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US Forces Japan to be upgraded to warfighting command

The shift will move operational control of Japan-based forces east from Hawaii and, officials say, deepen cooperation with the Japanese military.

TOKYO—The Pentagon will upgrade and expand its three-star command in Japan to handle operational control of U.S. forces based there, part of an effort to deepen ties between the U.S. and Japanese militaries and to streamline command and control of joint operations, senior defense officials told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday.

“Secretary Austin plans to announce that the United States intends to reconstitute U.S. Forces Japan as a Joint Force Headquarters, reporting to the commander of U.S. INDOPACOM,” said the senior official. The shift will give USFJ, which is “currently, primarily, an administrative command” more warfighting responsibilities. “They do day-to-day management of the alliance, but not operational command of forces. So it’ll be a significant difference for them.” 

The announcement comes as part of the Joint Statement of the Security Consultative Committee (“2+2”) committee meeting taking place in Tokyo between Austin, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and their Japanese counterparts.

The command will grow as it adds missions and responsibilities to its current alliance-management functions, the official said, “including some of the planning exercises and commanding of operations, and we’ll be doing those, as I mentioned, side-by-side with Japanese forces like never before.”

Many details of the new headquarters aren’t yet known and officials said that the approach will be phased, with many more discussions about how to implement yet to come. Among the decisions to be made is whether the expanded USFJ will have a command structure that integrates Japanese forces, the way U.S. Joint Forces Korea does for South Korean forces. 

“A major part of that phased approach will involve bilateral working groups with the U.S. side, led by INDOPACOM, to work through important implementation factors, including potential resourcing needs, infrastructure, personnel, authorities and ranks,” the official said.

The new Joint Force Headquarters will allow INDOPACOM officers and operators to have daily interactions with Japanese counterparts about how to plan exercises, operations, and how to act on shared intelligence and information, the official said. ……………………..more https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2024/07/us-forces-japan-be-upgraded-warfighting-command/398386/

July 31, 2024 Posted by | Japan, politics international, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Huge wildfire rips into California

Thousands of firefighters battling a huge wildfire in northern California
received some help from the weather hours after it exploded in size,
scorching an area greater than the size of Los Angeles. The blaze was one
of several tearing through the western United States and Canada, powered by
wind and heat.

Telegraph 28th July 2024

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/07/27/america-canada-california-huge-wildfires-human-caused/

July 31, 2024 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Greasing Palms: The Thales Blueprint for Corruption

July 30, 2024, by: Dr Binoy Kampmark,  https://theaimn.com/greasing-palms-the-thales-blueprint-for-corruption/

It is a point verging on the trite: an arms corporation suspected of engaging in corrupt practices, spoiling dignitaries and officials and undermining the body politic. But one such corporation is France’s Thales defence group, which saw raids on their offices in France, the Netherlands and Spain on June 26 and June 28. The prosecutors are keen to pursue charges ranging from standard corruption and attempts to influence foreign officials to instances of criminal association and money laundering.

It is clear in this that even the French republic, despite having a narcotics grade addiction to the international arms industry, thought that Thales might have gone just that bit far. Some 65 investigators from the Nanterre-based office responsible for battling corruption, financial and fiscal offences have been thrown into the operation. A further twelve magistrates from the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), with the assistance of the European agency Eurojust, aided by Dutch and Spanish officials, have all been involved in this sprawling enterprise.

The police raids arise from two separate investigations. The first, starting at the end of 2016, involved suspicions of corruption pertaining to a foreign official, criminal association and money laundering. The topics of interest: the sale of submarines to Brazil, along with the construction of a naval base.

The second commenced in June 2023, with claims of suspected corruption and influence peddling, criminal conspiracy and money laundering connected with the supply of military and civilian equipment to overseas clients.

Giving little by way of details, a spokesperson for Thales insisted that the corporation “strictly complies with national and international regulations.” It had “developed and implemented a global compliance program that meets with the highest industry standards.” That, it may well turn out, is precisely the problem.

The company propaganda on such compliance with national and international regulations is plentiful and fabulously cynical. After a time perusing such material, one forgets that this is a defence outfit much dedicated to sowing the seeds of death, a far from benign purpose. Group Secretary and General Counsel Isabelle Simon, for instance, is quoted as saying that the company, over the course of two decades “has developed a robust policy on ethics, integrity and compliance, which are the foundations of our social responsibility and the key to building a world we can all trust.”

The anti-corruption policy, so it is claimed, is also “regularly reviewed and updated to reflect increasingly strict international rules and requirements on corruption and influence peddling,” a point “further strengthened by Thales’s progress towards ISO 37001 certification.”

Typical of the guff surrounding modern organisational behaviour, the company wonks assume that workshops and training sessions are the way to go when inspiring a spirit of compliance. The more sessions you run, and the more do you do, the more enlightened you become. In boasting about its “zero tolerance on corruption,” we are told that 11,270 “training sessions on corruption and influence peddling were delivered in 2019-2020.”

Other features are also mentioned to ward off any suspicions, among them a code of conduct intended to stomp on any corrupt practices, a “corruption and influence peddling risk map,” a disciplinary system, an anti-bribery management system and an internal whistleblowing program.

Thales also got what it wanted, effectively bypassing, with the blessing of the defence department, a competitive tender process. This took place despite a 2017 offer from the global munitions company, NIOA, and the ANAO’s own recommendation to pursue an appropriate tender option. All in all, the audit found that “Defence’s management of probity was not effective and there was evidence of unethical conduct.”

This is putting it mildly, given that Thales had not only been involved in drafting the criteria for the request for tender (RTF) documents (some 28 workshops were held for that purpose between October 2018 and August 2019), but did so deficiently. In October 2019, this very point was made by the Defence Department, which noted no fewer than 199 “non-compliances” by the company against the RTF.

Apart from giving officialdom their time in the sun of oversight and regulation, chastening investigations into corruption do little to alter the spoliation that arises from the defence industry. Defence contractors are regularly feted by government authorities, often with the connivance of the revolving door. Yesterday’s officials are today’s arms sales consultants. The defence sector, notably for such countries as France, is simply too lucrative and important to be cleansed of its unscrupulousness. Even as these investigations are taking place to ruffle Thales, the Brazilian military establishment, by way of example, has happily continued doing business with the French weapons giant.

In February last year, the defence group trumpeted securing a contract with the Brazilian Airspace Control Department (DECEA) for the supply and installation of ADS-B ground surveillance stations to improve the safety of commercial civil aviation. The effort is not negligible: 66 stations to be installed in over 20 Brazilian states.

On June 17, the company announced the acquisition by the Brazilian Air Force of the Ground Master 200 Multi-mission All-in-one (GM 200 MM/A) tactical air surveillance radars. With much bluster, the announcement goes on to describe such radars as giving the user “superior situational awareness for air surveillance, as well as ground-based air defence (GBAD) operations up to Mid-Range Air-Defence (MRAD).” Some gloating follows: “The contract signed with the FAB consolidates Thales’ position as a leader in the radar market in Brazil.” One can only wonder how many palms were greased, and local regulations breached, for that to happen.

July 31, 2024 Posted by | France, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Project 2025 – A New Pax Romana

the plan is chiefly concerned with how to put ever greater control of both people and resources in the hands of a small minority of mostly white, mostly male, wealthy Christians.

The wholesale capture of the state is the ultimate goal of its Christian nationalist architects

Tom Dispatch, By Liz Theoharis and Shailly Gupta Barnes. 28 July 24

Roman poet Juvenal coined the phrase “bread and circuses” nearly 2,000 years ago for the extravagant entertainment the Roman Empire used to distract attention from imperial policies that caused widespread discontent. Imagine the lavish banquets, gladiatorial bouts, use and abuse of young men and women for the pleasure of the rich, and so much more that characterized the later years of that empire. And none of it seems that far off from the situation we, in these increasingly dis-United States, find ourselves in today.

Although the Roman Empire described itself as being in favor of life and peace, the various Caesars and their enablers regularly dealt death and destruction in their wake. They spread the Pax Romana (the Roman Peace), including a taxation system that left the poor in debt servitude, a military that caused terror and violence across the then-known world, and a ruling authority that pitted whole communities against each other, while legislating who could associate with whom (passing marriage laws, for instance, that banned gay, inter-racial, or even cross-class marriages). The emperor in power in Jesus’s time, Caesar Augustus, was known for ushering in a Golden Age of Moral Values that went hand in hand with that Pax Romana, and it meant war and death, especially for the poor.

Fast forward millennia and that world bears a strange resemblance to the media distractions, violence, and regressive policies that MAGA and other extremists are pushing forward in our times. Whether it’s Donald Trump’s assertion that “I alone can fix your problems”; Supreme Court and state legislative attacks on reproductive rights, same-sex marriage, and trans youth in the name of family values; cuts to welfare, healthcare, worker’s rights and other life-sustaining programs to protect corporate interests; the militarizing of endless communities by allowing guns (especially AR-15 rifles) to proliferate, while offering only thoughts and prayers to the victims of violence, the MAGA movement is promoting culture wars and extremist policies under the banner of Christian nationalism. In doing so, its leaders are perfecting a disdain for the excluded, exploited, and rejected that hurts the poor first and worst, but impacts all of society.

And now, after decades of neoliberal plunder and the coronation of an avowed Christian nationalist — Speaker of the House Mike Johnson — to the third most powerful position in the government, the Christian Right and its wealthy patrons have their eyes set on an even more ambitious power-grab: Project 2025. Articulated through the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Presidential Transition Project, it’s a sprawling plan to maximize presidential power with hundreds of newly trained and deployed political operatives during Donald Trump’s next presidency.

It was seen in full display recently at the Republican National Convention and made all the more likely by the recent assassination attempt against him with (yes!) an AR-15! The nearly 900-page document outlines a plan to ramp up U.S. military might, slash social welfare programs, and prioritize “traditional marriage.” A reflection of the Republican Party today, including several Christian nationalist organizations and billionaire funders listed among its 100 institutional sponsors, Project 2025 is a roadmap for what could be thought of as a new Pax Romana.

The Formal Project 2025 Takeover

As Project 2025’s official website explains (and doesn’t this sound like it could come directly from the mouth of vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance?): “It is not enough for conservatives to win elections. If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on Day One of the next conservative Administration.” Although its authors unabashedly deploy the language of conservative populism — decrying wokeness and “cultural Marxists” — the plan is chiefly concerned with how to put ever greater control of both people and resources in the hands of a small minority of mostly white, mostly male, wealthy Christians.

The wholesale capture of the state is the ultimate goal of its Christian nationalist architects. Project 2025 simply clarifies just how they plan to implement their drive for power.  Each of its sections — from “taking the reins of government” by centralizing executive authority in the office of the President to securing “the common defense” by expanding every branch of the military — is worth reviewing.

The longest section focuses on “general welfare” and it should be no surprise that the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development are subject to significant cutbacks, including:

Imposing yet stricter eligibility standards, work requirements, and asset tests to constrain access to Medicaid, even though more than 23 million Americans have been unenrolled from that program since 2023;

  • Revisiting how the “Thrifty Food Plan” is formulated to minimize food-stamp allocations, while imposing onerous work requirements on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), even though most of its recipients work and/or are in households with children, elderly people, or people with disabilities;
  • Ending universal free school meals by removing the “community eligibility provision,” which allows school districts with high poverty rates to provide free breakfast and lunch programs to all children in need;
  • Eliminating Head Start, which has served 39 million children and families since 1965 and currently serves more than 800,000 poor families with young children, while shuttering the Department of Education;
  • Ending “Housing First” programs and prohibiting non-citizens, including mixed-status families, from living in low-income public housing; and
  • Imposing a “life agenda” and a “family agenda” that will restrict access to abortion and reproductive rights, and otherwise curtail LGBTQ+ rights.

Such proposals would undoubtedly be deeply unpopular. In fact, as people learn more about Project 2025, opposition is growing, even across party lines. Most Americans want a government that would provide for the down-and-out, who are a growing segment of the population and the electorate, as well as one that supports abortion rights, voting rights, and the freedom of expression. At least 40% of us — 135-140 million people — are either poor or one emergency away from economic ruin, including 80 million eligible voters. Project 2025’s social welfare cuts would, in fact, push significant numbers of people across the poverty line into financial ruin.

Even Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025 as attention has moved toward its distinctly (di)visionary agenda. However, more than half of the project’s listed authors, editors, or contributors were once part of his administration — and no one doubts that his vice-presidential nominee is 100% pro-Project 2025!

The Informal Takeover Already Underway

Perhaps scarier than either Trump’s or Vance’s connection to this regressive plan, however, is the fact that, despite popular distaste for such policies, it may not take a second Trump presidency to implement significant parts of Project 2025. In this sense, it reflects the ancient world of the Pax Romana.  Rather than being dependent on particular emperors, its “peace” was a political and ideological program that punished the poor and marginalized so many, while keeping all its subjects in line.

From its recent rulings, it’s clear that the Supreme Court is hastening Project 2025’s agenda judicially, both in terms of specific future policies and the executive power grab at the heart of that mandate (and now of that court’s rulings). In June, for instance, it ruled in favor of the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, which enacted a law to fine, jail, and ultimately expel its unhoused residents. That precedent will only exacerbate the already hostile terrain confronting unhoused people, seeding firm ground to 2025’s plan to eliminate even more housing projects.

Worse yet, as the Nation’s Elie Mystal recently made clear, in just a few weeks of rulings, the court “legalized bribery of public officials, declared the president of the United States absolutely immune from criminal prosecution for ‘official acts,’ and made the power to issue regulations subject to the court’s unelected approval.” As he warns, “There’s no legislative fix for the problems the court has created… [and] they will continue to do all the things Republicans want that nobody elected them to do.”…………………………………………………………………………………..

in lockstep with Project 2025’s call for military expansion, Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker recently released a report proposing that $55 billion be added to the Pentagon’s already humongous budget in fiscal year 2025 while raising military spending by hundreds of billions of dollars in the next five to seven years. The report, “Peace Through Strength,” revives the false idea that spending ever more on war preparations makes us safer. Not only is Wicker distorting Cold War history, but his prescriptions ignore our experience of the past 20 years of military buildup and the disastrous Global War on Terror. According to the Costs of War Project and the National Priorities Project, this country’s post-9/11 wars have cost at least $8 trillion, taken millions of lives, and displaced tens of millions of people globally, while precipitating climate chaos through their polluting emissions. If implemented, Wicker’s plan would only increase the risk of yet more destabilizing conflicts, offering a modern Pax Romana promise for yet more war and death.

Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace

While extremist Republican politicians and appointees are leading the way on Project 2025, both major parties align around building up the war economy. Indeed, bipartisan support for military aid to Israel is contributing to what the United Nations has labeled a genocide in Gaza.

Nor is this new. Every year, the Pentagon budget invariably passes with widespread bipartisan support, even if a few representatives vote otherwise. Since the 9/11 attacks, in fact, $21 trillion has been funneled into war, surveillance, policing, border control, and incarceration. In Fiscal Year 2023, nearly two-thirds of the federal discretionary budget funded the military-industrial complex and militarized spending. This year, a Democratic amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act will automatically register every male citizen and resident aged 18-26 in the selective service database………….

This remarkably bipartisan consensus for a war economy shouldn’t just be considered another “issue,” but an approach to governance that relies on force and violence, rather than consent, to establish social control…………………………

Jobs and Homes, Not Death in the Streets

The greatest violence of the Pax Romana was always borne by the poor, who were often ripped from their families, enslaved in back-breaking labor, and dispossessed of their land and resources. To maintain its authoritarian rule over millions of people, the Roman Empire relied on its military might and the fear inspired by its brutal army. And yet it was from the ranks of the poor that Jesus and his disciples led a non-violent revolution for peace.


Today, tens of millions of poor people in this country are on the front lines of our failing democracy and increasingly militarized society. They are the true canaries in the coal mine, already living through the violence of a society that has prioritized war and profits over addressing the pain and toll of low-wage jobs, crushing debt burdens, polluted water and land, and lives cut short by poverty, the police, and the denial of basic human rights. They can undoubtedly also foresee the drive toward an ever-deeper warfare state and the possible fallout from Project 2025 if Donald Trump and J.D. Vance win this year.

Forged in the crucible of violence, the criminalized and impoverished still call out for a true peace.

On June 29th, Reverend Savina Martin, a military veteran and formerly homeless mother, took to the stage of the Poor People’s Campaign’s Mass Assembly in Washington, D.C., and shared these thoughts:

“I am a US Army veteran and I was impacted by homelessness many years ago. Today, thousands of homeless veterans are fighting for [their] benefits, housing… navigating a complex system while sick and suffering, trying to survive the war waged against the poor. Yesterday, the US Supreme Court decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson permits cities to criminalize homelessness by enforcing bans on sleeping outside when no shelter is available. How can sleeping while homeless be against the law? If you sleep, you get arrested?

This system depends on us to fight their wars, but we can’t depend on [our government] to guarantee housing or healthcare? Instead, [our government] allocates $1.1 trillion to war, weapons, and a system that criminalizes the poor, leading to mass incarceration, deportations, and detentions. We want jobs and homes, not death in the streets.”

Savina was speaking of the war on the poor, the power of the military-industrial complex, and an extremist agenda that will connect her in unsettling ways with 140 million poor and low-income people in this country — and billions more around the world. As in other moments of history, the struggle of the poor for life and dignity in a world that denies them both is a struggle for the best that we can be as a society. In their leadership lies the hope for us all — not in Project 2025, a future Trump administration, or the all-too-devastating version of a Pax Americana that would go with it, but in the peace (and justice) that Savina and so many others are demanding, and will continue to push for, until it is ours.  https://tomdispatch.com/project-2025/

July 30, 2024 Posted by | politics, Religion and ethics, USA | Leave a comment

Israeli Forces Have Killed 366 UN Workers and Family Members in Gaza: Leaked Report

Confidential figures shed additional light on what’s been the deadliest-ever war for United Nations staff.

Jake Johnson, Jul 24, 2024,  https://www.commondreams.org/news/un-workers-killed-in-gaza
A leaked report obtained by Drop Site estimates that Israeli forces have killed at least 366 United Nations staffers and their family members in the Gaza Strip since October, an indication of the grave threat Israel’s ongoing assault poses to humanitarian relief workers and the enclave’s broader civilian population.

Drop Site‘s Ryan Grim reported Wednesday that the confidential figures, assembled by the U.N.’s Crisis Coordination Center, show that three family members of World Food Program staffers and four dependents of U.N. Children’s Fund workers were among those killed by Israeli forces. The total number of U.N. staffers killed so far is 195, according to the data.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the primary aid agency operating in Gaza, has seen the largest impact on staffers and their family members. The leaked report estimates that Israeli forces have killed 158 dependents of UNRWA staffers since October.

Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza, aided by U.S. weaponry and diplomatic support, is by far the deadliest-ever war for U.N. personnel, who have repeatedly been targeted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Over the weekend, Israeli soldiers fired on a U.N. convoy heading toward Gaza City. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that “the teams were traveling in clearly marked U.N. armored cars and wearing U.N. vests.”

“While there are no casualties, our teams had to duck and take cover,” he added. “Like all other similar U.N. movements, this movement was coordinated and approved by the Israeli authorities.”

Targeting humanitarian relief personnel is a war crime.

Grim noted that the leaked report is just “the latest in a series of alarming findings regarding Israel’s actions in Gaza,” much of which is facing famine conditions due to what U.N. experts recently described as a “targeted starvation campaign” by Israel.

During a 12-hour period earlier this week, Israeli forces killed at least 70 Palestinians and wounded around 200 others—mostly women and children—in a barrage of attacks on the city of Khan Younis, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

The confidential U.N. data emerged hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday afternoon. Dozens of Democratic lawmakers are expected to boycott the prime minister’s speech.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the lone Palestinian American in Congress, argued Tuesday that Netanyahu “should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court,” alluding to that body’s request for an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.

On Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators were arrested on Capitol Hill during a peaceful Jewish-led demonstration against Netanyahu’s visit and U.S. complicity in the IDF’s mass atrocities in Gaza.

July 30, 2024 Posted by | Gaza, Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Tit for tat? Putin warns Russia may resume production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons

Edited By: Vikrant Singh Jul 28, 2024 https://www.wionews.com/world/tit-for-tat-putin-declares-russia-to-resume-production-of-intermediate-range-nuclear-weapons-744964

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday (Jul 28) declared his nation won’t shy away from resuming production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the US goes ahead with plans of deploying such missiles to Germany or elsewhere in Europe. These missiles can travel between 500 and 5,500 kilometres.

“If the United States carries out such plans, we will consider ourselves liberated from the unilateral moratorium previously adopted on the deployment of medium- and short-range strike capabilities,” Putin threatened during a naval parade in Saint Petersburg.

Notably, intermediate-range nuclear weapons were subject to an arms control treaty that the US and Soviet Union signed in 1987. However, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty collapsed in 2019 after both sides accused each other of violations.

Following the withdrawal from the treaty, Russia announced it wouldn’t start production of the weapons until the US started deploying these missiles abroad.

Earlier this month, the US announced it will start “episodic deployments” of long-range US missiles, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, in Germany beginning 2026.

Now, Russia sees it as a direct threat to its national security. After the deployment by the US, Putin said that “important Russian administrative and military sites” would fall within the range of such missiles that “could in the future be equipped with nuclear warheads, such that our territories would be within around 10 minutes” of a strike being launched.

“This situation reminds us of the events of the Cold War linked to the deployment of American Pershing medium-range missiles in Europe,” the Russian leader added.

Earlier in March, Putin had said Russia was “technically ready” for a nuclear war if the US sent troops to Ukraine.

“From a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready,” Putin had said.

“I don’t think that here everything is rushing to it (nuclear confrontation), but we are ready for this,” the Russian leader further said.

