Western journalist to reach and report on Douma site – Concludes “They Were Not Gassed”

RUSSIA. Scared ex-Soviet general warns nuclear war is “inevitable”

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s Director General of Energy says there’s no new nuclear build programme.

April 20, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

15 April – The past week in nuclear news

US, British and French forces  launched air strikes on chemical weapons sites in Syria. Russia claims that most  missiles fired were intercepted by Syrian air defence systems using Soviet-produced hardware.  We all hope that this will not escalate, at present it being a targeted attack in response to Syria’s illegal use of chemical weapons.

Accelerating rate of heat increasing in oceans, especially around Australia. Even America might now wake up to global warming – A major climate boundary in the central U.S. has shifted 140 miles due to global warming

Human-caused global warming has contributed to extraordinary change in warm Atlantic current.

Exposing Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons link.

Forget Nuclear Power, – The Motley Fool – investing.  Despite the media hype, Thorium Power still a poor investment.

International Energy Agency underestimates renewable energy.

NORTH KOREA. Kim Jong-un will not give up North Korea’s nuclear weapons

USA.  Journalists, bloggers to be scrutinised by U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  Donald Trump to demand “full denuclearisation” of North Korea, in exchange for US embassy in Pyongyang’.   Through “back channels”, secret talks go on between USA and North Korea .  Helicopter to monitor radiation ahead of Boston Marathon – precaution in view of terrorism risks. Radioactive Sludge Barrel Ruptures at Idaho Nuclear Site. Nuclear subsidy approved, could cost New Jersey ratepayers $billions. U.S. Navy downplays radioactive soil in San Francisco’s Bayview .  American Geographical Society awards medal to author of “The Legacy of Nuclear Power”

JAPAN. Radioactively-hot particles detected in dusts and soils from Northern Japan. Few return to Fukushima schools after evacuation lifted. Contractor skimmed pay of Vietnamese trainees doing Fukushima cleanup work. Seven years on, radioactive water at Fukushima plant still flowing into ocean, study finds.  Downplaying: Hokkaido METI bureau requested changes to nuclear energy part of high school lecture.

INDIA. India’s Modi government drastically cutting back on nuclear power plans.

UK. Hinkley Point C – the world’s most financially radioactive energy project.  Protected bird colonies threatened by nuclear power station planned for Wales.  UK Dept. for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) dodges the hard questions about community support for nuclear waste dumping. Cumbria Trust gives advice on UK’s Community Consultation regarding nuclear waste dumping.

SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia wants nuclear power, WITHOUT the restrictions against making nuclear weapons.  A USA-Saudi agreement – the path to Saudi Arabia’s nuclear weapons?   Saudi Arabia’s disturbing plans for dumping nuclear waste on the Qatari border.

FRANCE. France’s nuclear regulator finds “a lack of surveillance” in the defective welding in EPR nuclear reactors. EDF warns of delays to Flamanville nuclear plant – it doesn’t augur well for UK’s Hinkley nuclear. Former Prime Minister of Japan ,Naoto Kan draws crowds in France, speaking against nuclear power. No wonder that nuclear company AREVA changed its name (to ORANO): former director indicted for corruption.

AUSTRALIA. Australia’s top secret and expensive shipment of nuclear waste to France.  Bushfires today 15 Aug near Barden Ridge (i.e. Lucas Heights): could they be a threat to the nuclear reactor complex?

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa: confusion and uncertainty over costly nuclear deal

CHINA. The heavy health and environmental toll of rare earths mining in China.

April 15, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The week to April 7, in nuclear news

While I’m supposedly focussed on nuclear news, it is really madness to ignore climate.  The  biosphere is being dramatically changed by human activities.  Climate news has become ever more complicated.  Last week, I struggled to explain the complexity of the Arctic currents of warm air, their effects on the polar vortex, and the extreme cold in Northern Europe and America.

At the same time, climate change is heating up the southern half of the globe.

Rapid Sea Level Rise Possible as Ocean Floods into Antarctica at up to 400 Meters Per Year. Antarctica’s great ice sheet being eroded by warm water circulating underneath. Drastic action on fossil fuels is needed, as the Poles melt – with unpredictable consequences.

Madeleine Allbright  on the global threat of fascism,  and Donald Trump

Chris Busby comments on the Skripal incident – Nuclear war an option?

Women, today and always, understand and fight the peril of nuclear war, nuclear pollution.

The world should be outraged at the silencing of Julian Assange.

The carbon footprint of huge digital data centres.

JAPAN. Powerful volcanic eruption at Mount Shinmoe, and more to come -ONLY 40 MILES FROM Sendai Nuclear power station.  The end for Japan’s expensive Monju nuclear fast breeder dream.  Closing down of Fukushima nuclear power plant has skyrocketed to US$75 billion.  Problems with local consent hang over Japan’s proposed nuclear station restarts. Tepco facing huge costs in Fukushima disaster, but still plans to help fund restart of Tokai nuclear power station.

NORTH KOREA   Kim Jong Un’s complete turnaround in tactics: will it result in peace, or not?   Experts reject Japanese claim about North Korea preparing for a new nuclear weapons test. North Korea nuclear missile ‘could reach UK within months’ – but Kim Jong-un ‘too rational’ to use them.

SOUTH KOREA. Researchers from 30 countries call for boycott of South Korean university, in campaign against lethal autonomous weapons.

UK.

•  Recovery of poisoned former Russian spy should help the police investigation. The Skripals and the unusual timing of Chemical warfare exercises near Salisbury.
• EDF says that proposed Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk may not be feasible.
• British Nuclear Test Veterans Update.
• UK’s secret air transport of nuclear wastes – a cause for concern.
• Serious flaws in “community consultation” process for selecting a nuclear waste dump site in Cumbria.
• UK Inspector General’s report on Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection 2017.

RUSSIA. The new arms race, as Russia tests its ‘Satan’ nuclear missile.  – Novichok A234 – The facts .

