Reckon you can put a nuclear reactor on the Moon?
You have until Thursday August 21 to respond if you do
The Register, Richard Speed, Fri 15 Aug 2025
NASA’s plans to put a nuclear reactor on the Moon have moved on – the agency has now put out a Request For Information (RFI) to gauge industry interest in the project.
An RFI is not an invitation to bid for the work. Interested parties need to register their interest by 21 August, and only later, there’s a chance that they could be used to “finalize a potential opportunity later this year.” It comes after a directive from NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy that called for the US to be the first to put a nuclear reactor on the Moon.
Things will need to move fast if the agency is to meet the goal of being ready to launch by the first quarter of fiscal year 2030.
Dubbed the Fission Surface Power System, the reactor must have a mass of less than 15 metric tons, have a minimum power output of 100 kWe, and utilize a closed Brayton cycle power conversion system.
NASA is no stranger to nuclear power. It had rovers and spacecraft powered by the technology and has looked into Brayton cycle power conversion for nuclear electric propulsion on Mars missions [PDF].
The Apollo missions used Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) to power experiments to be left on the lunar surface. These contained plutonium-238, and one returned to Earth on Apollo 13, remaining on the lunar module. The container for the plutonium is now at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and no release of radiation has been detected.
One hundred kilowatts of power is, however, an order of magnitude greater than the nuclear power sources launched by NASA to date. It would be enough to power the International Space Station (ISS), which currently charges its batteries using electricity generated by solar arrays attached to the outpost………………………https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/15/nuclear_moon/
Calls for Transparency Over Serious Nuclear Incident at Faslane
By Chris Martin, 14 Aug 2025, https://argyllbute24.co.uk/calls-for-transparency-over-serious-nuclear-incident-at-faslane/
THE Ministry of Defence (MoD) is facing calls to disclose details of a serious nuclear incident at HMNB Clyde, Faslane, between 1 January and 22 April this year.
Classified as Category A – the MoD’s most serious level – the event reportedly posed no risk to the public or environment.
Faslane, on Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, houses the UK’s nuclear submarines, including Vanguard-class vessels armed with Trident missiles.
In a parliamentary response to SNP MP Dave Doogan, defence minister Maria Eagle confirmed multiple incidents at Faslane and nearby RNAD Coulport, but refused to detail Category A or B events, citing national security concerns.
Renewed alarm follows a Guardian/Ferret investigation revealing radioactive water leaked into Loch Long from Coulport in 2019 due to faulty pipes, with a six-year secrecy battle over the case. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency deemed the discharges “of no regulatory concern”.
SNP deputy leader Keith Brown has demanded an “urgent explanation”, warning nuclear weapons are “poorly maintained” and threaten safety, communities, and the environment.
The MoD insists it handles radioactive substances “safely and securely” and that none of the incidents caused harm or radiological impact, reaffirming support for the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
More on this story in next week’s Observer
Russia makes battlefield breakthrough in urgent push for land.
Telegraph, Kieran Kelly. Fermin Torrano in Ukraine, 12 Aug 25
With Trump talks looming, Russia’s army punches through exposed Ukrainian defences.
Russia is racing to seize as much Ukrainian territory as possible ahead of peace talks with Donald Trump on Friday.
In what may prove to be a major breakthrough for Vladimir Putin, Russian sabotage and reconnaissance units punched through exposed defences in eastern Ukraine, slipping as far as six miles behind the front line in just 48 hours, according to battlefield reports.
Kyiv has diverted special forces units to confront the insurgents on the ground in an attempt to prevent any more of Ukraine falling under Russia’s control before the summit in Alaska.
The location, near Dobropillya in Donetsk, is strategically significant. If Moscow’s forces are able to establish a foothold, the breach could allow Russia to cut off the city of Kramatorsk, one of the most vital strongholds in the Donbas still under Kyiv’s control.
If the city falls, it would give Putin almost full control over the Donbas and strengthen his negotiating power when bargaining over Ukraine’s fate with the Trump administration……………………………………… https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/08/12/russia-battleground-breakthrough-exposes-putin-push-land/
The West is in panic as Israel’s plan for ‘full control’ of Gaza heralds a new Nakba.
Netanyahu’s mass ethnic cleansing strategy pulls the rug out from under the West’s cherished pretext for supporting Israeli criminality: the fabled two-state solution
Jonathan Cook, Aug 14, 2025
If you thought western capitals were finally losing patience with Israel’s engineering of a famine in Gaza nearly two years into the genocide, you may be disappointed.
As ever, events have moved on – even if the extreme hunger and malnourishment of the two million people of Gaza have not abated.
Western leaders are now expressing “outrage”, as the media call it, at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to “take full control” of Gaza and “occupy” it. At some point in the future, Israel is apparently ready to hand the enclave over to outside forces unconnected to the Palestinian people.
The Israeli cabinet agreed last Friday on the first step: a takeover of Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are huddled in the ruins, being starved to death. The city will be encircled, systematically depopulated and destroyed, with survivors presumably herded southwards to a “humanitarian city” – Israel’s new term for a concentration camp – where they will be penned up, awaiting death or expulsion.
At the weekend, foreign ministers from the UK, Germany, Italy, Australia and other western nations issued a joint statement decrying the move, warning it would “aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians”.
Germany, Israel’s most fervent backer in Europe and its second-biggest arms supplier, is apparently so dismayed that it has vowed to “suspend” – that is, delay – weapons shipments that have helped Israel to murder and maim hundreds of thousands of Palestinians over the past 22 months.
Netanyahu is not likely to be too perturbed. Doubtless, Washington will step in and pick up any slack for its main client state in the oil-rich Middle East.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu has once again shifted the West’s all-too-belated focus on the indisputable proof of Israel’s ongoing genocidal actions – evidenced by Gaza’s skeletal children – to an entirely different story.
Now, the front pages are all about the Israeli prime minister’s strategy in launching another “ground operation”, how much pushback he is getting from his military commanders, what the implications will be for the Israelis still held captive in the enclave, whether the Israeli army is now overstretched, and whether Hamas can ever be “defeated” and the enclave “demilitarised”.
We are returning once again to logistical analyses of the genocide – analyses whose premises ignore the genocide itself. Might that not be integral to Netanyahu’s strategy?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. France and Britain’s recognition threat is not simply too late. It serves two other purposes.
Firstly, it provides a new alibi for inaction. There are plenty of far more effective ways for the West to halt Israel’s genocide. Western capitals could embargo arms sales, stop intelligence sharing, impose economic sanctions, sever ties with Israeli institutions, expel Israeli ambassadors, and downgrade diplomatic relations. They are choosing to do none of those things.
And secondly, recognition is designed to extract from the Palestinians “concessions” that will make them even more vulnerable to Israeli violence.
According to France’s foreign affairs minister, Jean-Noel Barrot: “Recognising a State of Palestine today means standing with the Palestinians who have chosen non-violence, who have renounced terrorism, and are prepared to recognise Israel.”
In other words, in the West’s view, the “good Palestinians” are those who recognise and lay down before the state committing genocide against them.
Western leaders have long envisioned a Palestinian state only on condition that it is demilitarised. Recognition this time is premised on Hamas agreeing to disarm and its departure from Gaza, leaving Abbas to take on the enclave and presumably continue the “sacred” mission of “cooperating” with a genocidal Israeli army.
As part of the price for recognition, all 22 members of the Arab League publicly condemned Hamas and demanded its removal from Gaza.
Boot on Gaza’s neck
How does all of this fit with Netanyahu’s “ground offensive”? Israel isn’t “taking over” Gaza, as he claims. Its boot has been on the enclave’s neck for decades.
While western capitals contemplate a two-state solution, Israel is preparing a final mass ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza.
Starmer’s government, for one, knew this was coming. Flight data shows that the UK has been constantly operating surveillance missions over Gaza on Israel’s behalf from the Royal Air Force base Akrotiri on Cyprus. Downing Street has been following the enclave’s erasure step by step.
Netanyahu’s plan is to encircle, besiege and bomb the last remaining populated areas in northern and central Gaza, and drive Palestinians towards a giant holding pen – misnamed a “humanitarian city” – alongside the enclave’s short border with Egypt. Israel will then probably employ the same contractors it has been using elsewhere in Gaza to go street to street to bulldoze or blow up any surviving buildings.
The next stage, given the trajectory of the last two years, is not difficult to predict. Locked up in their dystopian “humanitarian city”, the people of Gaza will continue to be starved and bombed whenever Israel claims it has identified a Hamas fighter in their midst, until Egypt or other Arab states can be persuaded to take them in, as a further “humanitarian” gesture.
Then, the only matter to be settled will be what happens to the real estate: build some version of Trump’s gleaming “Riviera” scheme, or construct another tawdry patchwork of Jewish settlements of the kind envisioned by Netanyahu’s openly fascist allies, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.
There is a well-established template to be drawn on, one that was used in 1948 during Israel’s violent creation. Palestinians were driven from their cities and villages, in what was then called Palestine, across the borders into neighbouring states. The new state of Israel, backed by western powers, then set about methodically destroying every home in those hundreds of villages.
Over subsequent years, they were landscaped either with forests or exclusive Jewish communities, often engaged in farming, to make Palestinian return impossible and stifle any memory of Israel’s crimes. Generations of western politicians, intellectuals and cultural figures have celebrated all of this.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Austrian President Heinz Fischer are among those who went to Israel in their youth to work on these farming communities. Most came back as emissaries for a Jewish state built on the ruins of a Palestinian homeland.
An emptied Gaza can be similarly re-landscaped. But it is much harder to imagine that this time the world will forget or forgive the crimes committed by Israel – or those who enabled them.
[Many thanks to Matthew Alford for the audio reading of this article.]https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/the-west-is-in-panic-as-israels-plan?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=476450&post_id=170880402&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=19l92&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Iran’s nuclear chief urges IAEA to condemn Israeli terrorism.
TEHRAN, Aug. 13 (MNA), https://en.mehrnews.com/news/235334/Nuclear-chief-urges-IAEA-to-condemn-Israeli-terrorism
– Vice President and Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should condemn the Israeli regime’s killing of Iranian nuclear scientists.
He paid tribute to the memory of the martyrs of the media, the nuclear martyrs, and the recent imposed war.
“A number of institutions affiliated with the Zionist regime pretend that the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was an act in the interest of the security of humanity. These narratives are so skillfully reflected that uninformed people believe them, and today we expect the media to stand strong and firmly against the combined war of the enemies of this land and reflect the correct narrative,” he said.
“Israel is neither a member of the NPT nor a member of the safeguards, but it has influence in the International Atomic Energy Agency and with this influence it exploits the confidential information of countries. With the support of the United States, they are carrying out evil actions in the region,” he added.
Eslami noted that during the 12-day war, a number of centers registered under the Agency’s continuous surveillance, which were monitored by 130 inspectors, were repeatedly attacked using missiles and various projectiles.
“The Americans had been planning an attack on our facilities for a long time. This is despite the fact that none of the official institutions have submitted a report on Iran’s non-compliance or deviation from the safeguards in recent years,” Eslami further stressed.
He emphasized, “A fabricated and fake case has been formed by the Zionist regime, and the accusations and excuses are nothing more than an attempt to stop Iran’s peaceful nuclear program. If their claims were true, they should have provided clear evidence. These fake statements are only a cover to prevent the progress of the Iranian nation.”
“Such double standards and efforts to prevent Iran from entering advanced scientific fields are the same hegemonic system that, at huge costs, is trying to deprive our nation of nuclear technology and other modern technologies. This approach is a tangible manifestation of their identity; the same crimes they are committing in Palestine today.”
Coulport nuclear leaks spark alarm among local nuclear campaigners
CAMPAIGNERS have dismissed reassurances from military chiefs about
radioactive waste leaking into the Clyde. Pipes which the Ministry of
Defence (MoD) had allowed to fall into disrepair leaked nuclear waste into
Loch Long from the Trident base at Coulport.
The revelations came after an
investigation by The Ferret, which forced the release of information on the
leaks the Government had tried to keep hushed up. Marian Pallister, chair
of Pax Christi Scotland, said the revelations were unsurprising but
concerning for people living in the area. Pallister, a writer and
journalist who lives near Lochgilphead, told The National: “I’m afraid
that it wasn’t a surprise, we have known about this for a long time.”
She dismissed the MoD’s claims that there had been “no unsafe releases
of radioactive material into the environment”, adding: “They would say
that, wouldn’t they? “They are obviously going to lessen their
involvement but however big or small the leaks might be, they are leaks
into waters that are a part of our lives, part of our heritage.
The National 12th Aug 2025, https://www.thenational.scot/news/25384467.coulport-nuclear-leaks-spark-alarm-among-local-nuclear-campaigners/
Scottish independence can rid us of nuclear abomination.
Ross Greer: NUCLEAR weapons aren’t just a deadly money pit, they also
make for extremely unsafe neighbours. This was proven once again last
weekend with the Ferret, The National and others exposing the scale of the
threat posed to those of my constituents who have the bases at Faslane and
Coulport on their doorsteps.
The news radioactive water leaked into
beautiful Loch Long should concern everyone, though for those of us
familiar with the safety record at Coulport, it was no surprise. Far from
an isolated event, we now know that Faslane also saw over 100 reported
safety incidents over the last 12 months, including a Category A event
earlier this year, the most serious category and one that the Royal Navy
says carries an “actual or high potential for radioactive release to the
environment”.
The National 15th Aug 2025, https://www.thenational.scot/politics/25391552.ross-greer-scottish-independence-can-rid-us-nuclear-abomination/
No ceasefire, no deal: What summit means for Trump, Putin and Ukraine.
BBC, 16 Aug 35
US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have left Alaska without reaching an agreement for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
After an almost three-hour meeting, the leaders delivered a joint statement to the media before leaving without taking questions.
Three BBC correspondents who are in Anchorage for the summit assess what it means for the US and Russian leaders as well as what happens next in the war in Ukraine.
Meeting dents Trump’s reputation as a dealmaker
By North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Donald Trump said early in his post-summit remarks here in Anchorage.
It was a roundabout way of conceding that after several hours of talks, there’s no deal. No ceasefire. Nothing tangible to report.
The president said that he and Vladimir Putin made “some great progress”, but with little details about what that might be, it’s left to the world’s imagination.
“We didn’t get there,” he later said, before exiting the room without taking any questions from the hundreds of gathered reporters.
Trump travelled a long way to only produce such vague statements, even if America’s European allies and Ukrainian officials may be relieved he did not offer unilateral concessions or agreements that could have undermined future negotiations.
For the man who likes to tout himself as a peacemaker and a dealmaker, it appears that Trump will leave Alaska with neither.
There are also no indications that a future summit that includes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is forthcoming, Putin’s “next time in Moscow” quip about their next meeting notwithstanding.
While Trump had less at stake during these negotiations than Ukraine or Russia, it still will put a dent in his domestic and international prestige after earlier promises that this meeting had only a 25% chance of failure.
What’s more, the president had to suffer the apparent indignity of standing silent as Putin started off the press-conference-that-wasn’t with extensive opening remarks. It was a marked difference than the normal routine in the Oval Office, when the US president typically holds court while his foreign counterpart looks on without comment.
While Alaska is American territory, Putin seemed more at home in what his officials like to note was once “Russian America” before its 19th Century sale to the US. That may eat at the American president over the coming days, as will press coverage that will present this summit as a flop.
The big question now – one reporters were unable to ask on Friday – is whether Trump will decide to impose his much-threatened new sanctions on Russia as punishment.
The president partially addressed that in the friendly confines of a Fox News interview before flying out, saying that he would consider such a move “maybe in two weeks, three weeks”. But given the president promised “severe consequences” if Russia did not move towards a ceasefire, such a unspecific answer may prompt more questions than it answers.
Putin gets his moment in the global spotlight
By Steve Rosenberg, Russia editor
When is a “press conference” not a press conference?
When there are no questions.
There was palpable surprise in the hall when Presidents Putin and Trump left the podium as soon as they’d delivered their statements – without taking any questions.
Members of the Russian delegation, too, left the room swiftly without answering any of the questions journalists were shouting at them.
Clear signs that when it comes to the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump still have a major difference of opinion.
pushing for a Russian ceasefire. Vladimir Putin didn’t give it to him.
There was a very different vibe earlier in the day. President Trump had rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin, treating the Kremlin leader as an honoured guest.
The Russian president got his moment in the geo-political limelight, sharing the stage with the leader of the world’s most powerful country.
But how will Trump react to what happened? He still hasn’t managed to persuade Putin to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Previously he’d threatened a tougher approach to Russia, with ultimatums, deadlines and warnings of more sanctions if Moscow ignored calls for a ceasefire.
He hasn’t followed through.
Will he?
A sigh of relief from Ukraine – but fear for what’s next
By Vitaliy Shevchenko, Russia Editor BBC Monitoring
What just happened in Anchorage may feel anti-climactic for many, but in Kyiv there will be sighs of relief that no “deal” has been announced that would cost Ukraine territory…………………………………………https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyvd3gkg1po
Not the corporate nuclear news -this week
Some bits of good news – Superpowers united on a shared green energy vision. Japanese ‘Rental Grandmother’ Service Provides Much-Needed and Much-Loved Purpose for Older WomenUK’s Rarest Breeding Birds Raise Chicks for First Time in Six Years
TOP STORIES.
Remembering Hiroshima 80 years on – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgU-Vc958-k
Jeremy Corbyn: Nuclear Disarmament Now.
Why no Hollywood movie on Nagasaki A Bombing?
As Netanyahu moves toward full takeover of Gaza, Israel faces a crisis of international credibility.
Trump’s Suicidal Nuclear Brinksmanship.The new space race: How the US, China, and Russia are all vying to be the first to build a nuclear reactor on the MOON.
Environment and health. The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics.
AUSTRALIA. Australia to chart its own course on Palestinian statehood, without Trump’s say-so.
Dare To Hope. Julian Assange Joins Historic Anti-Genocide March Across Sydney’s Harbour Bridge.
The lethal legacy of Aukus nuclear submarines will remain for millennia – and there’s no plan to deal with it. The AUKUS Submarine Deal is Dead. AUKUS delusions– More rivets pop in submarine drama.
Those left behind: The long shadow of Britain’s nuclear testing in Western Australia.
NUCLEAR ITEMS.
| ARTS and CULTURE. Patrick Lawrence: Yes, It’s a Genocide. |
| ATROCITIES. The Genocidal Partnership of Israel and the United States.1,500 Killed While Seeking Aid in Gaza Since May: UN. |
| CLIMATE. Europe’s electricity system tested by heatwaves as air-conditioning use soars – nuclear power plants affected- ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2025/08/07/2-a-europes-electricity-system-tested-by-heatwaves-as-air-conditioning-use-soars-nuclear-power-plants-affected/ |
ECONOMICS. EDF shifts nuclear strategy to domestic projects.
How industry is positioning itself for the giant Golden Dome budget.
EMPLOYMENT. Miliband’s Nuclear Quango Chief In Line for £200,000 for Working Three Days a Week. Sellafield nuclear plant contractors to strike. Sizewell C to give jobs to hundreds of ex-offenders.
ETHICS and RELIGION. The Satanic Nature of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Christian Zionist View of Foreign Policy Is Holy War. Chris Hedges: The Gaza Riviera.
To Future Generations: They Knew-They All Knew What Was Happening In Gaza.
| HEALTH. The Bombs Still Ticking.“Memories that do not heal”: the legacy of uranium mining at Laguna Pueblo. |
| HISTORY. Hiroshima’s fading legacy: the race to secure survivors’ memories amid a new era of nuclear brinkmanship.SEEDS OF PEACE -AUGUST 2025.Atomic testament: Yoshito Matsushige and the first photos of Hiroshima’s nuclear toll. |
| MEDIA. When the Press Becomes the Enemy: The Erosion of Media Independence in Trump’s America. YouTube bans prominent Zelensky critic. |
| OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR . No Nukes for Power, Posturing or Destruction. |
POLITICS. Weekly Briefing: A tipping point for Israel’s legitimacy.
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. Nuclear Roulette.
80 years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki — time for a nuclear-free world for a peaceful, sustainable future.
Zelensky and the EU increasingly desperate over the inevitable outcome of the conflict.
As the world hurtles ever closer to nuclear oblivion, where is the opposition?
| SAFETY. Trump’s Nuclear Energy Overhaul Sparks Alarms Over Safety.Fire safety improvements required at Dungeness A. |
| SECRETS and LIES. Ukraine hacks Russian submarine as Moscow expands Arctic presence.Microsoft helping Israel spy on millions of Palestinians since 2021: Report. |
| SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS.Who’s Protecting the Moon? We may not survive a nuclear war but some plan to carry on. Nasa to put nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030 – US media. A NASA Nuclear Reactor On The Moon? Bold Proposal Is Unfeasible By 2030– Here’s Why. From boots to orbits: Army develops space skills amid growing battlefield reliance on satellites. |
| SPINBUSTER. 80 Years of Lies: The US Finally Admits It Knew It Didn’t Need to Bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. |
| TECHNOLOGY. A Second CANDU Reactor for Point Lepreau? Let’s Ponder. |
| WASTES. Tepco wraps up latest round of treated water release in Fukushima. |
WAR and CONFLICT.
Israeli military plans to occupy Gaza City in major escalation of war. Israel Preparing To Escalate Military Offensive in Gaza. Occupation and Slaughter: Netanyahu and Taking Over Gaza.
Trump and Zelensky, two cornered rats with no way out of Ukraine catastrophe.
Threat of Nuclear War Is Rising, But Scientists Say the Public Can Change That.
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.
No more Hiroshimas. Hiroshima anniversary: mayor says Ukraine and Middle East crises show world ignoring nuclear ‘tragedies.
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Expands Nuclear Bomb Production, Rejects Cleanup, Still Plans to Release Tritium.
$10 billion, 10 year US Army contract elevates Palantir to defense contracting royalty.
Pete Hegseth Doesn’t Want to Talk About Golden Dome
Does Trump have the guts to end America’s lost proxy war against Russia?
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL, 12 Aug 25.
For seven months Trump has reneged on his promise to end in one day America’s proxy war against Russia destroying Ukraine. Ukraine loses more soldiers and more territory every day with no chance of prevailing.
Tho a one day settlement was impossible, Trump came close to following thru by publicly berating Ukraine President Zelensky for continuing the war and threatening to cease all US weapons which keep Ukraine fighting. Then he pivoted back to war, demanding Russia’s Putin implement immediate ceasefire or face draconian sanctions. Putin responded to that nonsense with increased military attacks. Now with the upcoming summit this Friday, Trump has the opportunity to achieve peace in Ukraine.
Russia has already signaled concessions to achieve ceasefire. According to the Wall Street Journal, Russia told US envoy Steve Witkoff Russia would implement a full ceasefire if Ukraine would withdraw its remaining troops in the Donbas almost entirely controlled by Russia. In return Russia would freeze the lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the other 2 Ukraine oblasts Russia demanded full control over, rather than push on for full annexation. Russia would require Ukraine to remain neutral between East and West, giving up all intentions to join NATO.
Implementing that ceasefire would be a good start to permanently ending hostilities. But neither Ukraine President Zelensky nor European NATO leaders have bought into this sensible solution.
Zelensky maintains his delusional refusal to give up a single square mile of territory that will never return to Ukraine control. He could have kept every square mile of territory had he completed the peace deal with Russia in April 2022 that the US and UK sabotaged. Seventy percent of Ukrainians want the war to end forthwith. But the fool Zelensky keeps demanding ‘push on.’
European NATO leaders, especially UK’s Starmer, France’s Macron and Germany’s Merz are still committed to this failed war to maintain NATO dominance and isolation of Russia. They fear the loss of the US gravy train that pumps up their economies. They are as delusional as Zelensky.
Trump’s third obstacle to peace is the US national security state which abhors the US losing a senseless war of choice. War fanatics like Senator Lindsey Graham and retired generals paid off by the weapons makers, dominate mainstream news condemning inevitable US surrender. No voice for ending this proxy war madness is allowed to pitch peace on the airwaves or op ed columns. They will pound on Trump relentlessly should he chalk up another US war loss, albeit one bringing peace to Ukraine.
The only ceasefire and permanent war settlement possible will go down as a US/NATO defeat. Wonderful. NATO needs to disband as it has gone on trying to weaken, isolate Russia 34 years after becoming obsolete upon dissolution of the USSR in 1991.
Does Trump have the guts to force a settlement that overcomes the resistance of Zelensky, NATO leaders and the US war party? We may soon find out.
Conveniently forgotten and ignored – the 8 years war in Ukraine up to 2022.
https://theaimn.net/conveniently-forgotten-and-ignored-the-8-years-war-in-ukraine-up-to-2022/ 22 Feb 25
There’s uproar in the Western media, about Donald Trump wanting to negotiate with Putin, a peace deal in Ukraine. And Trump called Ukraine’s President Zelensky a dictator and blamed him for starting the present war Ukraine.war. And he said that that Zelensky’s approval rating has fallen to 4%. General agreement that Donald Trump was “rewriting history”.
Well, Trump is well known for lying, and it’s just so easy to scrutinise those statements and smugly assert that they are incorrect, and obviously Donald Trump has no idea of what he’s talking about.
And yet, and yet…. all those statements deserve further scrutiny. Because underneath their careless inaccuracy lies the real history of the Ukraine mess.
Historically, Ukraine as a sovereign State goes back only until 1991. In its previous history, it was dominated by a motley succession of European powers, but in the 19th and 20th.Century, by Russia. Cruel exploitation by Stalin’s rule in the 1930’s, was followed in 1941 by a brutal Nazi regime, and after 1944 back under oppressive Soviet control.
It is no surprise that there are long-standing resentments among both Ukrainian dwellers and in the diaspora. There is also a variety of ethnic backgrounds, and a clear difference between the ‘West-leaning” culture of Western Ukraine, and the more pro-Russian culture to the East.
At the end of World War 2, the Allies had the opportunity to include Russia in some co-operative Council of the powers, as was done by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, after the Napoleonic Wars. Instead, the USA, Britain and France chose to set up a co-operative group, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), that excluded Russia. American triumphalism gradually encouraged this into a defensive group against Russia, and encouraged former Soviet States to be part of America’s “sphere of influence” and to join NATO.
As Ukraine is the largest Western State on Russia’s border, it is obvious that Russia would not want it to be NATO state, potentially with U.S military bases aimed at Russia
Now, to go to the forgotten 8 years Ukrainian war.
In 2014, an American-sponsored coup overthrew the democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych. He was subsequently followed by oligarch Petro Poroshenko, who removed Russian as an official language, – causing opposition in the Eastern provinces. The result was fierce repression against the Russian-speaking regions (Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Lugansk and Donetsk). The rebels of Donetsk and Lugansk held referendums, seeking not to separate from Ukraine, but to have a status of autonomy, guaranteeing them the use of the Russian language as an official language .
2014-15 Minsk Agreements. Leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine gathered in Minsk, and supported the agreements between Russia, Ukraine, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the leaders of separatist-held regions Donetsk and Luhansk. This formally gave Donetsk an Luhansk autonomous status within Ukraine.
2015 – 2022 . The agreements were never implemented. The Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko launched a massive “anti-terrorist operation” against the Donbass, and the fighting continued. This war was not popular, reservists failed to tun up. “. In October/November 2017, 70% of conscripts did not show up for the “Fall 2017” recall campaign. This is not counting suicides and desertions (often over to the autonomists), which reached up to 30 percent of the workforce in the ATO area”. Young Ukrainians refused to go and fight in the Donbass and preferred emigration, which also explains, at least partially, the demographic deficit of the country.”
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)OHCHR estimates the total number of war-related casualties in Ukraine from 14 April 2014 to 31 December 2021 to be 51,000–54,000
This entire 8 years of war is rarely mentioned by the Western media. There’s no recognition of the impact of imposing the Ukrainian language on Russian-speakers. No consideration of some loyalties to Russia and her role in WW2. No consideration of the influence of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators, and the role of the minority neo-Nazis. There was one exceptional coverage by The Guardian in 2014 – It’s not Russia that’s pushed Ukraine to the brink of war.
2019. Volodymr Zelensky was elected with a huge majority, on his pledge to uphold the Minsk agreements, and bring peace to Ukraine. But soon after coming to power, Zelensky reneged on that pledge. He later made it clear that he intentionally chose to sabotage Minsk, give his country more time to prepare for war. A large-scale militarisation of Ukraine began. The build-up of the Ukrainian army was accompanied by the development of militias, notoriously the Azov brigade, with links to the Nazi past and the philosophy of past far-right leader Stepan Bandera.
2022. February 24. Russia launched its Special Military Operation into Ukraine, claiming that it was a limited operation, not a war. Russia argued that this was lawful under Article 51 of the UN Charter, that it may use force against Ukraine in order to defend the Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Peoples Republics. Anyway it soon turned into a full-scale war against Ukraine, which certainly was not legal, and Ukraine got the enthusiastic backing of the USA and NATO, though no foreign troops.
The Political situation in Ukraine. The Zelensky regime has banned opposition parties, cracked down on the use of the Russian language, restricted media and freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly, violating international law. Zelensky signed a law that threatens to effectively shut down the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) – the largest faith-based organization in the country. He signed a law that restricted import of books from Russia.
So – to go back to Donald Trump’s inaccurate claims and “rewriting history”. How far off the mark was Trump? In fact, Zelensky was elected democratically, but has now turned Ukraine into a dictatorship. Zelensky did not start the war, but he provoked it, by overturning his election policy to implement the Minsk agreements. Zelensky’s approval rating is still above 50%, but has slipped over the past year.
It is Western dogma that you can’t approve of anything that Donald Trump does. So for anyone to even mention the 8 years’ war in Ukraine is to invite being branded as an idiotic puppet of Russian propaganda and disinformation.
The “progressive” West notices with disapproval, that Donald Trump’s aim is to get American business’s control of Ukraine’s mineral resources, in exchange for Russia getting territorial concessions. Well, what else would you expect from Trump – whose whole aim is to get American (and his) control of business, preferably everywhere? It still might be a better deal for Ukrainians than obliteration. Way back, the West, and Zelensky could have honoured the Minsk agreement, and given the Donbass provinces self-government within the state of Ukraine.
Heat Waves Are a Growing Threat to Europe’s Nuclear Power Supply
Bloomberg News, Eamon Akil Farhat, Aug 08, 2025, https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/heat-waves-are-a-growing-threat-to-europes-nuclear-power-supply
Heat waves across Europe are increasing the need for nuclear power plants to be taken offline, with the situation expected to worsen in the coming decades and few options for mitigation.
(Bloomberg) — Heat waves across Europe are increasing the need for nuclear power plants to be taken offline, with the situation expected to worsen in the coming decades and few options for mitigation.
Weather-related nuclear outages, mainly caused by elevated temperatures of cooling water, increased threefold in the period from 2010 to 2019, compared with 1990 to 2009, according to a study published in Energy Economics. Due to climate change, the intensity and length of these heat waves is expected to increase.
“Summer heat waves are climbing fast — 0.85 more days each year since 2010,” said Jess Hicks, a weather analyst at BloombergNEF. “That trajectory spells growing cooling-water risks for French nuclear plants.”
…………………………….A separate study published in the journal Energy in April looked at two reactors operated by Electricite de France SA, Chooz and Golfech, which rely on river water for cooling. It concluded that climate change will increase water temperature and also reduce flow volumes. If both plants are still operating by 2050, the level of outages would have doubled at Chooz and increased tenfold for Golfech. In the worst years, about 14% of Chooz’s generation would need to be curtailed.
When faced with high water temperatures and low flows, nuclear operators have limited options.
A closed-cycle cooling system, which relies less on the external environment, is one option. However, the Energy Economics study found that retrofitting such systems would cost about $500 million per nuclear power plant.
Another option would be to relax environmental limits on river temperatures, allowing reactors to keep operating for longer during heat waves. Such restrictions have been waived in the past, for example in 2022 when the French nuclear regulator ASN temporarily allowed five nuclear plants to discharge hotter water into rivers as the nation struggled with an energy crisis.
EDF has been studying other methods to reduce water consumption at nuclear power plants, such as capturing the cooling vapor given off by the facilities.
Germany’s Merz to Israel’s Netanyahu: ‘No more genocide weapons for you.’
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL , 12 Aug 25
Germany, conductor of the worst genocide in the 20th century, is pushing back against Israel, conductor of the worst genocide this century.
German Chancellor Merz halted all offensive weapons sales to Israel in a vailed understatement, “The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved by the Israeli Cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult for the German government to see how these goals will be achieved. Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice.”
Given that Israel, with near total US complicity, is determined to eliminate all 2,300,000 Palestinians from Gaza’s 139 square miles to expand Greater Israel, its unlikely German weapons exports will ever resume.
Germany’s principled action is not insignificant in the effort to cripple Israel’s destruction of the Palestinian people. That’s because Germany accounts for 30% of Israel’s grisly genocide arsenal. Sadly, the US accounts for 69% of the remaining 70%. The Trump administration is so ecstatic about Israel clearing out the remaining 2 million or so Palestinians not yet murdered, that it may simply increase its grotesque weaponizing of the genocide to make up the slack.
Americans should contemplate that would equate with America supplying Nazi Germany with the Zyklon B gas to eliminate European Jewry and other Nazi undesirables in WWII.
Trump can fuel Israel’s genocide because not a single member of the Trump administration dare call US policy genocide. Nor does a single member mainstream media. Congress is a teensy better with just 10 of 535 congresspersons having the moral clarity to charge Israel with the G word.
Until Trump channels Germany’s Merz and tells Netanyahu, ‘No more genocide weapons for you’, the genocide will continue till all 2,300,000 Palestinians in Gaza are dead and gone.
Swarm of jellyfish shuts nuclear power plant in France.
‘Massive and unpredictable’ swarm entered filter drums that pull in water, Gravelines operator EDF says.
Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent, 11 Aug 25
‘Massive and unpredictable’ swarm entered filter drums that pull in water, Gravelines
operator EDF says.
A swarm of jellyfish has forced the shutdown of one of
the largest nuclear power plants in France after entering the water intake
systems used to cool the coastal reactors. Three reactors at the Gravelines
nuclear power plant in northern France shut down automatically late on
Sunday, according to the French nuclear company EDF, after the filter drums
of the pumping stations became packed with a “massive and
unpredictable” swarm of the marine creatures.
The entire nuclear plant,
capable of powering about 5m homes, was brought offline when a fourth
reactor shut down shortly after the free-swimming invertebrates jammed the
power plant, which had already lost its two other reactors for planned
summer maintenance work. Jellyfish have a long history of derailing the
normal operations of coastal power plants, which tap the ocean for the vast
amounts of cool water needed to keep temperatures in check.
The repeated
problems caused by unexpected jellyfish numbers prompted scientists at the
University of Bristol to develop an “early warning tool” to predict the
sudden, en masse appearance of jellyfish swarms that might disrupt coastal
power plants. The Torness nuclear plant in Scotland, which is also owned by
EDF, was forced to shut for a week in 2021 after jellyfish clogged the
seaweed filters on its water intake pipes, a decade after jellyfish shut
the plant for a week in 2011.
Jellyfish swarms have also closed nuclear and
coal power plants in Sweden, the US, Japan, and even caused a major
blackout in the Phillipines in 1999 that some mistakenly feared was linked
to the Y2K bug or a government coup.
Guardian 11th Aug 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/11/swarm-of-jellyfish-shuts-nuclear-power-plant-in-france
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
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
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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