July 30, 2024 Posted by | Russia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Point Lepreau nuclear station – a heavy financial burden that keeps getting heavier.

Point Lepreau has become a heavy financial burden

the station will remain at risk of unplanned outages because of aging equipment.

NB Power’s latest financial plan forecasts its debt will continue to grow. In the utility’s base case model, debt will keep rising for the rest of this decade, reaching nearly $6.3-billion by 2029. It keeps rising even in more optimistic scenarios.

Point Lepreau station is among North America’s worst-performing nuclear power plants. Can New Brunswick Power turn it around?

Globe and Mail, MATTHEW MCCLEARN , July 29, 2024

In the early hours of Dec. 14, 2022, New Brunswick’s Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station lost power after an electrical fault. Just hours later, at 4:40 a.m., an alarm sounded: The plant had suffered a small coolant leak and NB Power, the facility’s owner, detected radioactivity. The station was locked down to prevent that radioactivity from escaping, and an emergency response team was readied.

Somehow, two unrelated pieces of equipment had failed simultaneously, touching off a costly and time-consuming recovery. Workers needed to bring the reactor to a guaranteed shutdown state. They had to regain entry to the reactor building and decontaminate it. And they needed to find the leak and stop it. The station would remain out of service for 42 days.

This outage was just one of several in recent years that, in combination, point to severe reliability problems at Atlantic Canada’s only nuclear power plant. The latest, which was planned to end after 100 days on July 12 and cost more than $100-million, included installing a new 9,000-horsepower primary heat transport pump and motor, which moves heat generated by the reactor to the station’s steam generators.

But NB Power spokesperson Dominique Couture said workers discovered a problem with the station’s main generator, which provides electricity to the province’s grid. At a rate hearing before the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board, company officials said the plant is expected to remain offline until at least September. And the station will remain at risk of unplanned outages because of aging equipment.

It will be many years before we have put those risks behind us,” said Jason Nouwens, the station’s director of regulatory and external affairs.

Point Lepreau is one of North America’s worst-performing nuclear stations. Intending to keep it running until at least 2039, NB Power has struggled unsuccessfully for the past several years to rehabilitate the station and expects to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on it in the next few years.

The utility is not too proud to ask for help: It wants Ontario Power Generation to effectively incorporate the plant into OPG’s large fleet of Candu reactors. Key senior leadership positions at the station are now held by OPG employees.

But there’s no guarantee OPG will agree to take over the stricken station on favourable terms, or at all. And it’s not clear NB Power can afford the steep repair bill.

New Brunswick’s dilemma points to challenges that other provinces, such as Alberta and Saskatchewan, should consider as they look to build new reactors………………………………………………………………………….

According to NB Power, Point Lepreau has roughly 115,000 components. The December, 2022, outage illustrated how the failure of just one of them, however inconsequential it may seem, can knock it out. The culprit for the water leak turned out to be a crack in a small instrument line near the reactor core, about the diameter of a finger. This line had been deemed necessary for the plant’s commissioning more than 40 years earlier, but was useless thereafter.

NB Power concluded that when the station lost power, other systems fired up that increased vibration throughout the plant. “This was essentially the final straw that propagated the crack to a failure point,” Mr. Nouwens explained to the federal safety regulator during a hearing after the incident. “It had been coming for some time.”

Outages are expensive. Point Lepreau’s 900 workers must be paid regardless of how much electricity the plant generates. Each day it’s out of service, NB Power also incurs hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime costs.

NB Power must purchase energy to cover the shortfall as well, at an average cost of $900,000 a day.

Repeated outages have forced NB Power to divert capital to the station. This thwarted efforts to repay debts, most of which were incurred at Point Lepreau. This year’s extended outage also forced the utility to delay work at other power plants…………………………………………………………………..

NB Power’s latest financial plan forecasts its debt will continue to grow. In the utility’s base case model, debt will keep rising for the rest of this decade, reaching nearly $6.3-billion by 2029. It keeps rising even in more optimistic scenarios.

Heeding nuclear’s siren song

When Point Lepreau was still being planned, some experts doubted how suitable nuclear power was for a small province. Andrew Secord, an economics professor at St. Thomas University, found a March, 1972, memo by Myles Foster, an official at the federal Finance Department, that said that NB Power’s decision to go nuclear was “the equivalent of a Volkswagen family acquiring a Cadillac as a second car.”

Since then, Point Lepreau has become a heavy financial burden. At various times, the province has considered shuttering it or selling it. Ultimately, though, NB Power’s board of directors decided in 2005 to double down and extend the station’s life.

Refurbishments compel utilities to make crucial decisions about which equipment to replace, and what to keep. Pressure tubes, the Candu’s main life-limiting components, are a given, but many other components must be carefully assessed. Misjudgments can be costly.

Point Lepreau’s refurbishment began in March, 2008, and was scheduled to wrap up by October, 2009, at an expected cost of $845-million. According to a 2002 NB Power document, even if all two dozen of the worst disasters the utility could envision came to pass – everything from delays to strikes to unexpected additional work – it would add up to a combined maximum overrun of $623-million.

But things went worse – far worse – than NB Power imagined possible. It called in OPG to assist. The reactor finally returned to service in November, 2012, three years late and massively over budget.

Even this might have been salvageable had the plant operated reliably thereafter. NB Power was counting on Point Lepreau reaching a capacity factor of 89 per cent. Instead, NB Power found itself playing a game of Whac-A-Mole with recurring maintenance issues…………………………

NB Power has acknowledged that while the 2008-12 refurbishment focused on the reactor itself, equipment in the rest of the plant – sometimes referred to as the “conventional” side – typically was not replaced. Some of that equipment, such as the problematic generator that recently delayed the station’s return to service, is now breaking down. The utility made bad calls and is now paying a terrible price.

Recovery plan

NB Power is now drawing up a recovery plan for its ailing station, which features greatly increased maintenance spending: more than $87-million in 2025, tapering off thereafter.

But according to ScottMadden, this likely won’t suffice. Spending less than $80-million a year is “slightly more likely than not to result in performance declines,” whereas spending $100-million to $120-million is expected to deliver “the highest marginal returns in expected improvements.” Under current plans, ScottMadden warned, Point Lepreau’s performance will likely decline again beginning in 2030.

OPG sent a delegation to the stricken station last year to assess its condition, examine maintenance plans and interview NB Power employees. Last September, the utilities signed a three-year agreement under which OPG has seconded staff to the Point Lepreau station. NB Power says it has received support from OPG’s chief nuclear officer, a vice-president who’d supervised refurbishments and outages, and a chief nuclear projects officer.

OPG and NB Power are now in talks that might lead to Point Lepreau becoming part of OPG’s reactor fleet. At a hearing before the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board in June, Ms. Clark said OPG would likely assume majority ownership and would bring “some capital to the table to help with some of the investments that are required in the station over the longer term.”

She added, however, that given the difficulty of reaching “even general agreement on things,” a deal likely wouldn’t be reached before late 2025.

Even as NB Power officials struggle to fix Point Lepreau, they continue to offer their services to provinces such as Alberta and Saskatchewan, which possess little prior experience with nuclear technology. At an industry conference in Calgary in April, officials offered to help such provinces evaluate new reactor technologies and work with regulators…………..

They did not share any sense of the pitfalls of nuclear power – a topic for which NB Power has unfortunately gained formidable expertise.  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-point-lepreau-station-is-among-north-americas-worst-performing-nuclear/

July 30, 2024 Posted by | business and costs, Canada | Leave a comment

Netanyahu’s Visit to Congress Underscores US Contempt for International Law

Netanyahu is getting cozy with Congress, just days after the ICJ told UN members to stop aiding the Israeli occupation.

By Marjorie Cohn , Truthout July 24, 2024

he U.S. has long ignored many commands of international law, but its casual disregard of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has come into sharp focus this week as the U.S. Congress extends a warm welcome to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just five days after the ICJ notified all UN member states that they have a legal “obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

The World Court’s historic 83-page advisory opinion, which was issued on July 19 and held that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal, was quickly hailed by Middle East political expert Nomi Bar-Yaacov as a “legal earthquake” and the strongest decision that the court had ever issued.

Unsurprisingly, however, both the Israeli and U.S. governments denounced the ICJ’s ruling and proceeded with their plans — including Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, D.C. — as if it had never occurred.

The purpose of Netanyahu’s trip is to shore up U.S. support for his ongoing genocidal campaign against the Palestinians in Gaza and for his crusade against Iran.

“The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land, including in our eternal capital Jerusalem nor in Judea and Samaria, our historical homeland,” Netanyahu declared after the ICJ issued its decision. “No absurd opinion in The Hague can deny this historical truth or the legal right of Israelis to live in their own communities in our ancestral home.”

Joe Biden’s administration meanwhile conveyed that it is “concerned that the breadth” of the decision will “complicate” the “efforts to resolve the conflict.” The U.S. State Department said the ICJ’s order that Israel withdraw from the Palestinian territories is “inconsistent with the established framework” for resolving “the conflict.” Parroting Israel’s mantra, the State Department said the resolution should occur through negotiations.

Negotiations have proved worthless in ending Israel’s illegal occupation and its genocide in Gaza and achieving justice for the Palestinians. Although the Biden administration has advocated a two-state solution, its unbridled support for the Zionist regime, which continues to carve up occupied Palestinian territory into noncontiguous enclaves, makes that “solution” impossible.

The U.S. government enables Israel’s illegal occupation by providing $3.8 billion annually and it has sent Israel an addition $15 billion in military aid since October 7, 2023. This helps fund Israel’s genocide, which has killed nearly 39,000 Palestinians by the official Gaza Health Ministry count, although the true death toll is likely much higher. Moreover, the U.S. has vetoed three Security Council resolutions that would have demanded a ceasefire in Gaza.

In order to comply with the ruling of the World Court, the U.S. government would have to end its military assistance to Israel and stop providing political and diplomatic cover to enable Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

The ICJ’s Legal Findings

The ICJ ruled that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza violates international law, which prohibits the acquisition of territory by threat or use of force and enshrines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. “The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying Power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful,” the court wrote…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Consequences of the Ruling

The World Court’s advisory opinion was issued in response to a request by the General Assembly. Although not legally binding, the decision carries great moral weight………………………………………………………………………………………….. more https://truthout.org/articles/netanyahus-visit-to-congress-underscores-us-contempt-for-international-law/

July 30, 2024 Posted by | Israel, Legal, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Americans! How to make your vote count in November, and save the world in the process.

 Substack Scott Ritter: Voting Against Nuclear War, July 29, 2024 

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… The 2024 Presidential race, however, does directly impact the existential survival of the United States, the American people, and indeed the entire world, but not because of its outcome. The harsh reality is that regardless of who among the two major candidates wins in November, American policy vis-à-vis Russia, especially when it comes to nuclear posture and arms control, is hard-wired to achieve the same result. And it is this result that seals the fate of all humanity unless a way can be found to prompt a critical re-think of the underlying policies that produce the anticipated outcome.

A future Harris administration is on track to continue a policy which commits to the strategic defeat of Russia, the lowering of the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons in Europe, the termination of the last remaining arms control treaty (New START) in February 2026, and the re-deployment of intermediate-range missiles into Europe, also in 2026.

No matter who wins among the two major candidates in November, the United States is on track for a major existential crisis with Russia in Europe sometime in 2026. The re-introduction of INF-capable systems by the US will trigger a similar deployment by Russia of nuclear-capable INF systems targeting Europe………………………………………………………………………..

The INF treaty, signed in 1987, removed these destabilizing weapons from Europe. But now that treaty is no more, and the weapons that brought Europe and the world to the brink of destruction in the 1980’s are returning to a European continent where notions of peaceful coexistence with Russia have been replaced with rhetoric promoting the inevitability of conflict.

When one combines the existence of a policy objective (the strategic defeat of Russia) which, when coupled with a policy of supporting a Ukrainian victory over Russia predicated on Ukraine regaining physical control over Crimea and the four territories of New Russia (Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, and Lugansk), one already has a recipe for disaster, since this policy, if successful, would automatically trigger a Russian nuclear response, since doctrinally nuclear weapons would be used to respond to any non-nuclear scenario where the existential survival of Russia is at stake. (The loss of Crimea and the New Territories is like the United States losing Texas, California, or New York—a literal existential situation.)

Add to this the end of arms control as we know it come February 2026, when the New START treaty expires. The Biden administration has declared that it will seek to add new nuclear weapons “without limitation” once the New START caps on deployed weapons expires—the literal definition of an arms race out of control. One can only imagine that Russia would be compelled to match this rearmament activity.

And finally, the recent agreement by the US and Germany to redeploy intermediate-range missiles on European soil in 2026, and Russia’s decision to match this action by building and deploying its own intermediate-range missiles, recreates the very situational instability which threatened regional and world security back in the 1980’s.

When one examines these factors in their aggregate, the inescapable conclusion is that Europe will be faced with an existential crisis which could come to a head as early as the summer of 2026. The potential for the use of nuclear weapons, either by design or accident, is real, creating a situation that exceeds the Cuban Missile Crisis in terms of the risk of a nuclear war by an order of magnitude or more.

While a future nuclear conflict would very likely start in Europe, it will be virtually impossible to contain the use of nuclear weapons on the European continent. Any use of nuclear weapons against Russian soil, or the territory of its ally, Belarus, would trigger a general Russian nuclear response which would lead to a general, global-killing nuclear war.

The question Americans confront today is what to do about this existential threat to their very survival.

The answer put forward here is to empower your vote in the coming presidential election by tying it not to a person or party, but rather a policy.

The answer put forward here is to empower your vote in the coming presidential election by tying it not to a person or party, but rather a policy.

In short, empower your vote by pledging it to the candidate who will commit to prioritizing peace over war, and who pledges to make the prevention of nuclear war, not the promotion of nuclear weapons, the cornerstone of his or her national security policy.

Don’t give your vote away by committing to a candidate at this early stage—when you do this, you no longer matter, as the candidates will simply turn their attention to those uncommitted voters in an effort to win them over.

Make the candidates earn your vote by linking it to a policy posture that reflects your core values.

And this election, your core value should be exclusively centered on promoting peace and preventing nuclear war.

Such a policy posture would be built upon for basic pillars.

1. Immediately end the current declaratory policy of the United States which articulates the strategic defeat of Russia as a primary US objective and replace it with a policy statement which makes peaceful coexistence with Russia the strategic goal of US foreign and national security policy. Such a policy redirection would include, by necessity, the goal of rethinking European security frameworks which respect the legitimate national security concerns of Russia and Europe, and would incorporate the necessity of a neutral Ukraine.

2. A freeze on the re-deployment of INF-capable weapons systems into Europe, matched by a Russian agreement not to re-introduce INF-capable weapons into its arsenal, with the goal of turning this freeze into a formal agreement that would be finalized in treaty form.

3. A commitment to engage with Russia on the negotiation and implementation of a new strategic arms control treaty which seeks equitable cuts in the strategic nuclear arsenals of both nations, a reduction in the number of nuclear weapons each side can retain in storage, and which incorporates limits on ballistic missile defense.

4. A general commitment to work with Russia to pursue verifiable and sustainable nuclear arms reduction globally using multi-lateral negotiations.

I will be working with Gerald Celente, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Garland Nixon, Wilmur Leon, Max Blumenthal, Anya Parampil, Jeff Norman, Danny Haiphong, and many others to put together an event, Operation DAWN, on September 28, 2024. The goal of this event will be to get as many American citizens as possible to tie their vote to the policy posture spelled out above, and then to leverage these commitments in a way that compels all candidates for the presidency to articulate policies that meet this criterion.

In doing so, the voter would be fighting for a chance to save democracy by making his or her vote count, save America and the world by creating the possibility to avert nuclear conflict, all by making the candidates for presidency earn their vote, as opposed to simply giving it away.

Operation DAWN is still in the preliminary planning stages. More details will be published here as the planning progresses.  https://scottritter.substack.com/p/operation-dawn-update-a-vote-earned

July 30, 2024 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Putin warns the US of Cold War-style missile crisis

Reuters By Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov, July 28, 2024

  • Summary
  • Russia warns United States over missiles in Germany
  • Putin says Russia will deploy if plans are implemented
  • Putin: United States risks Cold War-style crisis
  • U.S. plans to deploy longer range missiles in Germany

MOSCOW, July 28 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday warned the United States that if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany then Russia would station similar missiles in striking distance of the West.

The United States said on July 10 that it would start deploying long-range missiles, opens new tab in Germany from 2026 in preparation for a longer-term deployment that will include SM-6, Tomahawk cruise missiles and developmental hypersonic weapons.

n a speech to sailors from Russia, China, Algeria and India to mark Russian navy day in the former imperial capital of St Petersburg, Putin warned the United States that it risked triggering a Cold War-style missile crisis with the move.

“The flight time to targets on our territory of such missiles, which in the future may be equipped with nuclear warheads, will be about 10 minutes,” Putin said.

“We will take mirror measures to deploy, taking into account the actions of the United States, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world.”……………………………………….  Https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-warns-united-states-cold-war-style-missile-crisis-2024-07-28/

July 30, 2024 Posted by | politics international, Russia, USA | Leave a comment

Stop Sizewell C applied to High Court to challenge Sizewell C Nuclear Site Licence

On Friday Stop Sizewell C applied to the High Court for permission to
challenge the Sizewell C Nuclear Site Licence, on the basis that the
boundary of the Nuclear Site Licence (NSL) does not cover the sea defences
and proposed new flood barriers, which are critical for future site safety.
This legal action concerns the safety of the Sizewell C site in the age of
climate change, with sea levels potentially rising further and faster than
previously thought, but we consider it urgent to be challenged given
Sizewell C’s push to achieve a Final Investment Decision.

Stop Sizewell C 29th July 2024

https://mailchi.mp/stopsizewellc/nslchallenge?e=326ee81c22

July 30, 2024 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Controversy in France about future energy policy

 Electricite de France SA Chief Executive Officer Luc Remont urged French
policymakers to review subsidies for solar power, saying the measures add
too much generation to the grid and undermine the nuclear giant’s
finances as electricity demand remains subdued.

The comments will fuel controversy among nuclear and renewable opponents as EDF seeks financial backing from the government for the construction of six new atomic plants,
which may cost €67.4 billion.

However, the lack of a clear parliamentary
majority that emerged from legislative elections raises questions about
France’s future energy policy, including support for nuclear projects in
the near term.

 FFinancial Post 26th July 2024

https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/edf-chief-says-french-solar-power-subsidies-need-scrutiny

July 30, 2024 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

Counteracting the nuclear spin, and more – week to 29 July

Some bits of good news. The Gambia’s decision to uphold ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) a  critical win for girls’ and women’s rights.   Oceana Canada Celebrates Major Conservation Victory: Underwater Mountains off the Coast of B.C. Now Permanently Protected, under indigenous guidance.   Great Green Wall has revived Africa’s degraded landscapes

   **************************************

TOP STORIES. 

What the top UN court’s ruling means for Israel.   Netanyahu Commands, US Obeys. 

Rolling stewardship of nuclear waste. 

Young Changemakers Advocate for Nuclear-Free Future through Educational Journey in Kazakhstan.

Climate. Severe heatwave in Iran forces shops and public institutions to close

Noel’s notes. Militarism: How NATO is co-opting women and young people – with a veneer of peace and fun.         The digital system threatens the nuclear industry – it’ll get worse with AI.          Absolutely fed up with Facebook and Google’s censorship of nuclear issues.

************************************************

AUSTRALIA. Dutton’s nuclear delusion an exercise in stupidity. Czech nuclear deal shows CSIRO GenCost is too optimistic, and new nukes are hopelessly uneconomic. Aussies react to Dutton’s Nuclear Policy – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o4S335dXM4 

Canada rejects AUKUS nuclear submarine deal. AUKUS and the pride of politicians. 

From the archives. Gina Rinehart’s threat to the proud independence of Australia’s Fairfax newspapers.

 Respect and responsibility: Jabiluka safe as uranium mining lease for Kakadu site not renewed8. 

Lots more Australian news at https://antinuclear.net/2024/07/23/australian-nuclear-news-headlines-22-29-july/

NUCLEAR ITEMS

CLIMATE. Hungary to allow nuclear plant to exceed Danube water temperature limit. Huge wildfire rips into California.

ECONOMICS.

EDUCATION. Bangor University to collaborate with Rolls Royce and the University of Oxford to develop nuclear power for space.ENERGY. Solar doesn’t need a toxic “friendship” with nuclear power.ETHICS and RELIGION. A letter to the children of tomorrow. “Nuclear disarmament is a right to life issue” – Catholic Archbishop John C Wester.

EVENTS. 30 July Webinar: Halt Holtec – the Nuclear Mafia Atomic People will be broadcast on Wednesday 31 July on BBC Two and BBC iPlaye 6 August WEBINAR. Never Again! Remembering the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

LEGAL. A $36.8 billion lesson from Georgia– “The most expensive electricity in the world”Potential claims against NANO Nuclear Energy Inc.  The World Court Has Cleared the Fog Hiding Western Support for Israel’s Crimes.Hundreds protesting Netanyahu visit arrested at US Capitol. Two legal actions against the hasty commissioning of Flamanville nuclear reactor.MEDIA. BBC correspondent exposes ‘collapse of journalistic norms’ after 7 Oct. Meta’s Policy On Zionism Exposed: Cyberwell Scrambles After Israel Ties Revealed. U.S. media downplays and ignores ICJ ruling declaring Israeli occupation illegal.
We published an analysis from a leading economist on soaring nuclear costs. Facebook removed it 

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR . Nuclear energy not the way to go: coalition Taiwan. UK Nuclear Free Local Authorities back joint statement condemning AUKUS nuclear proliferation. Nuclear Free Local Authorities congratulate marchers on Lakenheath protest.

PEACE. 2024 Golden Rule Voyage Begins!PERSONAL STORIES. ‘Atomic bomb hell must never be repeated’ say Japan’s last survivors.PLUTONIUM. Is nuclear waste able to be recycled? Would that solve the  nuclear waste problem?
SAFETY Safety warnings as cracks rise at Torness nuclear plant. Japan Nuclear Restart Suffers Major Setback.TECHNOLOGY. Humans should teach AI how to avoid nuclear war—while they still can.WASTES. Radioactive Wastes from Nuclear Reactors.
WAR and CONFLICT. Israel nearing ‘all-out war’ – foreign minister. Washington gives Netanyahu ‘full backing’ to expand war on Lebanon: Israel Report. While Netanyahu is feted in U.S. Congress, Israeli airstrike hits a school sheltering people in Gaza, killing at least 30.

Scottish parliamentarian highlights ‘nuclear annihilation risk’ in major UN speech		WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. Will US defend Japan with nukes or turn it into the line of fire? US Forces Japan to be upgraded to warfighting command.

Tit for tat? Putin warns Russia may resume production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons.
EU sets date of transfer of Russian money to Ukraine for arms purchases.

July 29, 2024 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

‘Atomic bomb hell must never be repeated’ say Japan’s last survivors

Atomic People will be broadcast on Wednesday 31 July on BBC Two and BBC iPlaye

Lucy Wallis, BBC News  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crg5lyd25jno 26 July 24

It was early in the day, but already hot. As she wiped sweat from her brow, Chieko Kiriake searched for some shade. As she did so, there was a blinding light – it was like nothing the 15-year-old had ever experienced. It was 08:15 on 6 August 1945.

“It felt like the sun had fallen – and I grew dizzy,” she recalls.

The United States had just dropped an atomic bomb on Chieko’s home city of Hiroshima – the first time a nuclear weapon had ever been used in warfare. While Germany had surrendered in Europe, allied forces fighting in World War Two were still at war with Japan.

Chieko was a student, but like many older pupils, had been sent out to work in the factories during the war. She staggered to her school, carrying an injured friend on her back. Many of the students had been badly burnt. She rubbed old oil, found in the home economics classroom, onto their wounds.

“That was the only treatment we could give them. They died one after the next,” says Chieko.

“Us older students who survived were instructed by our teachers to dig a hole in the playground and I cremated [my classmates] with my own hands. I felt so awful for them.”

Chieko is now 94 years old. It is almost 80 years since the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and time is running out for the surviving victims – known as hibakusha in Japan – to tell their stories.

Many have lived with health problems, lost loved ones and been discriminated against because of the atomic attack. Now, they are sharing their experiences for a BBC Two film, documenting the past so it can act as a warning for the future

After the sorrow, new life started to return to her city, says Chieko.

“People said the grass wouldn’t grow for 75 years,” she says, “but by the spring of the next year, the sparrows returned.”

In her lifetime, Chieko says she has been close to death many times but has come to believe she has been kept alive by the power of something great.

The majority of hibakusha alive today were children at the time of the bombings. As the hibakusha – which translates literally as “bomb-affected-people” – have grown older, global conflicts have intensified. To them, the risk of a nuclear escalation feels more real than ever.

“My body trembles and tears overflow,” says 86-year-old Michiko Kodama when she thinks about conflicts around the world today – such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza war.

“We must not allow the hell of the atomic bombing to be recreated. I feel a sense of crisis.”

Michiko is a vocal campaigner for nuclear disarmament and says she speaks out so the voices of those who have died can be heard – and the testimonies passed on to the next generations.

“I think it is important to hear first-hand accounts of hibakusha who experienced the direct bombing,” she says.

Michiko had been at school – aged seven – when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

“Through the windows of my classroom, there was an intense light speeding towards us. It was yellow, orange, silver.”

She describes how the windows shattered and splintered across the classroom – the debris spraying everywhere “impaling the walls, desk, chairs”.

“The ceiling came crashing down. So I hid my body under the desk.”

After the blast, Michiko looked around the devastated room. In every direction she could see hands and legs trapped.

“I crawled from the classroom to the corridor and my friends were saying, ‘Help me’.”

When her father came to collect her, he carried her home on his back.

Black rain, “like mud”, fell from the sky, says Michiko. It was a mixture of radioactive material and residue from the explosion.

She has never been able to forget the journey home.

“It was a scene from hell,” says Michiko. “The people who were escaping towards us, most of their clothes had completely burned away and their flesh was melting.”

She recalls seeing one girl – all alone – about the same age as her. She was badly burnt.

“But her eyes were wide open,” says Michiko. “That girl’s eyes, they pierce me still. I can’t forget her. Even though 78 years have passed, she is seared into my mind and soul.”

Michiko wouldn’t be alive today if her family had remained in their old home. It was only 350m (0.21 miles) from the spot where the bomb exploded. About 20 days before, her family had moved house, just a few kilometres away – but that saved her life.

Estimates put the number of lost lives in Hiroshima, by the end of 1945, at about 140,000.

In Nagasaki, which was bombed by the US three days later, at least 74,000 were killed.

Sueichi Kido lived just 2km (1.24 miles) from the epicentre of the Nagasaki blast. Aged five at the time, he suffered burns to part of his face. His mother, who received more serious injuries, had protected him from the full impact of the blast.

“We hibakusha have never given up on our mission of preventing the creation of any more hibakusha,” says Sueichi, who is now 83 and recently travelled to New York to give a speech at the United Nations to warn of the dangers of nuclear weapons.

When he woke up after fainting from the impact of the blast, the first thing he remembers seeing was a red oil can. For years he thought it was that oil can that had caused the explosion and surrounding devastation.

His parents didn’t correct him, choosing to shield him from the fact it had been a nuclear attack – but whenever he mentioned it, they would cry.
Not all injuries were instantly visible. In the weeks and months after the blast, many people in both cities began to show symptoms of radiation poisoning – and there were increased levels of leukaemia and cancer.

For years, survivors have faced discrimination in society, particularly when it came to finding a partner.

“‘We do not want hibakusha blood to enter our family line,’ I was told,” says Michiko.

But later, she did marry and had two children.

She lost her mother, father and brothers to cancer. Her daughter died from the disease in 2011.

“I feel lonely, angry and scared, and I wonder if it may be my turn next,” she says.

Another bomb survivor, Kiyomi Iguro, was 19 when the bomb struck Nagasaki. She describes marrying into a distant relative’s family and having a miscarriage – which her mother-in-law attributed to the atomic bomb.

“‘Your future is scary.’ That’s what she told me.”

Kiyomi says she was instructed not to tell her neighbours that she had experienced the atomic bomb.

Since being interviewed for the documentary, Kiyomi has sadly died.

But, until she was 98, she would visit the Peace Park in Nagasaki and ring the bell at 11:02 – the time the bomb hit the city – to wish for peace.

Sueichi went on to teach Japanese history at university. Knowing he was a hibakusha cast a shadow on his identity, he says. But then he realised he was not a normal human being and felt a duty to speak out to save humankind.

“A sense that I was a special person was born in me,” says Sueichi.

It is something the hibakusha all feel that they share – an enduring determination to ensure the past never becomes the present.

Atomic People will be broadcast on Wednesday 31 July on BBC Two and BBC iPlaye

July 29, 2024 Posted by | Japan, PERSONAL STORIES, Reference, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Rolling stewardship of nuclear waste

Rolling Stewardship is not a solution to the radioactive waste problem, but an acknowledgement that we do not have a solution. Instead of assuming a solution exists, we should recognize that there is no proven solution.

Instead of abandoning the waste, we should monitor it and make sure it is retrievable.

We know how to package these wastes well enough to keep the radioactive contents out of the environment. The containers should be thick-walled, very robust, and built to last. They should not be right beside major bodies of water. They should be subject to Hardened On-Site Storage away from the shore.

Radioactive Wastes from Nuclear Reactors, Questions and Answers, Gordon Edwards 28 July 24.

Rolling Stewardship is a concept put forward by the National Academy of Sciences in connection with other long-lived toxic wastes like heavy metals and asbestos. When we do not have a genuine waste solution, we must not abandon it. We must continue to look after it on an intergenerational basis, passing the responsibility, the knowledge and the resources to the next generation, with the object of continually improving safe storage.

For the first thirty years of the nuclear age, until mid 1970s, no one knew about radioactive waste. The nuclear industry did not tell anyone about it. People were told that nuclear power is clean. And they believed it. But it was not true.

In the mid-1970s, radioactive waste suddenly became public knowledge. Major reports in several countries called for a halt to nuclear power unless the problem is solved. The waste problem became an existential problem for the industry. In self-defence, the industry claimed – without real evidence – that they had a solution: “Bury the waste in an undisturbed geologic formation”. But of course, the moment you dig, it is no longer undisturbed. We have seen three deep underground repositories for lower level radioactive waste fail – two in Germany, and one near Carlsbad New Mexico. As for high-level radioactive waste, the USA has tried eight times to locate a deep underground disposal site, and they have failed all eight times.

Here in California, in 1976, hundreds of thousands of people signed a citizen’s initiative bill to stop any new reactors from being built in the state because there is no waste solution. That bill was passed into law, and it is still the law. The California Legislature asked the Energy Resources and Conservation Commission to determine if there is a safe disposal method. After 2 years of intensive public hearings the verdict was “no”.

The Commission Chairman said : “We think it probable that [safe permanent disposal] will never be demonstrated. Excessive optimism about the potential for safe disposal [of nuclear wastes] has caused backers of nuclear power to ignore scientific evidence pointing to its pitfalls. That’s the real crux of what we found — that you have to weigh scientific evidence against essentially engineering euphoria.”  

Emilio Varanini III, Chairman, California Energy Resources and Conservation Commission, 1978 

Rolling Stewardship is not a solution to the radioactive waste problem, but an acknowledgement that we do not have a solution. Instead of assuming a solution exists, we should recognize that there is no proven solution.

Instead of abandoning the waste, we should monitor it and make sure it is retrievable.

Instead of waiting for the containers to fall apart underground, we should repair and repackage and improve safety measures from one generation to the next. Instead if walking away from the waste, we should keep it under close surveillance.

Leakage in a burial chamber will not be detected until it is too late. Rolling Stewardship will allow us to take timely action to intervene – to stop the leak and prevent recurrence.

Instead of waiting for the containers to fall apart underground, we should repair and repackage and improve safety measures from one generation to the next. Instead if walking away from the waste, we should keep it under close surveillance.

Leakage in a burial chamber will not be detected until it is too late. Rolling Stewardship will allow us to take timely action to intervene – to stop the leak and prevent recurrence.

Instead of closing the door on research to find a genuine solution to the waste problem, Rolling Stewardship will ensure that we keep that quest at the forefront of human consciousness.

This may sound idealistic, but in fact it is simply realistic. The worst thing about self-deception (thinking you have a solution when you don’t)  is that you end up with a radioactive mess – a vastly inferior and dangerous form of rolling stewardship – and very much costlier, because it was not planned at the outset.

We know how to package these wastes well enough to keep the radioactive contents out of the environment. The containers should be thick-walled, very robust, and built to last. They should not be right beside major bodies of water. They should be subject to Hardened On-Site Storage away from the shore.

The main reason waste storage is currently so unsatisfactory is that the industry has told us it is only temporary. We have to stop thinking that way.

Because we do not have a solution, Rolling Stewardship is what we do in the meantime to keep ourselves and our environment safe from the radioactive legacy of the nuclear age.

 One of the worst things about abandoning radioactive waste is that, over the very long term, amnesia sets in. Everyone forgets where the waste is or what it is or how to contain it. So when it leaks out into the environment – and it will leak out sooner or later – no one knows how to even detect it or to deal with it.

Rolling Stewardship, on the other hand is predicated on the persistence of memory. The knowledge of these highly toxic wastes and how to deal with them must be kept alive from generation to generation because it remains an ongoing risk.

In 2019 I attended a 3-day conference in Stockholm about how to warn future generations abut the legacy of radioactive waste that we are leaving behind. We do not know what languages people will be speaking in 2,000 years, or 10,000 years.

So how do we warn them? Do we put up a sign saying “Do not dig here”?  Will they understand the sign? And if they do understand it, will they obey it? If I were a future archeologist who came across such a sign, I would say to my team “Hey guys, Let’s dig here!”

The Strockholm Conference was a fascinating affair. One-third of the participants were nuclear scientists from several countries. One-third were independent commentators and critics of nuclear power, such as myself. And one-third were librarians, archivists and curators who knew little about radioactive waste, but lots about preserving Records, Knowledge and Memory (RKM). The conference was an outgrowth of the European Nuclear Energy Agency’s “RKM Project”, already working eight years on this exact question.

We were all keenly aware that the problem under consideration is similar to the problem of communicating with extra-terrestrial intelligence. How do we communicate with others, with no assurance that they understand any human languages that are used in the 21st century?

One of the advantages of Rolling Stewardship is that we can more easily pass on knowledge, information and advice from one generation to the next – rather than trying to communicate with a completely unknown society of the future, thousands of years away from us. We can still leave records for future societies, but each generation can review the adequacy of those records and try to improve them.

It became evident during the conference that if we want to communicate with future generations we have to begin by communicating with the present generation. If we cannot tell people today the truth about radioactive wastes, what hope do we have of telling future civilizations?

One of the conclusions of this conference was that decision-making about radioactive wastes can no longer be left solely in the hands of the nuclear industry and its captured regulator, the NRC. We have to plan now to address the future. This is a societal problem, not just an industry problem.

We need radioactive waste and nuclear decommissioning agencies that are independent of the promoters of nuclear energy, whether commercial or governmental.

We need agencies whose sole focus is the protection of people and the environment.

We need agencies that can communicate openly and transparently with citizens about the nature of the radioactive waste problem and the range of possible options.

The Age of Nuclear Energy will come to an end, but the Age of Nuclear Waste will continue forever – unless we learn how to completely eliminate that radioactive legacy permanently. At present we have no idea how to do that.

As long as we continue to operate old nuclear reactors and build new ones, we are simply compounding an already intractable problem. No matter how fast we bury the old waste, the surface of the Earth will always be prone to catastrophic releases from the freshly produced nuclear wastes which accumulate every day in the cores of operating reactors and in the immediate vicinities of those plants. Burial is no solution as long as the industry is growing, or even continuing with the status quo.

California was wise to pass a law in 1976 that phases out the production of new nuclear waste, by banning the building of any new nuclear plants. It is time for other states and other nations to follow suit. ——–

www.ccnr.org/Radioactive_Q&A_2024.pdf

July 29, 2024 Posted by | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

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