nuclear-news

TODAY. Relief – Hiroshima Day is over – now to our glorious $2 trillion nuclear weapons “modernization”!

August 7th. Hiroshima day is over. We can all breathe a sigh of relief. No need to be sad any more , about nuclear bombing. (Oh wait – there’s Nagasaki Day on the 9th. No matter, there’s very little coverage of that, and the people who count – the smart young people, probably have neder heard of it,

The good thing is – industry races on! Especially the USA nuclear weapons industry. Ain’t that great! They’re going to spend $2 trillion on “modernizing” nuclear weapons. And if Donald Trump gets in, backed by the Heritage Foundation, well – it will be more than $2 trillion.

I mean – think of the jobs jobs jobs! Think of the return to shareholders!

(Think of the American national debt – Nah – don’t go there. That is communist -style thinking and negativity)

No we don’t need negativity. Some people moan about not spending enough money on combatting climate change, on cleaning up plastic pollution, on preserving biodiversity, or even on feeding the world’s refugees and the hungry second-rate peoples.

No – positivity is the way to go. A positive approach to later on having a war against the evil Chinese and the evil Russians.

August 8, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. 6th August – a day of respectful remembrance, and a day of absurd nuclear hypocrisy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVunlJOyfB0

Respectful remembrance of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima is happening – in places world-wide, and especially in Hiroshima.

But at the same time, the reality is that the nuclear nations, led by the USA, are all busy spending the taxpayers’ money on nuclear weapons. And the tax-payers don’t seem to care much – Nuclear-weapons -making provides jobs – doesn’t it?, and shares in it provide financial security don’t they? And nuclear weapons provide security and safety from the evil other people, don’t they?

And people continue to believe the spin. The spin that has gone on ever since that evil decision to atomic bomb Hiroshima, and that next evil decision, to atomic bomb Nagasaki.

Now – while pious statements about Hiroshima abound – the world’s leaders are gearing up for the next bombing. There’s a load of nonsense about “tactical nuclear weapons”, and a “limited nuclear war” – as if, somehow it would be OK to annihilate just a few billion civilians, rather than the whole 8 billion.

The hypocrisy about it being OK to bomb civilians is equalled by the hypocrisy that believing in increasing nuclear weaponry will deter wars. It sure has not prevented them over the past 79 years.

The “Western” World leaders seem fine with the idea of gearing up for a war against China and Russia. And now gearing up for a war against Iran? And Israel, led by a fanatic Zionist clique, looks ready to get that started.

It is hard to believe that Mutually Assured Destruction is still an accepted policy. ( I always thought it was a strange idea – that knowing of the deaths of billions of the “others” would be any consolation to us as we were ourselves annihilated.)

So – the whole nuclear weapon thing is a load of hypocrisy spun by imbecilic macho men.

But the next load of hypocrisy is the pretense that the “civil” nuclear industry has any real purpose beyond supporting the nuclear weapons industry. (Yes, nuclear medicine has a role, but it’s a two-edged sword, being itself a contributor to cancer)

Which brings me to that ultimate lie – that “nuclear power will solve climate change”

Amongst the many global threats to human and animal life, the big one is global heating.

Nuclear energy’s role in dealing with global heating has just one purpose- to stop the development of renewable energy and energy conservation.

The breath-taking hypocrisy of it all

August 6, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

This week: The other side of news on nuclear and related issues

Some bits of good news–    Trees Reveal Climate Surprise: Bark Removes Methane from the Atmosphere

    Global population predictions offer ‘hopeful sign’ for planet, UN says.      UNICEF and UNWRA work together in Gaza.

TOP STORIES. 

79 years since the unthinkable. 

The Great Global Computer Outage Is a Warning We Ignore at Our Peril . 

Eastern Europe’s purchase of US nuclear reactors is primarily about military ties, not climate change. 

How Many Nuclear Bombs Has The US Air Force Lost?

Climate. Extreme ‘heat dome’ hitting Olympics ‘impossible’ without global heating. Largest wildfire in US grows to cover area bigger than Los Angeles

Noel’s notes. “People of a generally nervous disposition” worry about mishaps with nuclear bombs.        Who will honestly face up to the problem of nuclear wastes? Rolling Stewardship as a practical option.

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AUSTRALIA.   Nuclear is a toxic idea … here’s why.        Australia should avoid small nuclear reactors until 2040s, engineers warn.       AUKUS servility just one facet of poor governance.      Israel lobby ramps up scare campaigns in fear of truth.        America’s war machine: Unless Australia acquires nuclear weapons, why acquire AUKUS subs?   Lots more Australian nuclear news at https://antinuclear.net/2024/08/01/australian-nuclear-news-headlines-29-july-5-august-2/

ECONOMICS. 

• Point Lepreau nuclear station – a heavy financial burden that keeps getting heavier-ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/07/30/3-b1-point-lepreau-nuclear-station-a-heavy-financial-burden-that-keeps-getting-heavier/  
• NuScale Power plunges after report says it is under SEC investigation. 
• U.S. company HOLTEC approaches South Yorkshire with £1.3bn offer to start Small Nuclear Reactor production.
•  Rolls Royce – the “burning platform”?         Rolls-Royce to sell stake in mini-nukes arm ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/08/05/1-b1-rolls-royce-to-sell-stake-in-mini-nukes-arm/ 
• Government partnership is needed if Dutch pension fund PME is to make “risky” nuclear investment.
• ‘Ultra-cheap energy for every household’: could a different kind of tariff change everything?.

MEDIA. Mass Media Goons Are Still Reporting That Biden Is Getting Tough On Netanyahu.

 The Hidden Ties Between Google and Amazon’s Project Nimbus and Israel’s Military.

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR . Japan, U.S. urged to work for nuclear abolition at symposium. 

Blackwater Against New Nuclear Power Group (BANNG)campaigners say company’s claims over Bradwell B are false.

PERSONAL STORIES. 

‘True horror’: Japan’s Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor campaigns for a nuclear-free world. 

Canada and the Atom Bomb: Remembering As an Act of Resistance.

WASTES. Burying radioactive nuclear waste poses enormous risks. 

Is Manitoba willing to accept nuclear waste risks?  

Japan continues search for its first nuclear waste disposal site by screening tiny rural town.

WAR and CONFLICT.

• US Will ‘Certainly’ Defend Israel If Attacked By Iran In Wake Of Haniyeh Killing.     US deploys 12 warships to Middle East as Israel escalates attacks in region. 
• Iran vows revenge after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Tehran.   Major escalation’: Israel bombs densely populated area of Beirut, Hezbollah says commander survived the attack. 
• Israeli Forces Have Killed 366 UN Workers and Family Members in Gaza: Leaked Report. “Unspeakable”: Doctors Back from Gaza Say Death Toll “Much Higher,” Push Harris, Biden for Ceasefire. 
• Where Is the Biden Plan to End the War in Ukraine? 
• Putin often cites Russia’s ‘nuclear doctrine’ governing the use of atomic weapons. But what is it? 
• The US might lose a war with China, congressional commission says.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. 

First NATO F-16’s delivered to Ukraine  (nuclear capable). 

Replacing the UK’s nuclear deterrent: The Warhead Programme–  without appropriate Parliamentary scrutiny.

 ‘Nuclear weapons money could tackle climate change‘- Martha Wardrop, Scottish Greens.

August 5, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. “People of a generally nervous disposition” worry about mishaps with nuclear bombs.

I just couldn’t resist that little quotation from an article today about an undetonated nuclear bomb lying at the bottom of a river. To be fair, I think that the writer might have been being sarcastic. He also mentions that “bomb-enthusiasts” worry, too.

Nevertheless, his statement is symptomatic of the comfortable attitude of the authorities to the whole subject of nuclear weapons – in this system, quaintly called deterrence. We’re all a bit worried that someone, like Putin, for example, might actually use one, some day.

But, in the “normal” course of events, nuclear weapons provide good, reliable jobs, and all sorts of government benefits to the community, and something to be proud of- “my strong country” etc. Don’t they?

So, it’s a bit annoying, when someone kicks up a fuss about the nuclear weapons that get accidentally dropped, and lost. They have all sorts of safety features, so they can’t easily explode. well, the land-based ones are supposed not to, anyway. The Atomic Archive lists for the USA 32 “Broken Arrow” nuclear accidents. Of course, that’s only the American ones. What about the others – French, British, Russian, North Korean, Chinese nuclear weapons? Russia was known to have 45.000 nuclear weapons up to 1986 – most of them on submarines – how many got lost undersea? Can they explode, undersea?

But that’s the thing. We are comforted by the reassurance from the experts, that explosion of a lost nuclear weapon is extremely unlikely. We are safe.

What they don’t talk about – is corrosion, leakage of radioactive materials. Over time, increased radioactivity in water and land will affect millions of people, – but don’t worry – of all those millions, only a few million will get cancer from this. So you see, a few million cancer deaths is nothing much really, to worry about. Or so the experts would have us think.

The nuclear lobby has achieved a wonderful global brainwashing. The only thing to worry about is a dramatic event, – an explosion with high levels of radiation released.

If you worry about those less dramatic millions of cancers, well, you must be “a person of a generally nervous disposition”. Hell – it’s your fault – you need psychiatric care, you poor thing.

August 2, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Counteracting the nuclear spin, and more – week to 29 July

Some bits of good news. The Gambia’s decision to uphold ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) a  critical win for girls’ and women’s rights.   Oceana Canada Celebrates Major Conservation Victory: Underwater Mountains off the Coast of B.C. Now Permanently Protected, under indigenous guidance.   Great Green Wall has revived Africa’s degraded landscapes

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TOP STORIES. 

What the top UN court’s ruling means for Israel.   Netanyahu Commands, US Obeys. 

Rolling stewardship of nuclear waste. 

Young Changemakers Advocate for Nuclear-Free Future through Educational Journey in Kazakhstan.

Climate. Severe heatwave in Iran forces shops and public institutions to close

Noel’s notes. Militarism: How NATO is co-opting women and young people – with a veneer of peace and fun.         The digital system threatens the nuclear industry – it’ll get worse with AI.          Absolutely fed up with Facebook and Google’s censorship of nuclear issues.

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AUSTRALIA. Dutton’s nuclear delusion an exercise in stupidity. Czech nuclear deal shows CSIRO GenCost is too optimistic, and new nukes are hopelessly uneconomic. Aussies react to Dutton’s Nuclear Policy – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o4S335dXM4 

Canada rejects AUKUS nuclear submarine deal. AUKUS and the pride of politicians. 

From the archives. Gina Rinehart’s threat to the proud independence of Australia’s Fairfax newspapers.

 Respect and responsibility: Jabiluka safe as uranium mining lease for Kakadu site not renewed8. 

Lots more Australian news at https://antinuclear.net/2024/07/23/australian-nuclear-news-headlines-22-29-july/

NUCLEAR ITEMS

CLIMATE. Hungary to allow nuclear plant to exceed Danube water temperature limit. Huge wildfire rips into California.

ECONOMICS.

• Critical AUKUS contract doubles in price and now a year late.
• ‘ Regulated Asset Base’ system mulled in Japan to add nuke plant construction costs to rates.
• Point Lepreau nuclear station down till at least September, costing utility extra $71M ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/07/24/3-b1-point-lepreau-nuclear-station-down-till-at-least-september-costing-utility-extra-71m/ A New Brunswick reaction to the exorbitant costs of Point Lepreau nuclear power station.
• Spain: Nuclear Industry Reels After Tax Increase.
• UK / New Energy Minister Underlines ‘Absolute Support’ For SMRs, But Less Certain On Wylfa Plans.
• French nuclear giant ORANO slips into the red following Niger-French breakup.  EDF looks towards future projects after flagging tough second half.

EVENTS. 30 July Webinar: Halt Holtec – the Nuclear Mafia Atomic People will be broadcast on Wednesday 31 July on BBC Two and BBC iPlaye 6 August WEBINAR. Never Again! Remembering the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR . Nuclear energy not the way to go: coalition Taiwan. UK Nuclear Free Local Authorities back joint statement condemning AUKUS nuclear proliferation. Nuclear Free Local Authorities congratulate marchers on Lakenheath protest.

July 29, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. Absolutely fed up with Facebook and Google’s censorship of nuclear issues

I wonder how many others are experiencing this censorship from Facebook and Google?

I’ve noticed this for a long time now, but it is getting beyond a joke. On nuclear issues, when I go to post a news link to Facebook, – bingo! – up comes the message: “Content Removed – Spam”. If I spend time following this up, I am informed that my post “breached community standards”. ( You can complain to Facebook /META – but what a useless time-waster that is)

This morning it was news items about Aboriginal Australians’ success in stopping uranium mining in the beautiful Kakadu National Park – a campaign long led by the beautiful Yvonne Margarula . Nah – Facebook didn’t like that.

I could give numerous more examples – of the way in which Meta/Facebook has deemed that I “breach the (nuclear lobby) community standards.” And I’m not alone. Australia’s prestigious energy journalist Giles Parkinson is having the same experience.

As for Google – well, Google warns you about links that are likely to be malicious. So, when I send out newsletters on gmail, Google magically marks these in bright red “suspicious website”. It’s getting so that this is mark of excellence – websites that give genuine information, as opposed to the usual handouts regurgitated from the nuclear industry,

Here are a few of them:

RADIATION FREE LAKELAND (Google really hates this one)

Mongabay.

Westminster Confidential

Strategic Culture

STOP SMRS

Real Clear Wire

Fix the News (this one not even about nuclear – just environment and health)

Google also warns about websites that reveal Israeli atrocities against Palestinians, and international law about this. Human Rights Watch found that the censorship of content related to Palestine on Instagram and Facebook is systemic and global. Meta’s inconsistent enforcement of its own policies led to the erroneous removal of content about Palestine.

The Dissenter

The Cradle

When the World Wide Web, enabled by the internet, got going in 1991 as  “universal linked information system” , there were high hopes – for a real democracy in information provision. At last, anyone could have their public say – rather than just a privileged minority.

Now this has been reversed, and we are back to a privileged minority running the information show. It is probably worse. Now there are the billionaire technocrats controlling the digital media outlets. With the increasing popularity of social media, real journalism has declined. Those few journalists who still hang on to a paid job in the “mainstream media” are well aware that they’d better toe the line of the corporate owners of that media.

Independent journalism is happening, but even in the “alternative media”, writers are being monitored. So, if you step out of line – say by condemning the actions of Israel, or of the nuclear lobby, well, the moguls of social media can, and do, prevent the spread of your message.

Marshall McLuhan in pointing out that “the medium is the message” , also showed that while it seems that minority voices are free to have their say, this seeming democracy actually allows, or ensures, that those voices will be lost in the deluge of “mainstream” media.

The activities of the social media platforms – take Google’s listings for an example – ensure that the corporate voices prevail.

What is to be done about this? I don’t know. But – something – soon – I hope.

July 27, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 2 Comments

TODAY. Militarism: How NATO is co-opting women and young people – with a veneer of peace and fun

This isn’t new. It has long been a tactic of the nuclear lobby. What makes it easier now is the enormous influence of the military lobby everywhere, and the global spread of NATO.

Today I read professor Joan Roelofs’ article on NATO and realised that the tactic of using women and young people has moved from promoting the occasional young, and preferably female enthusiast, to creating institutions that cover up militarism, and make it look benign and peaceful.

The nuclear lobby has long been using “fun” young individuals to spread its message.

“Nuclear for Australia” was headed by 17 year-old William Shackel

The nuclear industry, wherever possible, gets its agenda into schools, often with a fun exercise about rockets

I now notice that it is pretty much obligatory for any military gathering to have at least one woman there, appropriately decked out in the right warlike gear.

While every survey comes up with figures about women liking weapons and war much less than men do, there seems to be a concerted effort to make it look as if there are women in charge at the top levels of the militaristic tree. At the recent NATO Summit lineup of 32 important people, there were 4 women. And of course, the very photogenic Ursula von der Leyen is prominent – often the only woman present at a NATO gathering.

Tragically, so many civilian jobs are linked with NATO – in areas like science, medical technology, information technology, academia, the arts, and even in progressive and human rights movements. So, through these connections the NATO message is spread, obscuring the reality that NATO is a militaristic institution, controlled by the USA, designed to make ready for war – originally against Russia, now against China, too.

The USA is controlled by corporations, especially weapons makers – it matters little whether Republicans or Democrats are in government.

NATO is now perfecting its veneer – spreading its influence through multiple nations, and multiple areas of society, an setting up its own cute little front groups, as named in the picture above.

The real decisions on NATO weapons, including nuclear, and their use, will be made by the same cabal of militaristic men, while NATO looks good, with its window-dressing of women and young people.

July 25, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. The cover-up of the danger of nuclear radiation and health, but who is speaking for our grandchildren?

From the earliest days of Marie and Pierre Curie, the harm from ionising radiation was observed, but not fully acknowledged. And before long, it was enthusiastically used in medicine, as x-rays, and in the general world, in various forms, as an aid to health and beauty. When the “radium girls” who painted watch dials with the glow-in-the-dark, radium-based paint, became ill, they were diagnosed by company doctors as having poor diet, neuroses or even syphilis.

Accidents during the Manhattan Project showed the horror effects of high doses of radiation, – but with some military propaganda sleight-of-hand this seemed to be taken to show that “low level” radiation is fine.

Doctors and scientists of integrity, who researched the harm of nuclear radiation were harassed, ridiculed, and sidelined. Integrity was a career killer for DrJohn Gofman, Arthur Tamblin, Harold Knapp, Linus Pauling, Alice Stewart, Ernest Sternglass and Hermann Muller.

Despite the scientific report in 2007 – Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) stating the danger, the nuclear lobby has been successful in obscuring the truth, and putting across a general acceptance that low dose radiation is well, OK, really.

Dr. Alice Stewart and , Dr. Rosalie Bertell showed the link between x-rays in the mothers and leukemia in their children – their results were similarly rubbished, (but medical authorities quietly curtailed the widespread use of x-rays)

Epidemiology and Statistics are boring stuff, I know. But population statistics of infant deaths and child cancers have shown the increased danger to embryos, infants and children living near nuclear facilities.

Sadly, health authorities have colluded in this cover-up. Public anxiety about ionising radiation is a threat to the thriving nuclear medicine industry. How much of nuclear medicine is absolutely necessary? How many CT scans and other radiological examinations are not really called for? It’s easier for medical professionals to just go along with the view that low level radiation is OK.

After all, amongst many thousands, if only a few thousand children die as a result of exposure to low level radiation – from nuclear reactors and other nuclear facilities, that’s OK isn’t it?

As world leaders enthuse over more nuclear power, and more nuclear “deterrents” , Dr. Gordon Edwards asks the question “Who is speaking for our grandchildren?”

(My inspiration for this short article came from Dr Dale Dewar’s Ionizing Radiation and Human Health .)

July 20, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. The NATO statement – absurdity and collective suicide?

I know that I am sounding callous, but I can’t help noticing that Trump’s close shave with an assassination attempt has been a boon for the mainstream media – taking attention away from the foolish and disastrous farce of the NATO summit in Washington

There they all were, the over-paid stuffed shirts in their suits, dutifully agreeing, as required, to a plan, led by Joe Biden who said in a recent interview  “I’m running the world. “

I don’t think that Biden has dementia. That whole interview showed him to be rational and well-informed. But it also showed his determination to be the one. (Very much the same determination as Trump’s.)

And all the stuffed shirts fell in gladly. Much easier than thinking.

Some things are just too hard to think about, when you’re keeping your focus firmly on your well-paid, prestigious job, and how important you are.

Things like mindless unquestioning agreement to the Washington Summit Declaration, which was totally obsessed with continuing and winning the war in Ukraine according to Biden’s current policy — and at a time and on terms set by Ukraine and its allies, not by Russia.

All wars end with some kind of a negotiation. However, in 1945, world War 11 ended with the unconditional surrender of Germany, after the absolute crushing of Berlin, and suicide of the Nazi leadership, – and then the unconditional surrender of Japan, after two nuclear bombs had been dropped on two Japanese cities.

Is that what Biden wants for the ending of the Ukraine war? Russia’s unconditional surrender?

Most wars end in a negotiation between the two sides – and not after that kind of devastating WW11 victory. And in those negotiations, both sides get a say. Russia has made several offers to negotiate, but no way will the USA countenance any such talks. The NATO Summit was not allowed to consider any negotiations – and not one voice was raised to question this attitude!

The NATO Summit ignored real threats to world peace and stability, the genocide in Gaza, (depicted as Israeli self-defence) – and just a bare nod to the heating climate and its effects.

The big thing seemed to be to idolise the ever-attention-seeking Zelensky in his military attire, and not to give a thought to the continuing bloodbath – as Russia loses many thousands of troops, but Ukraine with its smaller population, loses proportionately more troops and lacks the capacity to regenerate losses .

Our taxes pay these men (and the odd token woman) to strut the NATO stage, and to all happily, zombie-like, agree to the extraordinarily unwise plans of the Washington Summit Declaration

Things like:

•  Ukraine’s “irreversible path” to de jure NATO Membership
•  Military assistance to €40 billion annually to Ukraine.   Minimum baseline funding of €40 billion within the next year, and to provide sustainable levels of security assistance for Ukraine to prevail (- Russia’s unconditional surrender?)
• transfer of NATO F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and the Netherlands to Ukraine,  
• approval for  F-16s to attack inside Russian territory.  
• Pledge of Long-Term Security Assistance for Ukraine
• Investing in our Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear defence capabilities required to effectively operate in all environments.

Russia’s “red line” has long been the inclusion of Ukraine in NATO. Putin has warned against attacks on sites within Russia, and has threatened the use of “tactical nuclear weapons”. Zelensky has previously supported negotiation plans with Russia, but the USA wouldn’t let this happen.

If you look at the map, you can see that on its Western side , Russia is pretty well surrounded by NATO countries, where of course, there can be military bases aimed at Russia. One of the largest is Ukraine – so of course, Russia does not want a NATO military base there – with weapons, possibly nuclear, aimed at Russia.

As pointed out by Joe Lauria – “NATO leaders haven’t demonstrated a willingness to give up any of their collective or individual power, which is devolving rapidly into collective and individual madness.

They don’t want to lose their role in Biden “running the world.” Even if realists in Washington prevailed over the neocons in arguing that Ukraine can’t win this war, NATO leaders proclaim they can’t afford to lose it. Not because Putin will be at the Eiffel Tower by Christmas, but because so many political careers in the West would be ruined.

From Keir Starmer to Olaf Scholz, to Giorgia Meloni, Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden, a defeat in Ukraine would signify that they gambled their personal ambition — as well as their nations’ treasure and the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men — and lost it all. 

Instead of settling, they’re willing to drag us all into the existential crisis that could end it all.  “

July 14, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. The insanity of rampant mindless new technology

It’s not that I’m against new technology. It has many benefits. It’s just that there can be too much of a good thing.

As an illustration, I’m looking at the plan to employ “human-like” robots to provide companionship to lonely aged people, in particular, to those with dementia. In Australia, there’s a government-encouraged plan that is developing these robots. The robots are meant to provide cheery company and entertainment, to groups of old people and to individuals. They can initiate games, blow bubbles, and provide a stream of wisecracking banter (I heard a sample of this on Australia’s ABC Radio National).

above – “Nadine” – robot, Japan

Just what a dementia person needs- NOT! The last thing that a demented person needs is smart-aleck wisecracks. What they do need is a gentle touch, a human hand leading them for a walk, very little talk, and simple talk, not stuff that will add to their confusion. What they need is empathy – and that’s one thing that a robot cannot give.

Of course, the robot gobbles up electricity. And that must cost a bit, but presumably cheaper than paying a human to do this task?

The companion robot is just one example of the useless bits of new technology that waste not only our time, but also huge amounts of electricity and water.

Consider how many trillions of unnecessary emojis, emails, digital posts of all kinds, must be increasingly stored in those dirty great steel data containers that are deceptively called “the cloud” . The big deception is that we’re supposed to think that there’s some kind of innocuous beneficial vapour, into which all our digital rubbish just fades away.

That massive dirty digital steel rubbish “cloud” bank is forever guzzling electricity and the necessary cooling water.

As artificial intelligence races away, and the squillionares like Jeff Bezos rule the world, unhindered wasteful new technology is leading us towards a collective insanity. The nuclear lobbyists must be licking their lips – as electricity usage booms with AI, the argument for nuclear energy booms, too.

There would be many ways to limit our digital use, if only there was a general acceptance of the idea of moderate use, and the motivation to be more frugal in our digital management.

Rampant energy use for completely wasteful purposes not only destroys employment for humans, but it also leads to the toxic world of nuclear power, (and of course, its twin, nuclear weapons.)

July 13, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

TODAY. Media double standards – Ukraine civilian casualties versus Gaza civilian casualties

I want to be clear. The bombing of civilians is an atrocity. On July 8th, Russian missile attacks targeted cities across Ukraine. That included  a strike that hit the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv. That is an atrocity. (27 civilians, including four children, were killed, and 117, including seven children, were injured.)

On July 9th, an Israeli airstrike targeted a school-turned-refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip,  the fourth school Israel’s military has bombed in as many days. That is an atrocity. (29 Palestinians have been killed and dozens wounded )

But – contrast the media coverage of these events:

For the Western media – The attack on Ukraine was first of all – a useful news item for ramping up support at the NATO meeting, for more weapons for Ukraine -“A NATO summit is getting under way in Washington, with support for Ukraine top of the agenda after a children’s hospital was hit by a Russian missile.”

Emotional coverage. Australia’s ABC News gave an emotional account: “The offensive on Monday blasted Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt paediatric hospital, where thousands of children undergo treatment for cancer, heart problems, and severe injuries, in broad daylight. Parents holding babies walked in the street outside the hospital, dazed and sobbing after the rare daylight aerial attack. “

To be fair – the ABC also covered the Gaza atrocity, but in a less emotional way.

Over the past few years, the contrast in media coverage has been remarkable. This could be in Gaza, because the Western media are getting their information from Israeli sources, and not from Gaza. While for Ukraine, well the news is exclusively from Ukraine, and not at all from Russia.

Even the language of reporting has often shown the difference. For Ukraine, it has been reporting like ” Putin’s Russian mercenary soldiers have killed hundreds civilians ” For Gaza – “According to Hamas, hundreds of civilians died”. The inference is that in the case of Ukraine, the Putin’s brutal soldiers massacre civilians. But in Gaza, well the news from Hamas is not to be trusted anyway, and the civilian deaths were unfortunate collateral damage in the hunt for Hamas terrorists.

Again, to be fair, I think that media coverage of Gaza is improving. It would need to, as firsthand reports from Gaza cannot be ignored.

But finally – there’s a very clear dilemma for the West, in reporting the events in both countries, and the significance of these events.

Israel is designated as a major non-NATO ally . So is it OK by NATO and USA, for USA to keep supplying weapons for Israel’s attack on Gaza?

NATO is very upset about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, so much so, that the top priority of the current NATO summit in Washington. Apparently the Israeli genocide in Gaza is not an issue.

July 11, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear and associated news -week to 8th July

Some bits of good news.  Conservation and economic development go hand in hand, more often than expected.  Peru has protected 6,449 hectares of an endemic fog oasis that hosts hundreds of rare and threatened species.

TOP STORIES 

Trump has a strategic plan for the country: Gearing up for nuclear war. 

How do you convince someone to live next to a nuclear waste site? 

Nuclear power would put our energy security into Russian hands– ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/07/05/1-a-nuclear-power-would-put-our-energy-security-into-russian-hands/ 

Climate. Climate hazards impact more than four-fifths of cities worldwide, study finds. How record-breaking Hurricane Beryl is a sign of a warming world.

Noel’s notes. Australia further in the grip of the USA, with the Amazon data spy hub – paid for by Aussie tax-payers. The world must stop creating nuclear garbage.

AUSTRALIA. Australians being kept in the dark about Pine Gap expansion. Australia to build ‘top-secret’ cloud for intelligence agencies in $2bn deal with Amazon.    Political Mastermind: a toxic waste of everyone’s time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4HGJ42c2Kg    With its nuclear energy policy, Peter Dutton seems to have forgotten the Liberal Party’s core beliefs. See more Australian news at Australian nuclear news headlines this week.  

NUCLEAR ISSUES

POLITICS.

• Now Keir Starmer Has to Decide If He’d Use Nukes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQO6rJsVNkw . Tory accused of exaggerating chances of new nuclear plant.      SCOTTISH GREENS WILL OPPOSE ALL PLANS FOR NEW NUCLEAR ENERGY. Work to show UK nuclear ‘environmentally sustainable’ incomplete, 16 months after government announcement. ‘Letters of last resort’: deciding response to a nuclear attack among first of Starmer’s tasks.
• Trump Advisers Call for U.S. Nuclear Weapons Testing if He Is Elected. . Congressional group on nuclear arms sets July hearing for embattled missile program.
• Starmer’s role in Assange’s prosecution.
• Masoud Pezeshkian: Iranian reformer who wants to end Tehran’s nuclear stand-off.
• Public Vote on Nuclear Power Plant Sparks Debate in Kazakhstan.

July 8, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The world must stop creating nuclear garbage.

At last a journalist has tackled the issue of nuclear waste. Yet, even Austyn Gaffney , writing in Grist, , did not dare to suggest the obvious first move to control this monstrous problem. –

Stop making nuclear waste

The nuclear lobby boasts that Finland has solved this problem.:

Great copper and cast iron casks up to two stories tall will be lowered deep into a bedrock tomb, to bury toxic nuclear wastes that will remain toxic for many thousands of years.

And Finland got that essential precious jewel – community consent. But did they, really?

Finland’s KBS-3 nuclear waste disposal system was designed by Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, SKB., but rejected by Swedish Environmental Court. “The foremost reason is that as the project was being discussed with the public, SKB’s research was found to be incomplete and, in certain cases, inaccurate.

When, in 2011, Sweden’s SKB first applied for a license to build the Forsmark repository, the KBS-3 project documentation was published, which made it possible to give the project a review that would be independent from the nuclear industry’s own evaluation.

In February 2016, a special expert group appointed by the government, called the Swedish National Council for Nuclear Waste (Kärnavfallsrådet), published a 167-page report entitled “Nuclear Waste State-of-the-Art Report 2016: Risks, uncertainties and future challenges.” Among other things, it identifies the repository project’s risks and uncertainties having to do with earthquake impacts, with the long-term prospects of financing and monitoring the site’s condition, and with the health effects of low doses of radiation.

Finland has no such expert body. The concept of the repository, under construction in Euroajoki municipality, is criticized by many Finnish scientists, but the government is not taking notice and is likewise ignoring the scientific objections coming from its neighbor Sweden.“

With the proliferation of all kinds of nuclear facilities, big and small, – what about RADIOACTIVITY AND HUMAN HEALTH, , SAFETY, ENVIRONMENT, WEAPONS PROLIFERATION, TERRORISM RISKS ?

– NAH – they don’t matter. WHAT MATTERS IS COMMUNITY CONSENT.

And, I commend Austyn Gaffney, for quietly shedding light on the salient facts here:

In the USA the Federal Government (not the nuclear companies) has the legal responsibility for the nuclear waste. And it is sort of committed to “consent-based” siting of waste dumps, since it was forced by community opposition do dump its old Nevada nuclear dump plan.

Even in Finland, a campaign to get community consent took many years, and the community got inadequate information, and Finland had a string tradition of trust in the government.

In Canada – it’s been a worse story. The government, (helped by subservient media) has had to resort to all sorts of bribery. And those pesky First Nations, who love the land, the environment, have not been all that willing to accept waste dumps, even with the bribery.

The thing is – people can be more easily conned into having a toxic nuclear waste dump nearby, if they already have nuclear facilities, and if they get the various government bribes, and of course – the perpetual promise of jobs jobs jobs.

But there would be plenty of jobs in shutting down nuclear facilities too.

Why does nobody, – not even that excellent writer, Austyn Gaffney – ever suggest that logical first step?

July 5, 2024 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment