nuclear-news

After 157 days of Iran war failure, Trump must quit war or quit presidency.

Walr Zlotow West Suburban Peace Coalition Glen Ellyn IL , 4 Aug 26

President Trump is flailing around like every world leader in history who launched a criminal war of choice he can’t win but can’t quit. Like every losing criminal war predecessor, he’s becoming more and more unhinged searching for a magic bullet, make that a magic missile, that will turn his inevitable defeat into his cherished victory.

He fantasizes Iran has been destroyed and is begging to surrender in Trump’s terms. He threatens massive destruction one day, then calls off that destruction a day later for two reasons: he doesn’t have the firepower to inflict it, and knows Iran will inflict even worse damage to US Gulf State bases and Middle East energy infrastructure cratering the world economy. Thousands more Iranians may die and hundreds more US service casualties may pile up to no avail.

Iran won, the US has lost. Deservedly so. Iran did nothing to deserve Trump’s dastardly attack.

Except for a dwindling number of ‘destroy Iran dead enders’, Trump’s war cabinet must be apoplectic over Trump’s delusional descent into endless war madness. Neither VP Vance nor Secretary of State Rubio were keen on Trump’s cockamamie war but bowed to his hubris fueled by the power behind the push for war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On this war day 157 of Trump’s disastrous, failed war edging the world economy toward the fiscal cliff, Trump still has 900 days to ensure that happens. On his own he appears incapable of admitting defeat or simply resigning the presidency to allow Vance to begin negotiations to end the war on Iran’s sensible terms. We can only hope Trump’s was council will conduct an intervention. Instruct Trump to quit the war or quit the presidency. If not they should threaten resignation en mass to paralyze the government to fulfill the prophesy Bob Dylan once famously sang…. “Even the President of the United States sometimes has to stand naked.”

August 6, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Romania seeks to divert Danube water to keep Cernavoda nuclear power plant online

Romania Insider, 3 August 2026, Iulian Ernst

Romania is attempting to increase the flow through one of the Danube’s channels by eliminating a natural obstacle (a large rock) and obstructing another channel through controlled sinking of ships, with the final aim of keeping the Cernavoda nuclear power plant open as long as possible. Initially scheduled for full closure amid low Danube water levels and hence limited cooling water resources on July 31, the plant still keeps one of its two 680 MW reactors online.

However, as the situation remains critical, Romania seeks emergency imports from Ukraine and prepares for measures to restrict national consumption. The experts expect low water levels to put at risk Cernavoda NPP’s operations at least until mid-August.

The government of Romania on July 31 declared a nationwide state of alert in the energy system for the entire month of August, following the drop in electricity production caused by severe drought and the very low water levels of the Danube and rivers. Acting prime minister Ilie Bolojan warned that there is a risk of the second reactor of the Cernavoda NPP shutting down, which would mean the loss of approximately 20% of national energy production, Digi24 reported.

PM Bolojan, who holds the interim portfolio of energy, also announced that Romania has discussed possible imports of electricity with Ukraine, where a surplus of power would be available.

He stated that he discussed the situation on Friday with the deputy prime minister of Ukraine and minister of energy, Denis Shmîgal.

“Today I discussed with the deputy prime minister of Ukraine, who also holds the energy portfolio, Mr Shmîgal, to support us in the coming period with production from one of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. In this regard, Transelectrica and Nuclearelectrica will hold discussions for emergency aid from Ukraine during the evening hours,” PM Bolojan said……………….

Special operations on the Danube are aimed at keeping Cernavoda NPP online as long as possible.

Romania’s Naval Forces attempted on Sunday, August 2, to detonate a rock on the right bank of the Danube, in order to divert the water flow towards the Cernavoda NPP. Two explosions occurred, but they failed to break the rock. The military will resume the operation on August 3, with a larger load of explosives, the Ministry of Defense announced.

“At this moment, the Ministry of National Defense is intervening with over 100 soldiers and 16 technical means to divert the course of the Danube towards the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant. EOD combat divers have successfully carried out the first tests, during which they detonated small explosive charges in a controlled manner,” the Ministry of National Defense announced in a statement on its Facebook page.

According to Antena 3, the authorities say that such a measure is needed because the extremely large rock blocks the course of the Danube, which can reach the Cernavodă power plant.

The next step is the obstruction of another arm of the Danube (Bala Arm), with the aim of diverting part of its flow towards the arm passing by Cernavodă NPP (Old Danube).

Thus, four barges loaded with approximately 500 tons of stone will be controlledly sunk on the Bala Arm, which will allow a larger volume of water to be directed to the Old Danube from the Bala Arm.

Separately, dredging works will be carried out on the channel delivering water to Cernavoda NPP. iulian@romania-insider.com https://www.romania-insider.com/romania-divert-danube-nuclear-plant-august-2026

August 6, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, EUROPE | Leave a comment

Record-low water levels on Danube force Hungary’s first shutdown of nuclear power plant

Ft.com Marton Dunai in Budapest, Aug 3 2026

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Hungary is preparing for electricity rationing as record-low water levels on the Danube river force the country’s only nuclear power plant to shut down completely. The 2 gigawatt Paks plant, which provides up to 40 per cent of the country’s electricity, relies on the Danube for cooling and has no backup water supply. “We are facing the five most critical days,” Prime Minister Péter Magyar said in a video message on Sunday. “From tomorrow, the Paks nuclear power plant will stop generating electricity, just as the hottest days, with temperatures reaching 40C, arrive. Our electricity system, our public utilities and all of us will come under enormous strain.”

On Saturday, the government issued a decree allowing it to cut energy supplies to the largest industrial consumers if the electricity grid comes under unsustainable pressure. Magyar said such measures would only be taken as a last resort. He said an emergency task force was set to meet later on Sunday and decide whether “mandatory electricity consumption restrictions will need to be imposed on large industrial users from tomorrow”.

The Paks plant, built with Soviet technology in the 1980s, has never before been forced offline. The operator said it was preparing for a controlled shutdown of its last working reactor. Magyar said there was no risk from the controlled shutdown…………………………………

Other countries have faced similar strains during the exceptionally dry summer. Romania’s Cernavodă nuclear plant, which also uses the Danube for cooling, is facing a controlled shutdown because of low river levels.

On the Rhine, extreme heat and drought have pushed levels to their lowest in eight years, disrupting one of Germany’s most important trade corridors and forcing manufacturers to curb production. Hungary’s economy is likely to suffer from the combined impact of heat, drought and power shortages. Companies are expected to halt production, agricultural output is likely to be exceptionally weak and costly electricity imports could add to inflation, limiting the central bank’s room to cut rates to support growth…………………… https://www.ft.com/content/a4539dc2-dcb0-4b57-9a78-c32cb1f9eda1?syn-25a6b1a6=1

August 6, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, EUROPE | Leave a comment

Israel’s Ghoulish Settlers Eye Up Gaza, As Netanyahu Kills Trump’s Board of Peace

ANTIWAR.COM by Andy Worthington | Jul 29, 2026

On Sunday evening (July 19), a group of some of the most repulsive, ghoulish people on the face of the earth marched towards the perimeter fence separating the Gaza Strip from the rest of the world to declare their intention to re-colonize Gaza, to re-establish three Israeli settlements that were dismantled in 2005 when, under Ariel Sharon, 21 settlements in total were abandoned, occupied, at the time, by 8,000 Israeli settlers.

These fanatical Israeli settlers, on what was billed as the “March of Thousands”, although only a few hundred people attended, were led by the two far-right ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government — Itamar Ben Gvir, the Minister for National Security, who is in charge of Israel’s prisons, which, for Palestinians, have become a gulag of torture facilities since October 7, 2023, and Bezalel Smotrich, the Minister of Finance, and also the minister in charge of settlement affairs within the Defense Ministry, who has played a huge role in the ever-growing, and ever more violent expansion of Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Speaking at the rally, Ben Gvir said, “If someone had said three years ago that we would control 70% of the Gaza Strip, no one would have believed it. So today I say: there will be Jewish settlement throughout Gaza. We are returning home. Gaza is ours.”

Smotrich, meanwhile, warned that a change of government in the forthcoming elections in October, could “roll back all the Zionist and national settlement revolution” undertaken over the last four years.

The two men were accompanied by more than two dozen ministers and legislators, as well as the 80-year old settler fanatic Daniella Weiss, who told the crowd, “They ask me, ‘What will happen to the Arabs in Gaza?’ There will be no Arabs in Gaza, unequivocally.”

Netanyahu’s reticence in the face of selective western outrage about the West Bank

Although Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party was listed as a sponsor of the rally, Netanyahu was noticeably silent about it. This, undoubtedly, wasn’t because he fundamentally opposes the settlers’ aspirations to re-colonize Gaza, but because, while western countries have been and continue to be largely indifferent to the almost immeasurable military slaughter and destruction in Gaza, they have been far more outspoken about settler activities in the West Bank.

On May 28 this year, the EU imposed sanctions on three individuals and four violent settler movements, including Daniella Weiss and her Nachala Settlement Movement, which, as they described it, “encourages and facilitates coercive acts that lead to the forced displacement of Palestinians”, and whose “outposts obstruct access to Palestinian agricultural and grazing land and have been persistent sources of settler violence.”

Netanyahu is also aware that both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich were sanctioned last June by the governments of the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway “for their repeated incitement of violence against Palestinian civilians” in the West Bank, followed by Slovenia and the Netherlands in July, and Spain in September, even though neither man has yet been issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court — for war crimes and crimes against humanity — as is the case with Netanyahu himself, and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant……………………………..

Psychotic indifference to genocide — from Israel to Jared Kushner

What was particularly sickening about Sunday’s rally was the gleeful indifference of those gathered — as a beautiful sunset incongruously lit up the sky — to the fact that they were overlooking a vast concentration camp, the size of east London, which is littered with the buried corpses of at least 10,000 Palestinians………………………….

Kushner’s vision was also devoid of Palestinians, as, of course, is the settlers’ vision.

Israel strangles Trump’s Board of Peace

When it comes to Jared Kushner’s grandiose, heartless, profit-driven visions of a futuristic “New Gaza”, the realities of dealing with the Israelis seem to have made it evaporate, as Julian Borger reported for the Guardian in an article last week, entitled, “Trump’s Board of Peace drops full Gaza recovery plan in favour of tiny pilot scheme.”…………………………………………………..

As Borger described it, “The Gaza recovery plan being pursued by Donald Trump’s Board of Peace (BoP) has shrunk dramatically from an ambitious blueprint for the reconstruction of the whole territory to a small pilot project in the south of the strip……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Is there a way forward?

Most noticeably, however, what Borger’s discussions with those on the ground in Israel reveal is how the Israeli government itself retains so much control over the Board of Peace’s plans, and can, as it has with the ceasefire deal in general, fail to fulfil its obligations as and when it wishes, and can also provide further obstruction simply by refusing to deal with requests for cooperation………………………………………………………

Will any leaders in the west wake up, and see that, beyond the grim settler violence in the West Bank, which they are so ready to criticize, they have allowed Trump’s largely empty contributions to Gaza’s future to enable them to pretend that something far, far worse isn’t happening right next to the West Bank, in the grotesque, ongoing death camp depravity of the Gaza Strip? https://original.antiwar.com/worthington/2026/07/28/israels-ghoulish-settlers-eye-up-gaza-as-netanyahu-kills-trumps-board-of-peace/

August 6, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Atrocities, Gaza, Israel | Leave a comment

The ‘Underground Nation’ returns: Switzerland’s new war-time shelter strategy

Erkin Oncan, July 30, 2026, https://strategic-culture.su/news/2026/07/30/the-underground-nation-returns-switzerlands-new-war-time-shelter-strategy/

The “one shelter per citizen” doctrine returns as Europe militarizes. Civilian infrastructure, stockpiles, and daily life are now being reorganized for war.

When Switzerland is mentioned, images of the Alps, postcard-perfect landscapes, and the famous cartoon character Heidi usually come to mind. Yet beneath the surface lies one of the world’s most complex underground networks. Built upon the Cold War-era principle of “one shelter place for every citizen” (Jeder Einwohnerin und jedem Einwohner ein Schutzplatz) and the Swiss Army’s “National Redoubt” (Réduit) strategy, the country developed a vast underground infrastructure.

After the end of the Cold War, the underground fortresses (Schweizer Reduit) hidden beneath the Swiss Alps and mountains lost much of their military importance. A large part of these facilities was declassified, opened for civilian use, sold, or transformed into museums. The main reason was the enormous cost of maintaining them.

Similarly, in urban areas, thousands of underground shelters were transferred to private ownership or left unused due to financial considerations.

However, the reactivation of abandoned facilities — including former shelters, ammunition storage caves, military hospitals, aircraft hangars, barracks, and command centers — is now back on the agenda. Accelerating preparations against what it describes as potential threats from Russia, the Swiss Army is considering bringing unused underground facilities back into operation to store ammunition, medicines, and critical military supplies. A comprehensive feasibility study has been launched as part of this effort.

Swiss Army spokesman Mathias Volken told the newspaper Blick that “the reactivation of underground military facilities distributed in a decentralized manner throughout Switzerland is being examined in detail.”

The Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) also stated in comments to the Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS that the need for “protection, resilience, and decentralized deployment” has increased. This, in particular, has created a growing need for secure storage facilities.

According to the Swiss Federal Office for Defence Procurement (armasuisse), the burden of reactivating these facilities will be shared through public tenders. The aim is to find ways to restore military installations in the most cost-effective, practical, and operationally suitable manner.

The government needs to keep costs as low as possible, as it faces another major priority: allocating a significant portion of the defence budget to new weapons systems and fulfilling what it considers its broader European security responsibilities.

The main goal of the plan is to create secure and protected storage areas. These facilities could be used to safely store consumables such as industrial oils, lubricants, seals, spare parts, medicines, electronic equipment, hazardous materials, and, most importantly, ammunition.

The possibility of producing or assembling certain strategically important goods inside protected facilities during wartime or crisis situations is also being considered.

The Swiss Army has not disclosed the number of facilities planned for reactivation. In fact, the exact number of underground military installations owned by Switzerland has never been publicly revealed. The reason for this secrecy is security.

However, according to reports in local media, the army is planning to “redesign” a significant portion of these shelters. The goal is to ensure that these facilities can also be operated by civil defence personnel — in other words, by people without long-term specialised military training.

This indicates a potential personnel shortage regarding the operation of critical infrastructure.

Switzerland’s renewed focus on its vast underground network is closely linked to the “new geopolitical reality” frequently discussed across Europe and the resulting wave of militarisation. Moreover, Switzerland’s move is not merely a matter of national defence strategy.

The hundreds of shelters and defensive structures across the country, the Baltic Defence Line established by Estonia and Latvia with border obstacles known as “dragon’s teeth,” Finland’s renewed shelter systems combined with cyber protection and food stockpiles, Sweden’s distribution of civil preparedness brochures to households, infrastructure projects focused on military mobility, and similar measures across Europe are all part of a broader transformation.

This new model of preparedness is not limited to armed forces alone. Civilian populations, critical infrastructure, and everyday life are increasingly being reorganised around potential war scenarios.

August 6, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Switzerland, weapons and war | Leave a comment

A Ton of Space Junk Is Reentering Earth’s Atmosphere More Often, and It’s Hard to Predict

Uncontrolled reentries of 500-kg-plus objects occur weekly, yet prediction errors span thousands of kilometers and no binding rules exist

Al Landes, Jul 31, 2026, https://www.gadgetreview.com/a-ton-of-space-junk-is-reentering-earths-atmosphere-more-often-and-its-hard-to-predict

Key Takeaways

Uncontrolled space debris weighing up to 2,000 kilograms reenters Earth’s atmosphere weekly.
Prediction models carry 20–30 percent error, leaving impact corridors spanning thousands of kilometers unknown.
NASA’s one-in-10,000 casualty threshold is breached weekly yet holds no international legal force.

·Right now, somewhere above your head, a dead satellite or spent rocket stage is losing altitude. Nobody knows exactly where it will hit. Objects weighing 500 to 2,000 kilograms reenter Earth’s atmosphere uncontrolled roughly every week, according to ESA and a 2024 peer-reviewed hazard study. This has been happening for decades. The difference now: it’s accelerating, and the rules meant to manage it remain largely voluntary.

The Numbers Are Bigger Than You Think

The scale of uncontrolled reentries dwarfs what most people assume — and the pace is rising.

ESA’s 2025 Space Environment Report counts more than three intact-object reentries per day, adding up to roughly 100 to 120 metric tons of uncontrolled hardware entering the atmosphere annually, per ESA conference analysis. Between 2019 and 2024, an average of 289 sizable objects reentered each year — five to six per week, according to ESA proceedings. Objects exceeding 500 kilograms fall uncontrolled about every eight days, while anything over five tons comes down approximately three times per year. Earth’s orbit currently holds an estimated 9,000-plus metric tons of tracked debris, per NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, and roughly 75 percent of all larger objects ever launched have already reentered, according to ESA.

With our current knowledge and state-of-the-art technology, we are not able to make very precise predictions. There will always be an uncertainty of a few hours in all predictions.” — Holger Krag, Head of ESA’s Space Debris Office

Those few hours matter enormously. A tumbling object covers thousands of kilometers in that window. Prediction models carry 20 to 30 percent mean relative error, per CNR-IRIS technical research. That uncertainty window translates to thousands of kilometers of unknown impact corridor — no app notification, no siren, no advance warning of any kind.

So Should You Actually Worry?

The individual risk is genuinely microscopic, but the structural gaps behind that reassuring number are worth understanding.

ESA estimates individual annual injury risk at under one in 100 billion. There are zero confirmed deaths or serious injuries across 50-plus years of reentries, per NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office. Most material burns up on descent. Earth is mostly ocean. Science Focus calculated that debris would miss humans 99.9998 percent of the time even under worst-case assumptions — odds that make a lightning strike look like a safe bet.

But there is a structural problem worth noting. NASA’s safety standard sets a one-in-10,000 casualty threshold per reentry event — yet that standard carries no international legal force. Hazard analyses suggest uncontrolled reentries likely breach that threshold weekly, often without national authorities even registering it. As mega-constellations like Starlink scale up and launch rates climb at a pace that outstrips current debris-mitigation frameworks, the gap between standard and practice quietly widens.

The individual risk stays microscopic. But with cleanup technology — nets, harpoons, drag-enhancement devices — still experimental, the real question isn’t whether debris falls. It’s whether anyone with authority acts before something lands where the cameras are.

August 6, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | space travel | Leave a comment

Stillborn Peace Plans: Israel, Hamas and the Question of Disarmament

Another peace plan, celebrated by its proponents yet doomed to a stillborn reality.

5 August 2026 Dr Binoy Kampmark , https://theaimn.net/stillborn-peace-plans-israel-hamas-and-the-question-of-disarmament/

Another trumpeted achievement, another heralded occasion of momentous significance. Or it may be nothing of the sort. US President Donald J. Trump is again on the stage pulling on the strings of history. This time, attention has shifted to whether Hamas and other armed groups in the Gaza Strip will disarm, something conditional on Israel withdrawing its forces from the war-torn enclave. And there, we are presented with the first, insoluble problem.

The latest roadmap published by the US-led Board of Peace is intended to advance the rest of Trump’s 20-point peace plan signed by Hamas and Israel in October 2025. It involves the respective cessation by Israel, Hamas and relevant Palestinian factions of “all military operations in accordance with Sharm Sheikh Protocol and the Peace Plan.” According to Nickolay Mladenov, chief envoy of the Board, “intense efforts” involving Egypt, Türkiye, Qatar and the US had been brought to bear on “the Palestinian factions in Gaza to agree to a Roadmap on the full implementation of President Trump’s plan, to hand over civilian governance and to decommission their weapons.”

Once approved by the parties, a timetable and the implementation phase will be prepared within a fortnight, to be extended as necessary by the International Verification Committee (IVC). On completion, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) is to enter the Strip to assume its responsibilities. According to the plan, Hamas and the other factions are to yield control over civilian governance and security in Gaza to the National Committee in accordance with Trump’s Comprehensive Peace Plan. The NCAG is to “enjoy full independence in carrying out its responsibilities and the factions shall not interfere in NCAG affairs during the transitional period, in accordance with UNS Resolution 2803 (2025).”

The NCAG is also tasked with pursuing “a comprehensive audit of the financial and administrative affairs in Gaza, and protect, recover and administer public assets and resources.” Claims from suppliers, contractors and other parties, up to a total of US$400 million, will be assessed by the Committee, with unresolved financial rights, liabilities or claims addressed “within the context of a wider national process later.”

The Committee will apparently operate “according to the principle of One Authority, One Law, One Weapon,” though the plan, without giving much by way of detail, is clear that “Palestinian laws, relevant international standards and the principles of good governance” shall apply. Police personnel shall be added to “existing police structures” and “undergo a comprehensive vetting.” Those not cutting the mustard can still find themselves in civilian employment “consistent with their earlier experience or retire in accordance with Palestinian law. None of those shall be deprived of their financial rights, particularly due to financial affiliation.”

Once the remaining commitments of the Sharm Sheikh Protocol are completed, along with the entry of NCAG and the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), decommissioning and storing “heavy weapons, military production sites, depots of weapons, and tunnels” will take place, supervised by the authority “in a gradual, sequential and time-bound manner.” The proviso here is that Israel shall withdraw “in phases, from areas under its control in Gaza” as armed militias are decommissioned.

The weapons of the militias are to be decommissioned and stored under NCAG authority in accordance with a timetable. Foolishly, and unrealistically, the deal is weakened by the requirement that no one from those militias is to “be integrated in the security and police services.” Shadows of post-invasion Iraq in 2003, when the US-led forces engaged in an extravagant removal and purging of Baathist personnel, thereby leaving them ripe for future insurrection, are cast.

The ISF is to eventually be deployed in the Strip “to separate the Israeli forces from NCAG-controlled areas.” (At this point, that force will draw upon the reserves of Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania.) The force will not be in the business of policing “or missions related to the Palestinian society.” Its role, it would seem, is more one of monitoring compliance with the ceasefire, training the Palestinian police complement, and ensuring the protection and delivery of humanitarian aid and essential supplies into the Strip. NCAG is to be supported, at its request, in other non-policing missions. Israeli forces will then complete a phased withdrawal from the Strip in accordance with Trump’s peace plan, “which includes a commitment not to force anyone to leave the Strip.” From then on, NCAG will handle “internal security incidents.” At that stage, reconstruction of the enclave, to be supervised by the Board of Peace and NCAG, is to take place.

The plan, as with previous iterations on peace regarding Gaza, remains incurably brittle. Since last year’s October ceasefire, Palestinian deaths have risen to 73,000. (The number stood at 67,000 at the commencement of the ceasefire.) The slaughtering approach of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) towards those clinging to the Strip has been only slightly moderated. The IDF has also hungrily extended its control to almost 70% of the territory well beyond the Yellow Line stipulated by the ceasefire and destroyed, according to a BBC verify report published last November, upwards of 1,500 buildings.

On August 3, Mladenov met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in what he described as a “[l]ong day in Jerusalem.” This heralded “the start of the hard phase and I have never pretended otherwise.” From here on, the work would be “slow, grinding and technical.” During the course of conversations Mladenov is said to have requested a halt to attacks by Israel on the Strip, which he had lamented in a post the previous day. The weekend following the announcement of the roadmap saw the killing of 25 Palestinians and given the usual justifications: a strike on Deir-al-Balah which left four dead had targeted two Hamas commanders; the strikes on Gaza City and Jabalia had been against “military operatives.”

The Israeli attitude to the latest plans is one of profound and sabotaging scepticism. Doron Spielman, spokesperson for Netanyahu’s office, stated the position on August 2: “Our assessment is that if we redeploy before Hamas is truly disarmed, it will quickly expand its presence throughout Gaza, rebuild its terrorist infrastructure, once again threaten Israeli communities, and seek to carry another October 7-style attack.” In a statement from the same office released on July 30 is clear: the onus is entirely on Hamas to effectively will itself into impotence and subservience through disarming, “including the removal of the weaponry from Gaza and the complete demilitarization of the Strip as a condition for any process.”

Members of the Israeli cabinet are also pre-empting any move on the part of the ISF to move into Gaza. An August 3 letter from the patriotically rabid Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Settlements Minister Orit Strock demanded that Netanyahu convene the security cabinet to bar the entry of ISF troops. The roadmap from the Board of Peace was “dangerous to Israel and completely contradicts the disarming of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza.” The plan should be blocked, and the outline amended by the Peace Council “so that it aligns with the goals of the war and the commitments made to Israel.” Another peace plan, celebrated by its proponents yet doomed to a stillborn reality.

August 6, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Gaza, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Kamikaze Drone Slams Into Crowded Russian Black Sea Beach, Killing 3

by Tyler Durden, Monday, Aug 03, 2026 – https://www.zerohedge.com/military/kamikaze-drone-slams-crowded-russian-black-sea-beach-killing-3

The Russia-Ukraine war has dangerously spilled over into the Black Sea, with cargo ships, tankers, and oil and gas infrastructure being targeted by both sides. The sharp escalation in fighting across the region has also come at a cost to civilians.

Shocking video circulating on X Monday morning appears to show a Ukrainian suicide drone striking a crowded beach in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Gelendzhik.

Russian media outlet Interfax reports that three people were killed and more than a dozen injured “when a drone crashed in the village of Arkhipo-Osipovka near Gelendzhik.”

The outlet continued:

“A tragedy has occurred in Gelendzhik. Three people were killed in the village of Arkhipo-Osipovka due to falling UAV debris, according to preliminary information. (…) Another 13 people, including children, were injured. They are receiving necessary medical care,” Kondratyev wrote on his Max channel.

He noted that the attack targeted civilian infrastructure. Emergency and special services are working at the drone wreckage sites.

Audio from the footage appears to capture Russian air-defense forces firing on the incoming drone moments before it struck the crowded beach. It remains unclear whether civilians were deliberately targeted or whether the drone was damaged by automatic fire, causing it to deviate from its intended flight path.

August 6, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear station cleaning balls wash up on beaches

Tom BurgessNorth East and Cumbria, 3 Aug 26, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0l5kln078do

Dozens of bright blue balls used for cleaning a nuclear power plant have washed up on a beach.

Walker Neil Baldwin said more than 40 taprogge balls, which come from Hartlepool power station, were spread along the high tide mark along Redcar beaches.

He said he had seen them regularly during the 20 years he has lived near the beach and was worried about birds or dogs eating them.

EDF Energy, which runs the power station, did not address questions about possible faults in its system, instead the company claimed to have “significantly reduced the number of releases over the past 18 months”.

Taprogge balls are used to clean stretches of pipework and, occasionally, some are released into the environment, according to the company.

EDF said tide patterns can wash debris on to nearby beaches but it had received no reports of similar finds since April.

The firm did not confirm how many balls it had collected in the last year but did say the balls are biodegradable in seawater.

“I noticed a lot of them and I kept seeing more and more as I was walking,” he said.

“I looked for a bag to pick them up in and I found a plastic bottle which I filled on my walk back.”

Saltburn resident John Stevens said he “didn’t understand what they were” when he started litter picking 14 months ago.

“I understand they can cause an ingestion risk to marine wildlife and they contribute to coastal litter in the ocean,” he said.

“I find it ironic that they clean the power plant machines, but there is a potential they come out and mess up the sea life and beaches.”

EDF said anyone who finds taprogge balls should report the exact location to the company or the Environment Agency so debris can be removed.

August 6, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, UK | Leave a comment

France Shuts Off More Nuclear Power as Heat Builds Across Europe

Electricite de France SA shut
down the Golfech-2 nuclear reactor in southern France as a blistering heat
wave pushes temperatures toward 40C across parts of Europe. The Golfech
shutdown is the latest in a record number of heat-related outages across
France’s nuclear fleet this summer, curbing output from the backbone of
Europe’s electricity system. EDF has also warned that the Tricastin plant
could face production cuts overnight as soaring river temperatures
constrain reactor cooling.

Bloomberg 30th July 2026, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-30/france-shuts-off-more-nuclear-power-as-heat-builds-across-europe

August 5, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, France | Leave a comment

Canada built its nuclear industry to avoid foreign fuel. Its new SMR reactors will depend on it.

by relying on imported enriched uranium, Canada would give foreign governments the ability to disrupt its nuclear fuel supply during a political dispute.

Canada would need to enrich its own uranium to control the entire fuel chain, but such a facility would cost billions to build and require extensive security, regulation and international safeguards througout its life.

“It would be much more uneconomical for Canada to develop one just for this small modular reactor design.”

Ontario’s first small modular reactor will rely on enriched uranium from the U.S., France and Britain

Colin Butler · CBC News · Aug 02, 2026, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-nuclear-supply-chain-smr-darlington-uranium-enrichment-9.7289297

The first reactors in Canada’s planned nuclear expansion will depend on foreign suppliers — including the United States — to enrich and fabricate their fuel, even as Prime Minister Mark Carney argues Canadian sovereignty depends on the country’s ability to supply and control its own energy.

It marks a sharp departure from the Candu reactor system, which gave Canada — the world’s second-largest uranium producer — a largely domestic nuclear supply chain for more than half a century.

Ontario has begun building the first of four planned BWRX-300 small modular reactors, or SMRs, in Clarington, Ont., called the Darlington New Nuclear Project. The American-Japanese-designed light water reactor uses low-enriched uranium, unlike Canada’s Candus, which use fuel made domestically from natural uranium without enrichment.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG), the Crown corporation that operates provincially owned electrical utilities, expects the first BWRX-300 at Darlington to be connected to the grid by the end of 2030. The other three are planned for the mid-2030s.

Cameco, the Saskatoon-based uranium mining and nuclear fuel company, will mine uranium ore in Saskatchewan and convert it in Port Hope, Ont., before it is enriched in the United States. France’s Orano and Britain’s Urenco are also listed by OPG as a supplier of enriched uranium, and an American company will manufacture the finished fuel assemblies in the United States.

Against Candu’s founding logic

Experts say the shift reverses the founding logic in Canada’s nuclear program.

A 1993 Library of Parliament background paper said the reason Candu was created was “to design a reactor tailored to Canadian circumstances” that used natural uranium to avoid “the difficult and expensive process of enrichment or, alternatively, dependence on foreign sources of enriched uranium.”

By placing that step in foreign hands, experts say, the new reactors undermine claims of energy soverignty and expose Canada to long-term geopolitcal risk.

Mark Winfield, a professor at York University who studies sustainable energy, climate change and energy policy, said by relying on imported enriched uranium, Canada would give foreign governments the ability to disrupt its nuclear fuel supply during a political dispute.

“It turns the original rationale for the Candu program completely on its head,” he said. “The whole idea was, going back to the 1950s, that we would have an all-Canadian fuel supply chain that would not be the subject to those kinds of geopolitical risks.”

OPG said spreading the work among suppliers in the United States, Britain and Frnace creates a “robust and resilient supply chain,” but the company still leaves both enrichment and fabrication — the two steps Canada cannot perform for the BWRX-300 — in foreign hands.

Why Ontario went global

Speaking at a recent news conference in Nanticoke, Ont., provincial Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said the province chose a foreign reactor because no Canadian alternative was ready to generate electricity at the required scale.

“There is not a Canadian grid-scale, commercially viable small modular reactor technology to procure,” he said. “So we had to go global.”

He said Ontario chose the American-Japanese BWRX-300 because it was the most advanced option and offered the best chance to reduce the risks associated with building a first-of-its-kind reactor.

Canada does have a new domestic reactor under development, but it was not an alternative for Ontario’s SMR project. The Candu Monark is not an SMR and is currently under assessment by Canada’s nuclear regulator.

The decision to “go global,” as Lecce put it, leaves Ontario dependent on foreign enrichment, but Lecce said the province has reduced the risk by arranging access to suppliers in the United States, France and Britain.

SMRs would use ‘modest’ amount of fuel

Winfield said multiple enrichment suppliers reduce the risk of disruption, but do not eliminate it. Every enrichment facility is outside Canada, while the only company identified that would make the finished fuel assemblies is American.

“I think that’s still a risk. Particularly if the United States decides to use its supply of various uranium for geopolitical leverage, which is clearly not beyond the thinking of the Trump administration,” Winfield said.

Even with France and Britain as backup suppliers, Winfield said, it opens the door to “all kinds of vulnerabilities relative to an all-Canadian supply chain. You are at the mercy of whatever external geopolitical events may be occurring.”

The federal government says foreign enrichment doesn’t present a significant supply risk, especially in the short to medium-term.

In an email, Natural Resources Canada said the four planned Darlington SMRs will require “a very small amount” of enriched fuel, which is “modest” compared with the global market, but did not provide a quantity.

Why being first is ‘not a good thing’

While there are other SMRs active in China and Russia, the Darlington facility will be the first SMR in the G7.

“That’s not a good thing, in my opinion,” said M.V. Ramana, a University of British Columbia professor who studies nuclear energy and international security.

“Nuclear power is a very expensive way to generate electricity and the small modular reactor is even more expensive.”

Ramana said SMRs sacrifice the economies of scale available to larger reactors.

A 2014 study suggests they are more expensive per unit in generating capacity unless savings from shared infrastructure can offset the disadvantage, which is what OPG intends for its four-reactor Darlington site.

BWRX-300 designer GE Vernova says smaller reactors can overcome some of that cost disadvantage because they require less machinery than conventional reactors: water circulates through the reactor without powered pumps, while emergency cooling functions use gravity and natural circulation.

The company says this reduces the amount of equipment that must be manufactured, installed and maintained.

However, because Darlington is the design’s first deployment, those projected savings have not yet been demonstrated by a commercially operating unit.

Could Canada enrich its own uranium?

The only way for Canada to eliminate its reliance on foreign suppliers is by establishing its own uranium-enrichment industry.

Lecce said Ontario would be open to discussions, but he acknowledged the decision ultimately rests with the federal government.

Natural Resources Canada said Ottawa has made no decision on commercial enrichment but plans to create a “Nuclear Fuels Table” with the provinces and industry to examine future needs and opportunities.

Ontario is currently the only province committed to building SMRs, but Saskatchewan is advancing plans for the same BWRX-300 technology, while New Brunswick and Alberta are evaluating potential nuclear projects that could include SMRs.

Canada remains anti-nuke, but its potential path to the bomb is getting shorter

Ramana said Canada would need to enrich its own uranium to control the entire fuel chain, but such a facility would cost billions to build and require extensive security, regulation and international safeguards througout its life.

“In the enrichment business, again, there are economies of scale,” he said. “It would be much more uneconomical for Canada to develop one just for this small modular reactor design.”

Ramana added that the new reactors also create another long-term liability. Canada’s current $26-billion nuclear waste plan was calculated around fuel from the existing Candu reactor fleet.

New reactors could change both the volume and type of spent fuel requiring disposal, but Ramana noted there has been no cost estimate from Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization for adding the spent fuel from four BWRX-300s.

August 5, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, Uranium | Leave a comment

Israeli spyware firms are fueling the global surveillance state

The Grayzone, Aug 01, 2025, By ¡Do Not Panic! – July 31, 2025

The Pegasus hacking tool was just the beginning. A new survey of spyware firms reveals Israeli companies are being used by agencies in Western nations to build perfect dictatorships under democratic guise.

Last week another batch of peaceful pro-Palestine protestors were arrested by British police on suspicion of terrorism offenses, including a disabled man in a wheelchair, as the UK continues its descent into authoritarianism on behalf of Israel.

If any of these protestors had their phones on them at the time of arrest, the police will most likely have scraped them for data using sophisticated spy tech software. Protestors not arrested will have been caught on mobile cameras that sit atop police vans in the UK, and their faces, perhaps even their voices, will have been captured, analyzed and cross referenced against a police database.

And in a perverse twist, this spyware technology – technology which now underpins the insidious and growing capabilities of the modern surveillance state – will most likely have been made in Israel by Israeli spies.

But it’s not just in the UK.

Spy tech developed by former Israeli spies is being used on an industrial scale by various agencies in western democracies, from police forces to national security agencies to militaries. Some has been declared illegal, some skirts legal boundaries, and much remains hidden.

The scale of usage, and the range of capabilities provided by this Israeli spy tech, is vast. From face and voice recognition software, to interception and wiretap technology, to covert location tracking, to forced data extraction from smartphones and other devices.

The tech, built by software engineers who cut their teeth writing code to enable and enforce Israeli domination over, and apartheid against Palestinians, is being sold to security services, police forces and immigration agencies across the West.

While much of the information in this article isn’t new, it hasn’t been summarized in one place before. The implications for global civil liberties of Israel’s dominance in spy tech have also not been articulated, and past media coverage has sometimes omitted the Israeli link to these companies. This article will outline the primary players, the sellers and the buyers, and also identify recent contracts, previously undocumented, between Israeli spytech and Western buyers.

Scandals involving Israeli spyware companies have been well documented by mainstream media, the most famous of which was the NSO Group affair. NSO, an Israeli firm founded by ex-Unit 8200 officers Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie, was found guilty in a California court in 2019 of selling its Pegasus software to governments so they could hack WhatsApp accounts. Pegasus, which was able to execute what is known as a ‘zero-click’ attack to access a smartphone without the user knowing, was used by governments to spy on dissidents, human rights activists and journalists and was likely used by Saudi agents to spy on Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi before he was murdered. The company was eventually ordered to pay $167 million in damages to Meta, who bought the case, and in 2021 Biden blacklisted the company, preventing it doing business the US. (The US state department, notably, went out of its way to say the US would take no action against Israel, despite the fact that the Israeli government provide export licenses for all spyware software).

Also blacklisted by Biden as part of the same executive order was another Israeli spyware maker called Candiru, whose hacking software did not attract the same high-profile attention as the NSO Group. Candiru, also founded by ex-Unit 8200 intelligence personnel, sold spyware to governments to spy on human rights activists, journalists, academics, embassy workers, and dissidents.

In 2023, the Biden administration again blacklisted two Israeli spyware companies with little fanfare, and once again without taking action against Israel. The two companies, Cytrox and Intellexa, were founded by Tal Dilian, who spent 24 years in the IDF, rising to become chief commander of Unit 8200. In 2019, Dilian, who lives in Cyprus, was visited by a Forbes journalist, where he demonstrated how his software could remotely hack a phone within seconds.

In Europe, Cyprus and Barcelona have become hubs for ex-Unit 8200 Israelis building spyware companies.

Another Israeli spy firm, Paragon Solutions, was identified earlier this year as silently infiltrating and extract data from WhatsApp, Signal, Messenger and Gmail without needing user interaction. A criminal complaint against Paragon was filed in Rome after an Italian journalist was hacked by the Italian government using Paragon software. No other legal action has been taken, however. The company, founded by Unit 8200 commanders Ehud Schneorson, Idan Nurick, Igor Bogudlov, and advised by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, has not been blacklisted by the EU or the US and remains free to operate.

These companies are just the tip of the iceberg, the names that skirted legal grey areas and either eventually fell on the wrong side of the law (such as it is) and into the scope of the authorities, or whose illicit spying activities were discovered.

Even more insidious are the Israeli spyware companies openly contracting with Western security services and agencies to spy on and crack mobile phones and other devices. Because these companies work with lawful state agencies, they claim to have a different model than the NSO Group, Candiru and others focused on illicit hacking services. Yet in many cases their software is similar if not identical, and the full scope of their activities is unknown.

Lead among these is Cellebrite, founded by ex-IDF soldier Yossi Carmil and staffed with dozens of ex-Unit 8200 Israeli intelligence personnel…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Israel’s permanent war and apartheid economy, and the spy tech firms run by Israeli intelligence operatives that emerge from this economy, are the single biggest threat to civil liberties in the world today. And it’s no surprise that Israel has cornered this market. Israel churns out individuals and projects directed for dominance because Israelis are raised in and surrounded by a military culture of impunity. A culture where technology is created only to dominate, test subjects are abundant and rules of engagement non-existent.

In buying and relying on the tools of an apartheid state for security and law enforcement technology, we see how Israel’s apartheid and genocide itself becomes indispensable to Western governments in their drive towards complete security states. https://thegrayzone.substack.com/p/israeli-spyware-firms-are-fueling

August 5, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Israel, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

How Trump’s Saudi deal could spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East

Riyadh has previously said it will only seek to acquire a nuclear weapon if its rival Iran develops one. With Trump’s war failing to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme, experts tell Suha Kidwai the new agreement could plunge the region into further instability

1 Aug 2026, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/trump-saudi-deal-nuclear-arms-race-middle-east-b3022889.html

In 2018, Mohammad bin Salman was asked whether Saudi Arabia would ever develop a nuclear weapon.

“We do not want to develop a nuclear bomb. But without doubt, if Iran developed one we would follow suit as soon as possible,” he told CBS, in an interview that sparked alarm across the Middle East.

Eight years later, Saudi Arabia announced a historic deal with President Donald Trump to use American technology and expertise to develop a civilian nuclear programme.

It arrived five months after Washington and Israel began a military campaign against Iran, with the stated aim of destroying any chance of Tehran developing a nuclear bomb.

More than a week after announcing the deal though, its future is uncertain with Trump declaring that Saudi Arabia must recognise Israel in return.

An expert told The Independent that the agreement sets a “dangerous precedent” in the Middle East and may potentially set off a nuclear arms race in any already volatile region.

What does the deal involve?

The agreement allows for American companies to develop and operate commercial nuclear power plants on Saudi soil, and potentially includes grounds for a uranium-enrichment facility.

For Saudi Arabia, the agreement follows two decades of stop-start negotiations. Progress has been hampered by two key American demands: the normalisation of relations with Israel and a safeguard against enrichment for nuclear weapons.

While details on the agreement have not yet been made public, The Washington Post reported that the text did not mandate International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection, and also dropped the precondition that the Kingdom recognise Israel.

But just 24 hours after the deal was signed, Trump appeared to backtrack – insisting that the deal remains “totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords”, which established formal diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab nations. It remains unclear whether the Kingdom will accept Trump’s demand.

Deal sets a ‘dangerous precedent’

Georgia Cole, an associate at Chatham House’s International Security Programme, said the deal sets a “really dangerous precedent” in the region regardless of whether it goes through.

“The conflicts across the Middle East have raised so many questions about the reliability of US security guarantees,” she told The Independent.

“In spite of assurances they have had in the past, Gulf states have seen themselves targeted, repeatedly — and it’s placed pressure on them to boost their own defence capabilities.”

Because of this, Saudi’s attempts to procure a potential path towards nuclear weapons will act as an “additional pressure” that could encourage other states to look towards developing their own nuclear infrastructure, Ms Cole added.

As the conflict with Iran continues to escalate, countries across the Middle East have already looked to build up their defence systems. Below, The Independent looks at the nuclear ambition of each one.

Saudi Arabia

While Saudi Arabia has been open about its willingness to secure a nuclear deterrent, previous attempts to do so have proven unsuccessful.

In 2023, the Kingdom signed a Chinese-brokered rapprochement with Iran that saw both countries agree to re-establish diplomatic relations. But this has done little to shield Saudi from Iranian missile attacks over the past few months.

In September 2025, the Kingdom signed a mutual defence pact with Pakistan, the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region’s only confirmed nuclear power.

The agreement provides the Kingdom with a nuclear umbrella, where “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.”

But in seeking the US deal, Riyadh appears not to be assured that Islamabad can offer the protection it needs – in part due to political chaos in the country, where no prime minister has ever completed their term.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Following the announcement of the Saudi-Pakistan deal, the UAE turned to India — where both countries agreed to explore cooperation in “advanced nuclear technologies” in January.

While this partnership has been framed as strictly for civilian use, it has raised concerns for Saudi Arabia, as both nations continue to battle in a devastating proxy-war in Sudan.

In further attempts to diversify their security partners, the UAE signed a memorandum of understanding worth more than $35 billion with South Korea. The deal deepens defence cooperation across air defence, naval systems and the air force.

Israel

Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons but officially maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity.

The Arms Control Association, a US-based think tank, estimates Israel’s nuclear stockpile ranges from 90 to 400 warheads

Speaking to The Independent, Ms Cole said: “We’ve known Israel has had a nuclear programme for decades

“It is a big factor contributing to pushing up pressures in the region.”

Iran

While Iran is believed to have had the capacity to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels, US-Israel strikes across nuclear research facilities in the country last June are thought to have significantly damaged any progress.

However, nuclear enrichment is suspected to have continued on Pickaxe Island, which lies on the south side of Iran‘s Natanz nuclear enrichment site.

These reports remain unconfirmed, as the United Nations‘ nuclear watchdog has never gained access to the site.

Experts however, maintain that geopolitical tensions have ensured Iran remains bent on achieving the ability to create nuclear weapons.

Ms Cole explained: “For Iran, Israel being a nuclear power is one of the biggest capability differences — and does definitely influence Iran’s own desires for nuclear capacity.”

Deal could create a ‘domino effect’

Together, experts say these moves reflect broader regional efforts to diversify security in the face of dwindling American guarantees.

After a fragile peace deal collapsed earlier this month, attacks on US allies in the Middle East have resumed. This week, Iran attacked Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain.

“It’s almost a domino-effect,” said Ms. Cole. “And this nuclear partnership raises a real concern — more countries want to be in a hedging position, where they could defend themselves.”

However, enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels requires years of technical development.

August 5, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, Saudi Arabia | Leave a comment

Danube’s record low levels force shutdown of Hungary’s only nuclear plant

Laura Gozziand, Paul Kirby,Europe digital editor, 30 July 26, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0nqv05g0do

Hungary’s only nuclear power plant will be forced to shut down entirely for the first time due to record low water levels of the River Danube, Prime Minister Péter Magyar has said.

The Soviet-era Paks power plant uses the Danube for cooling but the water level is so low that the suction nozzles cannot reach it.

Magyar warned Hungary’s energy supply could become “critical” from Monday due to the Paks shutdown and the ongoing heatwave, which will see temperatures hover around 37C for a week.

Like much of Europe, Hungary has seen very low rainfall and high temperatures for much of the summer.

The waters of the Danube have fallen to the lowest levels for 30 years in several countries, including neighbouring Serbia and Romania.

Magyar asked Hungarians to limit activities that required significant energy consumption between the peak times of 17:00 and 22:00, including charging electric cars and using air conditioning equipment.

A “rotational shutdown regime” was also possible if the other combined efforts were not enough to maintain the balance of the national grid, Magyar said, adding the government would compile a list of electricity and water consumers whose consumption could be limited.

August 5, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, EUROPE | Leave a comment

Nuclear Watchdog Sues for Plutonium Pit Production “Special Study”

Jay Coghlan, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, 4 Aug 26, https://nukewatch.org/nuclear-weapons-watchdog-complaint-nnsa-pit-production-special-study

Santa Fe, NM – Nuclear Watch New Mexico has sued the Department of Energy under the Freedom of Information Act for its Special Study of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Leadership and Management of the Plutonium Pit Production Mission. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is the semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency within DOE.

Plutonium “pits” are the radioactive cores or “triggers” of nuclear weapons. Their
expanded manufacturing has been the chokepoint of resumed industrial-scale nuclear
weapons production by the U.S. Crucially, no future pit production is to maintain the
safety and reliability of the existing stockpile. Instead, it is all for new-design nuclear
weapons for the new arms race. These new weapons can’t be tested because of the
existing global testing moratorium, thereby perhaps degrading confidence in the
stockpile. Or new-design nuclear weapons testing could prompt the U.S. to resume
testing, which would have severe international proliferation consequences.
Plutonium pit production is the NNSA’s most expensive and complex program to date.
However, the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) has repeatedly
stated that the agency has no credible costs estimates and no “Integrated Master
Schedule” for simultaneous production at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
in northern New Mexico and the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. In fact,
DOE and NNSA have been on the GAO’s “High Risk List” for project mismanagement
and waste of taxpayers’ dollars since 1991. At more than $30 billion, the plutonium pit
plant at SRS is on track to become the most expensive building in U.S. history. A
comparable amount will be spent at LANL on facility upgrades and related projects, for
which the NNSA fails to keep total aggregated costs.

Even the Department of Energy recognizes how deeply troubled NNSA’s plutonium pit
production program is. In August 2025 DOE Deputy Secretary James Danly ordered the
“Special Study” completed within 120 days (i.e., mid-December 2025). On December 16,
2025, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. John Garamendi, both members of the Armed
Services Committees, unsuccessfully demanded the Special Study.
Nuclear Watch New Mexico filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the Special
Study on December 22, 2025. Having received no substantive response, in April 2026 we
requested expedited processing because of an open public comment period for a Pit
Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (that we had to sue NNSA for
to begin with). Having received no further response from DOE we have therefore filed
this litigation in the Washington, DC federal court.

Nuclear Watch New Mexico’s counsel is Jules Zacher, who has successfully represented
us in two previous FOIA lawsuits. Apart from his legal practice, Mr. Zacher is also
chairman of the Board of Directors of the Council for a Livable World, founder of
Citizens for Transparency and on the Executive Board of the Center for Ethics and Rule
of Law at the University of Pennsylvania. He commented, “This Special Study has not
been classified to my knowledge and was completed before the end of 2025. The
American taxpayer deserves to see it. It’s an exorbitant amount of money he and she is
being asked to bear for a deeply troubled and provocative program.”
Jay Coghlan, Director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, added, “There is a massive
coverup by DOE and NNSA over their plutonium pit production program. To grease
expanded nuclear weapons production, they have rescinded nuclear safety regulations,
illegally restricted the access of the independent Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board,
and are withholding crucial documents from the American taxpayer. We hope this
lawsuit will help to bring NNSA’s plutonium house of cards tumbling down.”

August 5, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - plutonium, Legal, USA | Leave a comment

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