nuclear-news

Nuclear news for the first week of 2018

With regret, this newsletter is now going to focus mainly on nuclear issues. Climate change is no less important – indeed the harsh reality of climate change  is worse than we thought.  Climate change is being covered brilliantly by excellent websites, such as Radio Ecoshock and Global Weirding with Katharine Hayhoe. Renewable energy and energy efficiency are being left out, too, despite their huge importance.  The new, narrower, focus is just because it’s all been getting, too much, too hard, and – newsletter too long.

My thanks to Lonnie Clarke of The Age of Fission– radio programme, (Missouri) for her information service, and for interviewing me this week .  Also thanks to  David Archer (TMI Podcasts) (Toronto) for the interview today.

With the Trump government now overturning net neutrality laws, it becomes ever more important for all the avenues of independent media to work together to spread information on the nuclear threat.

UN officials welcome reopening of communication between the two Koreas.

Nuclear industry desperately lobbying for financial help to be counted as “clean”.

Population Oscillations OR Collapsing Ecosystems.

Nuclear fusion – not really close at all.

USA.

• Former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg warns ‘50-50’ chance of nuclear war in coming weeks.  Donald Trump’s  National Security Strategy (NSS) puts America in peril.
• Facebook now willing to be censored by U.S. government.
• Trump’s NASA Space Plans – Potential for a Nuclear Catastrophe.
• U.S. Congressional Budget Office fails to consider costs of nuclear-weapons making clean-up.
• New Jersey stops fast-track pursuit of nuclear subsidy bill, for now. New Jersey’s flawed legislation – a gift to the nuclear lobby, and its fan Governor Christie.  South Carolina’s Base Load Review Act, even Florida’s, – a licence for the nuclear industry to rip off the people.
• Anxiety over safety of Holtec canisters in San Onofre’s stranded nuclear wastes.
• Damaged Hanford Nuclear Reservation waste tank to be permanently closed. Radioactive material again found in cars and trucks at Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant.
• Tepco, GE Escape $5B Fukushima Radiation Lawsuit. Sailors Fight to Keep Fukushima Radiation Case in USA.

UK.  Renewables a better option than nuclear power: but nuclear is needed for maintaining nuclear weapons.   Britain’s Hinkley nuclear project rife with scandalous conflicts of interest.  Blunders, catastrophic, delays, even bankruptcy… ANOTHER nuclear power plant is going into financial meltdown. Delay in removal of nuclear wastes from Anglesey’s Wylfa power station.

NORTH KOREA. Improvement of inter-Korean relations.

JAPAN. Japanese gov’t to guarantee bank loans for Hitachi’s “risky” nuclear plant project in Britain. Westinghouse, Toshiba’s troubled nuclear unit, is acquired.

Radioactive debris at Fukushima – a huge challenge to Japanese govt and TEPCO.   Fears of children who have to check radiation levels outside before they can go and play.   Is Fukushima a healthy place to play Olympic ball games?

CANADA. Ontario’s nuclear emergency plan – inadequate, says Greenpeace.

FRANCE. French Greenpeace activists in court for breaking into the first nuclear plant.

CHINA. Another blow further delays China’s nuclear energy programme.

INDIA. Stop nuclear power expansion – says Former Chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.

PAKISTAN.Pakistan and India exchange information on their nuclear installations and facilities.

MALAYSIA. ISIS supporters in Malaysia, and plans to make a thorium “dirty bomb”– Concern in Malaysia over radioactive thorium and uranium in building materials

BELGIUM. Belgium became the world leader in problems at nuclear power plants– Nine nuclear incidents in Belgium in 2017

TAIWAN.Taiwan’s green shift defies energy security fears.

GERMANY. Radioactive leak in German nuclear reactor.  Germany has broken another renewable energy record.

KENYA. Growing concerns on the safety and feasibility of Kenya’s planned Sh2 trillion nuclear energy project.

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

2017: Remarkable stories on nuclear issues

Because my websites focus on nuclear news, many important climate stories were not covered there. A pity – now that the most accurate climate predictions are turning out to be the worst case scenarios. It is clear that climate change is a global emergency – NOW.

Some remarkable climate stories that we did cover: Rise of deadly heatwaves will continue.   Food crops already affected.  Lakes around the world are affected by heat from climate change.  The importance of the Arctic – warm water being pushed to the surface, the disappearing ice, and its consequences, rapid spread of ocean acidification.

I’ve selected not the major news items, but nuclear stories that ought not to be forgotten.

The most impressive story of 2017:

brings together the climate and nuclear issues – Australian Mark Willacy’s text and visual coverage of the climate danger to the nuclear waste “dome” on Enewetak atoll.

Equally impressive

– USA’s  Kate Brown  and Ukraine’s Olha Martynyuk’s  – investigation of the cherry-pickers of Ukraine  “The Harvests of Chernobyl”.

Because many of these stories are long, and complicated, I’m providing here first the links to extracts on nuclear-news.net, which contain links to the originals.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS:  Evidence that Britain’s nuclear power industry subsidises nuclear weapons. America’s nuclear bomb tests and their health toll on Americans.

USA NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND THE MONEY THEY COST:

Listing the financial institutions that provided 344 billion available to 27 nuclear weapon producing companies. How it happens that taxpayer $trillions are spent on nuclear weapons –  Follow the money.  $billions of Americans’ tax money squandered on weapons. How did the Pentagon lose $10 Trillion? America’s war profiteers

JAPAN and FUKUSHIMA. What It’s Like for Informal Labour Employed in Nuclear Power Stations in Japan.  The Fukushima Daichi nuclear power complex is a continuing, permanent, catastrophe. Small head size and delayed body weight growth in wild Japanese monkey fetuses after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster    Many articles by dunrenard.

RADIOACTIVE WASTE DANGER. Just Moms, St Louis and the continuing horror story of nuclear weapons’ waste. Problems at Los Alamos National Plutonium Facility-4 (PF-4) – dangerous plutonium pits. Nuclear catastrophe narrowly avoided at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

IONISING RADIATION and CHERNOBYL.

• 12 year study on children’s teeth led to stopping of atmospheric nuclear bomb tests.
• World Health Organisation confirmed that low dose radiation increases cancer risk. Time to pay attention to long term effects of low dose ionising radiation.
•  The Independent WHO examines the World Health Organisation and finds it less than fully honest on ionising radiation.
• Consequences of Chernobyl.  Looking after Chernobyl’s radioactive puppies.
• A faulty concept of “acceptable risk” – by America’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission. USA’s EPA ( Nuclear Industry Protection Agency) confirms dramatic increase in radiation will be permitted in drinking water.  Nuclear power reactors are NOT CLEAN .

December 29, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Good news for a change this week – on nuclear and climate

Well, of course, it’s hard to find good news. I see that a “good news” media has just started up . I don’t like their chances – but that’s only because good news isn’t really news.  News is about something unusual happening. The vast majority of human beings are going about their lives, trying to care for their family and friends, trying to live  a decent life. That’s just not news. Particularly at this time of year, people are mostly making an extra effort to be kindly to others, – with Christmas, Hanukka, and at least 12 other religious celebrations.  So – it’s the much rarer bad incidents that are news.

On climate, so many millions of people, and so many organisations are trying to save this planet’s quite fragile environment. Intergovernmental efforts continue, with the recent Paris Summit. Renewable energy is taking off across the globe, especially in China, but also in America, despite Trump.

The global nuclear-free movement continues to have successes, exposing the nuclear industry, working for nuclear clean-ups, and for dismantling nuclear power, and for preventing new nuclear development

The much maligned United Nations continues its work, with a huge number of positive agencies, including many humanitarian ones. Non government agencies join in this work

The Nobel Peace Prize Award to ICAN might appear to be ineffective.  But to have 122 of the UN member states adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is a great symbolic start – in universal recognition  that having nuclear weapons , planning to use them, and using them – are crimes against humanity.

Nuclear power began in America in the 1940s, with the Manhattan project to develop nuclear bombs.  Of course it is till aligned with nuclear weapons, but now, “peaceful” nuclear power is dying in USA. France is moving away from nuclear power. In China, and India, as renewable energy booms,  nuclear power slows.

The global movement for  a nuclear free world is active everywhere, but faces huge challenges, especially where the industry is tax-payer funded, and exceptionally secretive – as in Russia and China.

One nice little news item – the early release from prison of brave anti nuclear activist Sister Megan Rice.

I suppose that next week – I will resume the dreary recitation of all the bad stuff  – because that’s what news is.  In the meantime, many millions of people are being kind to each other, and wishing for peace –  not news, but true all the same.

December 22, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

It’s nearly Christmas – it’s also nearly crisis – nuclear and climate news to 16 December

I know. It’s just not what you need to hear in the week before Christmas.  Unfortunately, I am reminded by the wonderful Katharine Hayhoe  that even if you ignore, or even disbelieve in scientific findings –  they are still there, still real.

My two big influences this week come from Radio Ecoshock. Firstly – we’ve underestimated global warming. Our current path heads to worst 5 degree warming. And, there’s suppression of climate facts, and some disinformation on global warming.  My second – it’ s the same as last week’s – Future Earth may be home to grass, bugs, and maybe, – maybe – a few humans. It’s a hot radioactive world.

Well – on with the dance –

The Arctic is melting with no turning back. We have been underestimating the amounts of sea level rise due to global warming. For the first time, scientists identify human-driven climate change as the cause of global heat waves in 2016. Explaining Extreme Events from a Climate Perspective – American Meteorological Society

10 December: Nobel Peace Prize awarded to International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson changes his mind: now will not talk with North Korea without “conditions”.  U.N.’s Guterres warns against ‘sleepwalking’ into war over North Korea.

USA. 

• Trump’s disturbing willingness to sell nuclear technologies without the usual restrictions, to Saudi Arabia.
• Bill to Help Rescue New Jersey Nuclear Plants Is Unveiled . Revelations that Westinghouse knew of nuclear reactor problems.  
• America’s trillions of dollars militaristic economy.
• Climate change effects intensify – and California burns. America’s EPA removes climate change and renewable energy references from its website.

FRANCE. EDF keen to market nuclear to Asia, demands tax-payer support to build new nuclear reactors.

UK.

• UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation approves nuclear power plans for Wylfa, Anglesey. Now where’s the funding?
• British parliamentarians worried that the UK nuclear industry will suffer as Britain leaves Euratom, in Brexit move. More on the UK EURATOM Boondogle – Brexit woes!
• Wikileaks ruled by UK tribunal to be a media organisation –
•  Scrutiny on Small Modular Nuclear Reactors as UK govt ploughs money into them , despite financial risks. –
• Japanese Embassy Promoting Fukushima Sake in London, UK. Japanese Foreign Minister’s Gimmick to Promote Fukushima Contaminated Produce.

JAPAN. Government and utilities shaken by high court challenge to public trust in Japan’s nuclear authority. One Fukushima Tepco employee’s Leukemia certified, how many of the subcontracted employees ignored? Intensifying the Fukushima denial campaign. Many children diagnosed with thyroid cancer after 3.11 disasters, families still worried.

FRANCE. New defects detected in AREVA’s European Pressurised Nuclear Reactor (EPR). France faces a decade-long struggle to upgrade its nuclear power plants. France’s nuclear corporation EDF to make a massive push into solar energy.

RUSSIA. Russian nuclear plant says it finally emits nuclear isotope #Ruthenium106. Donor nations to pay up for trying to fix Russia’s devilish nuclear waste problem at Andreeva Bay. The unsolved hazard of damaged spent nuclear fuel rods – Andreeva Bay.

NORTH KOREA. The danger of the unsafety of North Korea’s nuclear facilities.

EGYPT. Russia disburses El Dabaa nuclear power plant loan/bribe to Egypt. Egypt to go into big debt to buy Russian nuclear reactors that it doesn’t need.

SAUDI ARABIA. It looks as if Saudi Arabia wants uranium enrichment etc as prelude to nuclear weapons development.

MIDDLE EAST. In Middle East – a heightened risk of attacks on nuclear facilities.

CHINA. Tests reveal crack in key component of Chinese nuclear power plant, 130km west of Hong Kong. China builds refugee camps – prepared for influx should Kim Jong-un’s regime collapse.

NIGERIA. Nigeria: Nuclear Agency Spent N367 Million Illegally – Senate Panel.

December 16, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The news to 8th December – nuclear and climate

Can Humans Survive? Nuclear weapons and climate change both threaten our existence, but with different time scales and probability.

Closer to the nuclear brink: American air drills begin over the Korean peninsula. The human consequences of nuclear war: a new medical plea against war.

