To October 4 Climate News, and Nuclear
The annual United Nations climate change conference starts in Marrakech on Monday and will also serve as the first official meeting of parties to the Paris agreement struck in 2015. Even with the Paris climate deal, world will warm 3.4°C by 2100. Famine, war and disease – a grim future if climate change is not stalled. Drifting into Arctic Un-Winter. Experts doubt that geo-engineering will succeed in halting climate change. Leonardo Di Caprio’s new film “Before The Flood” debunks climate myths
Mikhail Gorbachev leads, in appeal for dialogue, and reason.
UN vote to start negotiating treaty to ban nuclear weapons- Australia voted against it.
6th depleted uranium resolution passed by UN General Assembly’s First Committee.
SOUTH AFRICA: Eskom’s nuclear procurement plan raises more questions than it answers. Eskom boss Brian Molefe is not coping well with South Africa’s corruption scandal.
UK. Secret documents reveal that British tax-payers will cop the costs of Hinkley’s nuclear wastes and any serious accident. Hinkley construction “milestone” reached before contract signed. China determined to export nuclear expertise: it all hangs on UK Hinkley project. Fears over core safety as cracks found in Scots nuclear reactor.
NORTH KOREA. Top secret operation into North Korea to destroy Kim Jong-un’s nuclear weapons stash. Top Nuclear Negotiators of US, China Meet in Beijing to discuss concerns over North Korea.
CHINA. Warning that a USA strike on North Korea would spark war with China.Meltdown in China’s Nuclear Power Plans.
USA. President Obama’s important legacy on climate change. A new tool for law enforcement agencies to identify criminal nuclear activity. ‘Substantial weaknesses’ in TVA safety culture at new nuclear plant. Just like any other house – but it’s got a SOLAR ROOF.
JAPAN. Asahi Shimbun made brave effort for investigative journalism. Japan’s vote against nuke ban talks mocks its anti-nuke credo. Survivors of A-bomb protest Japan opposing nuke ban treaty. Gov’t to seek disaster compensation funds from consumers who used nuclear energy.
RUSSIA. Russia’s top secret nuclear sacrifice zone revealed.
INDIA. India turning away from fossil fuels, to replace coal with cheaper solar power by 2022
SPAIN. By 2100 Southern Spain headed to become a desert, with climate change
Nuclear and Climate News to October 28
Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs
NUCLEAR UN votes to start negotiating treaty to ban nuclear weapons Australia votes with major nuclear powers against the resolution – including US, Russia and Israel – but 123 nations vote in favour.
CLIMATE. Carbon dioxide at record levels, UN warns. The hottest year on record? It will be 2016. Climate change and ocean deoxygenation on the way to suffocating the oceans. Climate change could spark the world’s next financial crisis. Climate change brings skin diseases to new regions. Half a Kilometer of Ice Gone in Just 7 Years — West Antarctica’s Smith Glacier Points To Nightmare Melt Scenario
Causal connection between nuclear radiation and Alzheimers’ Disease – European research.
A “nonsense” paper accepted for International Conference on Atomic and Nuclear Physics.
AFRICA. “We Have Nowhere to Go” — Sea Level Rise is Devouring the Coast of West Africa
USA
- Political journalism in America – dying, with the tawdry election “debate”
- The danger of war between USA and Russia now greater than in the cold war.
- USA and North Korea are talking, unofficially.
- Republicans’ foreign policy approach more moderate than that of Democrats.
- America DID use depleted uranium weapons in Syria.
- Transport of nuclear waste – as big a problem as storage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oANCQyWluOk
- USA’s Energy Secretary Moniz promoting nuclear industry for all he’s worth. National and Texas groups unite against nuclear waste “interim” storage scheme.
- Investment firm Carlyle Group LP foresees end of nuclear power in USA, unless saved by tax-payers Closure of Fort Calhoun nuclear station will save $millions. Wind and solar power set to take over as Fort Calhoun nuclear plant closes.
- TVA Watts Bar Nuclear Workers Frightened of Raising Safety Concerns: US NRC Meets with TVA Officials on Nov. 3rd.
SOUTH KOREA. South Korea’s anxiety: talk of pre-emptive strikes on North Korean missile and nuclear facilities.
FRANCE. Japanese Flawed steel Components at the Center of French Nuclear Crisis – Major Questions & Implications for Japanese Reactors Safety.
JAPAN. Massive underestimation of Cost to scrap Fukushima nuclear plant Japanese officials admit. Outside power temporarily cut to Okayama uranium processing facility after quake.
TAIWAN to End Nuclear Power Generation in 2025
UK. Scottish power plant forced offline for a week by swarm of jellyfish.
The week to October 22 in nuclear and climate news
NUCLEAR weapons and the risk of nuclear conflict very much in the news. One view – that this risk has been overstated lately. Final presidential debate reveals sobering facts on how fast nuclear war could happen. UN again to study the effects of depleted uranium contamination. Hans Blix warns on nuclear power stations as terrorist bait.
