YONAH JEREMY BOB, AUGUST 20, 2017 Israel states their work is a matter of national security, but the scientists claim their right to fight for better working conditions…..http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Dimona-nuke-workers-ask-courts-permission-to-speak-to-media-502969
Hundreds of people are dead after the Sierra Leone landslide. Here’s how it happened. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/08/15/hundreds-of-people-are-dead-after-the-sierra-leone-landslide-heres-how-it-happened/
DR Congo landslide kills scores in northeast http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/dr-congo-landslide-kills-dozens-northeast-170817100001637.html
Landslide in northern India leaves 46 dead http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/landslide-north-india-leaves-46-dead-170814050147858.html
The Axis of Climate Evil, NYT, Paul Krugman AUG. 11, 2017, “It’s Not Your Imagination: Summers Are Getting Hotter.” So read a recent headline in The Times, highlighting a decade-by-decade statistical analysis by climate expert James Hansen. “Most summers,” the analysis concluded, “are now either hot or extremely hot compared with the mid-20th century.”
Editorial.Phasing out nuclear power a must for Japan’s new energy plan, Asahi Shimbun, August 14, 2017, The industry ministry has opened discussions for reviewing Japan’s Strategic Energy Plan, which defines a grand framework for how the country will consume, and cover the demand for, electric power, heat and other forms of energy.
Industry minister Hiroshige Seko has said the core part of the plan will remain basically unchanged. Minor adjustments alone, however, would simply not suffice under current circumstances.
The ongoing edition of the plan is questionable in many respects, including in the way it defines nuclear energy as a mainstay power source despite broad public opposition to restarts of nuclear reactors.
A big wave of change is occurring on a global scale. For example, there are moves, mostly in advanced industrialized nations, for pulling the plug on nuclear power. There is also a trend for moving from coal-fired thermal power generation, given that the Paris Agreement has now taken effect for fighting global warming. Renewable energy options, such as wind and solar power, are spreading rapidly.
Japan should also redraw the image of its future self. First and foremost, a phase-out of nuclear power should define the foundation of the country’s new future perspective…….
nuclear energy is falling out of favor with the times both in Japan and abroad following the Fukushima disaster. For example, the public has grown more skeptical about the use of nuclear power, and the costs of implementing required safety measures have soared.
The question of how to dispose of radioactive waste from nuclear power reactors remains unlikely to be solved any time soon in most of the countries that have such reactors, including Japan. Efforts are spreading, mostly in advanced nations, for seeking to scrap all, or a considerable part, of a national fleet of nuclear reactors.
The forthcoming edition of Japan’s Strategic Energy Plan should no longer define atomic energy as a mainstay source of power. Minimizing dependency on nuclear power should be designated a priority issue instead of being left as a hollow promise. Discussions should be made on what efforts are necessary for achieving that goal, and a road map should be presented in a concrete manner.
PHASE OUT NUCLEAR, FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING
Intensive power-saving efforts, combined with a substantial growth in renewable energy options, will represent a solution to the question of how to phase out nuclear power and fight global warming at the same time. It has been pointed out that such measures are costly and have other disadvantages, but possibilities have been opening up for them in recent years………
Renewable energy sources have already replaced thermal energy and nuclear energy as the leading destinations of global investments into the electric power sector.
Japan should quickly switch its energy policy instead of turning its back on the international trend. http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201708140020.html
Shut Down Sizewell 13th Aug 2017, It might seem strange for us to focus on Hinkley Point in Somerset for our
front page story, but what happens at Hinkley will almost certainly have a
direct impact on what happens at the nuclear power station at Sizewell in
Suffolk in the years to come.
This Campaign has always maintained that a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK, including the proposed
Sizewell C, is completely untenable and with all that is happening at
Hinkley Point, it now seems to be increasingly the case. The new nuclear
power station: Hinkley Point C, is now subject to a ‘full review’
following a statement from its developer Électricité de France (EdF) that
it expects the project to be years late and billions of Euros over budget.
The anticipated completion date has already been extended from 2025 to
2027, and the cost, shared with China State Nuclear Company (CGN), is
already likely to increase by up to 3bn Euros.
The latest forecasts reveal that Hinkley Point C could cost energy bill payers in the UK £50bn over
the life of the project, compared to the original estimate in 2013, of
£6bn. The National Audit Office in the UK has labelled the HInkley plans
as ‘risky and expensive’ and it has urged the Government to have an
alternative plan in place in case the project is delayed or cancelled.
This at a time when offshore wind power will be up to 50% cheaper than nuclear,
and certainly far safer and far better for the environment. Technological
advances, including larger more efficient turbines and economies of scale
in manufacturing, have resulted in the cost of offshore wind power tumbling
to an all-time low. It is anticipated that the guaranteed price is expected
to be so low, that it could be free of subsidy altogether. Millions are now
being invested in battery power, which is making wind and solar energy
storage a reality across the world. Technological advances have resulted in
production being doubled in Western Europe, paving the way for a green
energy revolution that will consign nuclear power to the economic and
environmental scrapheap. http://www.shutdown-sizewell.org.uk/how-the-failures-at-hinkley-c-may-impact-on-the-plans-for-sizewell-c/
FEARS have been raised that Hiroshima could become the first city in history to be hit with a nuclear bomb TWICE, as North Korea prepares to launch missiles into the waters of the US territory of Guam.
Radiation Free Lakeland 10th Aug 2017, The Whitehaven News reports today on the worst kept secret that Toshiba is financially torpedoing. Still not to worry eh, there are still slush funds
aplenty to greenwash the increasingly despised Moorside plan.
Apart from NuGen (100% Toshiba) the other two sponsors are the Copeland Community Fund
( this fund doles out the £millions Cumbria is bribed with to continue to
accept nuclear wastes) and United Utilities (in cahoots with the nuclear
industryand currently under fire for polluting West Cumbria’s water
supply).
The nuclear fanatics are calling for the government to “step
in” and “save Moorside”- are they joking? Successive governments have
never stepped away from throwing public money at the expanding nuclear
nightmare.
https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2017/08/10/nugens-parent-company-loses-millions-no-worries-though-plenty-of-slush-funds-for-greenwashing-moorside/
Beyond Nuclear 10th Aug 2017, The fact that the alleged nuclear revival has evaporated into the ether is
being trumpeted as breaking news. But there was never a nuclear revival —
only “plans” and “aspirations” built on quicksand.
The collapse of the South Carolina nuclear new build project at V.C. Summer had been seen
coming since it’s first glimmer on paper — by groups such as Southern
Alliance For Clean Energy, relegated, as are many of us, to anti-nuclear
Cassandras.
The same reactor design — the untested AP 1000 — is planned
for a site next to the Sellafield reprocessing facility in the UK. But with
the implosion of Toshiba under the weight of the Westinghouse financial
collapse, that project is under serious threat.
The site is owned and operated by the rashly named consortium, NuGen. But as the sign at the site
indicates, there is nothing happening there right now as NuGen partners
scamper for the exits and the South Koreans — who have forsaken nuclear
power at home — mull sticking it on others overseas.
If the South Koreans switch out the AP 1000 for their own reactor design at the Moorside NuGen
site, it will become very old Gen indeed, with likely many more years of
delay. By that time, nuclear energy will have become 100% redundant, as
renewables, combined with energy efficiency, will have completely taken
over.
As Martin Forwood of Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment
commented in a recent press release: “The latest news of the plug being
pulled on the half-built AP1000 reactors in the US and the fall from grace
on the Tokyo Stock Exchange of NuGen’s sole investor Toshiba will further
add to the increasing uncertainties swirling around in the Moorside
mists”.
IAEA 10th Aug 2017, When nuclear or radioactive material is encountered out of regulatory
control, it is crucial that nuclear forensic investigators learn about the
material’s origin and history. To do so, they look at details in the
characteristics of the material – known as nuclear forensic signatures
– as these reveal important clues about this information.
To help experts make reliable conclusions about nuclear forensic signatures, the IAEA in
August 2017 published a new technical document that highlight novel
analytical techniques used by experts around the world.
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/new-iaea-document-helps-nuclear-security-experts-investigate-the-origin-and-history-of-nuclear-or-radioactive-material
,BBC 12 Aug 17, At a time when nuclear war with North Korea seems a possible – if distant – threat, you’d think everyone would want the US administration to be on the same page.
But in recent weeks, statements from President Trump and his top officials appear to directly contradict each other.
President Trump’s latest outburst – that the US military was “locked and loaded”ready to deal with North Korea – came just hours after his Defence Secretary Jim Mattis attempted to cool tensions by saying that diplomatic efforts were succeeding.
Here are some of the other mixed messages we’ve heard since North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test on 28 July…….http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40903061
Russia says ‘a pity’ U.S. casts doubt on Iran nuclear deal, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-russia-usa-idUSKBN1AR1AU MOSCOW (Reuters) 11 Aug 17 – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday it is a pity that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump was casting doubt on the 2015 deal to curtail Iran’s nuclear weapons program. “Unfortunately now our American partners call this …(treaty) into question,” Lavrov told a meeting with students broadcast live by state television.
“In the Trump administration they continue calling these agreements wrong and erroneous, and it’s a pity that such a successful treaty is now somewhat being cast into doubt.”
Trump said on Thursday said he did not believe that Iran was living up to the spirit of the deal
The Trump Administration Is Censoring the Term “Climate Change” at the Worst Possible Time, GQ, BY JACK MOORE It looks like Trump and company will bury their heads in the sand, until the sea levels rise and drown them. We’ve known about climate change for decades now, and yet, rather than fight to ensure the planet will continue to be habitable, politicians have been playing hot potato with the issue for years. During President Obama’s term, it seemed like actual progress could be made. Basically every nation on Earth came together to set some guidelines, but more importantly to set a common purpose. We must all, together, work to fight climate change. It was a hopeful moment.
Nuclear not the answer, as consumers pay for abandoned reactors, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 9 August 2017 “…….The so-called “nuclear renaissance” in the United States has had another major setback, with another two reactors under construction in South Carolina abandoned after costs spiralled out of control, leaving consumers holding the bill for plants that will never be completed.
The plug was pulled on the V.C. Summer nuclear project last week after $US9 billion had already already spent, and after it became clear that the original $US11.5 billion bill for the whole project would more than double to at least $US25 billion ($31 billion).
South Carolina consumers will be left holding the bill, and 20 per cent of their electricity rates will go to pay for something that will never be completed.
The Vogtle reactors, also funded by consumers and taxpayer loans, are the only two reactors under construction in the US, out of the 31 once hailed as a sign of the industry’s renaissance in the US.
Given the farce around the massive Hinkley Point project in the UK, which is running more than $2 billion over-budget after just the first year of a planned 10-year construction period, and the cost over-runs for next generation reactors in France and Finland, it seems clear that nuclear has done its dash in western economies.
Hinkley is now tipped to cost £19.6 billion, a rise of £1.5 billion, and it faces delays.
On top of that, the Independent reported last month that government figures now show the total bill to households could total £50 billion ($A83 billion), more than eight times greater than the National Audit Office’s initial 2013 estimate that a public investment of £6 billion would be required………
The nuclear industry is putting pressure on the Trump administration to approve a bail-out of existing nuclear generators, which they say cannot compete against wind, solar and gas.
A Department of Energy advisory committee last year recommended that nuclear receive an additional production create of $US27/MWh which would result in a bill to taxpayers of more than $US228 billion.
To put that in perspective, a newly released study by the Berkley Renewable Energy Laboratory puts the average cost of new wind farms at just $20/MWh. Solar is not far behind – and both cheaper than the subsidies needed by nuclear to keep ageing plants operating.
“Nuclear power is failing despite the fact that it is already heavily subsidised,” said Tim Judson, of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
“With renewable energy now surpassing nuclear by widening margins, it’s clear that subsidizing nuclear is an expensive way to slow down the growth of clean, safe, affordable, job-creating energy sources.””
Consumers are the biggest victims from the latest attempts to revive the nuclear industry, because the utilities that proposed them made sure that it was the consumers, not the investors, that took the risk.
Peter Bradford, a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Commissioner, and past chair of the New York and Maine state utility regulatory commissions, said using ratepayers to finance construction of nuclear reactors in advance are debacles waiting to happen.
““The primary lessons for Georgia, Virginia, and other states, from the South Carolina cancellations (as well as Levy County in Florida and Kemper in Mississippi) is that laws and regulatory decisions placing economic risks on customers instead of the investors and lenders who should properly bear them are a disastrous mistake,” he says.
“Freed of responsibility for the consequences of their mistakes, utility executives too often plunge into ill-advised schemes to pad their rate bases (and individual compensation) when they should be managing competitive processes designed to select the most cost-effective alternative.””
He warned that taxpayers could still end up on the hook for billions of dollars if the Vogtle project goes belly up.
Unlike VC Summer, Vogtle managed to win themselves more than $US8 billion in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees. Critics say it is clearer than ever that the writing is on the wall for taxpayers.
Bradford says it is clear that the any remaining illusions about a resurgence of nuclear power in the United States are now dead.
““In fact, there never was an actual ‘nuclear renaissance’, just the 31 paper applications on file at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by early 2009.
“Now nearly all but two are cancelled, leaving a trail of economic waste in their wake. The intent of the renaissance dream was to show that new reactor designs and an expedited licensing process from which the public was largely excluded would produce reactors that could be completed ‘on time and on budget’ as well as at competitive costs.
“The expectation was that private financing, without subsidy from customers and taxpayers, would then become available to nuclear power. That dream is now in ruins.
“The Westinghouse bankruptcy and subsequent events in South Carolina make the lessons so clear that even the most ardent nuclear propagandists probably can no longer shout them down.”” http://reneweconomy.com.au/nuclear-not-answer-consumers-pay-abandoned-reactors-38863/
Susan Rice: US can ‘tolerate’ nuclear weapons in North Korea http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/susan-rice-us-can-tolerate-nuclear-weapons-in-north-korea/article/2631128 by Pete Kasperowicz | Aug 10, 2017 President Trump should ratchet down his rhetoric and learn to live with a nuclear North Korea, according to Susan Rice, national security adviser under President Obama.
In an op-ed for the New York Times, Rice said it’s too dangerous for Trump to risk military engagement with North Korea with his “bluster,” which could put millions of people in Seoul at risk. While she said the Trump administration should not “legitimize” North Korea as a nuclear state, it should start tolerating the new reality.
“History shows that we can, if we must, tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea — the same way we tolerated the far greater threat of thousands of Soviet nuclear weapons during the Cold War,” she wrote. “It will require being pragmatic.”
Rice said the U.S. should make it clear that any use of nuclear weapons against the U.S. or its allies, or the transfer of nuclear weapons to third parties, would “result in annihilation of North Korea.”
But she said the second step is for Trump to end his tough guy rhetoric in order to avoid “blundering into a costly war.” “John Kelly, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, must assert control over the White House, including his boss, and curb the Trump surrogates whipping up Cuban missile crisis fears.
She also criticized the “bluster” emanating from both Pyongyang and Bedminster, N.J., where Trump is staying for most of August.
Rice also recommended boosting its antimissile defenses, tightening sanctions against North Korea even further, and opening up talks with China about ways to negotiate down North Korea’s arsenal.
Good Energy 29th July 2017, You need only look at other similar projects around the world to understand
exactly how risky Hinkley Point C really is.
At the time of writing, there are no functioning power stations with the same reactor design as that
planned to be used at Hinkley. There are four other plants around the world
currently being built with the same reactor design as Hinkley Point C –
but all of them have been plagued with problems.
The Flamanville plant in France is currently six years late and three times over budget, the
Olkiluoto plant in Finland is currently nine years overdue and 60% over
budget, and two plants in China are both expected to be at least two years
behind schedule. With reports over the weekend that sources within EDF are
suggesting that Hinkley Point C may also be late and over-budget, the case
is mounting that Hinkley Point C is a risky gamble at the expense of
British bill-payers. https://www.goodenergy.co.uk/blog/2017/06/29/a-costly-nuclear-legacy-why-hinkley-point-c-is-such-a-bad-deal/
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/
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