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Decommissioning old nuclear sites to cost £130bn in blow to Miliband

The figures mean the cost of the UK’s nuclear clean-up alone is close to the total value of electricity produced by atomic power stations since the 1950s.

If the cost of building Britain’s 20-odd past and present nuclear power stations were included – around £30bn each in today’s money – the total cost of several hundred billion pounds would far exceed the value of the power produced, say experts.

Expense to taxpayer of cleaning up former power plants is higher than previously estimated, say auditors

Jonathan Leake, Telegraph, 29 Nov 24

Ed Miliband faces a bill of almost £130bn to clean up Britain’s old nuclear sites after estimated costs jumped.

It will cost £128.8bn to safely wind down old facilities, according to an investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) – £23.5bn more than previously expected, after factoring in the cost of shutting eight power stations that are currently operational.

Seven nuclear stations are due to shut down in 2028 at which point operator EDF, France’s state-owned energy firm, will hand them back to the British Government for decommissioning.

Another station, Sizewell B, is expected to keep operating into the 2030s when it too will be decommissioned at taxpayer expense.

The NAO report, which looked at the overall operation of Mr Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz), said: “The current best estimate is that the eight existing sites will each cost £23.5bn to defuel and decommission.”

This is in addition to £105.3bn already set aside for dealing with other legacy projects, chiefly waste stockpiled at Sellafield in Cumbria.

Desnz oversees a Nuclear Liabilities Fund set up to save the money needed for decommissioning the eight stations, but the NAO said this had proven woefully inadequate.

It also warned that the final costs and taxpayer contributions could rise even higher.

The NAO said: “Costs could rise further, particularly if defuelling takes longer than planned … There is a risk that further taxpayer contributions may be required.”

However, the cost of decommissioning the UK’s remaining working nuclear stations is dwarfed by the amount which the NAO found was needed for dealing with legacy waste since the 1950s.

About 70pc of the costs relate to the Sellafield site in Cumbria, where thousands of tonnes of highly radioactive waste are stored in buildings and cooling ponds that are up to 70 years old – many considered extremely hazardous.

The figures mean the cost of the UK’s nuclear clean-up alone is close to the total value of electricity produced by atomic power stations since the 1950s.

Figures released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change show that since Britain’s first nuclear power station opened in 1956, they have generated 2.6bn megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity with a wholesale value of about £200bn at today’s prices.

If the cost of building Britain’s 20-odd past and present nuclear power stations were included – around £30bn each in today’s money – the total cost of several hundred billion pounds would far exceed the value of the power produced, say experts.

The NAO report also looked at the system of Contracts for Difference (CfD) – a financing method created by the UK to guarantee investors in wind farms, solar farms and nuclear power stations sufficient income.

Such schemes, it warned, were already set to cost consumers £89bn by the 2030s – but the final sums could be far higher because of unreliable estimates for the amount of power likely to be produced……………………… https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/11/29/decommissioning-old-nuclear-sites-to-cost-130bn-in-blow/

December 4, 2024 Posted by | decommission reactor, Reference, UK | Leave a comment

Biden to Zelensky: ‘Our $210 billion not enough…send 18 year olds to die in our Russian proxy war

Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL, 2 Dec 24

In 34 months of Russian war in Ukraine provoked by US NATO expansion, the US has squandered $185 billion of our precious treasure to keep Ukraine men dying by hundreds of thousands in a lost US foreign misadventure.

But as President Biden heads for the White House exits, he’s demanding and will get another $25 billion from Congress, making the total cost pushing a quarter trillion dollars.

Not a single military or administration strategist believes that will make any difference in American’s unwinnable proxy war. Even Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan fessed up “Our view has been that there’s not one weapon system that makes a difference in this battle. It’s about manpower, and Ukraine needs to do more, in our view, to firm up its lines in terms of the number of forces it has on the front lines.”

Biden concurred and now demands Zelensky lower the draft age from 25 to 18. Zelensky lowered the draft age last April from 27 to 25, also at US, urging, but it has done nothing to stem the inexorable Russian advancement fueled by overwhelming manpower. Why? Upwards of 200,000 Ukrainian soldiers have deserted. They are voting against senseles war with their feet. 

After squandering $185 billion of US treasure and a half million Ukrainian men, Biden wants more, more, more of both.

Biden could toss a trillion dollars and another half million young Ukrainian cannon fodder into the US proxy war without a prayer of victory on America’s terms.

But a worse fate awaits all of us. By allowing Ukraine to fire long range US missiles into Russia, Biden is risking nuclear war. If that occurs, all discussion about a squandered quarter trillion on weapons and another half million dead Ukrainian youth will be moot.

December 4, 2024 Posted by | politics international, Ukraine, USA | Leave a comment

Gaza’s Civil Defense Says Nearly 100 Killed by Israeli Attacks Over 24 Hours

A strike on a house Jabalia killed over 40 Palestinians

by Dave DeCamp December 1, 2024, https://news.antiwar.com/2024/12/01/gazas-civil-defense-says-nearly-100-killed-by-israeli-attacks-over-24-hours/

Gaza’s Civil Defense said Sunday that Israeli attacks killed nearly 100 over the previous 24 hours as Israeli strikes continued to hit targets across the Strip.

“Nearly 100 martyrs were killed in the Gaza Strip within 24 hours as a result of the continuous Israeli bombing operations on homes and citizens’ gatherings,” the agency said, according to Al Jazeera.

Gaza’s Health Ministry put out a lower death toll in its daily update, saying 47 were killed, based on the number of dead and wounded Palestinians brought to hospitals. “The Israeli occupation committed six massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, resulting in 47 martyrs and 108 injuries arriving at hospitals during the past 24 hours,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.

The ministry noted that there are a “number of victims” trapped under the rubble or in areas where rescue crews cannot reach them. The Civil Defense statement said it has been unable to work in northern Gaza, which has been under siege since early October as part of Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign.

“Until this moment, civil defense crews are prevented from exercising their duties in northern Gaza, and this has led to hundreds of citizens remaining under the rubble,” the agency said.

The Civil Defense statement said the most deaths occurred in an Israeli strike on a house sheltering displaced Palestinians in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Saturday. More than 40 Palestinians were killed in the attack.

Also on Saturday, an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the southern city of Khan Younis killed five people, including three aid workers with the US-based World Central Kitchen. Israel claimed without evidence that one of the aid workers was a “terrorist.”

WCK said that it suspended its operations in Gaza following the strike. “We are heartbroken to share that a vehicle carrying World Central Kitchen colleagues was hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza,” the group said in a statement.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said that its death toll since October 2023, based on its numbers, has risen to 44,429 martyrs, and the number of wounded has reached 105,250.

A group of American healthcare workers who volunteered in Gaza estimated in an open letter to President Biden in October that the US-backed Israeli onslaught has killed at least 118,908 Palestinians, a total that includes indirect deaths caused by the Israeli siege. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, who led the letter, told Antiwar.com in a recent interview that the estimate was the bare minimum they came up with by looking at the available data.

December 4, 2024 Posted by | Atrocities, Gaza, Israel | Leave a comment

Mass desertions crippling Ukrainian army – AP

29 Nov 24 https://www.rt.com/russia/608398-ukraine-troops-desertion-ap/

Entire units are walking away as forcibly conscripted soldiers refuse to take orders, the news agency has reported,

Mass desertion is “starving” the Ukrainian Army and “crippling” Kiev’s battleplans, as troops flee in their tens of thousands, the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing two soldiers who went AWOL, as well as lawyers and a dozen officials, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We have already squeezed the maximum out of our people,” an officer with the 72nd Brigade told the American news agency, explaining why the problem became so acute.

The Prosecutor General’s office lists more than 100,000 soldiers who have been charged over desertion, nearly half of whom quit this year alone, but the actual number is likely significantly higher, AP said. It may be as high as 200,000, one MP told the agency. In some cases, entire units have fled their frontline positions, it was told.

“If there’s no end term [to military service], it turns into a prison – it becomes psychologically hard to find reasons to defend this country,” said one of the deserters, who was named by AP. He was charged shortly after being interviewed.

Earlier this year, Kiev adopted sweeping military service reform, hoping it would bolster the rate of mandatory conscription. The US is now reportedly pushing the Ukrainian government to lower the minimum draft age to 18, down from 25.

Conscription is being brutally enforced by officers and their civilian helpers. One such official said handling his targets is like “dealing with a cornered rat,” The Telegraph newspaper reported earlier this week.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky signed a bill into law this week, which waives criminal responsibility for first-time deserters if they volunteer to go back and fight.

In July 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that a shortage of manpower was the biggest problem facing the Ukrainian military, after a failed “counteroffensive” conducted against Russia earlier that year.

“Ukrainian units have suffered huge losses in their suicidal attacks. Tens of thousands of casualties,” he said during a Russian Security Council meeting.

“Despite constant raids, the never-ending waves of total mobilization in Ukrainian cities and villages, the current regime is finding that sending reinforcements to the front line becomes increasingly difficult,” he added. “The country’s mobilization reserve is being depleted.”

Zelensky has been consistently blaming a shortage of Western-donated weapons for Ukrainian setbacks on the battlefield. Meanwhile Russian officials have accused him of waging a war “to the last Ukrainian” on behalf of the US.

December 4, 2024 Posted by | Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

These Billionaires Subsidize the Israeli Military Through a US Nonprofit

By Derek Seidman , Truthout, December 2, 2024

A US nonprofit funnels money from billionaires like Home Depot’s co-founder to effectively subsidize Israeli troops.By Derek Seidman , TruthoutPublishedDecember 2, 2024

srael’s war on Gaza — marked by extensive war crimes, and widely seen as an ongoing genocide — has been backed by the U.S. government, which has provided Israel with billions of dollars in weapons to be used against Palestinians. On the ground and from the air, the genocidal siege has been carried out by Israel’s military, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), whose soldiers regularly post videos and images on social media of them destroying Palestinian neighborhoods, looting Palestinian homes and abusing Palestinian prisoners.

“The main and sometimes only machinery of repressing, killing, genociding and ethnically cleansing Palestinians is the IDF,” Haim Bresheeth, author of the wide-ranging history of the Israeli military, An Army Like No Other: How the Israel Defense Force Made a Nation, told Truthout. “This is an illegal, immoral army.”

In the U.S., there’s one group that has long worked to mobilize ironclad support for the Israeli military: the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF).

Founded in 1981, the FIDF is a nonprofit organization that raises tens of millions of dollars annually to fund a range of programs that effectively subsidize the Israeli military by providing numerous services and benefits for Israeli troops. It also channels major donations from a host of powerful billionaires toward these programs.

In building and maintaining support for the IDF, particularly among U.S. Jews, the FIDF promotes and reproduces the dominant Zionist notion that American Judaism is synonymous with support for Israel, and that the essence of support for Israel is support for the Israeli military……………………………………………………………………………………….more https://truthout.org/articles/these-billionaires-subsidize-the-israeli-military-through-a-us-nonprofit/?utm_source=feedotter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FO-12-02-2024&utm_content=httpstruthoutorgarticlesthesebillionairessubsidizetheisraelimilitarythroughausnonprofit&utm_source=Truthout&utm_campaign=5bf019f3e8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_12_02_09_18&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbb541a1db-5bf019f3e8-650192793

December 4, 2024 Posted by | weapons and war | Leave a comment

TODAY. Fantasies for 2025 – perhaps the nuclear one tops the list?

I mean – there’s a lot of competition for this title – top fantasy. There’s the fantastic possibility that all will go well with Donald Trump in power in the USA. That’s a big one seeing that we have a narcissisitic sociopath at the top, appointing a bunch of other narcissistic sociopaths, all of whom are singularly unsuited to their jobs, and who probably don’t trust each other, and certainly don’t trust Trump.

There’s the fantasy that the ruling Great Powers are actually going to do anything real about reducing fossil fuel emissions, or really helping the indigenous peoples who are most affeced by global heating.

Then there’s the plastic one. The same Great Powers are happy to allow those same fossil fuel companies to churn out plastic, while they make pious motherhood statements about the fantasy of “recycling” and somehow or other “disposing” of plastic wastes. They’d love to have all that toxic crap dumped on poor indigenous people too. But – at least, there’s a certain democracy about plastic wastes – as teensy weensy bits of plastic are in every organ of our bodies now, including the brain.

Still, I’m backing the nuclear industry fantasy to trump Trump and climate and plastic pollution for the fantasy of the year.

As to public realisation of these fantasies – there is a general uneasiness about the coming Trump administration.

And across the world 87% of people know that climate change is real, and are concerned about it. Public awareness of plastic pollution is growing too, especially in the USA. But the public are still using the fossil fuel products – and in order to cope with global heating, are turning on air-conditioners fuelled by fossil fuels. People are aware, but they don’t know how to stop it. So the corporate polluters are happy.

But nuclear power had a bad name, over previous decades. It really has been a huge challenge for this industry to turn all that around, to keep their profits thriving , and to have nuclear portrayed as a public good.

The well-paid minions of the nuclear industry have done an excellent job in conning the public, world-wide. They had to work hard to overcome nuclear’s history of accidents, bungles, and failed projects, not to mention how it has proliferated weapons of mass destruction.

Then, from strenuously not believing in Climate Change, the nuke lobby did a flip – with the inspired realisation that they could pretend that Nuclear Power is the Cure for Climate Change.

Well, it’s not the cure for climate change -nor for energy shortage, and it’s not “cheap” nor “clean”.

But the industry faces other huge problems, too. Nuclear publicists studiously avoid the topic of the cost of shutting down, and pulling down, nuclear reactors and then dealing with the toxic wastes. It’s supposed to be cheaper and better to “extend the lives” of crappy old nuclear reactors with their embrittled and cracked pipes. I think that the well-paid engineers, executives, politicians, trade union leaders, and media nuclear “experts” are all figuring that it’d be better if the “decommissioning” were to take place conveniently, long after their own retirement or death.

So the expensive horror of dealing with the tail end of the nuclear industry is a topic not to be discussed. Nor is the horror of nuclear war – with its weapons provided by the nuclear industry -and promoted by the ever-more profitable arms manufacturers. The “peaceful commercial nuclear industry is an essential part of this.

So – what is acceptable to discuss?

Well, it’s the “energy miracle” of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors” (SMRs). “Start-ups” for SMRs popping up all over the place (though some of them are quietly closing). The whole idea is that these, so far mythical, beasts will be commercially viable. However, Governments have always propped nuclear ventures up well, with various subsidies and tax exemptions. China and Russia solved the problem, with government ownership of the industry. France did too, though that’s not working too well. Now the British Labour government has “Great British Nuclear” set up as a government run venture- (by a conservative party that’s supposed to hate socialism.)

So – in a clearly non-commercially-viable venture, the tax-payer is to save the day.

Paul Brown sets out the whole sorry story, in particular for the UK. He explains the work of two pesky academics Prof. Stephen Thomas and Prof. Andy Blowers and their report  – “It is time to expose the Great British Nuclear Fantasy once and for all.” The costs and delays of the Hinkley Point C big nuclear project, the planned Sizewell one, the £20 billion plan for unbuilt, untested SMRs – these are exposed, and make the pro-nuclear propaganda look absurd.

Yet the propaganda goes on. The big names in nuclear – Rafael Grossi, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos keep right on, maintaining the fallacy that all is well with the global nuclear industry, – and their sycophants in politics and media rebleat their message.

Thank you, Paul Brown, for explaining this so succinctly – if only the facts could be clearly set out in the mainstream media – and the public would not swallow the Kool-Aid. But of course, it won’t be, – the fantasy will prevail – until the shit finally hits the fan.

December 3, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

International talks on curbing plastic pollution fail to reach agreement

Chair of talks in Busan says progress has been made but ‘a few critical issues’ are unresolved

Guardian, Agence France-Presse, 2 Dec 24

Negotiators have failed to reach agreement on a landmark treaty to curb plastic pollution, the diplomat chairing the talks has said.

Nearly 200 nations are taking part in a meeting in Busan, South Korea, which is intended to result in a landmark agreement after two years of discussions. A week of talks has failed to resolve deep divisions between “high-ambition” countries seeking a globally binding agreement to limit production and phase out harmful chemicals, and “like-minded” nations who want to focus on waste.

A draft text released on Sunday afternoon after multiple delays included a wide range of options, making clear the ongoing level of disagreement.

When an open plenary session finally convened late on Sunday night, the chair, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, said progress had been made but “we must also recognise that a few critical issues still prevent us from reaching a comprehensive agreement”………………………………………………………

While countries have declined to directly name those preventing a deal, public statements and submissions have shown that mostly oil-producing nations including Saudi Arabia and Russia have sought to block production cuts and other ambitious goals………………….. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/01/international-talks-on-curbing-plastic-pollution-fail-to-reach-agreement-busan

December 3, 2024 Posted by | environment | Leave a comment

EDF set to extend life of UK nuclear plants as Government replacement plans falter

Power plants in Hartlepool, East Lothian and Heysham are set to have their lifespan extended before the end of the year .

By Ben Gartside,  December 2, 2024, https://inews.co.uk/news/nuclear-plants-uk-edf-extend-replacement-3408994

Energy giant EDF is set to announce that it will extend the lifespan of four nuclear power plants across the country amid delays to replacement projects, The i Paper can reveal.

It is the second time EDF has asked to extend the lifespan of the plants in Hartlepool and East Lothian, as well as two in Heysham, despite safety concerns at at least two of the sites.

The decision by EDF is set to be announced before the end of the year. However, The i Paper understands that all four are set to be extended.

The scale of delays to the Government’s nuclear projects including Sizewell C and the Small Modular Reactor Programme, due to Brexit and rampant inflation, was revealed earlier this year.

It threatened to derail Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s plan to decarbonise the energy grid by 2030 before Labour even entered Downing Street.

The National Energy System Operator has raised doubts over the Government’s ability to deliver on its net zero grid commitments in just five years’ time.

The extension of the four power plants is likely to keep the grid cleaner in the coming years, while new nuclear projects await launch.

Heysham 1 and Hartlepool had been due to close in March this year, but were extended until 2026 by EDF in 2023. They have now been extended beyond 2026.

Heysham 2 and Torness nuclear power stations are currently due to close in 2028, but are set to be extended under the plans.

Torness, near Edinburgh, had its lifespan reduced by two years in 2021 due to cracking in the bricks, according to an Office for Nuclear Regulation report.

It has been reported that any extension to the Torness plant would have been conditional on EDF proving its ability to keep operating beyond 2028.


Meanwhile, a recent steam leak at Heysham 1 could have seriously injured staff according to an Office for Nuclear Regulation report, after a valve controlling stream from the reactor failed.

A number of safety notices have been given this year to EDF by the nuclear regulator, which some in the industry claim is a sign of the ageing power plants.

An industry source said that some of the reactors had already been “extended pretty far”, and that more issues would be likely.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “The extension of any nuclear power station is a decision for the operator and the independent regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation, based on safety and commercial considerations.

“EDF’s ambition is to further extend the lives of four generating nuclear power stations, subject to inspections and regulatory approvals, and a decision will be taken by the end of 2024.”

An EDF spokesperson said: “A decision will only be made after a rigorous review of all the technical factors involved in running these stations and future operation will always be subject to regular inspections and oversight from the independent regulator, the ONR.”

A spokesperson for the Office for Nuclear Regulation, said: “We are conscious of the nation’s energy challenges and government aspirations to achieve net zero and would constructively work with EDF should it have ambitions to extend the lifetime of any of its power stations.

“The ongoing safety of operations at any nuclear site must be fully demonstrated to us as part of ongoing regulation which will be informed though our extensive inspection and assessment regime.

“We will always endeavour to regulate in an enabling manner, but we would not allow any facility to operate unless we are satisfied that it is safe to do so.

December 3, 2024 Posted by | business and costs, safety, UK | Leave a comment

Suspected case of plutonium contamination in Rome plant

Worker at Casaccia research centre

 https://ansabrasil.com.br/english/news/2024/11/29/suspected-case-of-plutonium-contamination-in-rome-plant_abf43d58-7052-4824-a814-0b04e3971d09.html

suspected case of plutonium contamination of a worker was reported Friday at the Casaccia Research Center, on the outskirts of Rome.
    The National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety (ISIN) has announced that it is “following with the utmost attention the case of contamination recorded at the Plutonium plant of the Casaccia center” which involved a “worker on duty”.

December 3, 2024 Posted by | - plutonium, Italy | Leave a comment

Indonesia’s nuclear energy push pits growth against safety concerns

SCMP, Resty Woro Yuniar, 1 Dec 2024

In a move that could reshape Indonesia’s energy landscape, President Prabowo Subianto is advocating for nuclear power as a solution to the country’s growing energy demands. While supporters hail the initiative as a transformative step for Southeast Asia’s largest economy, critics sound alarms about radioactive waste and high costs.

Prabowo’s brother and top adviser, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, outlined the administration’s ambitious goal during Cop29 in Baku on November 19: to add over 100 gigawatts of power in the next 15 years, with at least 75 per cent sourced from renewable and [?]clean energy, including nuclear. The country aims for net zero emissions by 2060………

Hashim had previously said that the government plans to build two nuclear plants with varying capacities, including a larger facility in western Indonesia capable of producing up to 2GW. The country currently operates two nuclear reactors, primarily for research purposes.

“What needs to be looked for is the safest place [for the plants], one that is earthquake-resistant. Don’t build it in areas where there is a high risk of earthquakes, there could be an accident,” Hashim said on November 12.

…………………………………………………………….. ‘Fake solutions’

While proponents argue nuclear power is a reliable source of clean energy, many environmentalists and concerned Indonesians have opposed plans to build nuclear plants in the past, typically citing safety or security concerns and recalling disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima.

“We are actually bucking the global trend. Developed countries like Germany have abandoned their nuclear power plants two years ago, and now we are planning to build one,” said Hadi Priyanto, a climate and renewable energy activist.

“At Cop28 last year, we called for the government to triple our use of renewable energy, and we made the same call this year. Instead of doing that, the government was peddling nuclear power and other fake [energy transition] solutions.”

He raised concerns about the government’s budget for managing radioactive waste, questioning whether Indonesia has the financial capacity to handle such challenges.

“If it is not managed properly … it will pollute water and soil. In the Fukushima case, they stored hundreds of thousands of tonnes of its radioactive waste for 13-15 years, and they only released it last year. Do we have the financial strength to manage waste like that?” he said.

Deon Arinaldo, an energy transition programme manager at Jakarta-based Institute for Essential Services Reform, said that while nuclear was a “reliable” energy source, construction of nuclear plants would be “problematic” as it would be expensive and time-consuming.

“What is very unfortunate is that Indonesia has high renewable energy potential, from the data of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources there is more than 3,600GW of renewable energy potential, especially solar and wind, which can be deployed at a cheaper price and [produced] faster, so that it can support economic growth,” Deon said.

Both Hadi and Deon argued that nuclear plants would also make Indonesia dependent on foreign energy providers, as the country currently lacks the technology to build and operate the plants – or enrich uranium, a key nuclear fuel…………….. https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3288703/indonesias-nuclear-energy-push-pits-growth-against-safety-concerns

December 3, 2024 Posted by | Indonesia, safety | Leave a comment

EDF’s controversial River Severn saltmarshes plan should cease, says County Council leader

By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter,,  Gloucester News Centre 30th Nov 2024

EDF’s controversial plans for saltmarshes linked to Hinkley C nuclear power plant should cease immediately.

That is the view of Gloucestershire County Council’s Conservative leader Stephen Davies (Hardwicke and Severn) who has written to energy, security and net zero secretary Ed Miliband expressing his opposition to the schemes.

Bosses at the French-government owned energy firm have been severely criticised for their environmental improvement plans by residents in Rodley near Westbury-on-Severn and Arlingham on the other side of the river.

Their original plan for Hinkley Point in Somerset was to install an acoustic fish deterrent system to scare fish away from the site as the Bristol Channel is home to numerous species such as eels, herring, salmon and sprats.

However, EDF feel this will no longer be viable and have instead drawn up alternative plans to create salt marshes along the River Severn.

They have identified the two Gloucestershire sites along with Kingston Seymour in Somerset, Littleton Upon Severn in South Gloucestershire as areas for salt marshes.

And they have been in touch with landowners. But villagers strongly oppose the proposals which they fear will destroy the Severn Vale.

Cllr Davies says in the letter, which has not been signed by the other group leaders at GCC, that the authority welcomes the Government’s commitment to delivering net zero.

But he expressed significant concerns regarding the scale of the impact the nuclear power station will have on the migratory fish population in the Severn Estuary special area of conservation which will result from the massive water abstraction at Hickley Point C of 120,000 litres of seawater a second from the Severn for 60 years.

He believes this will be made significantly worse by their intention to remove the required acoustic fish deterrent system at the plant.

And is concerned over the significant impact the emerging salt marsh proposals would have as it would see hundreds of acres of farmland lost.

“This would not only include farmland, but also farms, houses, businesses, roads, footpaths, heritage assets, etc.

“EDF representatives have already confirmed to local residents that they would use compulsory purchase orders in future if need be as well as currently attempting to access privately-owned land for ecological surveys.”

Cllr Davies calls for the acoustic fish deterrent to be installed as originally planned and for appropriate ecological compensation be delivered to address the impact on the Severn Estuary. He is also calling for EDF to be instructed to immediately cease plans to create the new salt marshes along the Severn.

Campaign group Save our Severn Vale do not believe that the proposed location of a saltmarsh in either Rodley or Arlingham is viable from a salinity perspective or compensatory habitat when looking at the species EDF say they want to save………………………….. https://gloucesternewscentre.co.uk/edfs-controversial-river-severn-saltmarshes-plan-should-cease-says-county-council-leader/

December 3, 2024 Posted by | environment, UK | Leave a comment

‘No plans’ for specific nuclear test veteran compensation

By George Allison, UK Defence Journal, December 1, 2024

 Liz Saville Roberts MP (Plaid Cymru – Dwyfor Meirionnydd) recently
questioned the Ministry of Defence (MoD) about the possibility of
establishing a dedicated financial compensation scheme for nuclear test
veterans and their families.

These veterans were involved in the UK’s
nuclear testing programme from 1952 to 1967. Responding to the inquiry,
Luke Pollard, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence,
confirmed that “The Ministry of Defence has no current plans to develop a
specific compensation scheme for either Nuclear Test Veterans or their
families.”

However, Pollard highlighted that veterans who believe they
have been adversely affected by their service can apply to the War Pensions
Scheme. This “no-fault scheme provides compensation for Service personnel
who are disabled or die due to injury caused or made worse by service in
the UK Armed Forces before 6 April 2005.” He also noted the availability
of supplementary pensions and allowances for dependants through the same
programme.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/no-plans-for-specific-nuclear-test-veteran-compensation/

December 3, 2024 Posted by | health, UK | Leave a comment

Nuclear news and more – week to 2 December

Some bits of good news.  Scientists develop a plastic that dissolves at sea.        Cop29 offered some silver linings.  More Than 30 Stranded Whales Rescued in New Zealand by People Lifting Them on Sheets.

TOP STORIES

Project 2025 calls for massive changes to Hanford nuclear cleanup. France is weighing zero-interest loan for 6 nuclear reactors, sources say.


Civil and military nuclear programmes: will they be derailed by skills shortages? 

Decommissioning old nuclear sites to cost £130bn in blow to Miliband.

Climate. Huge COP29 climate deal too little too late, poorer nations say. ‘Unprecedented’ climate extremes are everywhere – Our baselines for what’s normal will need to change.

Environment. What Project 2025 Would Do to the Environment – and How We Will Respond.

Noel’s notes. SMRs underground – long drop nuclear toilets? – a chance to use that beaut new word – enshittification. Ecology be damned -we won’t know what’s hit us after January 20th

AUSTRALIA. ABC chair Kim Williams says investment in national broadcaster the best counter to ‘flood’ of misinformation. Australia’s top environment groups – Submission to Government Inquiry into Nuclear Power Generation in Australia.

NUCLEAR ITEMS.

ATROCITIES. Israel Attacks Kill 155 Palestinians in Gaza Over 72 Hours. Israel Has Killed Over 1,000 Doctors and Nurses in Gaza. Israeli snipers ‘shoot Palestinians for sport’.

CIVIL LIBERTIES. The Antisemitism Awareness Act Is the Death Knell for Free Speech.

ECONOMICS. Is Europe Ready for a Nuclear Renaissance? France postpones financing decision of 6 new reactors – report.

EDUCATION. Christian Nationalism Marches on With ‘Bible-Infused’ Texas Curriculum.
EMPLOYMENT. Hinkley Point C: Hundreds down tools over concerns. Only 20% of Great British Nuclear staff employed permanently-ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/12/02/1-b-only-20-of-great-british-nuclear-staff-employed-permanently/
ENERGY. Hunterston ‘industrial revolution’ on our doorstep – liquid air energy storage.
ENVIRONMENT. Just Don’t Mention (or Measure) the Pu (Plutonium). Plans to turn land in Somerset into a saltmarsh should be scrapped..
EVENTS. 5 December -Adelaide, Australia – STOP PETER DUTTON’S NUCLEAR REACTOR THREATS -Peaceful protest outside Federal Government’s Inquiry into nuclear power generation in Australia
HEALTH. ‘No plans’ for specific nuclear test veteran compensation. Plutonium. Suspected case of plutonium contamination in Rome plant.
INDIGENOUS ISSUES.Listening to Indigenous views. Indigenous views on nuclear energy and radioactive waste .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i7XtIGFqyY
LEGAL. Today in Imperial Recklessness & Insanity. The United States Raises a Middle Finger to the International Criminal Court.
MEDIA. War Crimes in Lebanon: Human Rights Watch Says Israel Used U.S. Arms to Kill 3 Journalists.

POLITICS. As America barrels toward war with Russia….Where’s Biden? From Genocide Joe to Omnicide Joe. Donald Trump’s quick trip to absolute dictatorship.

Inside Project Esther, the right wing action plan to take down the Palestine movement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPar-qf5FwY

EDF’s controversial River Severn saltmarshes plan should cease, says County Council leader.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. “Israel Wants Wars”: Gideon Levy on Lebanon Ceasefire, Gaza & Gov’t Sanctions Against Haaretz– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i12aMIxc8As

Iran and Europe seek to break nuclear impasse before return of Trump. Iran to hold nuclear talks with France, Germany, UK. Iran says it could end ban on possessing nuclear weapons if sanctions reimposed.

PUBLIC OPINION Game changer: world turns against Israel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJSWAun9Xnc

SAFETY.

SECRETS and LIES. UK Government urged to end secrecy over ‘worrying’ drone sightings near nuclear-linked air bases.  The secret audit that crucifies most French nuclear start-ups ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2024/11/26/3-b1-the-secret-audit-that-crucifies-most-french-nuclear-start-ups/
TECHNOLOGY. The entanglement of fusion energy research and bombs.Iran deploys advanced centrifuges in defiance of IAEA resolution.
URANIUM. Ironic Dependency: Russian Uranium and the US Energy Market
WASTES. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) Siting Process Fails to Achieve its Goal. South Bruce spared, but Ignace selected for Canadian nuclear waste dump.

WAR and CONFLICT. Israeli army pushes deeper into south Lebanon as ceasefire violations intensify. Ceasefire Falters as Israel Launches Airstrikes, Artillery Shelling on Southern Lebanon.

Mass Desertions Over Radiation Could End the War in Ukraine. Ukraine has lost almost 500,000 troops – Economist. Mass desertions crippling Ukrainian army – AP. White House Pressing Ukraine To Draft 18-Year-Olds for War . Ukrainians And Americans Are Done With This War, But It Keeps Escalating Anyway.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. Biden seeking extra $24bn for Kiev – Politico. G7 finalizing $50 billion loan to Ukraine – Washington. White House finally confirms greenlight for deep Russia strikes. Russia Prepares to Respond to the Armageddon Wanted by the Biden Administration. Transfer of nukes to Kiev would be viewed as attack on Russia – Medvedev.

Biden administration advancing $680m arms sale to Israel, source says.

The Technology for Autonomous Weapons Exists. What Now?.

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

Today in Imperial Recklessness & Insanity

Caitlin Johnstone, Consortium News, 22 Nov 2024  https://consortiumnews.com/2024/11/22/caity-johnstone-today-in-imperial-recklessness-insanity/

Predictably, Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to this decision by shrieking about antisemitism. He’s doing this because he doesn’t have anything resembling a real argument in his defense, and neither does anyone else.

The International Criminal Court has formally issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

No such arrest warrants were issued for President Biden or any of the other western officials who’ve been backing Israel’s genocidal atrocities, which is a bit like a judge issuing a warrant for a mass murderer but not for the guy who gave him the gun and stood next to him handing him ammunition and drove the getaway car and lied to the police to cover up the crime.

Nothing will come of this new development because it is completely unenforcible and international law is only as real as the U.S. empire agrees to pretend it is, but it is a significant step in the deterioration of international consensus on Israel as the entire world watches the Zionist regime commit atrocity after atrocity right out in the open.

Predictably, Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to this decision by shrieking about antisemitism and calling the ICC’s move “a modern Dreyfus trial”. He is doing this because he does not have anything resembling a real argument in his defense, and neither does anyone else.

We saw this illustrated in a statement from Senator Tom Cotton, who proclaimed that the U.S. would invade The Hague if the ICC tries to enforce its arrest warrants.

“The ICC is a kangaroo court and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic,” Cotton said. “Woe to him and anyone who tries to enforce these outlaw warrants. Let me give them all a friendly reminder: the American law on the ICC is known as The Hague Invasion Act for a reason. Think about it.”

This is as psychotic a public statement as anything you’ll see from the most far-right extremists in the Knesset. The United States is run by demented zealots with nukes, just like Israel.

The “Hague Invasion Act”, formally known as the American Service-Members’ Protection Act, is a U.S. federal law passed during the warmongering frenzy of the early Bush administration which authorizes the president to use “all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court.” 

That “or allied personnel” bit is why Cotton is able to cite this law in reference to an arrest warrant for Israelis.

Speaking of Israel and U.S. senators, a bill by Bernie Sanders to block a shipment of tank shells to Israel was just killed in the Senate by a vote of 18 to 79. 

Sanders framed the bill as an effort to restrict “the sale of offensive arms to Israel”, making a distinction from “defensive” arms like the Iron Dome, which is absurd and obfuscatory to begin with.

All arms to Israel are offensive rather than defensive in nature, in that they are all used to help Israel murder people without experiencing the deterrence they would receive from a retaliatory response.

There’s a reason body armor is regulated in a way that’s similar to firearms; it’s because someone who wants to commit a violent crime can wear a bulletproof vest while doing so to ensure that they can perpetrate the crime without being stopped by police.

That’s exactly how Israel uses its so-called “defensive” weaponry.

And speaking of progressive US lawmakers taking feeble stands on Israel, congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has come under fire for voting to support House Resolution 1449, a bill which purports to simply denounce antisemitism but in reality promotes the false conflation of antisemitic hate speech with speech that is critical of Israel.

Progressive congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who voted against the bill, said in a statement that she did so because “the bill endorses the harmful definition of IHRA that dangerously conflates legitimate criticism of Israel to antisemitism and further harms our ability to address antisemitism.”

Everywhere you look it’s powerful criminals getting away with far too much while the people who are supposed to be resisting them do far too little.

This happens as Russia hits Ukraine with a new type of hypersonic missile, which Putin went out of his way to mention could easily have been equipped with a nuclear warhead. This attack was a warning to Ukraine for using long-range missiles supplied by the U.S. and U.K. to strike targets inside Russia, and occurs as Moscow revises its nuclear doctrine lowering the threshold for when nuclear weapons may be used.

This is unsustainable. It cannot continue. One way or the other, all this madness is going to come to an end.

December 2, 2024 Posted by | Legal | Leave a comment

Listening to indigenous views

Our new study highlights Indigenous nations’ opposition to nuclear projects, write Susan O’Donnell and Robert Atwin,   by beyondnuclearinternational,  https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/01/listening-to-indigenous-views/


The global nuclear industry has been in decline for almost three decades. Almost every year, more reactors shut down than start up. This year, nuclear energy’s share of global commercial gross electricity generation is less than half it was in 1996. 

One reason for the industry’s decline is the high cost of nuclear energy compared to the low cost of alternative sources of energy generation. Another reason is the risk and lack of permanent solutions to the long-lived radioactive waste produced by nuclear reactors. Around the world, Indigenous people are disproportionately affected by radioactive pollution and are at the forefront of resistance to nuclear waste dumps. 

A new study released in New Brunswick this week analyzed statements about nuclear energy and radioactive waste by Indigenous communities in New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario, the only provinces with nuclear power reactors. The 18 power reactors in Ontario and the one in New Brunswick, as well as the one in Quebec shut down in 2012, have all produced hundreds of tons of radioactive waste.

The study found that overall, Indigenous nations and communities do not support the production of more nuclear waste or the transport and storage of nuclear waste on their homelands. They have made their opposition known through dozens of public statements and more than 100 submissions to the regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

At the same time, the federal government positions nuclear energy as a strategic asset to Canada now and into the future. The government recently launched a policy to get nuclear projects approved more quickly, with fewer regulations. The government’s position has created an obvious conflict with Indigenous rights-holders.

Radioactivity cannot be turned off – that’s what makes nuclear waste so dangerous. Indigenous opposition to nuclear waste is rooted in values that respect the Earth and the need to keep life safe for generations into the future. The radioactivity from high-level waste can take millennia to decay and if exposed, can damage living tissue in a range of ways and alter gene structure.

The new study analyzed 30 public statements about nuclear energy and radioactive waste and reviewed submissions to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) by Indigenous nations and communities. The report also discusses the status in Canada of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The report, Indigenous Views on Nuclear Energy and Radioactive Waste, states that Indigenous nations understand that producing and storing nuclear waste on their territories without their free, prior and informed consent is a violation of their Indigenous rights.

Also released this week with the report is a video, Askomiw Ksanaqak (Forever Dangerous): Indigenous Nations Resist Nuclear Colonialism. 

The study report and the video were co-published by the Passamaquoddy Recognition Group and the CEDAR project (Contesting Energy Discourses through Action Research) at St. Thomas University in Fredericton. 

The CEDAR project’s Indigenous partners – Chief Hugh Akagi of the Peskotomuhkati Nation in Canada and Chief Ron Tremblay of the Wolastoq Grand Council – each wrote a foreword to the report. Both Indigenous leaders are opposed to the production of radioactive waste at the Point Lepreau nuclear site on the Bay of Fundy and have not consented to plans by NB Power to develop at least two experimental nuclear reactors at the site that, if built, would produce more and different forms of radioactive waste.

In his foreword, Chief Akagi explains that the existing waste at Point Lepreau should be “properly stored and looked after for the thousands of years it will take until the waste is no longer dangerous.” He stands behind the five principles of the Joint Declaration between the Anishinabek Nation and the Iroquois Caucus on the Transport and Abandonment of Radioactive Waste: no abandonment; monitored and retrievable storage; better containment, more packaging; away from major water bodies; no imports or exports.

Chief Tremblay in his foreword raises the importance of respecting the treaty relationship and the need to protect the Earth. “We believe that the Earth is our Mother, and that she has been violated, she has been hurt, she has been raped, she has been damaged for far, far too long,” he writes.

CEDAR is a five-year project studying energy transitions in Canada with a focus on New Brunswick. One project objective is to support marginalized voices in discussions about the energy transitions. The new report was co-produced to amplify Indigenous voices concerned with the nuclear industry and its waste. 

The report’s analysis highlights that colonialism is ongoing in Canada. The report suggests that Indigenous voices are being ignored for the benefit of the nuclear industry, meaning the federal government remains complicit in the violation of Indigenous rights.

Susan O’Donnell and Robert Atwin are co-authors, with Abby Bartlett, of the new report. Susan is an adjunct research professor and lead investigator of the CEDAR project at St. Thomas University. Robert is a research assistant at the Passamaquoddy Recognition Group and a member of Oromocto First Nation.

December 2, 2024 Posted by | Canada, indigenous issues | Leave a comment

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