CLIMATE. Scary possibilities of Trump style demagogues as the world faces the consequences of climate change. Arctic Sea Ice Falls into Record Low Ranges — Again. East Africa’s water resources threatened as a result of climate change.
- Climate Change barely mentioned in the US presidential debates. Hillary Clinton’s Climate Change and Renewable Energy policies. Seas Are Now So High it Only Takes a King Tide to Flood the US East Coast. American governments’huge new clean energy purchase.
- Final presidential debate reveals sobering facts on how fast nuclear war could happen. Pick Your Poison?Presidential Politics and Planetary Prospects Fact checking Donald Trump – got his facts wrong on USA-Russia nuclear START Treaty.
- USA wants meeting with Russia Over Missile Treaty Dispute.
- Financial disaster of America’s failed Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX).
- What happens if you stand up to the fossil fuel industry: the Amy Goodman saga.
- Energy utilities sue New York Public Service Commission’s (PSC) over subsidies to nuclear industry.
- America moves to silence Wikileaks. Climate Change —
RUSSIA indicates readiness for World War 111- bomb shelters and gas masks The rise and political rise of Russia’ssecretive nuclear tsar Sergey Kirienko.
SOUTH AFRICA. Cabinet to DISCUSS ESKOM’S ROLE IN NUCLEAR DEAL. How Eskom paid for Gupta mine.
JAPAN. Ruling Party LDP may lose next election if nuclear exit becomes main issue. Abe’s Nuclear Japan Goals FaceMore Ballot-Box Battles in 2017. New Niigata governor puts up additional hurdle for TEPCO. Rainwater flood in Shika nuclear plant raises concerns at NRA.
AUSTRALIA. SOUTH AUSTRALIA had a massive rally. Aboriginal landowners were joined by thousands in protest against nuclear waste dumping. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBVm6FtZirc. Australia will, for the first time ever, vote “NO” in the UN, to negotiating a new treaty that prohibits nuclear weapons.
GERMANY . Germany’s leading utilities to start contributing to nuclear waste storage fund.
UK. blocks bank accounts of news media RT. Britain’s old dead nuclear submarines – no way to dispose of them for decades.
FRANCE. Nuclear power plant maintenance stoppages cause France’s electricity prices to rise.
OCEANIA. When the law really IS an ass – International Court of Justice rejects Marshall Islands’ nuclear weapons case.
NORTH KOREA . U.S. and South Korea Say North Korean Missile Exploded Soon After Liftoff. A little good sense –Japanese and North Korean students make friends.
Roundup of this week’s nuclear and climate news
Climate change is still the Big One. But, the danger of nuclear war is also the Big One, and particularly so right now. Red Cross and Red Crescent (IRRC) statement to UN on nuclear disarmament. Religious groups unite to lobby at UN on nuclear weapons ban. Nobel Prize laureates call for an end to the insanity of nuclear weapons.
Removing CO2 From the Air seen as Only Hope for Fixing Climate Change
People and planet endangered by the Trans Pacific Partnership.
The Health Impacts Of Climate Change Are Huge And Very Real. Lord Stern – Indigenous land rights fundamental to climate safety.
Solar costs rocketing DOWN world-wide.
If they didn’t have mental problems before, Mars travellers sure will afterwards!
USA.
- All too easy for an American President to start nuclear apocalypse. Trump ‘should not have his finger on the button’ – Former nuclear launch officers. Russian legislator urges Americans to vote Trump, or risk nuclear war.
- Nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan to join U.S.-South Korean joint naval drills.
- Third ceiling collapse at Nuclear Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
- Long term safety of spent nuclear fuel storage canisters is far from assured.
- Shipments of Nuclear Waste Through Hurricane Prone Atlantic to Charleston SC Almost Monthly?
- Thorium polluted site added to America’s National Priorities List. Climate Change is THE ISSUE for many young American voters.
RUSSIA. Putin orders overseas Russian officials to bring family members home. Russia moves nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad , but says this is not significant. Russia’s ceremony to mark start of construction of floating nuclear power station.
NORTH KOREA on track to ramp up its nuclear weapons. Spiral of repeated failure in nuclear sanctions against North Korea.
JAPAN. Newborn baby deaths significantly increased in areas radioactively polluted by Fukushima nuclear disaster. According to a wildlife journalist, even in Tokyo some animals suffer mutations. Active Volcanoes Endanger Japan’s Operating Nuclear Power Stations: Mount Aso Awakened Explosively; Sakurajima Already Awake.
CHINA. China going allout to market nuclear reactors to Asia, Europe, Africa and Middle East
UK. Britain’s uneconomic Hinkley nuclear project really connected with its nuclear weapons aims.
CANADA. Canadian nuclear safety official in bed with nuclear industry?
SWITZERLAND. Switzerland bans new nuclear reactors.