USA.

•  Donald Trump does not know what he’s doing, in lead-up to North Korea summit. Iran nuclear deal under threat, with Donald Trump’s new national security team.
• Could new U.S. tactical missile projects trigger a new nuclear arms race?  Nuclear lobby no longer touts Peaceful Nuclear Power – now it’s Essential for Nuclear Weapons.
• Massive subsidy plan for New York’ s nuclear power could be stymied by new evidence. FirstEnergy files for bankruptcy for its uneconomic coal and nuclear subsidiaries.
• Isle de Jean Charles – America’s first climate refugees to evacuate.

CANADA. Canada’s so-called “medical”nuclear research reactor finally bites the dust.

CHINA. China expanding its nuclear marketing overseas, with the help of Bill Gates.

TURKEY. Nuclear energy is not coming to Turkey quickly.  Cyprus to lodge complaint over Turkey Nuclear Power plant plans.

PAKISTAN. Submarines with nuclear weapons bring nuclear war closer for India and Pakistan.

MIDDLE EAST. Global nuclear power firms scrambling to market nuclear technology to Middle East countries.

FRANCE. Resurrected nuclear company Orano (formerly Areva) – still losing money-France’s EDF to spend 8 billion euros ($9.8 billion) by 2035 on energy storage.

BELGIUM. Belgium’s nuclear power to be ended by 2025.

SAUDI ARABIA. Crown Prince Bin Salman suggests war may happen between Saudi Arabia and Iran.  Inside the vast web of PR firms popularizing the Saudi crown prince.

April 7, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

CLIMATE and nuclear news – to 30 March 18

Easter – Passover – time for religious observances and/or to be helping that bunny, (or bilby) to hide those chocolate Easter eggs – or something fun like that.  Probably bad timing to be talking about climate change, as the news is not good.

It’s so bad, in fact, that I aberrate here from things nuclear to draw attention to what is happening in the Arctic. Radio Ecoshock keeps us up to date, and the latest news explains the exceptionally cold Northern winter, the Arctic Meltdown, and the proposals for renewable power AND geoengineering.

Arctic temperatures have skyrocketed to 30 degrees celsius over the long-term average. Warm humid air going into the Arctic hits the dense dome of cold air, and bypasses it, going up into the upper atmosphere, even to the stratosphere. The high altitude Polar Vortex split, and a deep persistent jet stream trough over North America shifts, bringing freezing weather.The high Arctic warming  in the spring, autumn, and throughout the winter results in melting ice. The complexity of atmospheric “rivers”brings streams of warm air to the Arctic, carrying water vapour , itself a greenhouse gas, which increases absorption of heat.

For a detailed explanation of the Arctic situation, see the youtube videos by Paul Beckwith:

• Hot Wet Atmospheric Rivers Ravage Arctic: Part 1 of 4  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5OifOXfJe0
• Warm Humid Air Penetrates Arctic Cold Dome:  2 of 4- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrUV21csBNc–
• Topsy Turvy Weather on a Planet in Peril: Part 3 of 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viw_5MlJoRE

Climate change is the top threat to the world’s biodiversity.

Space radiation is increasing. That might put a stop to human visitors to Mars.

RUSSIA.  Nuclear, biological and chemical weapons research at Novichok (exclusive to nuclear-news). Russia’s sunken submarine– still with nuclear weapons.

CHINA. Toxic threat from Tiangong-1 Chinese space station crash soon!

UK. Small Modular Nuclear Reactors – their connection to nuclear weapons development. Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG) slams biased meeting promoting Bradwell nuclear power plan.   Wind and solar make more electricity than nuclear for first time in UK. UK slowly recruiting nuclear safety staff that it will need when it leaves European union.    Assange internet connection cut off in embassy – Kim Dotcom.

NORTH KOREA. Increased activity at North Korean nuclear site.

FRANCE. France’s govt sets cost of Bure underground nuclear waste burial at 25 billion euros (about double that is likely).  AREVA – failed company exhumed – now called “ORANO” and STILL losing money.  France to make a huge investment in energy storage.

USA.

•  Women lead in USA campaign to protect the world from a U.S. nuclear trigger finger.
• US navy’s Virginia attack submarines will now be able to fire nuclear weapons.
• Will Trump’s new national security adviser John Bolton steer Trump in the direction of attacking North Korea?  How America could come to terms with a nuclear-armed North Korea.  Over 100 U.S. nuclear security experts urge Trump not to scrap Iran nuclear deal.
• Subsidy for nuclear power stations as a national “emergency”?  Plan to revive Texas Consolidated Nuclear Waste Storage Facility.
• March 28 – anniversary of Three Mile Island nuclear disaster and the lies about “no-one died”.
•  Who REALLY benefits from uranium mining in Grand Canyon country?

JAPAN.

• At Social Book Café Hachidorisha in Hiroshima – hibakusha continue to give testimony about the nuclear bombing.
• Another aging nuclear reactor in western Japan to be scrapped .   Fukushima disaster interest payments to be shouldered by taxpayers now estimated to US$ 29,3 billion, up 58% from previous estimate.
• Hong Kong will not lift post-Fukushima ban on some Japanese food.  Intensive campaign from Japanese diplomats to push other countries to lift their ban on Japanese contaminated produce.  “Fukushima Pride” – publicity event to promote Fukushima food in Paris.

CHINA. China’s progress in nuclear power is not as sure as it used to be.

SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia to build the world’s biggest solar power project.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa: the country that built nuclear weapons and then gave them up.

March 30, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 2 Comments

To March 24 – this week’s nuclear news

Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs

Well, it’s been quite a week, with all the Cambridge Analytica stuff showing the power and influence of corporations and political parties in manipulating social media– We should not be so surprised, except for the speed and effectiveness of the Cambridge Analytica’s opinion-influencing campaigns.

