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In a letter to President Joe Biden and top members of his administration, Veterans For Peace asserts that U.S. law requires the cutoff of all weapons shipments to Israel

The national organization Veterans For Peace is demanding that the Biden administration abide by U.S. law regarding the illegal possession of unregulated nuclear weapons and halt all military aid to Israel.

In a letter to President Joe Biden and top members of his administration, Veterans For Peace asserts that U.S. law requires the cutoff of all military aid to Israel because it possesses nuclear weapons in noncompliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Israel does not admit it possesses nuclear weapons, has not signed the NPT, and does not allow inspections of its nuclear arsenal.

The letter lists multiple credible reports that Israel has possessed nuclear weapons for decades. Because Israel has not signed the NPT, the Symington-Glenn Amendments to the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976, which allow no presidential discretion, require the suspension of all military aid.

The United States may not be able to directly control Israel’s nuclear weapons program, but it surely can—and must—curb the invasion of the Gaza Strip and Israel’s intensifying conflicts with its neighbors.

The president may not waive the cutoff of the aid and exports under the Glenn Amendment where there has been a nuclear weapons detonation, or the offending state has received a nuclear explosive device. Congress would have to enact new legislation authorizing the president to waive some or all of these sanctions.

“The law is quite simple,” said VFP National Director Mike Ferner. “Does Israel have an unregulated nuclear weapons arsenal? Yes, it does. Is Israel a signatory to the NPT? No, it isn’t. So, the question to Biden is, ‘Will you obey the law or continue to let the Madmen Arsonists run America?’”

The well-referenced 11-page letter was researched and written by VFP member Terry Lodge, an activist lawyer who specializes in nuclear issues. It makes for a fascinating read, detailing Israel’s many illegal actions to acquire nuclear weapons materials, and Henry Kissinger’s approval of Israel’s “strategic ambiguity.” Israel has never officially admitted it possesses nuclear weapons, but “everybody knows.” In November, an Israeli cabinet member actually suggested dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza.

The letter also references former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s hacked email (“The boys in Tehran know Israel has 200, all targeted on Tehran, and we have thousands.’’). Colin Powell’s assertion that Iran’s capital Tehran has long been targeted by Israel’s nuclear weapons is especially chilling at this moment, when Israel has provoked an armed conflict with Iran and may be trying to drag the U.S. into a wider war in the Middle East. Would Israel attack Iran with nuclear weapons?

All U.S. Military Aid to Israel Must Be Ended Immediately

In a letter to President Joe Biden and top members of his administration, Veterans For Peace asserts that U.S. law requires the cutoff of all military aid to Israel because it possesses nuclear weapons in noncompliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Israel does not admit it possesses nuclear weapons, has not signed the NPT, and does not allow inspections of its nuclear arsenal.

The letter lists multiple credible reports that Israel has possessed nuclear weapons for decades. Because Israel has not signed the NPT, the Symington-Glenn Amendments to the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976, which allow no presidential discretion, require the suspension of all military aid.

The United States may not be able to directly control Israel’s nuclear weapons program, but it surely can—and must—curb the invasion of the Gaza Strip and Israel’s intensifying conflicts with its neighbors.

The president may not waive the cutoff of the aid and exports under the Glenn Amendment where there has been a nuclear weapons detonation, or the offending state has received a nuclear explosive device. Congress would have to enact new legislation authorizing the president to waive some or all of these sanctions.

“The law is quite simple,” said VFP National Director Mike Ferner. “Does Israel have an unregulated nuclear weapons arsenal? Yes, it does. Is Israel a signatory to the NPT? No, it isn’t. So, the question to Biden is, ‘Will you obey the law or continue to let the Madmen Arsonists run America?’”

The well-referenced 11-page letter was researched and written by VFP member Terry Lodge, an activist lawyer who specializes in nuclear issues. It makes for a fascinating read, detailing Israel’s many illegal actions to acquire nuclear weapons materials, and Henry Kissinger’s approval of Israel’s “strategic ambiguity.” Israel has never officially admitted it possesses nuclear weapons, but “everybody knows.” In November, an Israeli cabinet member actually suggested dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza.

The letter also references former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s hacked email (“The boys in Tehran know Israel has 200, all targeted on Tehran, and we have thousands.’’). Colin Powell’s assertion that Iran’s capital Tehran has long been targeted by Israel’s nuclear weapons is especially chilling at this moment, when Israel has provoked an armed conflict with Iran and may be trying to drag the U.S. into a wider war in the Middle East. Would Israel attack Iran with nuclear weapons?

All U.S. Military Aid to Israel Must Be Ended Immediately

Israel’s provocative approach to foreign relations before and since commencing the genocidal invasion of Gaza suggests that nuclear weapons might be used against both real and perceived existential threats to Israel. In May 2023, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assessed that Israel’s security problems come from Iran, and then in September, he insisted at the United Nations that “[A]bove all, Iran must face a credible nuclear threat.”

Presently, Israel has at least 90 warheads, and possibly as many as 200.Israel’s bombs are deliverable via aircraft, land-based ballistic missiles, and submarine-based cruise missiles. Israel’s Jericho III intercontinental ballistic missiles are capable of delivering a nuclear warhead from 4,000 miles away, which means that Iran, Pakistan (another NPT scofflaw non-weapons state believed to have nuclear weapons), and all of Russia west of the Urals—including Moscow—are within range of Israeli nuclear targeting, should Israel resort to The Bomb.

Israel is conducting an ongoing genocidal military campaign in the Gaza Strip against Palestinian civilians and the Hamas government, even as it bombs and fires artillery and rockets into Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. The United States may not be able to directly control Israel’s nuclear weapons program, but it surely can—and must—curb the invasion of the Gaza Strip and Israel’s intensifying conflicts with its neighbors. Given the overwhelming evidence that Israel has received many nuclear weapons from its military branch and has maintained that offensive nuclear capability for decades, federal law compels President Biden to immediately terminate all military assistance to Israel.

May 23, 2024 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

UKRAINE DARKNESS: Zelensky’s Mandate Expires Today – Streets Are Empty as Men Hide From New Conscription Law

Paul Serran, The Gateway Pundit, 2024-05-22 

And so we’ve come to the point of the war in Ukraine in which the west’s ‘Knight in Shining armor’, the ‘defender of democracy’ Volodymyr Zelensky has outrun his Constitutional Presidential mandate, and is now in power only by virtue of the martial law he enacted.

That is just the most dramatic of the absolutely disheartening (for Kiev) series of developments.

To begin with, a series of videos have surfaced showing how the streets of Ukraine now are deserted, with men hiding from conscription into the army – and somehow, everyone else seemed to have stayed at home, too.

Deserted streets as the new mobilization law came into force on May 18th.

In the context of the rapidly progressing Russian Federation forces, even deep-state aligned papers like WaPo feel compelled to report on the shitshow.

They are catching up to TGP’s report on the abnormal powers held by Zelensky’s top aide Andrey Yermak. So now, they’ve come as far as writing:

“If actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky’s top credential when he was elected in 2019 was that he’d played a president on TV, the top qualification of his all-powerful chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, was being Zelensky’s friend.”

Ouch. WaPo discusses how martial law, has concentrated extraordinary authority in the presidential administration, ‘making Yermak perhaps the most powerful chief of staff in the country’s history — virtually indistinguishable from his boss’.

Washington Post reported:

“Yermak’s closeness to the president — and evident influence over him — has drawn a barrage of accusations: that he has undemocratically consolidated power in the president’s office; overseen an unneeded purge of top officials, including commander in chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny; restricted access to Zelensky; and sought personal control over nearly every big wartime decision.

Now, however, the legitimacy of the president and his top adviser are about to face even bigger challenges as Zelensky’s five-year term officially expires on May 20. Ukraine’s constitution prohibits elections under martial law. But as Zelensky stays in office, he will be vulnerable to charges that he has used the war to erode democracy — seizing control over media, sidelining critics and rivals, and elevating Yermak, his unelected friend, above career civil servants and diplomats.”

Eminence grise Yermak controls which officials can travel abroad and when; has sidelined the Foreign Ministry; interfered in military decisions – and brokered key deals with the United States.

His brother Denys was caught on video using his family ties to sell positions in Zelensky’s administration.

WaPo woke up to the fact that the Defender of Democracy put all six major Ukrainian television stations to broadcast the same news content 24 hours a day, called ‘the United News Telemarathon’.

And, of course, as we spoke at the beginning, there’s the ‘small detail’: Zelensky’s mandate expires today.

“’The Russians will use this’, one longtime Ukrainian official said of Zelensky’s expiring term. To maintain legitimacy, Zelensky ‘must have trust’, this official said, speaking, as many others did for this article, on the condition of anonymity to preserve political relations and to avoid retribution.”

Zelensky’s legitimacy is a question to Moscow as well, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared.

Putin explained that Zelensky’s status has a bearing on any potential agreement between the countries.

RT reported:

“Speaking at a press conference while on a state visit in China on Friday, President Putin said the issue of Zelensky’s legitimacy is something that ‘Ukraine’s own political and legal system’ must address, ‘first of all the Constitutional Court’. He noted that the country’s constitution foresees ‘different variants’.…………………………………..https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/ukraine-darkness-zelenskys-mandate-expires-today-streets-are/

May 23, 2024 Posted by | politics, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Nuclear War Will Only Kill People Already Impacted By Nuclear Weapons. That’s Everyone.

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, May 18, 2024,

ore https://worldbeyondwar.org/nuclear-war-will-only-kill-people-already-impacted-by-nuclear-weapons-thats-everyone/—

World BEYOND War Board Member and Treasurer John Reuwer, a physician, supports downwinders impacted by nuclear weapons testing, demanding restitution from the U.S. government that has experimented on and lied to people for decades. John commented:

“I often think the two reasons most otherwise good people support war is they don’t count all the costs, and they don’t know the alternatives to protecting freedom and self determination. Here are indigenous peoples from numerous states across the country whose families and communities where seriously harmed by the Manhattan project and subsequent arms race, begging us to consider the cost imposed on them. These leaders have devoted their lives to educating America and Congress about the harm (an uncounted cost of the arms race) and asking for expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. It was an honor to support them. I recommend this movie they made to understand some of their situation: First We Bombed New Mexico.”

Another movie that many will find enlightening is SILENT FALLOUT. Beginning in 1951, the U.S. government used numerous nuclear weapons on Nevada, and told everyone it was safe, including all the people in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and the rest of the United States and world — the places reached by the fallout. Tourists went to Las Vegas for the fun of watching mushroom clouds. And cancer spread. People developed cancer at very high rates.

It’s not in this film, but a film crew shooting a Hollywood movie glorifying war, died off in high percentage from cancer after filming in the heavy fallout area. One of the dead was John Wayne.

Enormous craters remain in the desert — and in our knowledge. The U.S. government knew at least by 1952 that radioactive material was reaching every corner of the mainland United States, but who knows that in 2024?

Louise Reiss, a physician in Saint Louis, led a group of scientists who collected baby teeth — and accusations from Congress of being “communists” — and showed the extent of the fallout, influencing President John Kennedy to make an agreement with the Soviet Union to end atmospheric tests by both nations. Women went on strike from housework in 60 cities, which may have helped tip the balance.

More recent tests of honey show that radioactive material is still present across the United States, but most of it not from tests in Nevada, most of it from larger U.S. and UK tests in the Pacific and from Russian tests in Russia.

The U.S. and Russian and other governments have already nuked the United States and the world. Probably nobody is free of nuclear weapons radiation — or plastics or PFOA. Who knows, perhaps someday some scientists will figure out a link between what all these poisons do to the brains of Congress Members and the policies that have allowed the poisoning to contiinue.

But the damage done by nuclear weapons tests is nothing compared to the damage that would be done within minutes of someone starting a nuclear war. Annie Jcobsen’s new book, Nuclear War: A Scenario, has a few glaring doozies scattered through it, from a false and dangerous opening quote by Winston Churchill to falsely claiming that nuclear weapons ended World War II, to explaining that “deterrence” involves nations vowing “never to use nuclear weapons unless they are forced to use them” — which relevant nations, the United States and Russia, have actually never vowed. It also fantasizes North Korea starting a nuclear war, which may be the least likely scenario. But what it does usefully is lay out a timeline in seconds and minutes of how anyone using one nuclear weapon would within about half an hour or so doom most or all human life and most other life on Earth.

Reading through that timeline, one is struck by how seriously the lunatic nuclear machine takes itself (and how different it looks in that truest documentary Dr. Strangelove), how many billions of dollars are endlessly and immorally wasted on each gear in the machine, and how at no point in time does it every make the slightest sense to launch more nuclear weapons — not when you’re suspecting someone else has launched them and not when you’re sure. Launching them doesn’t stand a chance of deterring some future war by proving you meant your threats. There is no future war. There is no future anything. The choices with nuclear weapons are a never-use-them policy or lunacy.

We can also observe, as instiutional lunacy gasps its last and we with it, that the mountain bunkers to keep government officials alive are — at most — for fewer people than you can count on one hand, and how nuclear energy facilities serve as self-facing weapons.

There’s also a new series on Netflix called Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War, which may be so bad that it does more harm than good, even though it has many good moments, including those with Daniel Ellsberg speaking — whose book The Doomsday Machine is probably the single best one to read on the nuclear threat. I also think it important to read a book on the multitude of near misses — the many times we’ve already almost all died: Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety.

In general I think the proliferation of even deeply flawed books and movies is all to the good. Different people will read different books. Most people, who read nothing, will hear from a friend whose cousin saw an interview of an author on Youtube. Slowly, perhaps, people will grasp that the cold war never ended, that the danger is greater than ever before, and that there is no such thing as using one nuclear weapon and not using them all.

What can be done? Get rid of the underground bunkers and deal with the fact that we’re all in this together. Get rid of the policy of “launch on warning” as promised and reneged on by Bush, Obama, and Biden. Get rid of land-based ICBMs as redundant on lunacy’s own lunatic terms, and dangerous as hell over here in reality. Get the U.S. nukes out of Europe, as they serve — in both realty and in Jacobsen’s scenario — exclusively to make Europe a target. And — perhaps most importantly — stop believing absurd war lies, especially about Ukraine but also every other war, lies that blame only one side, depict it as subhuman, and pretend nonviolent solutions are not readily available for every crisis from Congress Members insulting each others’ faces to militaries invading and occupying nations.

May 22, 2024 Posted by | media, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Think before you click – and three other ways to reduce your digital carbon footprint

The invisible downside to our online lives is the data stored at giant energy-guzzling datacentre

Koren Helbig,  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/18/how-to-reduce-digital-carbon-footprint-energy-consumption


Think before you click – and three other ways to reduce your digital carbon footprint

The invisible downside to our online lives is the data stored at giant energy-guzzling datacentres

Supported by

The Guardian civic journalism trust

About this content

Koren HelbigSat 18 May 2024 01.00 AESTShare226

It’s been called “the largest coal-powered machine on Earth” – and most of us use it countless times a day.

The internet and its associated digital industry are estimated to produce about the same emissions annually as aviation. But we barely think about pollution while snapping 16 duplicate photos of our pets, which are immediately uploaded to the cloud.

This is the invisible downside to our online lives: the data we produce is stored and processed in giant energy-guzzling datacentres dotted all over the world.

Over the past year I’ve delved into digital waste and learned key ways we can lower our digital carbon footprints.

1. Think before you click

Every document, photo and email – even every “like” or comment on social media – travels through multiple electricity-hungry layers of internet infrastructure, including computer servers housed in mindbogglingly large datacentres.

“The biggest datacentre on the planet … south of Beijing … has a surface area of 600,000 square metres, the equivalent of 110 football pitches,” writes the French journalist Guillaume Pitron in his 2021 book, The Dark Cloud: How the Digital World Is Costing the Earth.

Processing data within these “factories of the digital age” creates heat as a waste product, requiring air conditioning or chilled water systems – largely powered by coal – to maintain stable temperatures.

I started with small changes to reduce my data use – unsubscribing from unwanted newsletters and deleting unused phone apps.

I also avoid firing up generative AI for simple answers – it uses an estimated four to five times the energy of a conventional web search.


2. Clear the virtual clutter

Most of us hoard thousands of old or unread emails and countless photo duplicates. Regularly deleting them can help reduce your digital footprint.

Many inboxes allow you to search via file size; I’ve made a habit of periodically searching “1MB or larger” and deleting any emails with sizeable attachments I no longer need. Searching via sender name allows you to bulk-delete hundreds of marketing emails in one satisfying click.

In my professional and personal lives I take hundreds of photos shot in RAW, a file format two to six times larger than JPG – so I’m diligent about deleting duplicates almost immediately.

Android and iPhone offer basic “free up space” bulk-delete functionality for photos and files. Or try the GetSorted app, which breaks photo clean-up tasks into achievable chunks.

3. Minimise cloud storage

By next year the digital industry is set to become the fourth-highest electricity consumer in the world, behind China, India and the US.

To reduce my reliance on energy-intensive cloud storage, I’ve gone analogue. I store all my photos and files on password-protected hard drives, which only use energy when plugged in. I back these up quarterly to two copies, one of which is stored at a friend’s place in case of fire or theft at mine.

This helps save money as I pay for just one cloud subscription – where I only store the files I’m working on.

That system may be a bit too clunky for most – so regular clean-ups of the files you are choosing to store on the cloud becomes more important.

4. Keep devices for as long as possible

While it’s tempting to continually upgrade to the latest gadget, new devices come at a hefty environmental cost. The manufacture of a smartphone, for example, accounts for about 80% of its lifetime carbon emissions, according to the UN Environment Programme.

So the longer we keep using a device, the better. Refurbished phones and computers are becoming more common, and IT community websites such as ifixit.com can help you repair products yourself.

Even clearing cyber clutter can help prolong your device’s lifespan, according to a Macquarie University human geography associate professor, Dr Jessica McLean.

“My computer was running slowly and my browser kept crashing,” she says. “It turned out I had a bunch of videos and big documents stored that were eating a lot of memory. We deleted them and my computer started working again.”

But McLean, who wrote a book about the high environmental impact of digital activity, warns that the burden of digital pollution can’t fall to individuals alone.

“We need to be part of a systemic structural shift,” she says. “And that means taking individual opportunities to intervene but also demanding and expecting our governments to better regulate corporations and shift to carbon-neutral options.”

May 22, 2024 Posted by | ENERGY | Leave a comment

University of Sheffield gets into the nuclear debt web, partnering with Rolls Royce to make “small” nuclear reactors

New facility will help de-risk and underpin the Rolls-Royce SMR programme

( De-Risking, is a strategy that companies apply when they cannot manage the money laundering risks that they have obligations to. )

Mirage News, 21 May 24

  • The University of Sheffield and Rolls-Royce SMR are setting up a multi-million pound manufacturing and testing facility in South Yorkshire
  • Based in the University of Sheffield AMRC’s Factory 2050, the new facility will produce prototype modules for small modular reactors (SMRs)
  • New facility will help de-risk and underpin the Rolls-Royce SMR programme that aims to deploy a fleet of factory-built nuclear power plants in the UK and across the world

…………………… The first phase, announced today, is worth £2.7 million and will be part of a wider £15+ million package of work that will further de-risk and underpin the Rolls-Royce SMR programme.

The new facility at the University of Sheffield AMRC will produce working prototypes of individual modules that will be assembled into Rolls-Royce SMR power plants.

The Rolls-Royce SMR programme is UK’s first home-grown nuclear technology for over a generation and today’s announcement is another vital step towards deploying a fleet of factory-built nuclear power plants in the UK and around the globe.

Victoria Scott, Rolls-Royce SMR’s Chief Manufacturing Engineer, said: “Our investment in setting up this facility and building prototype modules is another significant milestone for our business.

“Our factories will produce hundreds of prefabricated and pre-tested modules ready for assembly on site. This facility will allow us to refine our production, testing and digital approach to manufacturing – helping de-risk our programme and ensure we increase our delivery certainty.  https://www.miragenews.com/rolls-royce-smr-sheffield-uni-launch-new-1238675/

May 22, 2024 Posted by | business and costs, Education, UK | Leave a comment

Solar and wind generation will soon pass nuclear, hydro

In a new monthly column for pv magazine, the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) explains how solar and wind are dominating power plant construction.

MAY 20, 2024 INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY (ISES) Authors: Prof. Ricardo Rüther (UFSC), Prof. Andrew Blakers /ANU  https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/05/20/solar-and-wind-generation-will-soon-pass-nuclear-and-hydro/

Our ISES pv magazine column in April showed that the fastest energy change in history is continuing. In 2023, solar and wind together constituted 80% of global net power capacity additions. Growth in power capacity is followed by growth in annual energy generation.

Over the past decade, global solar generation has grown ninefold to reach 1,500 TWh per year while wind generation has tripled to 2300 TWh per year (Figure 1 on original). This corresponds to compound growth rates of 22% and 11% per year respectively. In contrast, hydro, nuclear and coal generation had growth rates of about 1% per year, and gas 3%.

The solar growth rate of 22% per year is equivalent to doubling every 3 years. At this growth rate, solar generation will reach 100,000 TWh per year in 2042 which is enough to fully decarbonize the global economy.

Nuclear has a global average capacity factor of 74%, followed by coal (50% to 70%), combined cycle gas (40% to 60%), wind (30% to 60%), large hydro (30% to 50%), and solar photovoltaics (12% to 25%).

Despite its relatively low capacity factor, solar generation is tracking to surpass nuclear generation in 2026, wind in 2027, hydro in 2028, gas in 2030 and coal in 2032.

Solar and wind are strongly dominating powerplant construction, whereas construction of all other generation technologies is both small and stagnant. Coal, gas and nuclear could be mostly gone by mid-century once retirements outpace new construction.

The leading countries for per capita solar and wind generation are all in Europe, except Australia (Figure 2 on original). Also shown in Figure 2 is global per capita generation from hydro and nuclear. Combined generation from solar and wind in the leading countries is now fourfold larger than the global average generation from hydro and nuclear combined.

Australia is a global pathfinder because, unlike in Europe, it cannot share electricity across national boundaries to reduce the effects of variable weather and demand. Australia must go it alone. Australia is convincingly demonstrating that change can happen quickly with good policies. Over the period 2020 to 2030, fossil generation is falling from 75% to 18%, while solar and wind generation is rising from 19% to 75%.

Brazil and Chile are middle income pathfinder countries, with about 81% and 60% respectively of electricity generation coming from hydro, wind and solar. Pathfinder countries are driven by a desire to reduce both electricity prices and emissions. There are few serious concerns about future grid stability because there will be sufficient investment in storage, transmission, and demand management.

May 22, 2024 Posted by | renewable | 1 Comment

Iran appoints nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri as interim foreign minister

First Post FP Staff • May 20, 2024

Following the horrific helicopter crash that killed Iran’s Foreign Minister and President, Ali Bagheri, the country’s seasoned nuclear negotiator, was named acting Foreign Minister on Monday.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the late foreign minister, had Bagheri, 56, as his deputy. He is well-known for his strong connections to Iran’s ultraconservatives and his membership in the inner circle of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Bagheri was known for his composed manner throughout his tenure, even though he took strong positions, especially when it came to denouncing intervention from the West.

Bagheri is well-versed in Iran’s nuclear dossier, a divisive topic that has soured relations between Tehran and major international players, notably Israel. He became a prominent opponent of the 2015 nuclear agreement, charging that Iran’s interests were compromised by the previous government…………………………………………….

With nuclear talks at a stalemate due to major differences, especially with the United States, Baghari’s nomination as interim foreign minister comes at a difficult moment.  https://www.firstpost.com/world/iran-appoints-nuclear-negotiator-ali-bagheri-as-interim-foreign-minister-13772964.html

May 22, 2024 Posted by | Iran, politics | Leave a comment

In Nuclear Crosshairs, Guam Still Doesn’t Control Its Own Affairs

… because its inhabitants are not fully considered Americans when it matters.

WORDS: APRIL ARNOLD, PICTURES: JAZMIN SMITH, MAY 20, 2024, https://inkstickmedia.com/in-nuclear-crosshairs-guam-still-doesnt-control-its-own-affairs/

At the core of Guam’s indigenous CHamoru culture are the concepts of inafa’maolek – inafa meaning “to make together” and maolek meaning “good.” It is the idea that something was once bad or broken and is in need of repair, and that repair comes from doing good together and restoring harmony. If there is one thing the CHamoru have known for nearly 500 years, it is how to make the best of broken circumstances. 

In recent years, Guam has found itself at the center of tensions between the United States and countries in the Pacific. As the tiny island sits on the frontlines of the competition for influence in the region, Guam has increasingly come under threat of being a prime target for nuclear attack by China or North Korea. 

In 2022, North Korea confirmed a test launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile that could reach Guam. In 2023, the country confirmed launching spy satellites that targeted military installations in Japan, on the US mainland and on Guam. Equally concerning was North Korea’s response that attempts to interfere with their satellites would be considered a declaration of war. In April 2024, North Korea conducted a test launch of another intermediate-range ballistic missile that could also reach Guam. 

“Guam Killer” 

As for China, during a military parade in September 2015, the Chinese government unveiled a new missile that quickly became known as the “Guam Killer.” Following the introduction of this new missile, the US-China Economic Security Commission published a 2016 report detailing China’s military expansion and its implications for Guam. 

Yet, despite the threat to the island, it still does not have a full say over many aspects of its strategic role in international affairs. Its citizens are not allowed to vote in US presidential elections, with straw polls showing that voting trends of the territory do not guarantee one political party leverage over the other. 

Nor does Guam have full representation in US Congress, limiting its ability to lobby for the island’s interests, despite being in harm’s way militarily and environmentally. As the US promotes democracy worldwide, it should start at home by affording Guam statehood. This, in turn, could help temper the aggression and rhetoric China and North Korea have directed at the island, giving the US an even stronger foothold in the region.

History of Foreign Rule

Guam has been under foreign rule since 1565 and foreign aggression since 1521 when Ferdinand Magellan landed on the island. As a strategic trade outpost for Spain for over 300 years, the CHamoru were forced to convert to Catholicism by the Jesuits and subservient to Spanish governance that ravaged the island’s natural resources and culture. In the book “Destiny’s Landfall,” author Robert F. Rogers detailed stories of the abuse the CHamoru people experienced at the hands of governors who had a recurring penchant for excessive greed and virile priests seeking to exact their purportedly divine authority. 

Then, as a concession of the Spanish-American War, Spain transferred Guam to the US under the Treaty of Paris of 1898. This was a controversial transaction at the time as Congress was amid the throes of the debate over Manifest Destiny and expansion into the Pacific.

Much to the surprise of the citizens of Guam, the transfer did not result in its incorporation into the country as a state, despite establishing a local democratic government to aid this effort. 

Military Oversight

Instead, the island was placed under the oversight of the Department of the Navy for 52 years, where military governance had absolute authority. As a result of the treaty, the US government faced a new hurdle of incorporating these newly-acquired territories.

Through a series of Supreme Court rulings known as the Insular Cases, the US decided that Guam among other islands such as Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines, would be considered territories without full citizenship rights.

Language from one of the Insular Cases, Downes vs. Bidwell, states, in part, the following about foreign territories: “If those possessions are inhabited by alien races, differing from us in religion, customs, laws, methods of taxation, and modes of thought, the administration of government and justice, according to Anglo-Saxon principles, may for a time be impossible.”

Taking Advantage 

In short, even though Guam had been under Catholic influence and rule for more than 300 years and had adopted many Catholic practices, it was not enough to be accepted into the US as more than an “alien race.”

Meanwhile, the US had begun taking full advantage of Guam’s position in the Pacific, constructing military bases starting in WWII. It wasn’t until 1950 that the Department of the Navy would transfer its oversight of Guam to the Department of the Interior, designating the island as an unincorporated territory through the Guam Organic Act. 

With the steady military buildup of US forces on Guam over the decades, the US would gain more influence in the Pacific while pushing CHamoru off their lands and creating waste management nightmares that now include two Superfund sites used to dispose of hazardous chemicals.

Military Buildup

Even as tensions have grown, military officials have called for increased investment in a missile defense capability on the island to counter China’s capabilities development and aggression in the region. This includes relocating 5,000 US Marines to Camp Blaz on Guam later in 2024, with some concerned over impacts to the local ecosystem and historical sites. 

Meanwhile, Guam continues to wrestle with the US government on waste management funding to clean up the Superfund site, Ordot Landfill. The landfill was formerly owned and used by the Department of the Navy during WWII, with some of its contents allegedly being toxic chemicals such as Agent Orange. Even upon returning the landfill to the island after Congress passed the Guam Organic Act in 1950, the Navy continued to use the dump until the 1970s. 

After its closure in 2011, Guam’s local government began clean-up efforts and filed a lawsuit under the Superfund Act to seek financial help from the US government on the $160 million estimated cost. A lower court ruled that Guam’s lawsuit surpassed the statute of limitations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. As one article states, “Shouldering the cost alone would be unduly difficult for the small island, as the bill exceeds the combined annual budget of its health, social services, police, fire, public works, solid waste and environmental departments.” 

In May 2021, the Supreme Court reversed the ruling, and in September 2023 the US government agreed to pay $48.9 million in cleanup costs that were incurred prior to Aug. 10, 2022. The remaining $110 million in costs will still have to be covered by Guam’s local government. 

Self-Determination

The conversation of Guam’s self-determination starts at the local level. Guam’s Commission on Decolonization was formed in 1997 to promote domestic education and outreach on the island’s options for self-determination. These options include statehood, free association, or independence. The first step in this process is the self-determination vote, where voters decide which of the decolonization options to pursue. Yet, efforts for a referendum have already run into issues at the federal level. 

Before conducting the vote, Guam’s government needs to decide who is included in the definition of self-determination, which it has already done. According to the commission’s website, the right of self-determination belongs to those who were colonized, with the definition of “native inhabitants of Guam,” referring to people who became US citizens through the 1950 Guam Organic Act, as well as their descendents. 

In 2020, the Supreme Court declined to review Guam’s appeal of a previous lower court ruling on conducting a nonbinding plebiscite to determine whether native inhabitants preferred statehood, free association, or independence because the vote was discriminatory on the grounds of race. 

In February 2024, Guam’s government began looking into better defining the term so that it meets expectations in local law and was not “considered again a ‘proxy for race’ and therefore unconstitutional.” 

On May 13, 2024, Guam’s Attorney General published an opinion that there was “no room” for Guam’s definition of the phrase that would be deemed constitutional. Instead, the AG recommended Guam’s Governor take other legal routes, such as lobbying Congress to recognize Guam’s unique history and work with the island to develop a path towards self-determination as well as petition support from the United Nations.

Reluctance 

Separately, politicians on Guam are also reluctant to pursue tribal classification for the CHamoru people, especially after the US federal government sued Guam over land trust issues. 

In 2017, Madeleine Bordallo, then the Guam delegate to the US House of Representatives, expressed concerns over the implications of enrolling the CHamoru as a tribe when the island would have to transfer ownership of the tribal lands to the federal government. 

Each of these issues has made it difficult for Guam to gain traction in pursuing any form of self-determination, let alone statehood. 

While it is unlikely that the majority of US elected officials would support anything other than statehood for Guam, leaving the island in a position that forces them to either lobby Congress for any self-determination support or solicit help from the United Nations could strain the relationship at a delicate time internationally. 

Path Forward

After a referendum favoring statehood, all that is required for Guam to become a state is a simple majority vote on a joint resolution in both houses of Congress and approval by the President. The biggest hurdle is often lobbying Congress for the votes. The CHamoru have had their land taken from them to support US military demands with little-to-no reconciliation efforts from the US government. 

Yet, the tiny island finds itself in the crosshairs of growing tensions between multiple nuclear weapons states, with barely a voice to hold the US government accountable for its actions. Many arms control and nonproliferation experts lament the lack of US public interest in the threat of nuclear war. Perhaps, it is because those most at risk are not fully considered Americans when it matters. If the US truly cares about ensuring democracy around the world, it should start at home. 

May 22, 2024 Posted by | OCEANIA, politics | Leave a comment

North Korea vows to boost nuclear posture after US subcritical nuke test

DPRK slams US for destabilizing global security through no-expolosion experiment, though expert downplays threat

NK News Jeongmin Kim , May 20, 2024

North Korea has condemned the U.S. for conducting a no-explosion nuclear experiment that it claims destabilizes global security, vowing to recalibrate its own nuclear deterrence measures in response.

The U.S. Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced last week that it conducted a “subcritical experiment at an underground facility in Nevada on May 14 to collect information about the reliability and effectiveness of American nuclear warheads.

“This is a dangerous act that renders the extremely worsening global security environment more unstable, having seriously negative impact on the strategic balance among major nuclear powers,” an unnamed spokesperson of North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Both the externally facing Korean Central News Agency and the domestic party daily Rodong Sinmun carried the statement.

The spokesperson called the U.S. the “world’s biggest nuclear weapons state” with a “strategic goal to militarily control other countries,” disqualifying it from discussing the threat of nuclear war. 

It is “nothing but rhetoric,” the statement continues before referencing the strategic assets that visited South Korea in the past couple of years, the U.S.-ROK Nuclear Consultative Group on discussing joint nuclear planning and the joint tabletop exercise slated for August on North Korean nuclear use scenarios. 

The latest test in Nevada has “added new tension to the military showdown among nuclear weapons states, fomenting the international nuclear arms race,” the statement reads, vowing to improve its nuclear defense posture against this threat.

However, Shin Seung-ki, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), told NK News that the U.S. test is not as threatening or new as North Korea described it. ………………………………………….

South Korean and U.S. authorities have said North Korea completed preparations for a seventh nuclear test around two years ago, but Pyongyang has not conducted one so far.   https://www.nknews.org/2024/05/north-korea-vows-to-boost-nuclear-posture-after-us-subcritical-nuke-test/

May 22, 2024 Posted by | North Korea, politics international | Leave a comment

North Korea says it forced to take measures to increase nuclear deterrence

20 May 2024, By Alimat Aliyeva,  https://www.azernews.az/region/226324.html
The subcritical nuclear test conducted by the United States at the Nevada test site leads to an escalation of the global nuclear arms race, and Pyongyang is forced to take the necessary measures in this regard, Azernews reports.

It notes that the test “creates new tensions in the military confrontation between nuclear states and accelerates the global nuclear arms race.”

“In no case should the influence of this nuclear test on the military security situation in the region of the Korean Peninsula be allowed. In order to prepare for the strategic instability that is being created in the region and globally due to the unilateral action of the United States, we are forced to take the necessary measures to increase universal readiness for nuclear deterrence within the framework of our sovereign right and possible options,” the representative of the department added.

It is not said exactly what measures can be taken, but it is noted that the DPRK will “consistently protect the security, rights and interests of the state “by these actions, as well as “prevent the creation of a strategic imbalance and a security vacuum in the region of the Korean Peninsula.”

May 22, 2024 Posted by | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

US-Saudi officials meet for security and nuclear deal

the Biden administration is offering a strategic deal on nuclear deal to the Saudis to assist a Saudi civilian nuclear program, as Iran has reached the weapons threshold under President Joe Biden’s watch.

May 20, 2024 , https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240520-us-saudi-officials-meet-for-security-and-nuclear-deal/

US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, and Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, met in Dhahran to discuss a range of issues, including normalisation of ties with Israel, Reuters reports.

According to the report, a Saudi statement on Sunday also said, “the semi-final version of the draft strategic agreements between the two countries, which are almost being finalised”, were discussed.

The report added that the Biden administration is offering a strategic deal on nuclear deal to the Saudis to assist a Saudi civilian nuclear program, as Iran has reached the weapons threshold under President Joe Biden’s watch.

The meeting also covered “what is being worked on between the two sides on the Palestinian issue to find a credible path towards a two-state solution”, as well as attempts to stop the war in Gaza and facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid there.

May 22, 2024 Posted by | politics international, Saudi Arabia, USA | Leave a comment

UN watchdog warns on nuclear trafficking

 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/20/un-watchdog-warns-on-nuclear-trafficking

The IAEA reports thousands of pieces of nuclear materiel have gone missing over last three decades.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has called for “vigilance” as it warned of thousands of instances of radioactive materials going missing.

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Incident and Trafficking database reported on Monday that 31 countries reported 168 incidents in which nuclear or other radioactive material was lost, stolen, improperly disposed of or otherwise neglected last year, “in line with historical averages”. The watchdog has recorded more than 4,200 thefts or other incidents over the past 30 years.

The IAEA noted that six of last year’s incidents were “likely related to trafficking or malicious use”, also known as Group I, representing a slight increase from 2022 but a drop from 2021.

The trafficking database covers three types of incidents where nuclear or radioactive material escaped regulatory control, with Group I being the most serious.

Incidents where trafficking or malicious use is unlikely or can be ruled out are known as Group II and those where any connection is unclear fall into Group III.

The trafficking database was set up to track the illicit trafficking of nuclear material, such as uranium and plutonium, which can be used in atom bombs, and radioactive material, such as isotopes used in hospital equipment.

The IAEA released its latest finding as it opened its fourth international conference on nuclear security, which will run until Friday in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Since 1993, the nuclear watchdog has recorded 4,243 incidents, 350 of them connected or likely to be connected to trafficking or malicious use.

“The reoccurrence of incidents confirms the need for vigilance and continuous improvement of the regulatory oversight to control, secure and properly dispose radioactive material,” said Elena Buglova, director of the IAEA’s nuclear security division.

The IAEA noted a decline in incidents involving nuclear material, such as uranium, plutonium and thorium.

May 22, 2024 Posted by | safety | Leave a comment

The nuclear lobby’s education invasion – masters of the weasel word.

Look it’s just one little word – or sort of two-bit word – “DE-RISK”.

I came across it today, and puzzled over it. T’was in a rapturous article about Sheffield University, launching a major new manufacturing and testing facility in South Yorkshire, in partnership with Rolls Royce.

“SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that are designed to be factory-built and transported to operational sites for installation. The technology is seen as a clean energy solution that is easier to deliver, scale and is more affordable than building new larger nuclear power stations. Each Rolls-Royce SMR could provide enough low-carbon electricity to power a million homes for more than 60 years.“

There were other words to ponder about – for example “The technology is seen as a clean energy solution” – seen by whom?

But I will stay with “de-risk”, because it’s a lovely word – chosen to impress, – and also to confuse and obfuscate the financial realities of the situation.

These are the meanings that I found

  • To de-risk to take steps to make (something) less risky or less likely to involve a financial loss.
  • De-Risking is a strategy that companies apply when they cannot manage the money laundering risks that they have obligations to.
  • De–risking. means mitigating the risks of doing business in high-risk environments through concessionary finance or investment guar- antees. 
  • The de-risking process involves a strategic assessment by companies to reduce exposure to high-risk activities in order to minimize compliance- and operations-related risks 

Well, to cut to the chase.

ECONOMICS. There is a wealth of information about the costs of small nuclear reactors (SMRs). Those in submarines are not suitable for electricity production. The only operating SMRs are in China (The HTR-PM) and Russia (The KLT-40S), and they’re not doing too well.

Meanwhile we have the fiasco of the NuScale SMR venture in the USA – . And with dozens of SMR designs on paper – none are even licensed let alone operative.

And here’s what that radical industrial journal Utility Dive has to say:

“Small modular reactors are at an economic disadvantage. The lower power output of these reactors, less than 300 MW per unit by definition as compared to the roughly 1,000 MW for the typical reactors that have been constructed for over four decades, means less revenue for the owning utility. But the cost of construction is not proportionately smaller. Engineers call this economies of scale. In terms of cost per unit (megawatt) of generation capacity, SMRs and the electricity they produce will be more expensive than power from large nuclear plants currently under construction. As the Lazard estimates show, these large plants are themselves not competitive with renewables.“

In Mirage News’ glowing regurgitation of nuclear hype for small nuclear reactors – not a word about their relatively more toxic radioactive wastes, not a word about their military and weapons, connection not a word about the long time scale, that makes them irrelevant to action on climate change.

But the military-industrial-nuclear-media-complex juggernaut rolls on – conning us with their weasel words – like “de-risk”.

May 21, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Assange Wins Right to Appeal on 1st Amendment Issue

The High Court in London ruled Monday that Julian Assange can appeal his extradition to the U.S. on the grounds that he is being denied his First Amendment rights. 

May 20, 2024, By Joe Lauria in London Consortium News,  https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/20/assange-wins-right-to-appeal-on-1a-issue/—

The High Court in London on Monday granted Julian Assange the right to appeal the order to extradite him to the United States on the grounds that the U.S. did not satisfy the court that it would allow Assange a First Amendment defense in a U.S. court. 

“We spent a lot of time listening to the United States putting lipstick on a pig, but the judges didn’t buy it,” Stella Assange told reporters outside the court building. “As a family we are relieved but how long can this go on? The United States should read the situation and drop the case now.”   

Assange has been imprisoned in London’s notorious Belmarsh Prison for more than five years on remand pending the outcome of his extradition.  He must now spend an untold number of more months in the maximum security prison awaiting the start of his appeal.

In that sense it was a bitter victory for Assange. He gets to stay in prison another year or more, Joe Biden doesn’t have to worry about a journalist showing up in chains in Alexandria, VA during a presidential campaign and of course Assange could lose his appeal and arrive in the U.S. at a more opportune time for Biden. 

In another sense, it was a victory for the supremacy of European law when it comes to free speech,

Background to Monday’s Action

The High Court in London on March 26 had ruled that Assange had three grounds to appeal, because 1). his extradition was incompatible with his free speech rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights; 2.) that he might be prejudiced because of his nationality (not being given 1st Amendment protection as a non-American) and 3). because he had inadequate protection against the death penalty. (Without such protection Britain cannot extradite him.).

Rather than proceed with the appeal on those three grounds, the High Court gave the U.S. the chance, fours years after the extradition process began, to promise it would not use the death penalty, and to guarantee his free speech rights. 

Because it is an executive branch decision, the U.S. was able to assure the British government that it would not seek the death penalty, and Assange’s lawyers on Monday said they did not contest that.  Left unexplained, however, was why the British home office waited four years to seek what is normally a routine assurance in an extradition case. 

The free speech issue was more complicated because a decision about Assange asserting a First Amendment defense at trial will be up to a U.S. federal court and not the Department of Justice. Therefore the DOJ could not issue such an assurance on the free speech issue.

That ultimately led the two judges, Justice Jeremy Johnson and Victoria Sharp, to allow Assange to launch a formal appeal of his extradition because of an apparent violation of British extradition law, based on the European Convention on Human Rights, that requires the receiving country to allow an extradited person the right to free speech. 

Johnson and Sharp did not buy the convoluted argument of James Lewis KC for the United States, on why the U.S. should get their hands on Assange despite being unable to guarantee his freedom of expression.

Edward Fitzgerald KC, and Mark Summers KC, barristers for Assange, easily picked apart three pieces of Lewis’ somewhat desperate presentation:

  • pointing out how Lewis had misled the court by saying the U.S. assurance would allow Assange to rely on the First Amendment, when in fact it says he can “seek to rely” on it;
  • how none of a slew of case law Lewis cited to supposedly bolster his argument actually dealt with a trial, which of course Assange will, if he goes to the U.S.;
  • that saying Chelsea Manning was not able to invoke First Amendment rights in defense of leaking classified defense information meant Assange shouldn’t either was “nonsense” because Manning was a government whistleblower who had signed non-disclosure agreements and Assange is a publisher. 

The judges apparently also rejected a drawn-out, arcane and overly lawyered argument from Lewis about the difference between citizenship and nationality that to most laymen was nearly incomprehensible. 

A Watershed Moment

“This was a watershed moment in this very long battle,” said WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn at an event following the hearing. “Today marked the beginning of the end of the persecution.  The signaling from the courts here in London was clear to the U.S. government: We don’t believe your guarantees, we don’t believe in your assurances.”

1st Amendment & Espionage Act

The First Amendment is at the core of the unconstitutionality of the Espionage Act, which makes no exception for a journalist to possess and disseminate defense information. 

The Assange case could lead to a constitutional challenge of it, said Marjorie Cohn, former president of the National Lawyers’ Guild. That may be one reason the Department of Justice does not want Assange to invoke the First Amendment in court. 

The U.S.-U.K. Extradition Act “bars extradition if an individual might be prejudiced due to his nationality and due to the centrality of the First Amendment to his defense,” Cohn told CN Live! last month.  “If he’s not permitted to rely on the First Amendment because of his status as a foreign national, he’ll thereby be prejudiced, potentially very greatly prejudiced by reason of his nationality.”

Assange contends that if he’s given First Amendment rights, “the prosecution will be stopped,” Cohn said. “The First Amendment is therefore of central importance to his defense.”

Cohn added: ‘If he has the right to free expression and freedom of speech, then what he did, what he’s accused of doing, would not violate the law.”

[See: 1st Amendment Authorized Assange’s Possession of Classified Data]

Though allowing First Amendment rights at trial would be ultimately a judge’s decision, and not the executive branch’s, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg, who is prosecuting Assange, has not only not indicated that he wouldn’t file a motion against it in court, but has said explicitly that non-U.S. citizens do not have First Amendment rights in the U.S. for acts committed abroad. 

A date has not yet been set for Assange’s appeal to begin.

May 21, 2024 Posted by | Legal, UK | Leave a comment

UK plans new nuclear plant in Scotland despite Scottish government opposition

the Scottish Parliament has the ability to block projects it opposes as planning powers are devolved.

17 MAY, 2024 BY THOMAS JOHNSON,  https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/uk-plans-new-nuclear-plant-in-scotland-despite-scottish-government-opposition-17-05-2024/

Recent parliamentary discussions have revealed the UK is exploring the possibility of constructing a new nuclear power plant in Scotland despite fierce opposition from the Scottish government.

The UK government secretary of state for Scotland Alister Jack revealed in a House of Lords committee meeting that discussions were taking place on siting a small modular reactor (SMR) north of the border and that it is part of UK-wide plan.

He said: “On the small nuclear reactors, I have asked the energy minister to plan for one in Scotland.

“I believe that in 2026 we’ll see a unionist regime again in Holyrood and they will move forward with that.”

He also made reference to the shortness of the “timescales in front of us”, which could either be regarding the breadth and speed required for the energy transition or to the looming General Election.

The subject was then brought up in Scottish Parliament’s first minister’s questions (FMQs) on Thursday 16 May.

During FMQs, Member of Scottish Parliament Rona Mackay asked: “Despite opposition from the democratically elected Scottish government, where Scotland does not need expensive nuclear power; we already have abundant natural energy resources, can the first minister advise whether the United Kingdom government has approached Scottish ministers about those apparent plans?

“Can he confirm that the Scottish government will oppose those plans and, instead, focus on Scotland’s substantial renewable energy potential?”

First minister John Swinney responded to say how he was appalled no mention of the discussions had been made to the Scottish government by the secretary of state for Scotland.

Swinney said: “I am often lectured in parliament about the importance of good intergovernmental relations. The secretary of state for Scotland has made no mention of the proposal to the Scottish government.

“That is utterly and completely incompatible with good intergovernmental working and is illustrative of the damaging and menacing behaviour of the secretary of state for Scotland.”

He continued: “The Scottish government will not support new nuclear power stations in Scotland.

“I was in Ardersier on Monday and the cabinet secretary for net zero and energy was in Nigg on Tuesday to support the announcements of formidable investments in Scotland’s renewable energy potential.

Those are massive investments that will bring jobs and opportunities to the Highlands and Islands and deliver green, clean energy for the people of Scotland. That is the government’s policy agenda, and we will have nothing to do with nuclear power.”

Nuclear in Scotland

Scotland already has a nuclear power plant, Torness in East Lothian, which is scheduled to be shut down by 2028, two years earlier than was planned when it was constructed.

Another nuclear power station located within the country, the Hunterston B plant in North Ayrshire, ceased operation in January 2022.

The UK has an ambition of generating a quarter of its electricity from nuclear power by 2050, which is to be delivered by new public body Great British Nuclear.

Currently, energy policy is run by the UK government but the Scottish Parliament has the ability to block projects it opposes as planning powers are devolved.

Department for energy security and net zero under secretary Andrew Bowie, said: “We can’t go beyond preliminary discussions because of the current Scottish government hampering us but if the planning block was lifted then we could make a site north of the border; one of the eight across the UK.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The Scottish government is absolutely clear in defence of the devolution settlement, and in our opposition to the building of new traditional nuclear fission energy plants in Scotland under current technologies.

“Small modular reactors, while innovative in construction and size, still generate electricity using nuclear fission and therefore the process presents the same environmental concerns as traditional nuclear power plants.

“We believe that significant growth in renewables, storage, hydrogen and carbon capture provides the best pathway to net zero by 2045 and will deliver secure, affordable and clean energy supplies for Scotland’s households, business and communities.”

May 21, 2024 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

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