SOUTH AFRICA. Tina Joemat-Pettersson says South African govt will not fund nuclear build. Something not quite right about South Africa’s plan for Eskom to finance nuclear build?
INDIA. India’s government seeking private investment for its costly Light Water Nuclear Reactors.
To October 8th – the week in Climate and Nuclear news
Investigative journalism this week – yes, it still can happen. This time, it’s the Washington Post, revealing the scandalous origin of the rare earths that we use so prolifically in all our new gizmos – from mobile phones to wind turbines.Cobalt mining in the Congo. Graphite mining in China.
CLIMATE. Earth is locked into’ Temperatures Not Seen in 2 Million Years. Climate change could become self perpetuating- danger in Indonesia’s peatlands, and fires. Much higher methane emissions from fossil fuels – previously were underestimated. Climate change could bring megadroughts to California. Next month, Paris climate agreement will enter into force.
NUCLEAR.
UN court rejects Marshall Islands nuclear arms lawsuit.
USA.
- Hurricane Matthew could endanger Florida’s nuclear reactors.
- Fermi 1 nuclear accident remembered in protest rally- ‘We almost lost Detroit’
- Coalition of New York groups call on State to scrap upstate nuclear subsidies.
- America’s nuclear industry at stalemate, because of its stranded wastes. Federal compensation wanted by town of Rowe, for hosting stranded nuclear wastes.
- Neither Trump nor Clinton give a clear answer on pre-emptive nuclear strike policy. USA Vice Presidential candidates in debate – avoid climate change and energy. Donald Trump vacillates about nuclear waste dumping, and Yucca Mt plan.
- CLIMATE. In USA, Republicans are rejecting reality on climate change – Pew survey. US Dept of Energy spells out good news on wind and solar power’s phenomenal rise.
Diplomacy Is Over As Russia and The U.S. Face Off.
RUSSIA has suspended its nuclear and energy research agreement with the United States.
JAPAN. Nuclear cash cow Monju now a liability for residents as plant faces ax. Japan’s nuclear regulator caves to industry interests yet again–Gives nearly 40 year old reactor a green light before the aging safety review even completed.
Fukushima. Japan Grapples with Cost of Scrapping Fukushima Plant. Tepco Threatens To Declare Bankruptcy; Dismantling Unit 1. Tainted Water Grows at Fukushima N-Plant despite Ice Wall.
UK. Building to Start on New Nuclear Submarines as UK Government Announces £1.3 billion Investment. Britain sited 2 nuclear power plants on eroding shingle beach. So far, in 2016, solar energy is outstripping coal power in UK.
FRANCE. In northern France thousands protest against nuclear power. Tribulations of the nuclear industry, as serious safety flaws found in EDF’s nuclear reactors.
IRAN. U.N. atomic agency chief says Iran sticking to nuclear deal.
NIGER. Tuareg Activist Takes on AREVA: Uranium Mining in Niger.
This week – Climate and Nuclear News
Again – climate change is the big one. As UN climate chief calls for clear report on ‘feasibility’ of 1.5C climate goal, it’s looking as though this goal is not achievable, and climate change could already be irreversible. In 2016 atmospheric carbon dioxide will pass 400 parts per million – permanently. Speed of Arctic change shocks scientists.
But nuclear disaster could be imminent, too, as we consider the consequences of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan, with Pakistan upping the ante, with belligerent threats to India.
On the so-called peaceful nuclear scene, the focus is on South Africa. South Africa’s corrupt nuclear politics is like a nasty boil that developed slowly over years, and could now be ready to burst.
Shadow Courts – The Secret Tribunals That Corporations Use to Sue Countries.
EUROPE. The 100 billion pound bill for decommissioning Europe’s old nuclear power stations.
AFRICA. Risk of war in Africa escalates with rising temperatures.
SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s nuclear power programme stalled. Handing nuclear project to Eskom will limit South Africa’s Parliament control, and increase corruption. South Africa’s renewable energy success.
RUSSIA. For Russia, Climate Change is Already Producing Fires that are Too Big to Fight
USA.
- Obama’s opportunity to reduce America’s nuclear arsenal, and reduce international tensions.
- Hillary Clinton – less hawkish than Obama. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump: policies on climate change. Clinton and Trump both dance to the nuclear lobby’s tune. Hillary Clinton, evasive, contradictory on nuclear power, changed policy 9 times.
- San Onofre’s nuclear wastes a danger to public safety.
- Opposition to South Carolina becoming a nuclear waste dumping ground.
- Community protest has stopped development of deep borehole waste disposal method .
UK. Hinkley Pt. Nuclear Power Contract Signed Days AFTER New Warnings About Areva-Creusot Defects. At the end of the Hinkley nuclear power story – massive radioactive clean-up costs.
CANADA Forest fire risk in Canada much greater due to climate change.
JAPAN. Japan busting to market nuclear reactors to India, and busting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty? Japan to formally decide to decommission Monju nuclear reprocessing reactor by end of year. Fukushima. Japan mulls legislation requiring local government approval for restarting Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant. Fukushima ice wall failing to deliver on promise.TEPCO Delays Replacing Tainted Water Tanks. High levels of radioactive cesium pooling at dams near Fukushima nuke plant.
UKRAINE. Ukraine joining the renewable energy revolution
GREENLAND. Climate change will expose top-secret US nuclear project in Greenland.
IRAN. Iran complains that international financial sanctions are not being lifted quickly enough.
This week in nuclear and climate news
Once again, I have to admit, that however terrible the nuclear industry is, the climate threat is the currently urgent global danger. That’s because the “window of opportunity” to contain it is near to closing. Global warming will accelerate as oceans reach limits of remediation. Climate change action can be stopped by Trans Pacific Partnership.
Another secret and dangerous trade deal – the Trade In Services Agreement.
Risk of another Chernobyl or Fukushima type accident is plausible, experts say.
Practically permanent plunge for the uranium market.
EUROPE. European Court of Auditors see nuclear decommissioning funds shortfall.
UK. A second successful nuclear convoy holdup by intrepid Scottish pensioner. BBC and Science Media Centre (SMC UK) are pro nuclear spruikers. Liberal Democrats oppose Hinkley nuclear plan – ‘very poor value for money’. Theresa May caved in, approving Hinkley nuclear, but the nuclear debate is far from over. Major challenges ahead for Britain’s new nuclear plans – warns EDF chief. Scotttish politicians slam the danger, secrecy, of hazardous air transport of nuclear wastes.
JAPAN. Area not far from Tokyo hit by 6.4 earthquake. Failure of Japan’s 20 year, costly, Monju nuclear reprocessing project Fukushima. Underground Water Now Surfacing in Fukushima Daiichi. Panel to examine options for wrecked Fukushima plant. Fukushima unveils grand plan for alternative energy transmission line networks.
USA.
- Hillary Clinton sells out to the nuclear lobby
- Nuclear weapons cuts for USA? Obama tries, but has limited options. USA and South Korea to conduct mock attack on nuclear facility, (with North Korea in mind).
- US taxpayers up for huge costs for accident at Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP).
- Alarm, and lawsuit, over dangers of trucking nuclear waste interstate in America.
- USA could lend $billions to India – anything to sell nuclear reactors!
- New York congressman questions impact of climate change on nuclear facilities.
- Factor climate into national security policy – executive direction by President Obama.
- Wind energy getting popular with USA Republicans.
SOUTH AFRICA. High Court in South Africa to hear case against government’s nuclear power plan. . President Zuma signs secret Russian nuclear deal South Africa’s Energy Minister is asked to release all nuclear-bid information. South Africa has no plan for dealing with nuclear waste.
CHINA. Further nuclear power development in China will require local public consent
CANADA. Canada’s SNC Lavalin marketing nuclear reactors to China.
Professor Geraldine Thomas and nuclear scientific misconduct
This is part of a very important article, in which Dr Baverstock thoroughly refutes the claims that Professor Geraldine Thomas’ made in a BBC interview, about Fukushima ionising radiation not being much to worry about. The BBC has since withdrawn her statements.
But that hasn’t stopped the South Australian government bringing Thomas out here to spin her stuff, in 
support of Weatherill’s push for SA as the global nuclear waste dump.
Thomas’ comments in the video were insulting to the intelligence of the Japanese authorities and their advisors, and extremely ill-judged from a professional radiological point of view. The BBC was right to withdraw her comments as incorrect.
‘This was quite clearly scientific misconduct’ by Dr Keith Baverstock, Fissiononline 23 Sept 16 . I will take the BBC interview first. In this interview Thomas questions the whole basis of the Japanese response to the Fukushima accident in terms of its evacuation policy. Is one to imagine that those authorities and the Japanese scientific establishment are so stupid as not to recognise that there is no risk entailing living in those areas?
The internationally agreed public dose limit is 1 mSv per year in addition to approximately 2 mSv per year from natural background radiation. The single measurement made in that television interview indicate 2.8 microsieverts per hour, which is close to 25 mSv per year. That includes the natural background doses o at that point the dose rate is at least 20 times the public dose limit.
Surely Thomas can recognise that this must demand serious consideration by the appropriate authorities as to the safety of those who would live there? However, to determine the safety or otherwise of living there it would be necessary to do a comprehensive survey of the area. My guess is that five years after the deposition of the radioactivity there will be a high degree of variability in measurements: some may be less in the measurement made on the programme, but others more and perhaps considerably more. Furthermore, if one were looking at a situation, for example in the UK, one would have to ensure that the most exposed person could not receive more that 1 mSv per annum. Therefore promises arguments that being indoors for example would reduce the dose rate are not valid in the context of the radiological protection of the public in general.
Whether a special dispensation applies when determining the return of evacuees to their homes is a question that I believe needs to be discussed, because as far as I’m aware the current situation in Japan is unique. Furthermore, we are not talking about a total dose of 20 mSv for someone who returns to live in this village. In many such villages remedial measures to reduce the dose rate are being taken, but only for the main “living areas”. Straying beyond these areas could lead to much higher doses, and eating natural produce, mushrooms etc, to even higher doses.
In the light of these considerations, Thomas’ comments in the video were insulting to the intelligence of the Japanese authorities and their advisors, and extremely ill-judged from a professional radiological point of view. The BBC was right to withdraw her comments as incorrect if that is indeed what they did.
Watching the video I am inclined to believe that Thomas is being disingenuous when she says she made a numeric al error when calculating the dose from the interviewer’s measurement. She made no attempt to do any kind of calculation: the figure she cited was something she clearly had in mond at the outset: she was delivering propaganda for the nuclear industry
That in the context in which the interview took place and the way in which she was introduced to the audience, is clearly scientific misconduct. One must also say here that the ninterviewer must have been, for an experienced journalist, amazingly gullible to have allowed the interview to be broadcast……….. https://issuu.com/fission/docs/fissionline_44
Dr Keith Baverstock led the Radiation Programme at the World Health Organisation’s Regional Office for Europe from 1991 to 2003.
Climate and Nuclear news to 18th September
CLIMATE. Approaching the First Climate Tipping Point — On Track to Hit 1.5 C Before 2035. Low Arctic sea ice in 2016 – close to record low level. Marshall Islanders culture threatened: emigration as sea level rises. Polar bears losing habitat as sea ice melting earlier, and refreezing later. Extreme drought: the impact of climate change and El Nino on the Amazon rainforest. Climate change endangers nuclear facilities, as water supplies heat up and evaporate.
NUCLEAR. In Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May finally gave the go-ahead for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power project. This decision, like New York’s decision to subsidise the nuclear industry, will have global effects.
The decision was probably inevitable, given the circumstances. The factors at play were:
- UK government under strong pressure
- Global nuclear lobby’s pressing need for a new ‘poster’ project to start happening. American corporation General Electric ready for contracts.
- For France’s nuclear company EDF , the Hinkley project is their last chance to regain credibility, market their wares, and avoid bankruptcy.
- For China it’s an important overseas marketing coup, and a prelude to more, and lucrative, nuclear projects in Britain.
- Conflicts of interest: Costain engineering company is in Theresa May’s constituency, and is receiving contracts for work in the Hinkley C nuclear project. Top level former UK advisers and civil servants are linked with EDF, former MPs, especially, (but not only) Tories, now work as nuclear lobbyists and advisers to EDF. May’s husband, Philip, works for investment company Capital Group. It, in turn, has a nearly 10% stake in French company Schneider Electric, which has been awarded a contract at Hinkley.
For everyone else, especially the British public, it’s a very bad deal. – E3G, a leading climate change think tank sets out reasons why going ahead with Hinkley is a massive mistake. It is a megaproject which could become a “stranded asset”. After all, Hinkley still might not ever happen. Renewables are faster and better.
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DNA damage, cancer caused by ionizing radiation identified. Linear No Threshold Theory (LNT) of ionising radiation is backed by new research.
Gloom pervades The World Nuclear Association (WNA) Symposium 2016.
USA. Hillary Clinton’s role in the Fukushima nuclear disaster cover-up. Illegal hiding of emails. Nuclear industry will grind to a halt, if no waste disposal solution. America giving up on the Mixed Oxide Nuclear Fuel (MOX) nuclear reprocessing boondoggle.
UK. It could have been an ISIS terrorist. Lucky it was only a peace protestor holding up nuclear weapons convoy
SOUTH AFRICA South Africa’s economy could be destroyed by this unnecessary nuclear power build.
IRAN. West not keeping its commitment for Iran trade, in nuclear deal.
RUSSIA. Russia has not changed its nuclear weapons doctrine -Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference
SOUTH KOREA. Earthquakes cause South Korea to halt four nuclear reactors.
CANADA. Canadian political parties forced to reimburse illegal SNC-Lavalin donations.
To September 10 Climate and nuclear news this week
NUCLEAR The world was jolted into a renewed awareness of nuclear war danger, today, as North Korea conducted another nuclear bomb test. It may also be miniaturising nuclear warheads, to fit on a missile. President Obama has stated that America will stick to the principle of being willing to make a pre-emptive nuclear strike.
However, the “Red Button” nuclear war system can be reformed: Donald Trump’s rise illustrates the need for this. Nuclear war risks lessened by Iran nuclear deal, which should continue in USA’s next administration. Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty has enduring value.
CLIMATE. The world had better pay attention NOW – to soaring ocean temperatures. Effect of Global Warming on World’s Ocean Circulation is an unknown quantity. More frequent, more powerful Super Typhoons, with climate change. Flooding – a dire hazard to nuclear power stations. USA and China formally ratify Paris climate agreement. Coal lobby is urged to copy tactics of the tobacco lobby!