Manipulation of public opinion has a long and dishonourable history. Following the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima, America launched a successful pro nuclear power propaganda campaign, resulting in the growth of the ‘peaceful’ nuclear industry, especially in Japan.

Hitler used the 1936 Berlin Games to ‘sell’ Nazi Germany as a fine culture.  Currently, Putin is being accused of using the FIFA World Cup as a glorification of his Russian regime.

We can look forward now to two years of global hype over the 2020 Olympics in Japan as a glowing  (though lying) recommendation of a now healthy Fukushima.

All this in the desperate effort to save the reputation of the global nuclear industry. However not everyone, even conservatives, are buying this, as the situation in Britain shows, with renewables gaining popularity.

Climate:  social science research also shows the way in which conservatives are being won over to accept climate change as a reality, and the need to work actively to slow its progress. Polar Anomaly Flip in an Abnormally Warm World: Arctic to Cool as Antarctica Heats Up.

USA.

• Saudi prince admission of possible nuclear weapons development has upset USA lawmakers. Trump to sell over $1 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Crown Prince boasted that Jared Kushner was “in his pocket”.
• Trump’s budget: big cuts to energy efficiency and renewable energy, boost to nuclear weapons. American military and South Carolina politicians want more “plutonium pits”for nuclear warheads.
• NASA will allow plutonium powered spacecraft – reversing previous policy prohibiting this dangerous system.
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirm Russian hackers targeting U.S. nuclear plants.
• Over 15 miles of piping at former uranium enrichment facility to be monitored by robots.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea significantly slows down tunneling in nuclear weapons test site.

FRANCE. Theft of confidential information about Cattenom, Flamanville and Paluel nuclear power plants. India has not signed Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: Macron keen to sell EPR reactors to India anyway.

JAPAN. Proposed storage of spent nuclear fuel sparks resistance in Aomori Pref. City. Hakodate court rejects plea for injunction to halt construction of Oma MOX plant in Aomori.

Fukushima.

•  Fukushima Accident is Becoming More Severe, Residents Continue to Struggle: Ruiko Muto on 7 Years of the Nuclear Disaster.
• TEPCO in the dark about conditions inside shattered Fukushima nuclear reactors: they will now try aerial drones.
• 45 Lawsuits in Fukushima District Courts. Americans seek $1 bil. in damages over Fukushima nuclear disaster.
• Only trickle of former residents returning home to Fukushima.  Is Fukushima doomed to become a dumping ground for toxic waste?    Fukushima governor ‘pushes safety of prefecture’s food’ on Europe tour.   The “forbidden life” of those caring for abandoned animals in Fukushima.
• Sanitising the Fukushima nuclear waste situation: Japanese newspaper succumbs to pressure.

CANADA. Radioactive Cesium 134 from Fukushima nuclear disaster – found in British Columbia.

RUSSIA. The very dangerous prospect of nuclear-powered cruise missiles. Concern over Russia’s nuclear activities in the Arctic – potential for a radiological disaster.

EUROPE. 1960 Paris Convention part of undemocratic government support for nuclear industry. Plan for pan-European alliance against the promotion of nuclear energy– Austria and Luxembourg to start it.

UK. British nuclear submarine joins American naval exercises under Arctic ice.    UK Conservatives – inconsistent, incoherent, policy – agreeing to Russia’s involvement in UK’s nuclear power development.   UK: renewable energy becoming cheaper than nuclear power.

FINLAND. Finland’s nuclear power plant’s price tag – at least $11 billion.

March 24, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news this Fukushima disaster anniversary week

Tomorrow, Sunday March 11,  will mark the seventh anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. I’m not sure that the mainstream media will cover this properly – or even at all. Radioactive debris piling up at Fukushima interim facility.  The  costly underground “Ice wall” to prevent radioactive leakage has not really been effective.  Radioactive water continues to pour into the Pacific ocean. Exposures levels go up while environmental health protections are lifted: life is devalued.   No. of children at time of Fukushima disaster diagnosed with thyroid cancer reaches 160. Fukushima Nuclear Fuel Release “Explicitly Revealed” In Wider Environment. Fleeing from Fukushima: a nuclear evacuation reality check.

The power of the people – Safecast gets the facts on Fukushima radiation.

Crucial US-North Korea talks – could defuse nuclear tensions? Donald Trump’s historic gamble on meeting Kim Jong Un – so much could go wrong.

A sad reflection on International Women’s Day –   Climate change ‘impacts women more than men‘

Seven years on, Fukushima still a disaster without a solution Toshiko Okada will be speaking in Australia 

NORTH KOREA.  Kim Jong Un wants to meet Donald Trump; Trump agrees.  North Korea might send Kim Jong-un’s sister to USA for diplomatic talks on the nuclear crisis.

USA. 

• Unites States – the blank check for nuclear war. Huge costs to American taxpayers, as Pentagon waives $billions in prioritising weapons sales abroad over requirements to reimburse.
• Trump aims for global ‘energy dominance’ through pushing ahead the nuclear industry.
• Who will pay the astronomic cost of storing America’s nuclear trash? NRC reviews New Mexico proposal. Funding for Yucca Mt nuclear waste project is not likely. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) seeks permit to allow more nuclear waste storage.  West Lake Landfill: residents in the area want 100% removal of radioactive trash.
• The Irradiated Sailors of the USS Reagan.
• Washington State to give more help to sick Hanford nuclear workers and former workers.
•  New Jersey’s watchdog for ratepayers watching legislation on nuclear subsidies.   South Carolina House cuts customers bills over failed nuclear project, but Senate delays decision.
• MIT’s $millions plan for small nuclear fusion station.

JAPAN. Japanese govt announced that it will accept recommendations of United Nations Human Rights Council on rights of Fukushima evacuees.   Falsified data on analyses of burying radioactive waste  – Kobe Steel again.

Fukushima 7 years after, Fukushima still struggling to return to normal.  Nuclear regulator: Fukushima accident not over.    Vietnamese trainee misled into Fukushima decontamination work.  Controversy in Thailand over Thai Officials Insisting that Fukushima Imported Fish is Safe! Fukushima Contaminated Food Products Are Receiving Top-level Promotion.

UK. UK police say Sergei Skripa, former Russian spy, was poisoned with nerve agent.   Need to monitor beaches near Dounreay, as another toxic radioactive fragment is found.

FRANCE.  The tiny village leading France’s anti-nuclear movement.   France: Police battle protesters over nuclear waste storage plans.   Radioactive leaks from Bugey nuclear power plant, near Lyon.

SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia lobbying USA hard to get nuclear technology including enriching uranium

INDIA. Protest: President Macron should not impose a problematic French EPR reactor on India.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa cannot afford to build a new nuclear reactor, but Environmental Dept gave permit anyway.

March 10, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 3 Comments

This week propaganda about Tokyo Olympics, and other nuclear news to 4th March

The corporate-political-media machine now gears up the spin for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.  This is no coincidence, as March will mark the seventh anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe.  After the 1945 nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagsaki, the American government swamped Japan with propaganda for setting up nuclear reactors – and indeed, the world, for”Atoms for Peace”. So again, the deception now is that the Fukushima tragedy is over – solved – fixed.

The Winter Olympics are over. We now return to your regularly scheduled nuclear crisis.

CLIMATE: Record warming in the Arctic.  Some of the world’s biggest lakes Are drying.

We already have a global cancer epidemic. A nuclear attack on North Korea would make it much worse.

High stakes talks as Trump forces a deadline on revising Iran nuclear deal.

Thorium Church: a trojan horse in the “green” movements

FUKUSHIMA. 

• Radiation levels in Fukushima zones higher in 2017 than 2016, and still above government target despite cleanup.
•  Environmental impact of Fukushima nuclear disaster more long-lasting than expected.
•  Thyroid cancer relapses in some Fukushima children.
•  Debris in Fukushima nuclear reactor 2 – it “fell out of reactor”. TEPCO: Frozen soil wall effect limited. Fukushima Daiichi groundwater inflow increased 4 times as much as normal.

JAPAN. Removal of spent fuel from Fukui’s defunct Fugen reactor delayed by nine years. More Fukushima Propaganda to Come from Japan’s Ministry of the Environment.  Tepco sets sights on global expansion.

UK. Damning report accuses UK government on the collapse of contract to clean up redundant fleet of Magnox nuclear reactors.  Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge to keep Britain in EU internal energy market (IEM) and in Euratom.

USA. Senator Ed Markey warns on danger in allowing Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium, reprocess spent nuclear fuel. Energy Secretary Rick Perry ready to make concession to Saudi Arabia – to market US nuclear power to that country. Los Alamos Board of Public Utilities – doubtful about viability of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs).

SOUTH KOREA. Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, has called on the US to “lower the bar” for discussions with North Korea.

NIGER. INTERVIEW:  Niger: “In Arlit, people drink water contaminated by radioactivity”.

INDIA. India’s State-owned nuclear power corporation plans new nuclear units, without nuclear waste facilities set up.

NORWAY, FINLAND. Norway and Finland find tiny amounts of recently released radioactive particles in the air.

FRANCE. Zombie nuclear corporation AREVA arises from dead -as “Orano”, “Framatome”.  Flamanville EPR: defects affect secondary circuit welds in nuclear reactor.  EDF discovering many more “anomalies ” and “non-conformities” in nuclear reactors.

RUSSIA. Putin announces a new array of nuclear weapons, that could evade a US-built missile shield. A forgotten nuclear disaster? 1985 Russian submarine accident.

SAUDI ARABIA. The last thing the Middle East needs is another country with the potential to build nuclear weapons.

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

The week that was in nuclear news – to February 24

Not much has changed this week: the simmering North-Korean -USA nuclear continued to simmer  quietly while the Winter Olympics were on: the global nuclear waste anxieties ratcheted up a little.

We got an insight into Donald Trump’s mindset about how to deal with  teenage gunmen, (or anyone difficult?) . He suggests giving bonuses to teachers who carry guns into the classroom. As a former teacher, I shudder to think what might happen in some classrooms with a bunch of obstreperous kids.

Climate change: global sea level rise is inevitable, but more emissions will make it worse. Arctic temperatures soar 45 degrees above normal, flooded by extremely mild air on all sides.

Vain hopes for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) – expensive and there are no customers anyway.

Blocks to Mars travel – lethal radiation, and ,  – who pays?

Health Effects of Plutonium (lest we forget)

JAPAN. Japanese govt to support firms that export nuclear power technology.   Japan wants Fukushima evacuees to go home:  they’re not so sure. Japan to start nuclear cleanup of Fukushima town, Namie, around May.   Fukushima plant reactor #3 gets new roof cover.

USA.

•  USA preparing for cyber attacks on North Korea. America to impose “largest-ever” package of sanctions on North Korea. Chinese and USA officials scuffled over the “nuclear football”.
• USA nuclear weapons agency trying to repair their macho image? Appointment of Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty as security chief.
• Hanford cars, supposedly clean, but testing positive for radiation
• . Class legal action for victims of West Lake Landfill radiation. Documentary “Atomic Homefront” delves into St. Louis-area radioactive landfill – nuclear weapons before people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0RsT14RNqQ  Parks Township nuclear dump cleanup delayed again.
• USA’s new Nuclear Posture Review – an (unsustainable) gift to the nuclear weapons industry.
• USA Dept of Energy’s plan to run nuclear reactors for 80 years. Utah politicians received big donations – now they’re ready to waive the fee for inspecting EnergySolutions radioactive landfill. Lawyers kept busy with the chaos of South Carolina’s failed nuclear project.
•  Mysterious and ‘HIGHLY UNUSUAL’ radioactive substance detected in Alaska.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea pushing ahead with intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and hydrogen bombs. North Korea preparing to launch cyber attacks.

SOUTH KOREA. South Korean president says Olympics have lowered tensions with North. (Washington Post). A South Korean province considers co-hosting the 2021 Asian Winter Games with North Korea.

EUROPE. Legal challenge to European Union against approving Hungary’s nuclear expansion plans.

SWEDEN. Swedish Environmental Court‘s very thorough study on copper canisters for storing spent nuclear fuel rods.

IRELAND. Belated consultation with Ireland about UK’s Hinkley nuclear plant – may help Ireland to fight other UK nuclear plans. Under UN conventions the peoples of neighbouring countries that could be affected by a nuclear project need to be consulted.

FRANCE. French police in body armour, with earthmover, evict activists protesting against nuclear waste dumping. France must come clean and admit that it has an exceptionally dangerous nuclear waste problem.

UK. UK’s plans for nuclear waste canisters – face the same problems as Sweden’s. Centrica to sell its UK nuclear holdings. France’s Electricite de France (EDF) boasts new cheaper nuclear reactor – makes Hinkley C nuclear project look unwise.  Continuing plunge in Britain’s electricity consumption.

SAUDI ARABIA. Trump Might Bend Nuclear Security Rules To Help Saudi Arabia get nuclear power.  Concern in USA Congress over Saudi Arabia’s real aims in going for nuclear energy.  Saudi Arabia, Egypt wanted US to bomb Iran.

IRAN. Iran would leave the nuclear deal if it brings no economic benefit.

INDIA. In India, groups unite to oppose construction of the atomic power plant at Kovvada.

CHINA.  China’s nuclear weapons modernisation is relatively small: China not wanting to attack USA. China again stresses its policy of No First Use of Nuclear Weapons.

SOUTH AFRICA. Not just Russian but ANY nuclear new-build is a poor choice for South Africa.

February 24, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news in brief – week to 18th February

A thaw in North Korea’s attitude, with the Winter Olympics. Cynics dismiss this as propaganda, but it has obviously brought some calm to the situation in the two Koreas, and perhaps even changed the equation North Korea v USA.

The nuclear news this week has been dominated by the global problem of nuclear waste – what to do with it? France’s EDF proposes a  gigantic nuclear garbage pool.  Japan has a glut of plutonium wastes. America’s Hanford wastes cleanup will cost $111 billion.  The Swedish version of UK’s Radioactive Waste Management was rejected by Swedish Environment Court. Only now after 32 years, is Ukraine starting to remove the liquid nuclear wastes from the shattered Chernobyl reactor. Cumbrians are rejecting UK’s nuclear waste. The Australian government is quietly trying to bribe outback communities into hosting nuclear waste, with a deceptive tale about “medical needs” . As for Fukushima – don’t get me started.

Of course – none of the authorities in any of these countries has suggested the idea of stopping making  radioactive trash!

2017 – 2018 The trends in nuclear power construction.

Research into low dose radiation – a very complex issue.

SOUTH KOREA. Quiet diplomacy brought South and North Korean athletes together for the Winter Olympics.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea wants to mend relations with South Korea – but also to continue nuclear military development.

UK.

• UK’s “Central Government Supply Estimates 2017-18” promises a massive future bailout for the nuclear industry. Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) report on UK National Policy Statement – nuclear is not needed. Nuclear corporation EDF ‘s profits fall in UK,- low prices, and rising energy efficiency – lower consumption.
• UK’s nuclear veterans to be DNA tested.
• A new report on Sellafield highlights the likely nuclear damage to Ireland.
• Jeremy Corbyn commits to green energy, wants the national grid in public hands.
• How a nuclear submarine crashed into a tanker.
•  ‘Men only’ attitude in decision-making is slowing Britain’s transition to clean energy.

JAPAN. Japan’s problem of no place to put low-level waste from nuclear reactors. (They haven’t got anywhere for high level wastes either) . Japan has enough plutonium for 5,000 nuclear warheads, and its Constitution does not rule them out.  2020 Japan Olympics and the threat of nuclear terrorism. Kobe steel firm might have falsified data on nuclear waste container safety. Drone to probe Fukushima N-plant interior.

USA.

• Soaring deficit for USA in Trump’s $4.4 Trillions Budget with huge weapons expenditure. Hanford nuclear clean-up will cost $111 billion, but Trump is slashing its budget, anyway. USA’s Energy Dept ‘s $30.6 billion budget request beefs up nuclear weapons, downgrades renewables.  Trump budget contains $120M to restart licensing of Yucca Mountain for waste dump.
• “It was complete chaos” says Hanford worker who inhaled plutonium. Progress in getting compensation for sick Hanford nuclear workers and ex-workers.
• NASA’s expensive nuclear space race.
•  Mystery of particle of enriched uranium floating above Alaska.
•  The uneconomic Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility to be closed– Dept of Energy seeks funding for this.
• America now producing medical radioisotopes without use of a nuclear reactor.

FRANCE.  EDF and the director of the Cruas-Meysse nuclear power plant (Ardèche) fined over nuclear waste mismanagement.  France’s energy giant EDF now making a revolutionary change – from nuclear to renewables?

SOUTH AFRICA. Hopes that South Africa’s new president will scrap nuclear deal.

RUSSIA. Mayak area- Radiation levels last fall 1,000 times above normal. Residents of Russia’s Yaroslavl region got a “false’ radiation alert scare. Blow to Russia’s nuclear marketing ambitions – other investors back out of Turkey nuclear build.

ALGERIA. The untold story of Algeria’s victims of French nuclear bomb tests.

CHINA. China again delays building Westinghouse-designed AP1000 nuclear reactor, because of safety worries.

PAKISTAN. New types of nuclear weapons being developed by Pakistan.

February 17, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news – week to 9th February

Same old same old, but new, angst about being close to the nuclear brink.  Russia is upset at America’s new Nuclear Posture Review. Many commentator’s are alarmed as it escalates the arms race. No doubt, weapons companies are salivating at the thought of it, and America’s tax-payers ought to be concerned at its beyond  $1.2 trillion cost.

I know that this newsletter is now supposed to be leaving out climate stories. But it’s hard. Here we are, worrying about nuclear bombs, – while climate change is bringing us its own “weather bombs”.

USA- Russia New START Treaty takes effect – with central limits on strategic arsenals for 7 years.

USA.

• Once again, they’re contemplating a WINNABLE WAR !
• The American Bomb was the white MEN’s bomb. US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood’s tirade at UN attacking North Korea, Russia AND China.  USA Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis changes his mind – now wants massive increase in nuclear weapons.
•  Why it is very dangerous to put low-yield nuclear weapons on submarines.  Chairman of USA nuclear weapons oversight agency steps down amid internal turmoil. The Trump administration’s planned nuclear upgrade is being undermined by cost overruns.
• San Onofre nuclear waste moved closer to beach.
• Utility Sues Nuclear Energy Institute For Extortion.
• City Council opposes construction of a Piketon nuclear waste facility.
• Oyster Creek stuck with 50 years’worth of stranded nuclear wastes.
• What’s next for the West Lake Landfill.
• Research into effects of uranium waste exposure on Native Americans.
• Radiation still a stumbling block to space travel. Elon Musk’s Space Tesla Will Be Destroyed by Radiation.

INDIA. India keeping up in the nuclear arms race – 2 Nuclear Capable Ballistic Missile in one Week.

FRANCE. France in the nuclear weapons race – to spend 37 bn euros on upgrading nuclear arsenal. Terrorism: Radical Islamists in the nuclear industry?   Questioning France’s National Agency for the Management of Radioactive Waste (Andra). France’s nuclear culture of lies about serious nuclear accidents. The alarming state of France’s nuclear reactors. Costs of France’s Flamanville nuclear power project have exploded, and delays ballooned. France heading for a renewable energy revolution, with offshore wind power.

UK. Cost of replacing Britain’s nuclear submarines rockets by £1billion.   2,200 Massive steel containers produced – to house Sellafield’s piles of radioactive trash.   UK government promoting the nuclear industry – funding £7.5 million National College for Nuclear. A new report on Sellafield highlights the likely nuclear damage to Ireland.

JAPAN.  Abe, ex-Prime Minister Kan go head to head in nuclear debate.   Tepco ordered to pay $30,000 each to 318 people of the Minamisoma’s Odaka District class action suit. Desperate to save its failing nuclear business, Toshiba looks to Ukraine. The penultimate storage of contaminated waste.

Fukushima nuclear disaster: lethal levels of radiation detected in leak seven years after plant meltdown in Japan Fukushima 49.17% thyroid deficiency in the 295 000 young people under 18 years examined between 2011 and 2014. The mammoth task of cleaning up Fukushima’s radioactive nuclear reactor wrecks has only just begun.

SWEDEN. Sweden agonises over nuclear waste burial project that no community wants.

TAIWAN. Taiwan’s problem in searching for geological location for nuclear waste dump.

ITALY. Depleted uranium “helped sow deaths and illnesses” in Italian soldiers.

UKRAINE. Clean-up to start on tons of liquid radioactive trash from all 4 of Chernobyl’s nuclear reactors.

RUSSIA. Russia postponing new nuclear reactors because of costs. Death of a hero who saved White Sea from nuclear disaster.

UAE. United Arab Emirates moves on in plan to develop nuclear power.

SAUDI ARABIA. A new arms race – for the Middle East? Saudi Arabia’s nuclear power plan is not economic.

February 9, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

To February 3rd – Nuclear News

Henry Kissinger, long term and still influential political adviser, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that a pre-emptive strike on North Korea was “tempting”and “a rational argument”. And, with Trump’s new  Nuclear Posture Review, the world moves even closer to the brink. With the nuclear weapons race, is the unthinkable now becoming a comfortable idea?

I think of the “Me Too”movement – to change the situation of women being sexually exploited by predators,  and of this being covered up by men in power. And it is surely now time for a “Me Too” movement  – as insane decisions are being made about nuclear weapons by men in power.

Media silence on Julian Assange‘s precarious situation.

USA. Trump’s Nuclear Posture Review considers Russian “doomsday weapon”, though it might not be real.  Top U.S. nuke envoy says Washington wants talks with N.K. for denuclearization . Nuclear poker: Trump’s dangerous game. Daniel Ellsberg says that Trump is leading us into nuclear war. Pentagon plans  U.S. South Korea war games as soon as Winter Olympics are over.

The USA nuclear lobby is now trying to tie up longterm tax-payer funding for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.

• The continuing collapse of the nuclear industry in USA. Nuclear power in crisis: we are entering the Era of Nuclear Decommissioning.  South Carolina legislature preoccupied with the problem of failed nuclear power project. Nuclear firm Westinghouse owes them $111 billion, claim creditors. Following multibillion-dollar nuclear fiasco, Santee Cooper to drop ‘ridiculous’ perk for executives. Oyster Creek nuclear power station to close ahead of schedule.
• Why should you care about ‘specks’ of plutonium? Hanford health challenge. Dept of Energy changes managers at Hanford, as radioactive contamination continues.
• Data faked at Hunters Point Shipyard Radiation Cleanup ?
• Potential of yeast to stop leakage of radioactive material.
• Trump puts uranium miners’ interests above Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments.

JAPAN. Lethal radiation detected at Fukushima plant reactor 2. Japan Should Clarify its Plutonium Usage Plans.  Lingering effects of 2011 disaster take toll in fallout-hit Fukushima, experts warn. Tokyo Not Fit For Human Habitation?

CHINA.  Chinese Arsenal Significantly Smaller, Less Capable Than U.S. Arsenal.  China reorganising its nuclear companies in order to export nuclear technology. Britain’s new nuclear build – a profitable “golden era” for China’s State-owned nuclear companies.

UK.  Britain’s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) wants to increase its radiation releases by over 2,000 per cent.  The dangerous job of specialist scuba divers hauling radioactive trash out of Sizewell nuclear fuel storage pond. The expensive hunt for robots that might help clean up UK’s Sellafield nuclear waste horror.

KAZAKHSTAN. Kazakhstan’s U.N. ambassador – nuclear testing harmed his country; dismantling nuclear arsenal has benefited it.

CANADA. Massachusetts gets a great power deal from Quebec. What is Ontario waiting for?

RUSSIA. Hazards of Russia’s radioactive trash in the Arctic.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa can’t afford nuclear build – renewable energy a wiser choice

MALAYSIA. History of rare earths processing disaster in Malaysia.

BELGIUM. Not feasible to keep Belgium’s nuclear power stations going – new study finds.

FRANCE. EDF’s plan to eventually shut down nuclear reactors in France.

NIGERIA. Nuclear fraud in Nigeria.

February 3, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

The week that was in nuclear news

On January 25th, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) moved the minute hand of the  symbolic Doomsday Clock ahead by 30 seconds – to just two minutes before midnight.The clock, created by the journal in 1947, is a metaphor for how close mankind is to destroying the Earth.  It is now the closest to the apocalypse it has been since 1953. – the year when the US and the Soviet Union tested hydrogen bombs. The team of scientists made this decision based on several factors. These included North Korea’s nuclear tests, the war of words between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, America’s expanding nuclear arsenal, and rising tensions between Russia and the West.

The Bulletin pointed to climate change as an equally catastrophic danger, even if less immediate.

World close to nuclear annihilation, but in denial – Dr Helen Caldicott.

Donald Trump has set USA on a course for nuclear war – George Soros at World Economic Forum in Davos.

Renewable Energy. Once more – there’s lots of news, Best source is reneweconomy.com.au .

Nuclear systems: the grave risk of cyber attack.

Nuclear medicine doctors need protection from genetic damage from radiation.

USA. 

• US stealth bombers in Guam getting ready for a pre-emptive nuclear strike on North Korea? Trump May Consider Preemptive Strike on North Korea – CIA Director.  Scientists aim to limit Trump’s power to launch nuclear weapons.  Poll shows that Americans fear Trump’s ability to launch nuclear weapons, and doubt his mental stability.
• USA will want to withdraw from Iran nuclear deal – Mike Pence.
• Epic crisis in USA’s nuclear industry – Trump’s trying to stop solar power will not save nukes.
•   Lawsuit against Nuclear Subsidies headed for Court Trial.  Bill to subsidise New Jersey’s nuclear power stations – unaffordable handout to the industry.
• The dangers of transporting nuclear waste – Las Vegas Mayor warns.
•  Workers demolishing Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant still vulnerable to airborne radiation.
• Space travel damages astronauts’eyes.  NASA getting excited about plutonium powered space missions.

JAPAN. Ibaraki nuclear plant used erroneous fuel rod data for over 40 years, utility says.  Fukui weighs new wave of reactors to protect status as Japan’s ‘nuclear capital’.   Japan’s Reconstruction Agency to Fold in 2021.  Selective abortion and radioactive contamination in Japan. Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 2: new investigation. Insufficient testing will mean playing radiation roulette for the consumers.

UK. UK’s £1m a year bribes to communities to host nuclear waste.  With big plans for new nuclear stations, Britain desperately trying to get volunteers to host waste dump. Cumbria Trust reminds UK nuclear lobby that hosting nuclear waste is a VOLUNTARY process UK’s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) wants to raise permissable levels of radiation release. Hinkley Point C to get £14bn from UK and Japanese taxpayers – despite ever-cheaper renewables.  UK new nuclear build would create an intolerable waste burden on communities into the far future.

SWEDEN. Swedish Environmental Court rejects plan for spent nuclear fuel repository.  Wild boar in Sweden have record radiation levels – legacy of Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

AUSTRIA. Austria sues European Commission over Hungary’s nuclear plant.

FRANCE.   With collapsed uranium market and nuclear stagnation, failed company AREVA rebrands itself.   Macron’s France weakening on plans to phase out nuclear power? France plans to phase out nuclear power without increasing carbon emissions.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa has no money for nuclear power: says  Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

CANADA. Ontario’s nuclear dreams no match for the reality of falling electricity demand. Quebec Labour Tribunal rules in favour of man who claims he developed cancer from radiation at work.

UKRAINE. The unpublicised un-safety problem – Ukraine’s nuclear industry.

January 27, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news – week to 20th January

The climate of fear. An article by Tony Schwartz, biographer of Donald Trump, describes Trump’s main effect on the body politic , after a year in office: “Trump has made fear the dominant emotion of our times.” This culture of fear is now expressed in actions – USA quietly preparing for war with North Korea, Russia’s new underwater drone – a ‘doomsday’ weapon, United Nations: Secretary General warns on growing nuclear war danger.

End nuclear weapons and nuclear power – we owe this to our children.

I’m so sorry that I’m not now covering climate change issues – it’s not as if these are going away!

World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report found nuclear war, extreme weather top list of 2018 global threats.  The bizarre coincidence of two false alarms announcing the start of nuclear war.The absurdity of underground bunkers to save us in nuclear war.

Nuclear weapons a poor choice for defense against cyber attacks. Pentagon suggests nuclear weapons to counter cyber attacks.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is urging nations not to damage Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement.

USA.

• Daniel Ellsberg – we can dismantle the “dizzyingly insane and immoral” Doomsday Machine. Amid North Korea tensions, America revs up nuclear bomber deployments to Guam.  Possibility of first strike, and increased nuclear role in USA weapons – leaked draft of USA policy document.
• 2018 – a lovely year ahead for America’s bonanza of weapons sales abroad.
• Legal cases to begin, as shareholders sue, over $9 billion nuclear power project debacle. Westinghouse executive whistleblower demoted after he identified South Carolina’s V.C. Summer nuclear problems.
• Kathleen Hartnett White, Trump nominee for White House Environment czar, faked water radiation data.
•  Radiation problems at Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant – 100 workers moved to new offices.
• Should GE’s Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Be Recalled Worldwide Like a Faulty Unsafe Automobile?
• NASA’s great plan for tax-payer funded nuclear reactors on Mars.
• Uranium pollution dispels the grand illusion of “clean America”. Navajo town remembers water pollution due to uranium mining – fears of new mines.

JAPAN. Long-Term Exposure to Low-Dose Radiation and Cancer: Dr. David Richardson at the Hiroshima Peace Institute . TEPCO claims to have found ‘fuel debris’ in No. 2 reactor. Troubled Toshiba plans to eliminate negative net worth by selling Westinghouse claims to U.S. hedge fund. Japan-U.S. nuclear fuel reprocessing pact automatically renews after 30-year deadline passes.

INDIA. Forcible displacement of Indian villagers to make way for unnecessary, uneconomic, nuclear reactors. India again test-fires a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile.

UK. 

• UK nuclear lobby uses the good old “medical” pretense in its zeal for government subsidies.
• Nuclear companies EDF, Horizon, struggle to get investors and taxpayer funding for UK nuclear projects.   Risky tax-payer funding for Britain’s Wylfa nuclear power venture.  Horizon Nuclear’s Wylfa nuclear plan will increase UK’s radioactive trash by 80%.
• Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) search processes indicate Cumbria’s unsuitability for nuclear waste dumping.
•  Murder of top nuclear scientist: did British government fail to protect him?
•  Richard Howson, fresh from the scandal of Carillion’s disastrous failure, now to head inspections at Hinkley nuclear.

PACIFIC ISLANDS. Sea level rise, nuclear trash – Pacific islanders tragedy – only New Zealand offers help.

FRANCE. France’s costly and unsatisfactory efforts at dismantling nuclear reactors.

CANADA. Indigenous Canadians oppose “insanity” of planned nuclear waste disposal near Ottawa River. Groups opposed to new nuclear licence march in Ottawa.

SOUTH AFRICA. Clear danger of South Africa’s energy company Eskom defaulting on its debt.

January 20, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

The week that has been in nuclear news

International relations seem to become ever more complicated and risky. Donald Trump says ” I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un”. It is really hard to make sense out of Trump’s utterances, and the climate of “new media” makes that all the more difficult, and dangerous. Donald Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster thinks it’s about time to bomb North Korea. 17 former nuclear launch officers warn Congress about Trump’s power to destroy.

 European powers urge US not to withdraw from Iran nuclear deal. If he did, it would certainly not help international efforts to persuade North Korea to cease its nuclear weapons drive.

The new media landscape allows Donald Trump’s lies and brutal language to be “normal“.

Time for new movies to raise awareness of nuclear bombing.

U.S. and Russia Race to Build Nuclear Weapons They Can Actually Use Against Each Other.

Accidental nuclear weapons launches could result from cyber attacks.

Fukushima Darkness: Radiation of Triple Meltdowns Felt Worldwide.

Atomic batteries, including plutonium pacemakers – not monitored.

USA.

• Donald Trump’s mental health – a matter of public interest.  Donald Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster thinks it’s about time to bomb North Korea.  Donald Trump wants to kill the Iran nuclear deal – but not just yet. U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson to attend North Korea talks in Canada.- Former nuclear weapons launch officers call for restricting Trump’s access to ‘nuclear button’
• Radiation problem so serious that Hanford Plutonium Plant demolition has been stopped.
• USA’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission makes a fact-based decision against subsidies for coal and nuclear power.
• New Bill in USA Congress for compensation for sick nuclear workers.
• USA Energy Dept must pay South Carolina $1million daily for MOX facility failure, and non removal of plutonium wastes. Connecticut lawmakers anxious about accumulating nuclear radioactive trash. Ticking Time Bomb at San Onofre Nuclear Plant.
• – California regulators OK closing state’s last nuclear plant.
• Will Trump allow irreparable damage to the Grand Canyon, and expand uneconomic uranium mining?
• US Man Indicted for Allegedly Bribing Russian Nuclear Energy Official

NORTH KOREA. North and South Korea agree on Winter Olympics, but not on denuclearization. Chromosome defects found among N. Korean defectors who lived near nuke test site.

EUROPE. European civic leaders worried about dangers of nuclear facilities stationed near borders of their counties.

JAPAN. HELEN CALDICOTT: THE FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR MELTDOWN CONTINUES UNABATED. Bill calling for “immediate halt” to Japan’s reliance on nuclear power.  Regulator urges release of treated Fukushima radioactive water into sea.    Experts anxious about lifting of Japan food ban.

CHINA. China becoming the global leader in renewable energy.  China unlikely to go ahead with AREVA’s nuclear reprocessing plan, despite Macron’s support.  China’s huge bunker for leaders to survive nuclear war

UK. Japanese and British taxpayers at risk as their governments commit to $20 billion loan for Wylfa nuclear project– Cumbria not the safest, nor cheapest, nor easiest place to bury UK’s nuclear waste. Westinghouse saved – nuclear industry must not be allowed to go belly up?- Nuclear Liability – UK government sets out new rules for ‘intermediate risks’. Protest opposing USA military use of Ireland’s Shannon Airport. UK Trident bomb base in Scotland has ‘significant’ radioactive waste problem.

RUSSIA. Putin fears that terrorists might attack nuclear power stations, using drones.

FRANCE. The troubled and exorbitantly expensive history of the EPR nuclear reactor.

BRAZIL. Armed raid on nuclear workers’ housing raises fears over Brazil’s two reactors.

January 13, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment