Walt Zlotow: Trump, Hegseth off by nearly 1 trillion on national security budget
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL 11 Apr 25 https://theaimn.net/trump-hegseth-off-by-nearly-1-trillion-on-national-security-budget/
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is applauding Trump’s boast to push through America’s first trillion dollar defense budget.
“Thank you Mr. President! COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar [Defense Department] budget.” Hegseth was echoing boss Trump who chortled “Nobody’s seen anything like it. We have to build out military, and we’re very cost-conscious, but the military is something we have to build, and we have to be strong,”
Trump’s defense policy and these quotes epitomize America’s decline as a peaceful, caring nation. Spending that trillion on militarism and warfare worldwide while Trump’s oligarchs are slashing a trillion from the social safety net is putting America into a death spiral from which it may never recover.
But they should really be high-fiving a national security budget that will be approaching $2 trillion based on Trump’s defense agenda.
That’s because the current defense budget under the National Defense Authorization Act of $900 billion just funds the Pentagon. When factoring in the Department of Veterans Affairs, special operations, Homeland Security and the national security share of US debt interest, the total for Fiscal ‘25 national security approaches $1.8 trillion. Regarding special ops, Trump’s failed month long Yemen bombing to stop their resistance to US enabled Israeli genocide in Gaza has already passed a billion bucks.
Current wars US supports in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and possible upcoming wars in Iran and China, don’t come cheap. Add in cost of over 750 bases in 80 countries hosting over 150,000 military personnel puts the approaching $2 trillion dollar cost in perspective.
Spending all that treasure on national offense (nope, not defense), becomes problematical when Trump is pushing thru trillion dollar tax cuts for his oligarch buddies.
What to do? Of Course, send in oligarch clown Musk to cut a trillion or more from everything that makes life livable for Joe Sixpack.
It is no surprise Trump plans to ravage the social safety net to spend $2 trillion on worldwide military adventurism while giving $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years mainly to those who don’t need them.
But do Trump and Hegseth have to brag about it?
Iran may expel UN nuclear inspectors over US threats
Washington says move would be a ‘miscalculation’ by Tehran and ‘inconsistent with claims of peaceful nuclear programme’
Akhtar Makoii, Telegraph 10th April 2025
A senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader warned on Thursday that Iran could expel UN nuclear inspectors, in an apparent swipe at the United States.
Ali Shamkhani, a rear admiral, said Iran might take “deterrent measures, including expulsion of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)” if foreign threats continue.
He said: “The continuation of external threats and Iran being in a state of military attack may lead to deterrent measures, including expulsion of inspectors from IAEA and cessation of cooperation.”
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have intensified since Donald Trump returned to office, with Washington demanding Iran agrees to a nuclear deal or be bombed………………..
The US and Iran will hold high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme for the first time in 10 years on Saturday.
‘If it requires military, we’ll have military’
Whether officials from either side will actually meet in person in Oman is unclear. Mr Trump has promised “direct” discussions, while the Iranians insist on a mediated process………….
Last month, Mr Trump sent a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for direct negotiations while warning of military action if diplomacy fails.
“If it requires military, we’re going to have military,” Mr Trump said on Wednesday.
“Israel will obviously be very much involved in that. They’ll be the leader of that. But nobody leads us… we do what we want to do.”………………………… https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/04/10/iran-expel-un-nuclear-inspectors-tehran-warns/
Arctic sea ice hit a record low as global powers eye shipping routes
Arctic sea ice hit a record low for the end of the region’s winter last
month, in a stark sign of how climate change is opening up the North Pole
to a geopolitical race for military and energy exploration. March was the
fourth consecutive month in which sea ice reached a record low for that
calendar period, based on a 47-year satellite record, EU earth observation
agency Copernicus reported on Tuesday.
FT 10th April 2025 https://www.ft.com/content/f8083632-e6bc-45f5-8032-0ee60e263cf6
Starmer appoints ex-Office of Fair Trading chief to lead nuclear regulatory taskforce
The prime minister has appointed ex-Office of Fair Trading boss John Fingleton to head up the country’s nuclear taskforce
Energy Voice, By Jessica Mills Davies, 10/04/2025
The UK government’s nuclear taskforce will be led by John Fingleton, formerly the boss of the Office of Fair Trading, following his appointment to spearhead the unit.
The Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce, which was set up to accelerate the development of new nuclear power stations across the country, is poised to embark on an overhaul of UK planning regulation.
In February, Keir Starmer moved to slash “red tape” in the industry to enable more nuclear power plants to be approved across England and Wales.
Those reforms are designed to enable small modular reactors to be built for the first time. That is the intended result of the government abolishing a set list of approved sites for nuclear development so that nuclear power stations can be built anywhere in the country.
The energy department said that contract negotiations to progress a competition for these small reactors, held by Great British Nuclear, are “currently underway”, and that a panel of nuclear experts will be appointed to the taskforce in due course.
In a controversial move, the government is also getting rid of expiry dates on nuclear planning rules, in an effort to avoid projects timing out.
These changes to nuclear planning rules were proposed after the pre-development stage Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk was taken to court by local activists.
The Department for Net Zero and Energy Security said that the government committed a further £2.7 billion in public funding to Sizewell C last month………………………..
The independent taskforce will seek to identify how nuclear power regulation can incentivise investment in new projects more quickly and cost efficiently, it said………….
Fingleton said he will “work closely with business, regulators and other interested individuals and groups to identify how regulation can better enable and incentivise investment in this area”…………………. https://www.energyvoice.com/renewables-energy-transition/570966/starmer-selects-fingleton-to-head-up-nuclear-taskforce/
Impacts of Dounreay radioactive discharges to be focus of new research
By Iain Grant 09 April 2025
A Scottish research team is gearing up to carry out the latest study on what
impact authorised radioactive discharges from Dounreay have on local habits
and consumption patterns. It is to include a mail shot of residents living
near the plant and interviews with people out and about on local beaches.
The study will include visits to Sandside beach. The work carried out for
the Scottish Environment Protection Agency supplements the routine
radiological monitoring in the area undertaken by Dounreay contractors. The
Stirling University team are to focus on land extending from the site to
Crosskirk in the east and Red Point on the west and the coastline from
Armadale Bay to Dunnet Head.
Four or five of the environmental scientists
will be out and about to do the interviews on local beaches with local
people and visitors on June 6-12 and July 3-9.
John O’Groat Journal 9th April 2025 https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/impacts-of-dounreay-radioactive-discharges-to-be-focus-of-ne-379098/
NFLAs ‘shout up’ for National Parks to be spared from nuclear development
Despite our objections and those of many in the antinuclear community, Energy Ministers and departmental civil servants remain intent upon introducing a new National Planning Statement, called the EN-7, which gives considerable latitude to prospective developers to site new nuclear plants more widely, subject to meeting certain criterion (called the ‘criteria-based approach’) and lifts any time limits (called ‘the removal of a deployment deadline’).
10th April 2025, https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/nflas-shout-up-for-national-parks-to-be-spared-from-nuclear-development/
NFLAs ‘shout up’ for National Parks to be spared from nuclear development
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities have made an emphatic plea to the government for National Parks to be definitively spared from development and for further ‘specific consideration’ to be given to the challenges attendant to siting so-called Small and Advanced Modular Reactors (SMRs and AMRs).
Despite our objections and those of many in the antinuclear community, Energy Ministers and departmental civil servants remain intent upon introducing a new National Planning Statement, called the EN-7, which gives considerable latitude to prospective developers to site new nuclear plants more widely, subject to meeting certain criterion (called the ‘criteria-based approach’) and lifts any time limits (called ‘the removal of a deployment deadline’).
Interestingly neither of these notions was popular amongst respondents in the initial consultation on the policy with only 47% supporting the first and 50% the second; which begs the NFLAs to ask the question: why change the existing policy which is based on a government led strategic assessment of sites to in effect a ‘free-for-all’?
As we did in response to the first stage consultation, so in the second the NFLAs ‘shout up…against new nuclear in any of our National Parks and on sites adjoining or threatening Sites of Outstanding Natural Beauty or Immense Heritage Value’. The Welsh NFLA affiliates are particularly passionate in seeking to defend Trawsfynydd, which lies at the heart of Eryri, the premier National Park of Wales, from new development. As we point out:
‘The principle that National Parks can be excluded from future nuclear development has already been established by Government diktat. Any part of the Lake District National Park in England has been specifically (and in our view rightly) excluded from any consideration as a prospective site of a future Geological Disposal Facility. Surely then Trawsfynydd being at the heart of the Eryri National Park should enjoy the same protection in law?