CANADA. Nuclear company SNC-Lavalin‘s sorry history of corruption.
UK. Britain’s national disgrace: nuclear reprocessing at Sellafield.
- UK’s Hinkley nuclear deal teetering, but PM Theresa May claims good relations with China.
- At G20, British PM Theresa May confirms that UK is reviewing Hinkley nuclear project.
- Energy chief says Hinkley Point is a deal out of date and too expensive.
- French Unionists take legal action to stop Hinkley nuclear power project.
Celtic Union of Renewable Energy Launched By Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland.
JAPAN. The end of the line for Japan’s super expensive nuclear reprocessing project? To secure 2020 Olympics Japan’s PM Abe lied about Fukushima nuclear plant being ‘under control’. Concern as leaky ‘ice wall’ around Fukushima nuke plant resembles ‘bamboo screen’. Robot to probe nuke fuel debris in Fukushima No. 2 reactor. 10% return to Fukushima town since evacuation order lifted in ’15.
USA. As nuclear costs rise, top economist urges nuclear operators on early decommissioning of reactors. Outcry over secret trucking of weapons grade nuclear waste to South Carolina. Hypocrisy of big USA companies on climate change.
IRAN. IAEA confidential report shows Iran is Not Cheating on Nuclear Deal. Attempts to sabotage Iran nuclear deal – who stands to gain in this?
SWITZERLAND. Renewable energy heading to replace nuclear power in Switzerland.
SOUTH AFRICA. Nuclear power procurement costs for South Africa could cost triple the estimate.
SOUTH KOREA. Push for South Korea to get nuclear-powered submarines.
CHINA. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concerned about nuclear safety in China.
UKRAINE. European financiers very worried about Ukraine’s dire nuclear industry problems.
BELARUS. problems, secrecy, ignorance on nuclear unsafety
Climate and Nuclear Threats – this week’s news
Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs
NUCLEAR. It is generally acknowledged that the risk of nuclear war is greater right now than it was at the height of the Cold War, and that includes the risk of a nuclear war started by accident. Some “nuclear umbrella” States feel trapped by their nuclear weapons protection.
CLIMATE. It is also becoming acknowledged that the tipping point is approaching, might even be upon us already. Unprecedented pace of global climate change – NASA. $8.8 Trillion Climate Tab left for next generation, if climate “business as usual”.
Governments, media, the public still see these issues in terms of “national interest”, but haven’t made that necessary leap of understanding that demands a global collaborative approach. Pope Francis gets it. So do those most sober and deliberative of scientists – geologists. At the International Geological Congress in Cape Town, on 29th August, an official expert group recommended that a new geological epoch be defined – the Anthropocene epoch. Human impact on Earth is so profound that the most recent epoch, the 12,000 year Holocene, must give way to an epoch defined by nuclear tests, environmental pollution, and changing climate. The most appropriate commencement marker would be the spread of radioactive elements from the nuclear bomb tests beginning in 1950s.
CLIMATE.
- Catholic churches and other religions taking action against climate change, switching to green energy.
- 30 megacity leaders join forces to urge for climate change action at the G20 in China.
- Polarisation on climate change is now worse than ever in America.
- Climate change is affecting the marine ecosystem – krill disappearing from Antarctic waters.
- China’s glaciers– the “third pole” are losing ice mass.
NUCLEAR. An awful lot in the media about marketing of nuclear reactors, especially to South Asia. China’s aggressive nuclear marketing is causing it some problems.
UK. PM Theresa May to be pressured at G20, by China, to approve Hinkley nuclear power project. Chinese build nuclear project at Bradwell, Essex, UK might be postponed. Great danger in air transport of nuclear wastes: anger in Aberdeen.
JAPAN.
Fukushima:
- Typhoons cause ‘ice wall’ to melt at Fukushima nuclear plant. Underground Ice Wall is Japan’s gamble to contain Fukushima’s irradiated water.
- Public Cost of Fukushima Cleanup Tops $628 Billion and Is Expected to Climb.
- Problems persist at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors.
- Niigata prefecture governor Hirohiko Izumida not seeking re-election: new hope for restarting Fukushima nuclear plant.
- Radioactive Boar Are Thriving And Causing Havoc Near The Fukushima Power Plant.< Japan Extends Reactor Lifetimes for First Time Since Fukushima. Japan considers scrapping fast-breeder reactor as costs mount.
USA. Legal challenges to New York nuclear power subsidies. Watts Bar nuclear reactors shut down indefinitely, following transformer fire. Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant to shut down permanently on October 24.
NORTH KOREA‘s grandiose plans for ‘nuclear backpack’ squad, and giant submarine.
SOUTH KOREA worried about North Korea, plans its own Missile Defense System
PHILIPPINES bishop, climate movement, oppose revival of mothballed nuclear plant
ISRAEL under pressure from UN to ratify nuclear test ban treaty.
Nuclear weapons, disarmament – nuclear and climate news this week
NUCLEAR. Articles on weapons and disarmament dominate the nuclear news this week.On Monday 29 August, an international conference entitled ‘Building a Nuclear Weapons Free World’ will take place in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. That day will also be the 25th anniversary of of the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site – largest in the world, where 456 weapons tests happened, leaving a terrible legacy for the people.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls for eradication of nuclear weapons. The nuclear working group at the UN concluded its work in Geneva, and the majority of governments voted to recommended that the UN General Assembly set up a conference in 2017 to negotiate a new treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons, despite the Australian government’s best efforts to sabotage this. This is one of those times when I am ashamed to be Australian.
CLIMATE. A new study declares that human-caused climate change began at around 1830. (I’ve always thought that it was 1801, because of the 1801 painting Coalbrookdale by Night – attached). Research indicates that the difference between 1.5 C and 2C rise in global temperatures will be significant, and in only 20 years’ time. Huge volume of Greenland Ice Sheet lost each year, due to global warming. Again this year, Indonesia’s blanket of smoke is back. India floods: Over 300 dead, millions affected Louisiana National Guard Rescues 19,000 in Flood-Affected Areas.
UN Security Council warned on danger of nuclear drone terror attacks.
Global nuclear industry ponders ways to get taxpayers to pay up for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs)
USA
- America could take a practical first step towards nuclear disarmament. Stuck in the past – America’s nuclear weapons policy. USA’s National Nuclear Security Administration approves controversial B61-12 nuclear bomb.
- USA pushes India and Pakistan to join nuclear testy ban treaty.
- Groundwater infiltrates turbine building in Vermont Yankee nuclear station. Preparing for hurricane risk to Turkey Point nuclear reactor.
- US Border Patrol Spots EnergyFuels Uranium Mine Fire in Texas. Fire at Vogtle Nuclear Power Station on the Savannah River in Georgia, USA (23 Aug. 2016)? Three More Fires at the Savannah River Nuclear Site: August 16, 17, 18
- USA govt censoring severity of WIPP nuclear waste problem, $2 Billion Cleanup.
- 3.7 million documents now publicly available on Yucca nuclear waste dump plan.
UK. New report shows that Britain’s Hinkley Point C nuclear station is not essential. UK figuring out how to get out of the Hinkley nuclear power deal. Britain’s nuclear industry in turmoil over botched contracts. UK Nuclear Submarine HMS Ambush: Smashing Collision With Merchant Vessel.
JAPAN.
- Anti-nuclear activists’ tents forcibly removed from economy ministry premises after years long battle .
- Halt Sendai nuclear reactors says Kagoshima Governor , following nearby earthquakes.
- 10,000 tons of toxic water pools in Fukushima nuclear plant trenches. Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s “frozen wall of earth” failing at Fukushima. Succession of earthquakes in the Sanriku Oki area (epicenter in the ocean off Fukushima).
- Tokyo 2020 Games prep beset with problems
NORTH KOREA ‘s submarine – launched missile. North Korea’s ‘Military First’ celebration enhanced by nuclear missile test.
SOUTH KOREA ‘s nuclear weapons advocates are now more vocal since North Korea’s missile test
CHINA. Public opposition threatens China’s grandiose nuclear power plans. China really part of the global nuclear marketing conglomerate.
TAIWAN‘s First Nuclear Decommissioning Project
SOUTH AFRICA nuclear electricity company non compliant with govt rules on advertising. Nuclear is not the cheapest source of electricity for South Africa. African countries are the least compliant in implementing global nuclear security safeguards.
FRANCE to launch 6 tenders for solar energy projects
GERMANY ‘s green power going strong, with more renewable energy than it ever had nuclear
BULGARIA Bulgaria seeks solution for costly blowout for Belene nuclear power plant
UKRAINE . Westinghouse puts on hold plans to build nuclear fuel plant in Ukraine
Climate and nuclear news this week
Climate change is an emergency – NOW . While some of us have for decades campaigned against the acute and chronic danger of nuclear weapons and nuclear power, I am having to admit that the climate change issue is urgent, in an even more powerful way. That’s because climate change has crept up on the world in an insidious way, so that now it is just about at the tipping point, just about irreversible.
One could argue that, short of a global catastrophe – a nuclear war, the world might still stop the nuclear horror “later on”. There is no “later on” for climate change.
We must fight both of these horrendous global threats.
Regions hit by world’s hottest month. Global warming brings worse wildfires – United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Get used to extreme floods. Climate Change – a serious matter now – will threaten future Olympic Games!
Nuclear reactors, old or new designs, doomed without hefty tax-payer subsidies.
USA.
- The health impacts of wildfires in America’s West. Obama’s climate change accounting is upheld by federal appeals court.
- Nuclear war danger being ignored by USA Presidential candidates. President Reagan worked with Russia to defuse the nuclear arms race; time that President Obama did that, too.
- USA sends three strategic bombers to Pacific region, in unspoken threat to China.
- Report: U.S. Transfers Nukes From Turkish Airbase to Romania. Romania Denies Accepting US Nuclear Weapons.
- China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) is accused of stealing US nuclear secrets.
- Secretive manouvres involve tax-payer funds for Bill Gates’ small nuclear reactors.
- Environmental groups in America take legal action against transport of nuclear wastes.
UK. UK’s Crown Estate recommends UK switching attention from nuclear power to offshore wind. “Small Nuclear” companies keen to market their wares to UK government.
RUSSIA. International nuclear tensions: Russia builds ‘nuclear bomb proof’ underground bunkers.
JAPAN. Japan’s big ‘nuclear restart’ overtaken by conservation and renewables. Shikoku Electric fires up Ehime plant MOX reactor amid protests. Citizen groups organise for legal action to stop Japan’s nuclear restarts.
CANADA. Uranium Miner Cameco’s Tax Avoidance Cost Canada Over $2 Billion in Lost Revenue.
FRENCH POLYNESIA‘s Protestant church takes action against France over nuclear testing.
SOUTH AFRICA. Drone crash into Koeberg Nuclear Power Station.
This week’s nuclear and climate news
Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs
CLIMATE. Sahara-Like Heat Marches North, Sparks Scores of Massive Wildfires Across Portugal. An epic Middle East heat wave could be global warming’s hellish curtain-raiser. Carteret climate refugees seek home. Climate scientists’ predictions on sea level rise. Rejection of expert knowledge – Clexit after Brexit. Power of social media: Di Caprio on climate change.
NUCLEAR Nagasaki Peace Declaration 2016.
English language media continues to examine the nuclear industry’s situation in Britain and USA, and this is surely a concern for the global nuclear industry. If it collapses in UK and USA – the outlook for nuclear’s global future is grim.
UK is in the most critical situation – a plethora of articles on this: EU Investigating Unfair French State Subsidies to the Nuclear Sector – Areva’s 4 Billion Euro Bailout by French Taxpayers. France’s ruling socialist party calls for freeze on Hinkley Point nuclear development. Theresa May is advised that now is the time to get out of Hinkley nuclear project. UK government’s own projections find solar and wind ‘cheaper than new nuclear’.
USA. Much unhappiness about New York’s subsidy bailout of the nuclear industry – eg. $700 million of public money goes to New York’s FitzPatrick nuclear deal. WHY?. New York will regret hasty decision to bail out upstate nuclear facilities. Subsidizing Nuclear Will Only Make Our Grid Problems Worse. New York “s Clean Energy standard drafted with an effort to avoid legal challenges about nuclear subsidy. New Jersey won’t be following New York’s example of subsidising the nuclear industry. U.S. electricity consumers could end up paying more than $2.5 billion for nuclear plants that never get built.
CHINA. Public opposition stops nuclear waste project, perhaps permanently.
Hiroshima Day, and why the global nuclear lobby is watching London and New York
6th August – Hiroshima Day. Rather lost in the Brazil Olympics hype, but not forgotten by the hibakusha and other survivors, and families of victims of the nuclear bombing, and of those others, world-wide, who care.
State of the Climate Report documents shattering of environmental records.
The global nuclear industry, teetering on economic collapse, is intently watching for decisions made in two cities, London and New York.
London. Prime Minister Theresa May suddenly threw a spanner in the works of the world’s largest nuclear power programme – Hinkley Point C – for Somerset, England. Just days before, France’s State-owned company EDF had given approval to build the project. The EDF decision was fraught, too, with unions opposing it, and senior managers urging delay. Everybody, including Tories, knows that the project is, economically, a white elephant. Why do the French and UK governments want to go on with it? Complicated politics, l’honneur, and like Macbeth – in too deep to get out?
And then there’s the global nuclear lobby, ever there with political campaign funding and propaganda, and desperate for Hinkley to be the flagship of a new world-wide nuclear renaissance.There’s also, however, the “small nuclear” lobby, like an aggressive little chihuahua, snapping at the heels of Big Nuclear. They wouldn’t mind if Hinkley fizzled out – it would prove that their (still only on paper) Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) and PRISMS, will fix British energy, climate change, and the global nuclear waste problem.
New York. The global nuclear industry is taking comfort from the latest decision in New York. The New York State Public Service Commission, backed by the Governor, approved a $7.6 billion bailout of aging nuclear power plants, including them in a “Clean Energy Standard”. It is hoped that this will kick off a nuclear revival.
UK – Lots about Hinkley
USA. Lots about New York . President Obama pushes for UN call to end nuclear weapons testing, by-passes Congress. Wildfires threaten nuclear disaster at Hanford site.
1 This Month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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