Nuclear news in America is getting more intriguing – with more being revealed about the shady nuclear deals done by Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.  It’s enough for Trump’s lawyers to be concerned, as Flynn is now co-operating with the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia.

On the climate front – when it comes to climate predictions –  the most accurate ones are turning out to be the worst case scenarios. Even in rich countries, climate change is already costing us all financially, and it’s going to get worse.

The illegality of  a plan for a nuclear attack.

Hanford, USA and Mayak, Russia – their hidden radioactive megapollution.

Media to blame for focussing on Trump trivia, minimising climate change.

ANTARCTICA. Antarctica – so remote, but so significant in climate science.– An immense glacier is melting, in Antarctica.

NORTH KOREA.  United Nations’ political chief makes rare visit to North Korea.   North Korea says nuclear war on Korean Peninsula inevitable. U.S. ex-envoy Robert Gallucci urges Washington and Pyongyang to consider China’s ‘freeze to freeze’ compromise.  Environmental dangers from North Korea’s nuclear bomb tests. North Korean nuclear tests sickening residents with ‘ghost disease,’ defectors say.

UK. Electricity from Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) would be much more expensive than from ‘conventional’ reactors. Small Modular Nuclear Reactors not economically viable, but UK govt is funding them anyway. Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit calls for windfarms: wind energy now cheapest form of electricity.

USA.

•  Nuclear Living with a nuclear North Korea – a better idea than panicking into nuclear war. Plans for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missiles on America’s West Coast.
• Whistleblower Info About Flynn Nuclear Deal Text Message Within Minutes Of Trump Being Sworn In As President.  Michael Flynn claims that the Trump campaign ordered him to contact Russia.
• Rick Perry to visit Saudi Arabia – a nation keen to have nuclear reactors AND to highly enrich uranium.
• New evidence on thyroid cancer incidence near New York’s nuclear power station.
• Nuclear industry would like to assess itself for safety, efficiency etc; (wouldn’t we all?) Republicans in Congress losing interest in getting tax credits for nuclear power industry.
• $billions to clean up radioactive waste in tanks at Hanford.
•  Women Leaders Aren’t Making Enough Foreign Policy Decisions, and it’s a Problem.
•  Nuclear propagandist Michael Shillenberger running for Governor of California.
• Climate US government report finds steady and persistent global warming.  New York City’s public advocate, Letitia James, focuses on climate action.  Surge in USA storage for renewable energy. Deadly California Wildfire Erupts in December, Forcing Thousands to Flee.

JAPAN. Tokyo 2020 Olympics costs skyrocket because of Fukushima nuclear reconstruction.  Tokyo 2020 to feed IOC food from disaster-hit regions.   The Japanese Government Is Lying to the International Community: the Radiological Situation in and around Fukushima is NOT Safe.

Failure of Monju fast-breeder nuclear reactor leaves Japan with a huge spent fuel problem. UN General Assembly endorses a Japanese anti-nuclear resolution.   Proposal for Japan to ‘rent’ nuclear weapons from USA.

Fukushima dome roof takes shape, but radiation remains high.   Tepco officials warned workers and journalists not to stand too long next to Fukushima nuclear reactor storage pool. Japan struck by two earthquakes.

RUSSIA. Incident at Russia’s Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant may have caused radiation cloud over Europe.   Fundamental problems with the Russian nuclear industry.    Russia’s deception, denial and propaganda over the nuclear event at Mayak. Russia slams North Korea’s nuclear gambling and US’ provocative conduct.

CANADA. Search narrowed for place to store used nuclear fuel. Just say no to a nuclear waste dump anywhere near the Great Lakes: the message from many officials and residents. Candu nuclear reactor to be buried.

UKRAINE. Risk of Chernobyl sarcophagus collapsing – radiation danger to workers now sealing it    Solar power to take over, on Chernobyl’s nuclear wasteland.

FRANCE. Drones still buzz around France’s nuclear power plants!  France to reduce its use of nuclear power as soon as possible, and discredit the myth of “cheap” nuclear energy. European citizens lodge a complaint against EDF and French govt on nuclear unsafety.

ARMENIA. Armenia considers plan to abandon nuclear power and go for renewables.

December 8, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

This week’s nuclear and climate news

The Kim Jong Un – Donald Trump warlike bombast continues, when what is needed is restraint and diplomacy. North Korea unveils a ‘monster’ new intercontinental ballistic missile. Trump administration considers a‘preventive strike ‘ against North Korea – the very worst option.

Always a silver lining, though. Businessmen in Britain and South Korea are enthusiastically marketing new underground bunkers. Their Chumdan Bunker System chief executive officer Go Wan Hyeok  said  “I’m wishing that he presses the button and shoots the bomb! ” “I want to then open up showrooms in Europe and in the UK”

The twin threats of climate change and nuclear pollution join together, as rising seas caused by climate change are seeping inside a remote island nuclear waste dump.

University research indicates that global warming will accelerate as CO2 levels rise.

Western nuclear nations snub Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

How could the Agung volcano in Bali affect global temperatures?

USA. Trump administration, Michael Flynn, and dodgy nuclear deals with Saudi Arabia.  Michael Flynn’s nuclear role complicates the federal investigation into Russian interference in 2016 USA election. New Study: Over a Trillion becquerels of Fukushima radiocesium fell on Hawaii.  NASA’s new toy – a nuclear reactor on Mars.

FRANCE. Another corruption investigation of French nuclear company AREVA. France joins the rush to market nuclear power to Saudi Arabia. Mushrooms contaminated with radioactive cesium 137 stopped by France, – shipment from Belarus.  EDF says individuals detained after breaking into Cruas nuclear plant.

NORTH KOREA.  North Korea moving fast to complete its nuclear weapons program – could be done within a year.  Daily Mail reports North Korean defectors’ claim of damage caused by Kim Jong-un’s powerful nuclear missile test

JAPAN. Japan’s Kyushu Elec likely to delay nuclear plant restart due to Kobe Steel checks.  Kobe Steel scandal: ‘look the other way’ culture of corporate Japan, faked data for over a decade.  Japan is poised to release into the Pacific one million tons of radioactive water contaminated by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.  Fukushima ‘ice wall’ linchpin not living up to high hopes.  11,800 homes to be destroyed in areas evacuated from the nuclear disaster.   Testimony of a mother who evacuated from Tokyo. Fukushima Cover-Up and Denial.

UK. Looks as if UK nuclear power is coming to the end of the line.   South Korea looks to market nuclear technology to Britain,  in  UK’s Moorside Nuclear Power Station.

CANADA. Strong civic movement opposes Canadian proposal for nuclear waste dump close to Lake Huron.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s anti nuclear movement ready for President Zuma’s next pro nuclear move.

AFRICA – GABON Gabon’s uranium miners’ long wait for compensation for radiation-caused illness.

RUSSIA.  Russia: a new nuclear accident on the anniversary of the secret Mayak accident 60 years ago?   Scientist confirms potential source of Ru-106 as Mayak’s vitrification unit.      Damning report from Greenpeace on Rosatom and the Ruthinium 106 incident!

December 1, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The week that was, in nuclear news

The most interesting nuclear story is about the radioactive cloud across Europe. First described as a harmless wafting of radioactive isotopes “over recent weeks”, this news seemed to become  a bit of a worry, first of all, to air travellers. Then the realisation that even if this airborne plume of radioactive ruthenium 106  is supposed to be harmless, it’s not harmless to those close to the source. Now the source is identified, after weeks of contradictory Russian reports, to be the Mayak Nuclear Production Facility, with Russia still claiming that it is harmless. The locals are not so sure.

New research reveals that space travel permanently changes the human brain.

A new arms race underway, as USA, then Russia, modernise their nuclear weapons.

USA. 

• If Trump wants to use nuclear weapons, whether it’s ‘legal’ won’t matter. Grave threat that Trump may be seriously considering a first strike on North Korea.   THE MOST EXPENSIVE BOMB EVER – USA’s new B61 nuclear hydrogen bomb.  Nuclear arms industry controls public discussion on weapons – funding “think tanks”.   Special Report – Nuclear strategists call for bold move: scrap ICBM arsenal.
• Fukushima Class Action Federal Lawsuit Filed in Boston Against General Electric.
• SCE Plans Beach Burial of San Onofre Radioactive Waste in Canisters Known to Crack and Leak in Less Than 20 Years!    Illinois nuclear reactors – continuing radioactive leaks.   Radioactive waste data removed from Tennessee state website.

UK. UK made ‘grave strategic errors’ in Hinkley Point nuclear project.  The consensus is clear: there is no upside to a nuclear Brexit.

JAPAN.  TEPCO and Japanese govt hope to portray Fukushima nuclear clean-up as a success, as robots find molten fuel.   Call for Japan’s aging Tokai No. 2 nuclear plant to be shut down. Fukushima Darkness.

INDIA. Not in the Name of Climate, Not in Our Name! India’s Poor Resist Nuclear Power. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IspLpQXv_1I

SOUTH AFRICA. World Bank to fund nuclear power in South Africa?

AUSTRALIA. 6 Australian religious anti-war protesters may face 7 years gaol for peaceful Pine Gap protest.

November 25, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The past week in climate and nuclear news

Today, the UN climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany, are wrapping up. The world’s diplomats discussed and developed national pledges, with USA’s Michael Bloomberg pledging American action by cities and States, in defiance of President Trump. Scientists reported that the plans are not enough to meet the Paris climate goal of holding the global temperature increase to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. It is still worth acting to prevent extreme changes, but climate change impacts are already locked in.

To give an example of the kind of climate feedback mechanisms  that might be happening, China has this year increased its carbon emissions, largely because of less availability of hydropower.  Hydropower was in short supply because of drought, which, in itself, was probably exacerbated by climate change.

You would think it hardly possible that tensions could ratchet up any further around North Korea, but they have. China has sent a diplomat to North Korea, and has asked USA to stop the naval military drills around the Korean peninsula.

Climate change and nuclear threats are twins. Climate change leading to wars.  Activists at COP23 Decry Companies and Corporate Sponsors Pushing Fossil Fuel as Energy Solution. 19 nations pledge to phase out coal. Insurance companies move to divest from coal projects. Minerals deal needed to fuel the clean energy transition.

Nuclear power – dying a slow, painful and wildly expensive death. Even the International Atomic Energy Agency admits that the nuclear industry is failing.

EUROPE. EU Parliamentarians Still Awaiting Answers From EU About Radioactive Ruthenium Cloud That Spread Across Europe. Europe’s radiation cloud is not harmless, if you happen to be near the source.

JAPAN. U.N. body calls on Japan to improve protection of press freedoms and Fukushima residents rights.  If war breaks out on Korean peninsula, Japan must be ready for influx of evacuees. Nine nuclear reactors in Japan use products manufactured by steelmaker that admitted faking quality data. Japan students offered reward for joining gov’t events on nuclear waste. Tepco starts removing nuclear fuel assemblies from wrecked Fukushima Reactor No. 3 .

USA.

• As the world struggles with immediate dangers, NASA focuses on nuclear electricity for Mars.
• USA Cabinet would not be able to Stop a Trump-Ordered Nuclear Strike.   Deadlock in U.S. Senate over effort to restrain Trump’s authority to launch a nuclear attack.  Union of Concerned Scientists urge Congress to pass Bill Establishing Policy that US Will Not Use Nuclear Weapons First.
• Trump to tap nuclear industry lobbyist for U.S. Energy Dept job.
• Power company to discuss decision to abandon nuke project. South Carolina Electric and Gas Co (SCE and G) tries to placate electricity customers after failed nuclear project.
• Coal and Nuclear Lobbies Joined Forces – locked together in move to get tax-payer handouts.
• How it happens that taxpayer $trillions are spent on nuclear weapons –  Follow the money.
• Radioactive waste danger at St Louis, USA – new film ‘Atomic Homefront’.
• Nuclear power on welfare now – an unnecessary drain on the public purse.

UK. UK’s Ministry of Defence blocks reports on nuclear issues, as £1.3 billion spend-up on Trident begins.  Anger in Scotland, as UK’s Ministry of Defence plans big expansion at Trident nuclear bases . Courier and Mersea Island Environmental Alliance (MEIA) concerned at dangers of nuclear plan for Bradwell.  Enormous survey over 13 countries shows that UK citizens want solar power, not nuclear.   Welsh anti-nuclear group partnering with Friends of the Earth Japan to oppose nuclear build at WYFLA. Nuclear radiation harmed 3 generations of family, claims British veteran. Australian aborigines challenge Scottish nuclear waste transfers. UK Labour will plan for the economic impacts of climate change.

NORTH KOREA. North Korea has a sound reason for wanting nuclear weapons.

IRAQ. Extreme weather, prolonged drought – helped ISIS to recruit jihad fighters.

IRAN. Report from International Atomic Energy Agency: Iran is sticking to the nuclear agreement.

CHINA. A Nuclear Space Shuttle by 2040 – the aim of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

FRANCE . France’s President Macron vows to replace every dollar Donald Trump withdraws from climate change efforts. French government considers changing focus of EDF from nuclear to renewables.

GERMANY. Remove all nuclear warheads stationed in Germany – call from Germany’s Green Party.

SOUTH AFRICA. New report says that South Africa should ditch nuclear plan, to save Eskom from ruin.

FINLAND. Owners and suppliers of Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor – locked in dispute over delayed project.

November 18, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

This week: nuclear and climate news

Sometimes the news in one country is pivotal to the fortunes of the global nuclear industry. Right now, this country is arguably South Africa. Nuclear corruption has been entrenched in South Africa for a long time. It’s becoming urgently important now, as President Zuma nears the end of his term.  The global nuclear lobby must be watching, with some trepidation, to see whether a whole African nation can be bought,  despite the obstacles. In South Africa, the obstacles are: legal, financial, political, and technical. And that’s before one even talks about public opinion, and health and environmental impacts.

With one eye on South Africa, the nuclear lobby’s other eye is, of course, on the COP23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany, where the nuclear lobby is working hard on the sidelines, to persuade the UN that their industry is “clean” – and therefore deserving of financial support.

Investigative reporting lives!! – Informal Labour, Local Citizens and the Tokyo Electric Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Crisis: Responses to Neoliberal Disaster Management

SA energy minister Tom Koutsantonis slammed the federal government’s proposed National Energy Guarantee as an attack on renewables. More at reneweconomy.com.au

What’s happening in the UN climate talks in Bonn?  USA now the only country opposed to Paris climate accord, as Syria now joins.

Sleeping Ice Giants Stir — East Antarctica’s Totten Glacier Accelerates Toward Southern Ocean

EUROPE. Release of radioactive material to atmosphere – French Institute says probably from Russia or Kazakhstan.   Climate Change Related Drought Bakes the Iberian Peninsula.

NORTH KOREA. NORTH Korea has threatened to destroy the Unites States with a “barrage of concentrated strikes”. Why North Korea wants nuclear weapons – the lesson from Libya. Health, environmental, disaster at North Korea’s nuclear test site.

USA.

• Senate hearing to examine Trump’s ‘authority to use nuclear weapons’  
• Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration wants nuclear safety reports hidden from public.
• $10.6 billion per year:  estimated cost of Rick Perry’s Coal And Nuclear Subsidy.
•  An Arizona Town Council passes resolution against uranium transport.
• Georgia Power knew for years about nuclear contractor’s flaws that doomed S.C. project.
• Costly task to clean up New York’s highly radioactive thorium contaminated site.
• Donald Trump deliberately obstructing satellite research on global warming?
• The South’s legacy of abandoned nuclear reactors.

UK.  Nuclear Safeguards and Brexit.   Small Modular Nuclear Reactors: the last desperate hope of UK’s failing nuclear industry.   Big problems in Britain’s techno-optimism about Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.  Wind power from Denmark to supply UK, by underwater cable

RUSSIA. Russia’s Rosatom touting for nuclear sales to Saudi Arabia.  Russia’s nuclear corporation talking up wind, solar power – (doubts about nuclear future?)

JAPAN. Edward Snowden discusses  Japanese Government surveillance findings. Fukushima Frozen soil wall nearly complete; NRA still doubts effect.

FRANCE. France still aims to reduce nuclear power, but postponing target for this.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s new Energy Minister rushes into nuclear power development with indecent haste. Coal and nuclear lobbies want to kill off renewable energy, says physics expert

SWITZERLAND. Swiss government worried about obsolescent cooling circuits of nearby French nuclear reactors.

CHINA. Bill Gates and China get together on new nuclear technology.

November 11, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

Round-up of climate and nuclear news

The UN Climate Change Conference will take place 6-17 November in Bonn, Germany and will be presided over by the Government of Fiji. The COP is the forum where UN members meet to discuss how they will limit climate change. This year’s edition, COP23, is more about preparing procedural decisions than reaching agreements as in Paris. Nevertheless, there will be interesting discussions and protests.  With America now out of climate accords, China is taking the lead.

The nuclear industry is sulking, as it did in 2015, because United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) has again, in 2017 rejected its call for nuclear to be included as “clean”, and rejected its sponsorship. – This is of vital importance to the failing global nuclear industry – to get the UN to classify it as “clean” would be a lifeline. 

Meanwhile – it’s not as if the nuclear war threat has gone away.

Success with Paris climate goals is within our grasp. New United Nations report calls for shutting down coal industry, ramping up renewables.  Enormous private sector investment in renewables and energy efficiency – gives Paris climate goals a real chance.

United Nations Environment Emissions Gap Report 2017.  Record high greenhouse gas emissions in atmosphere- highest for 3 million years.

Need for a new legal framework to protect the coming millions of climate refugees. Global public health emergency is already upon us -climate change.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution finds radioactivity from 9146-1958 nuclear bomb tests is still lingering.

Examining the hype in Australia about space exploration.

ARCTIC and ANTARCTICA . Extreme Warming at the Poles this Week — Arctic and Antarctic Temperatures to Rise to 20-30 C Above Average in Some Locations.

NEW ZEALAND. New Zealand looks to accepting climate change refugees.

USA. Climate and energy.  Trump administration and the nuclear and coal industries to push for their industries as “clean” at UN climate conference. State of California bypasses useless Trump government, as Governor Jerry Browm goes to Bonn climate talks.    Stanford University professor  Mark Z. Jacobson takes legal action against critics of his 100% renewables article. USA government report says Climate Is Warming And Humans Are The Cause.   USA Government Scientist Blocked from Talking About Climate and Wildfires.

Nuclear.  US officials still talking with North Korea, despite President Trump. Chaotic situation at Los Alamos National Laboratory -secrecy about plutonium danger. Trillion-dollar nuclear arms plan sets up budget brawl.

NORTH KOREA. Russia AND the US send nuclear bombers  near North Korea. US will not accept a nuclear North Korea– Defense Secretary Mattis. USA would negotiate with North Korea- but only on USA’s terms.   High-ranking North Korean defector says a US strike would trigger automatic North Korea retaliation.  “Brisk activity” at North Korea’s nuclear site prompts fears of another missile test.  North Korea denies the story that its nuclear test killed hundreds .  North Korea operates a hospital that treats soldiers exposed to radiation at its nuclear test site.

SWEDEN. Sweden’s 65,000 public nuclear fallout shelters, and more to come.

IRAN. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano says ‘no problems” in checking Iran’s nuclear facilities.

FRANCE. French President agrees with Russia’s Putin on need to preserve the Iran nuclear deal. Series of incidents, with safety significance, at French nuclear power plant. France To Decide By End 2018 How Many Nuclear Plants To Shut.

JAPAN.  The truth concerning nuclear accident induced thyroid cancers. Japan TVreport.    Radiation has affected Fukushima’s monkeys: smaller bodies, smaller brains, anaemia. Japan’s nuclear problems: all of their reactors likely to contain faulty Kobe Steel components.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s Finance Minister put the brakes on nuclear programme, due to the ailing economy. President Zuma still wants a major expansion of nuclear power.

UK.  Britain’s Brexit nuclear headache -leaving Euratom – will have to get its own nuclear inspectors.   Britain’s BBC again fails to address false and misleading information; this time about Moorside nuclear. Evidence that Britain’s nuclear power industry subsidises nuclear weapons.  UK Labour government would sign global anti-nuclear weapons treaty.  Drug use by British navy sailors on nuclear Trident submarine.

INDIA. India’s nuclear industry problems: repeated shutdowns at Kudankulam nuclear power plant.

NIGER. AREVA’s new entity NewCo struggles with unprofitable uranium mine in Niger.

PHILIPPINES. Philippines signed up to the UN Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty.

GERMANY. Record breaking wind energy in Europe: Germans got electricity for free.

FINLAND. Areva-Siemens and the Finnish electricity company TVO blame each other for delays in nuclear build.

November 4, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

This week in nuclear, climate, pollution news

Sometimes, it seems  a bit ridiculous to single out the nuclear danger, or the climate danger, from all the other insults that human beings are throwing at the planet. Wars and violence are bad enough, but the overall big killer now is pollution especially where it’s combined with poverty.  It’s surely time to take a global view of our punished biosphere. It’s affecting us, and the biggest organisms, and the smallest  – as with the massive decline in flying insects.

Anyway – to nuclear news. Apart from the ever dangling sword of Damocles situation of North Korea, the news for the so-called peaceful nuclear industry is pretty bleak. The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2017 has just been released, and even in China things are crook.

Risk of ‘unacceptable war’ – if U.S.A. made a pre-emptive military strike on North Korea.

North Korea warns of possible atmospheric nuclear bomb test.  USA nuclear bombers to go back on 24 hour alert.

Two old former leaders,USA’s  Jimmy Carter and Russia’s Mikhail Gorbachev talk sense, (but will anyone listen?)

Hiroshima Survivor Setsuko Thurlow to accept Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of ICAN.  ICAN calls on Nobel Foundation to cease indirect nuclear arms investments.

AS UN Climate Change Conference draws near, Christian leaders demand implementation of Paris Agreement.

Record low prices for unsubsidised solar power.

EUROPE. With plummeting renewables costs, costly nuclear fusion unlikely to ever make sense.

JAPAN. What a difference a word makes: Japan weakens its annual anti-nuclear resolution!

USA.

• NBC News poll shows that three quarters of Americans fear that Trump is leading them into war.
• Drumming up a bogus conspiracy about Hillary Clinton and Uranium One.
•  Over 10,000 calls to USA’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission oppose subsidies to nuclear and coal.  Not legal to subsidise nuclear stations – says independent company that manages competitive wholesale power markets.
• At long last, Florida residents can stop paying for the never-built Levy Nuclear Project. How to get a $60 million payout – be an executive of a $9 billion failed nuclear project.
• Up and running in 3 weeks – solar power for Puerto Rico’s children’s hospital.
• Fire Danger Again Rises Across California; Number of Structures Lost in Northern Blazes Increases to 8,400
• Regular flooding predicted for New York, as climate change brings rising sea levels.
• America’s Environmental Protection Agency gagging its own scientists on climate change.

UK. As renewable energy costs shrink, British government wastes money on Small Nuclear Reactor fantasy.  – Britain’s (really uneconomic) ‘peaceful’ nuclear power is actually subsidising nuclear weapons. Seaweed clogging up cooling system of EDF’s Hunterston B nuclear station in Scotland.

A subsidy ban for new onshore wind farms could add £1bn onto UK energy bills. Britain’s ‘Greater Manchester Big Clean Switch‘ welcomed by The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA).

BBC finally apologises for its uncritical interview with climate denialist Lord Lawson.

NORTH KOREA. Stresses on North Korea’s nuclear test mountain – becoming unstable?

INDIA. India-USA nuclear arrangement just an American marketing effort – “dead at the very beginning”. With its rapid growth in solar power, India now a leading clean energy generator.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba says large nuclear power project is not affordable.– South Africa’s opposition party ready to take legal action if govt fails High Court ruling on nuclear transparency

SOUTH KOREA. South Korea scrapping plans for 6 nuclear reactors, but will continue with 2.

FRANCE. Concern over condition of France’s aging nuclear reactors: 20 of the 58 currently shut down.

IRAN. Death sentence for man found guilty over Iran nuclear scientist killings.   IAEA boss Yukiya Amano to visit Iran.

NEW ZEALAND. New govt in New Zealand plans for 100% renewable energy.

October 28, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news to 21st October

I know that it’s becoming a tedious subject, but, unfortunately, the risk of war, a nuclear war, is creeping up inexorably. The general consensus of expert opinion is that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un does not want, or intend to start, a war. His quite rational aim is the ability to deliver a nuclear weapon to the USA. and thus prevent an American attack, and ensure the survival of his regime.  Russia and China, have achieved this ability, and USA and the world have learned to live with this reality.

Expert opinion seems completely confused as to the real aims of USA’s Donald Trump, and this is making for a scary scene. – And, it is hard to dismiss the opinion of the 27 psychiatrists who warned  about Trump’s mental state.

2017 – a catastrophic year for the nuclear industry – downturn in China, USA, and globally.

The growing threat of cyber attacks on nuclear weapons systems.

North Korea’s belligerant response to USA-South Korea military drills.  South Korea developing missiles to destroy North Korea nuclear facilities.

European Union statement on the Iran nuclear Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Quitting Iran nuclear agreement would ruin 12yrs’ work, threaten nuclear war – says ICAN

JAPAN. Kobe Steel scandal and mismanagement is especially bad news for the nuclear industry. World Trade Organisation ruling on  Korea’s ban on Japanese seafood. Japan attempting to force contaminated food products onto the market.  Kansai Electric Power Co. to permanently close 2 nuclear reactors in Fukui Prefecture.  Japan’s solar powered smart communities.

Court rulings show Fukushima relief falls short of reality of victims. Robots are central to Fukushima’s highly dangerous nuclear radioactivity clean-up.

SOUTH KOREA. Secrecy surrounding meeting of World Association of Nuclear Operators in South Korea.

RUSSIA. Russia positions itself as mediator on North Korean nuclear crisis.

USA.

• USA would consider direct talks with North Korea, eventually – Deputy Secretary of State John J Sullivan.  Trump’s ‘relation to reality’ is Dangerous to Us All.
• Politifact rates Nikki Haley Mostly False on her claim that Congress had no input on Iran nuclear deal.
• Authorities always knew that nuclear fallout shelters would not work.
• Trump administration set to unravel protection rules on ionising radiation?   America’s EPA now deliberately obscuring the truth on ionising radiation and health.
• Abolish nuclear safety agency – secret advice from its chair, Sean Sullivan, to President Trump !
• America’s nuclear industry wants to ‘self assess’ for safety, efficiency: that’s not a good idea.
• Economically, the nuclear industry is in collapse.
•  FACT CHECK: Did Hillary Clinton Tell FBI’s Mueller to Deliver Uranium to Russians in 2009? ‘Secret Tarmac Meeting’? (Result – mainly false)
• Florida: PSC regulators say no to FPL nuclear fees without financial analysis.
• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission subpoena SCANA over failed nuclear project.

UK. UK Labour warns that nuclear safety laws post Brexit could damage Britain’s democracy. Hinkley nuclear white elephant: Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) warns UK govt against further loan guarantees.  Part of the giant Hinkley Point nuclear plant will have to be demolished and rebuilt. Britain’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) likely to create a new agency, after cancelling Cavendish Fluor Partnership.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s President Zuma now has a new (Nuclear) Energy Minister: David Mahlobo praises nuclear energy. Kickbacks, procurement irregularities, at Eskom. Fatal flaws in Eskom’s plan for new nuclear power at Koeberg, South Africa.

FRANCE. In 20 French cities, Greenpeace activists highlight the vulnerability of nuclear spent fuel pools.     29 French nuclear reactors at risk, warns France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN).     Nuclear wastes – a divisive problem for the French, that could mean the end of the industry.  Electricite de France (EDF) keen to market nuclear power to Asia. 100 employees evacuated from office of French nuclear station , due to mysterious package found.

CHINA.  Chinese slowdown may end nuclear’s last hope for growth.  China forced to close top skiing area, due to earthquake concerns about North Korea’s nuclear tests.  China looks to a second record breaking year in solar power installations.

UKRAINE. £1.3bn Chernobyl New Safe Confinement planned for completion this year.

CZECH REPUBLIC. Czech Republic breaking its legal obligations in building nuclear facility, with neighbouring countries not participating.

October 20, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear and climate news to October 15

Unfortunately, that strange and worrying individual, Donald Trump, has yet again managed to dominate the news media, on nuclear and other issues. He has has struck a blow against the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement – in defiance of other world powers – by choosing not to certify that Tehran is complying with the deal. If Iran now leaves the deal, there’s the prospect of  a new nuclear arms race, in the Middle East. Nobel Peace Prize winner ICAN says Trump is ‘igniting new conflict rather than reducing risk of war’.

Meanwhile, there’s the escalating danger of an American nuclear first strike on North Korea.

NUCLEAR. – Nobel Peace Prize winners say that the UN Treaty is the “beginning of the end for nuclear weapons”. Global opinion poll: people want diplomacy with North Korea, not war.

Despite the hype, it’s doubtful that underground bunkers will work, in the event of a nuclear attack.

Ignoring the danger of ionising radiation: nuclear waste dumping in the sea.

CLIMATE. Wounded Tropical Forests Now Emit 425 Million Tons of Carbon Each Year — Restoration, Fossil Fuel Emissions Cuts Now Urgent.

USA.Nuclear

• White House Chief of Staff John Kelly says current North Korea nuclear threat is manageable. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi pushing Congress to reject pre-emptive nuclear strike.
• Fact checking Donald Trump’s statements on Iran.– -Fact checking Donald Trump’s statement on Sen Bob Corker – verdict FALSE. Senator Bob Corker says  President Donald Trump Could Bring About World War III. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXcVk_y0cwo
• Donald Trump versus the freedom of the press. Donald Trump threatens NBC TV Network over its negative coverage of himself.   Donald Trump wanted 8 fold increase in nuclear weapons: that’s when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a “moron”.
• South Carolina’s failed nuclear project – SCANA accuses Santee Cooper of misleading State leaders for years.  –
• Controversial plan to ship nuclear waste down the Hudson River.
•  The U.S. solar industry’s new growth region: Trump country.

USA. Climate .The role of climate change in California’s wildfires.  Unlike President Trump, USA’s military are keen to prepare for climate change disruption.

NORTH KOREA. Earthquake detected near North Korea’s nuclear site – raising fears of a new nuclear test.  Satellite photos show North Korean shipyard test site. A new nuclear missile launch might be imminent.

JAPAN. Rokkasho Fuel Reprocessing Plant Faked Safety Records For 14 Years.   Japan Cleared to Re-Start World’s Largest Nuclear Plant.   Voluntary evacuees win compensation over Fukushima nuclear disaster. Fukushima District Court finds National Government and Tepco Responsible.

SWEDEN. Buildup of radioactivity in wild boars in Sweden – from eating Chernobyl area mushrooms.

SOUTH KOREA. South Korea: thyroid cancer patients say no to nuclear power plants.

UK.

• European Court of Justice begins hearing on UK subsidies for Hinkley Point C power plant.
• Money for UK’s costly Hinkley nuclear power project is actually funding nuclear weapons
• Britain’s nuclear industry in a panic over Brexit and departure from European regulator Euratom.
• Britain’s nuclear watchdog slams nuclear cleanup contract that cost public £122m
• South Wales petition calls for reviewing the dumping of radioactive mud off coast of Cardiff
• Scotland looking to a not for profit, publicly owned energy company.

FRANCE. Greenpeace protestors show poor security at French nuclear station – by breaking in!

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.  UAE to sever ties with North Korea.

PAKISTAN. Pakistan’s new nuclear-capable submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM) opens up a dangerous new era.

CHINA. Chinese government boosting storage capacity for renewable energy.

SOUTH AFRICA. Eskom gets permission to develop a new nuclear plant.

SRI LANKA. Sri Lanka enforces UN resolution on nuclear and biological weapons.

INDIA. Tamil Nadu: Union Ministry of Environment now allowing mining of thorium, uranium, in ecologically sensitive CRZ areas.

RUSSIA. A new solar farm opened in Southern Russia.

October 14, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

To October 7 – the week in nuclear/climate news

The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize has just been awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).  This global campaign began in Melbourne 10 years ago, and look where it went from there! Retrieving Australia’s past reputation for work towards nuclear disarmament, ICAN’s dedicated team just kept going. Today, I can feel proud to be Australian,  despite the Australian government’s present craven record on disarmament.

Contrasting with that positive news, we have Donald Trump’s latest ominous utterance – “the calm before the storm”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU62DZ_Xf0M Who knows what he means?  At least in the 1979 Peter Sellers film “Being There” that particular  dimwitted President knew that he was talking about gardening.

NUCLEAR  Text of Nobel Peace Prize award to anti-nuclear campaign ICAN. Why Trump’s Words on North Korea Matter – normalising nuclear war.

Debunking the myths about nuclear fusion – The ITER Power Amplification Myth.

International Atomic Energy Agency predicts slowdown in nuclear power.

Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) can’t compete, unless ordered en masse.

CLIMATE. Stark Evidence: A Warmer World Is Sparking More and Bigger Wildfires – Degraded Tropical Forests Now Release More Carbon Than They Store.   40 large Catholic institutions put their money where fossil fuel investment isn’t.

USA. Nuclear

• USA needs to negotiate, exchange some concessions for limited concessions from North Korea. Trump severely criticised by Nobel peace prize winner ICAN, over nuclear standoff .  Defense Secretary Mattis says that staying in Iran deal is in U.S. national security interest. Donald Trump to declare that Iran nuclear deal is not in the national interest. Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017 – US Congressmen Lieu and Markey. USA nuclear weapons sales business looking good: lucrative sales of missile to Japan planned.
• Donald Trump signs Bill to make it easier for the mentally ill to buy guns. America’s National Rifle Association briefly suspends advertisements for guns
• Dear oh dear!   USA hasn’t enough plutonium for both space exploration and nuclear weapons.  A plan to ‘economically’ send ‘ordinary citizens’ into space.
• Essential for the public to know about the hazards of RADON.
•  Piketon, Ohio, fighting radioactive disposal site.  Proposed STRANDED nuclear waste Bill, to compensate communities for economic losses due to being stuck with radioactive trash.
• –Keeping uncompetitive nuclear and coal plants going – is Rick Perry’s unwise energy plan. America’s power markets will be wrecked by foolish subsidy for failing coal and nuclear plants-Westinghouse “committed” to developing Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) BUT CAN THEY GET THE FUNDING?
• 650 truckloads of grout to fill collapsed radioactive tunnel at Hanford. Nuclear workers’ safety an issue, as Waste Isolation Pilot Plant again threatened by tunnel collapse.
• USA Climate. Hurricane Nate intensifies, heading for New Orleans.   Turkey Point Nuclear Power Station not adequately prepared for sea level rise.   Puerto’s electrical system could be restored with solar panels and Tesla batteries – Elon Musk. Trump administration will propose repealing Obama’s key effort to combat climate change.

CHINA. Bill Gates partners with China’s government nuclear companies to develop his small nuclear reactor dream

EUROPE. Europe plans to save Iran nuclear deal , despite Donald Trump. European States anxious about Britain’s ‘nuclear revival’ in Hinkley project. Iodine tablets for Dutch provinces near nuclear power stations. Norway grants immigration to Israeli nuclear whistleblower.

NORTH KOREA.   North Korea threatens Japan – with ‘nuclear clouds over suicidal Japan’.   North Korea’s environment paying a heavy price for Kim’s nuclear bomb tests.

SOUTH KOREA. Catastrophic outcome if North Korea were to attack Seoul and Tokyo.

IRAN. Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran is working well: Trumps is dishonest.

UK.

• UK Navy officer bungled: torpedo fired into nuclear dockyard. A nuclear close call.
• UK government likely to scrap the present funding plan for Hinkley nuclear power project.
• UK woodland site to be taken over by £16 billion Sizewell C nuclear power station, despite earlier promises.  Cumbria’s £10bn nuclear new build will not be delivered on schedule.  Theresa May “committed” to new nuclear , but not to funding Moorside project.

Brexit is mucking up Britain’s Small Modular Nuclear Reactor dreams

JAPAN. The World’s Biggest Nuclear Plant Approved to be Restarted in Japan.   Japanese opposition party will phase out nuclear power – Japan nuclear stocks down. New, unexpected way in which Fukushima is polluting the ocean. 

Japanese beaches 60 miles away have become major source of radioactivity after Fukushima. Radioactive Water “Possibly” Leaked From Reactors For Months “By Error” Says Tepco.

– Fukushima after six years and half: the forgotten victims.

CANADA. Radioactive dump plan near Ottawa River is meeting growing opposition.  Investors beware of uranium mining company Cameco.

NEW ZEALAND. Education on nuclear disarmament – New Zealand is the leader.

SWEDEN. Very high radiation levels in Europe’s wild boars: record high in boar shot in Sweden.

GERMANY. German authorities puzzled over increase in radioactive particles in air.

FRANCE. EDF wrestling with problems on the Hinkley Point nuclear power project.

INDIA. Nuclear submarine accident – India’s nuclear-powered submarine, INS Chakra, damaged. Farmers in 575 villages unite against Chutka nuclear project in Madhya Pradesh.

October 7, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment