nuclear-news

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

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