In our view, to do otherwise exposes UK Government policy as hypocritical and inconsistent, implying that the premier National Park of Wales is not worthy of the same protection as the premier National Park of England and unfortunately conveys the impression that Wales remains a rank colonial possession, rather than a nation in its own right, whose natural assets are open to exploitation by any major nuclear development of the most egregious kind’.
Only 59% of respondents in phase one backed the inclusion of ‘SMRS and AMRs alongside large-scale GW technologies’ within the policy, with the NGO community calling for a separate policy. Despite this, Ministers intend this policy to be one-size-fits-all. In this second phase consultation, the NFLAs have referenced the lack of ‘specific consideration’ of the ‘additional, and not entirely defined, challenges’ that accompany the inclusion of SMRs and AMRs.
There have been many recent reports of concerns amongst the nuclear industry and the academic community about the radioactive waste produced by smaller reactors and the security implications of a wider rollout of smaller reactors. The NFLAs have therefore requested that final version of EN-7 should require ‘SMR, AMR, Micro reactor developers to submit robust statements about their proposals to address radioactive waste management, safety, security and proliferation concerns’.
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UK Government convenes AI Energy Council, but could be ignoring hidden climate impacts in supply chains
Edie 10th April 2025, Sidhi Mittal
The UK Government has officially launched its AI Energy Council, with its first meeting outlining five key priorities for aligning the country’s clean energy ambitions with the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI).
However, while the Council focuses on integrating AI intro the UK’s energy system, Ministers are being warned that they are overlooking the strain which AI supply chains are putting on energy systems overseas.
The Council is led by Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. Representatives from companies including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, ARM, EDF and ScottishPower sit on the Council, alongside energy regulator Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
The Council this week met for the first time, and agreed on focus points for the year ahead. These include preparing the UK’s energy grid for the electricity demands of AI and computer infrastructure, accelerating renewable energy adoption, and ensuring AI’s role in the energy sector contributes to the transition to net-zero.
Emphasis was also placed on using AI to improve grid flexibility and ensuring its safe, secure deployment in the energy system.
This move comes amid growing pressure for the UK’s AI ecosystem to deliver more public benefit. A recent report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that only 15% of AI firms in the UK are developing solutions aimed at social challenges such as public health or environmental sustainability, despite 20% having received public funding.
IPPR’s head of AI Carsten Jung said: “Too many companies are focussed on generic process improvements rather than coming up with new, better products. And too few innovations are aimed at solving big societal problems, such as public health and climate change.
“This quantity over quality, profit over purpose, speed over substance, approach is a hugely missed opportunity.”
But as the UK attempts to shape a greener AI-powered future through initiatives like the AI Energy Council, the global supply chain it relies on presents an emissions challenge far beyond its borders.
AI chip boom in East Asia drives fossil fuel surge
New research from Greenpeace East Asia has found that electricity demand for manufacturing AI chips has risen more than 350% between 2023 and 2024. East Asia—home to the bulk of global AI chip production—is seeing this growth largely powered by fossil fuels………………………..
Greenpeace East Asia’s supply chain project lead Katrin Wu said: “While fabless hardware companies like Nvidia and AMD are reaping billions from the AI boom, they are neglecting the climate impact of their supply chains in East Asia.
“Across East Asia, there are many opportunities for companies to invest directly in wind and solar energy, yet chipmakers have failed to do so on a meaningful scale.
“Hardware companies can overcome renewable energy bottlenecks by investing directly in wind and solar capacity, signing power purchase agreements, and leveraging their influence to advocate for a higher ratio of renewable energy in the grid.”……………………………………………………………. https://www.edie.net/uk-government-convenes-ai-energy-council-but-could-be-ignoring-hidden-climate-impacts-in-supply-chains/
EDF urged to tackle ‘nuclear rats’ infestation at Somerset power plant site
Unite and GMB trade unions have warned French energy giant EDF that urgent action is needed to tackle the massive rodent outbreak at the construction site of Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor in Somerset.
Katie Timms, Joshua Whorms, Somerset Live 9th April 2025
“Nuclear rats” have reportedly overrun the construction site of a new nuclear reactor in Somerset, raising alarm among workers about their health and safety as they contend with the pervasive rodent problem.
Trade unions Unite and GMB have urgently called on French energy giant EDF to take immediate action to address the significant rodent infestation at the Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor site.
Concerns are mounting for the wellbeing of the workforce tasked with constructing Britain’s first new nuclear power station in decades due to the burgeoning rat population, reports the Daily Star.
An insider at the site disclosed to the Observer: “They’re all over. You see them just sat there, looking at you. It is worse near the canteens, where I guess it started. But they are everywhere now.
“The more men working on the site, the more rubbish on the site and the canteens are not clean either. It has just become worse over time,” the source elaborated.
Other employees have described the situation as “quite grim”. Amidst the project exceeding its budget by a billion pounds, workers have voiced concerns that financial constraints imposed by EDF are compromising their working conditions and impacting their wages.
These persistent issues led to industrial action last November, with hundreds of electricians, pipe fitters, and welders ceasing work due to security worries…………………….
The Star previously reported on the alarming sight of “cat-sized rats” which ignited concerns about a potential outbreak of a rare bacterial disease in the UK’s second largest city.
Residents have reported sightings of enormous “rats the size of cats” prowling their streets, as industrial action by waste collectors has resulted in rubbish accumulating in the streets of Birmingham. There is growing concern among experts about these oversized rodents potentially leading to locals contracting Leptospirosis…………………………………
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/edf-urged-tackle-nuclear-rats-10094730
The Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor will not be able to deliver its full power without major works.
According to our information, EDF has still not been able to identify the cause of the malfunction of the turbine in the Normandy reactor.
La Tribune Juliette Raynal, 04/07/25
After a doomed construction site, the Normandy reactor of the Flamanville EPR started up on December 21, twelve years behind schedule. Its entry into service does not signal the end of the problems, far from it. According to our information, the difficulties encountered with the turbo-alternator unit, the centerpiece of a nuclear power plant, will prevent the first French EPR from delivering its full electrical power without major intervention requiring the assembly of scaffolding inside a room that is difficult to access.
Contacted by La Tribune , EDF did not wish to comment on this information and indicated that it was maintaining its provisional schedule with the transition to 100% of its nominal power in the summer of 2025. “While technically the reactor could well reach its full thermal power in the coming months, the electrical power will be reduced by 10 to 20% due to the partial vacuum,” qualifies a well-informed source.
As we reported on March 13, EDF teams had to deal with abnormal heating in the turbo-generator unit. Located in the heart of the engine room, the 70-meter-long Arabelle turbine, manufactured by General Electric, but now owned by Arabelle Solutions, a subsidiary of EDF,
transforms the thermal energy contained in the steam into mechanical energy to drive the alternator that produces electricity.
The Arabelle turbine, the centerpiece of the power plant
In a technical document published following a general meeting, organized on February 25th within the framework of the Local Information Commission (CLI), the electrician revealed a malfunction: “The temperature increases beyond the authorized limit on stages 7 and 8 of the turbo alternator group when trying to reach the expected condenser vacuum . “
…………………………………….. the 57th reactor in the French fleet is still shut down due to a maintenance operation on equipment located in the nuclear part of the plant.
After several postponements, its start-up is expected on April 11. “While these adjustments allow the reactor to be restarted without exceeding the authorized heating levels, they will not allow it to operate at full power,” a well-informed source cautions. “The reactor will only be able to continue its tests at a partial vacuum,” the same source specifies.
……………………………..With the vacuum reduced, the turbine’s efficiency will be mechanically reduced and could therefore be between 10 and 20% below its nominal operating temperature.
The cause of the malfunction has not yet been identified.
“The work that has been carried out on the bearings is corrective work. It helps to reduce the fault that is causing excessive heating, but the teams involved do not expect this to completely resolve the problem. In short, it helps to treat the symptoms, but not the cause, which remains unidentified ,” reports this source.
According to our information, to attempt a diagnosis, EDF teams will have to install scaffolding inside the condenser itself. A room that is difficult to access since it is located just below the turbine. “It is an intrusive operation that requires a complete shutdown of the reactor for at least several weeks ,” according to this well-informed source.
“A nightmare to cope with”
Unlike a conventional shutdown for refueling, which lasts on average 30 to 40 days, this first break should last “at least 250 days ,” said Régis Clément, deputy director of EDF’s nuclear fleet division, during a press briefing on December 20. In other words, more than eight months. EDF also intends to take advantage of this interruption to replace the defective tank cover, required by the nuclear regulator.
While waiting for this operation, the various components of the turbine, due to its abnormal operation, could well be damaged. And for good reason, even if by lowering the vacuum level the defect becomes acceptable, it does not disappear. As a result, the bearings wear unevenly and mistreat the turbine. “This machine risks being a nightmare to operate ,” fears a person close to the case.
Trump has threatened Iran over an ultimatum that likely cannot be met
Trump’s ultimatum to Iran appears to be moving the U.S. down a path to where war is the only outcome, as occurred in 1914 – an outcome which ultimately triggered WW1.
Strategic Culture Foundation, Alastair Crooke, April 7, 2025
What is understood now is that ‘we’re no longer playing chess’. There are no rules anymore.
Trump’s ultimatum to Iran? Colonel Doug Macgregor compares the Trump ultimatum to Iran to that which Austria-Hungary delivered to Serbia in 1914: An offer, in short, that ‘could not be refused’. Serbia accepted nine out of the ten demands. But it refused one – and Austria-Hungary immediately declared war.
On 4 February, shortly after his Inauguration, President Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM); that is to say, a legally binding directive requiring government agencies to carry out the specified actions precisely.
The demands are that Iran should be denied a nuclear weapon; denied inter-continental missiles, and denied too other asymmetric and conventional weapons capabilities. All these demands go beyond the NPT and the existing JCPOA. To this end, the NSPM directs maximum economic pressure be imposed; that the U.S. Treasury act to drive Iran’s oil exports to zero; that the U.S. work to trigger JCPOA Snapback of sanctions; and that Iran’s “malign influence abroad” – its “proxies” – be neutralised.
The UN sanctions snapback expires in October, so time is short to fulfil the procedural requirements to Snapback. All this suggests why Trump and Israeli officials give Spring as the deadline to a negotiated agreement.
Trump’s ultimatum to Iran appears to be moving the U.S. down a path to where war is the only outcome, as occurred in 1914 – an outcome which ultimately triggered WW1.
Might this just be Trump bluster? Possibly, but it does sound as if Trump is issuing legally binding demands such that he must expect cannot be met. Acceptance of Trump’s demands would leave Iran neutered and stripped of its sovereignty, at the very least. There is an implicit ‘tone’ to these demands too, that is one of threatening and expecting regime change in Iran as its outcome.
It may be Trump bluster, but the President has ‘form’ (past convictions) on this issue. He has unabashedly hewed to the Netanyahu line on Iran that the JCPOA (or any deal with Iran) was ‘bad’. In May 2014, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA at Netanyahu’s behest and instead issued a new set of 12 demands to Iran – including permanently and verifiably abandoning its nuclear programme in perpetuity and ceasing all uranium enrichment.
What is the difference between those earlier Trump demands and those of this February? Essentially they are the same, except today he says: If Iran “doesn’t make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before”.
Thus, there is both history, and the fact that Trump is surrounded – on this issue at least – by a hostile cabal of Israeli Firsters and Super Hawks. Witkoff is there, but is poorly grounded on the issues. Trump too, has shown himself virtually totalitarian in terms of any and all criticism of Israel in American Academia. And in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, he is fully supportive of Netanyahu’s far-right provocative and expansionist agenda.
These present demands regarding Iran also run counter to the 25 March 2025 latest annual U.S. Intelligence Threat Assessment that Iran is NOT building a nuclear weapon. This Intelligence Assessment is effectively disregarded. A few days before its release, Trump’s National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz clearly stated that the Trump Administration is seeking the “full dismantlement” of Iran's nuclear energy program: “Iran has to give up its program in a way that the entire world can see”, Waltz said. “It is time for Iran to walk away completely from its desire to have a nuclear weapon”.
On the one hand, it seems that behind these ultimata stands a President made “pissed off and angry” at his inability to end the Ukraine war almost immediately – as he first mooted – together with pressures from a bitterly fractured Israel and a volatile Netanyahu to compress the timeline for the speedy ‘finishing off’ of the Iranian ‘regime’ (which, it is claimed, has never been weaker). All so that Israel can normalise with Lebanon –and even Syria. And with Iran supposedly ‘disabled’, pursue implementation of the Greater Israel project to be normalised across the Middle East.
Which, on the other hand, will enable Trump to pursue the ‘long-overdue’ grand pivot to China. (And China is energy-vulnerable – regime change in Tehran would be a calamity, from the Chinese perspective).
To be plain, Trump’s China strategy needs to be in place too, in order to advance Trump’s financial system re-balancing plans. …………………………………………………………………………………….. https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/04/07/break-leg-that-old-mafia-warning-trump-has-threatened-iran-over-ultimatum-that-likely-cannot-be-met/
Declassified MoD document reveals US Visiting Forces across Britain are exempt from nuclear safety rules
CND 7th April 2025
At a time of heightened nuclear dangers, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has uncovered shocking evidence that US military bases across Britain are exempt from UK emergency radiation regulations.
This means that bases like RAF Lakenheath, which is being prepared to host deadly new US nuclear weapons, is under no legal obligation to have emergency radiation plans in case of nuclear accidents.
A declassified exemption order shows that the government is putting so-called ‘national security’ before people’s safety.
CND is calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to announce in Parliament that no US nuclear weapons will be welcomed in Britain and that the exemption on adhering to legally required safety standards is revoked.
A letter from CND’s lawyers Leigh Day has forced the Ministry of Defence to declassify a significant nationwide exemption certificate, issued in March 2021 by former Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, on the grounds of ‘national security’.
The certificate exempts Visiting Forces – primarily US military personnel – engaged in work with ionising radiations, from any legal enforcement of safety standards, using powers under Regulation 40 of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 and Regulation 25 of the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulation 2019. This means they are not legally bound to have in place plans and measures for emergency situations involving radioactive materials and nuclear weapons.
This is particularly dangerous given US preparations at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk for a new nuclear weapons mission. However, the exemption not only covers RAF Lakenheath but all US military bases across Britain.
There are at least 10,000 US Department of Defence personnel stationed at 13 RAF bases. Nuclear material for Britain’s own nuclear weapons programme is regularly transported through RAF Brize Norton and RAF Fairford regularly hosts the US B2 nuclear-capable stealth bomber.
The government’s exemption means that local councils will never be told about the presence of nuclear weapons at these bases – and are therefore not obliged to produce their own emergency plans for a radiological accident. This puts the British population at even greater risk.
CND is calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to announce in Parliament that no US nuclear weapons will be welcomed in Britain and that the exemption on adhering to legally required safety standards is revoked. The majority of the British public don’t want US nuclear weapons in this country.
CND is upping pressure on the government, supporting two weeks of protest actions from Monday 14 April, culminating in a blockade of the base on Saturday 26 April. The peace camp and actions are organised by the Lakenheath Alliance for Peace, of which CND is a member………………………………………………………………………………………………. https://cnduk.org/declassified-mod-document-reveals-us-visiting-forces-across-britain-are-exempt-from-nuclear-safety-rules/
Radiation Monitoring – Scottish university in ‘world-first’ for nuclear technology
A “cutting-edge” radiation detector module for nuclear experiments has
been developed by staff and students at the University of the West of
Scotland (UWS) that will be deployed at the world’s top laboratories. The
detection module, which can be used for nuclear experiments, will have
“far-reaching impact” on the areas where radiation detection is required.
Herald 7th April 2025,
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25068881.scottish-university-world-first-nuclear-technology/
Hartlepool Nuclear site moved into enhanced regulatory attention
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has moved Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station operated by EDF into enhanced regulatory attention for safety.
ONR has made the decision based on evidence gained from ongoing targeted engagements at the site which have identified areas where improvements are required.
The change in regulatory attention level does not relate to EDF’s recent decision to extend the operating lifetime of the station in County Durham, which is subject to ongoing safety standards being demonstrated.
The enhanced regulatory attention level reflects the effort ONR is using to influence improvements in areas including conventional health and safety, the number of site incidents and the production of nuclear safety cases.
ONR 7th April 2025, https://www.onr.org.uk/news/all-news/2025/04/nuclear-site-moved-into-enhanced-regulatory-attention/
Ex-Hinkley boss called ‘greedy toad’ over bribes
A senior manager at a nuclear power plant has been described to a tribunal as a “greedy little toad” over claims he accepted bribes.
Ashley Daniels, who worked at Hinkley Point C in Somerset under the French energy company EDF, accepted an £11,000 quad bike from a subcontractor looking to secure more work, the employment tribunal in Bristol heard.
Mr Daniels, who the BBC understands no longer works for the company, was not the subject of the tribunal, which was brought by a former employee of the subcontractor.
The tribunal heard Mr Daniels also received gifts including £2,000 hospitality tickets for a boxing match and a refill for his Montblanc fountain pen.
The hearing, for a claim of unfair dismissal, was brought by engineer Garrick Nisbet against the subcontractor, Notus Heavy Lift Solutions.
Mr Nisbet was dismissed without notice in April 2023 in the belief he had gifted the quad bike to Mr Daniels – at the time the head of lifting and temporary works at Hinkley – to “ensure that work was directed” to Notus, the hearing was told.
Speaking about messages he had sent regarding the alleged bribes, Mr Nisbet told the tribunal Mr Daniels was “cheeky and a greedy little toad”.
In other messages, the tribunal heard, he said the purchase of the quad bike would give Notus “a bit of breathing space”, later saying Mr Daniels was “hard to say no to”.
‘Clearly bribes’
Hinkley Point B halted operations in August 2022 having come to the end of its life, with Hinkley Point C under construction since late 2018………….
BBC 8th April 2025 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn7xv8vyzp3o
A Iran and US to enter high-stakes nuclear negotiations – hampered by a lack of trust
April 10, 2025. The Conversation, Ali Bilgic, Professor of International Relations and Middle East Politics, Loughborough University
The announcement of planned talks between the US and Iran in Oman signifies a crucial development – especially given the history of distrust and animosity that has characterised their interactions.
There remains a degree of confusion as to whether the negotiations over Iran’s development of a nuclear capacity will be direct or indirect. The US has said that its Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will meet Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. Donald Trump has publicly stated that Iran will be in “great danger” if the negotiations fail.
Iran meanwhile has said that talks will be conducted through an intermediary. Araghchi commented that: “It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court.”
This seeming clash in messaging before the talks have even begun is not the greatest omen for their success, even with the threat of US or Israeli military action hovering over Iran. Representatives from Iran, China and Russia are reported to have met in Moscow on April 8.
China’s foreign ministry released a statement reminding the world that it was the US “which unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA [the 2015 nuclear deal or joint comprehensive plan of action] and caused the current situation”. It stressed the need for Washington to “show political sincerity, act in the spirit of mutual respect, engage in dialogue and consultation, and stop the threat of force and maximum pressure”.
This followed messaging from Washington which very much focused on the possibility of force and maximum pressure. Speaking to the press after meeting the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump struck a very aggressive note, saying: “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and if the talks aren’t successful, I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran if that’s the case…………………………………………………
Rocky road ahead
A major issue affecting the talks is the low level of trust between the two parties. The US’s involvement in the Gaza conflict – including Trump’s controversial proposal to clear Gaza of Palestinians to make way for possible redevelopment – has further strained relations. So has the recent US campaign against the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Further threats of this kind are likely to be seen by Iran as aggressive and coercive – and Trump’s latest rhetoric won’t have helped. This will inevitably undermine the prospects for trust between the parties.
Iran’s scepticism is rooted in past experiences where promises of economic relief were not fulfilled. Trump’s withdrawal of the US from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 is a case in point. This perceived breach of trust has made Iran cautious about entering into new agreements without concrete assurances.
The regional context adds another layer of complexity to the talks. American support for Israel’s actions in Gaza is likely to complicate matters. The populations of most Gulf states are fully supportive of Palestinian self-determination and are scandalised at the way the US president has seemingly given the green light to Israel’s breach of the ceasefire and resumption of hostilities.
Iran’s internal politics are also likely to play an important role in shaping its approach to the negotiations. The country is experiencing significant political polarisation between the “hardliners”, spearheaded by the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and the “reformists”, who are relatively more conciliatory towards the US and Europe. ………………………..https://theconversation.com/iran-and-us-to-enter-high-stakes-nuclear-negotiations-hampered-by-a-lack-of-trust-254106
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of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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