Court will hear appeal by environmental groups against Sizewell C nuclear power station
Sizewell C power station plans to be heard in court
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sizewell-c-power-station-plans-be-hear-court 9 Oct 23
THE future of the government’s Sizewell C nuclear power station will be decided at a hearing in the Court of Appeal next month, it was revealed today.
On November 1 and 2, judges will hear an appeal by campaign groups against a High Court rejection of a review of the decision by then business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to allow the development on the Suffolk coast to go ahead.
The development is being opposed by campaign groups Together Against Sizewell C (TASC), Suffolk Coastal Friends of the Earth and Stop Sizewell C.
They said the station’s huge consumption of water for its cooling system will threaten local domestic supplies, and that the project should have included a desalination plant.
TASC launched an appeal for funds and said: “Because of the short time-frame that has been forced on us we have little time to raise the £25,000 needed to cover the costs of our legal team for this appeal stage of the proceedings.” #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants
The case of Yaroslav Hunka, and its echoes in Australia’s history
Jayne Persian 9 Oct 23 https://overland.org.au/2023/10/the-case-of-yaroslav-hunka-and-its-echoes-in-australias-history/?fbclid=IwAR3fq-DqIxk7y61nKGzy77tlYkYp9vU9JaywMHQdzsQEcC6nrbU5dzrIrFk
Dr Jayne Persian is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland and the author of Fascists in Exile: Post-War Displaced Persons in Australia, forthcoming with Routledge Studies in Fascism and the Far Right.
On 22 September, during a visit to the Canadian Parliament by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Speaker Anthony Rota publicly introduced ninety-eight-year-old Yaroslav Hunka as a constituent ‘who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians’ as part of the First Ukrainian Division during the Second World War. He was ‘a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service.’ Hunka received a standing ovation from all present.
This scene was reported two days later by an antifascist site on Twitter, who pointed out that the First Ukrainian Division was also known as the Waffen-SS Galizien Division. Canadian academic Ivan Katchanovski linked to a veterans’ webpage in which Hunka wrote that he had been a volunteer recruit to the Galizien Division in 1943. Hunka had also uploaded photographs showing him in uniform with the ‘boys’.
The Kremlin immediately reacted, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov arguing that ‘such sloppiness of memory is outrageous.’ Opposition Leader, Pierre Poilevre, described this incident as the worst diplomatic embarrassment in Canada’s history. Rota resigned, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was forced to apologise unreservedly.
These embarrassing episodes continue to occur in countries that resettled the post-war displaced persons of Central and Eastern Europe. This mass of around one million people had refused to return to homes that were under Soviet control. As well as concentration camp inmates and forced labourers, these political refugees included soldiers who had fought in German military units, as well as civilian collaborators. Security screening was difficult and there was also some sympathy from the Allied military authorities for veterans on the losing side. Whole cohorts were resettled in Britain, including 8,000 Ukrainian members of the Waffen-SS Galizien Division. Ukrainian nationalist declarations were also treated seriously. While all Ukrainian displaced persons held either Polish or Soviet Union citizenship, they were treated as a separate group quite quickly.
Many of these men should have been charged with war crimes. The German-led Holocaust had relied on the firepower and administrative skill of non-German Central and Eastern Europeans, including Ukrainians. Ukrainian anti-Soviet and anti-Polish nationalists were initially involved in individual and group paramilitary acts, including voluntary local pogroms and/or acts of murder before or beside the German occupation. One of the pogroms, which involved the massacre of 12,000 Jews, was named Aktion Petliura after the Ukrainian nationalist leader Symon Petliura, who had been assassinated by a Ukrainian Jew (this assassination itself framed as retaliation for earlier pogroms) in 1926.
After the initial wave of pogroms, Ukrainians became progressively involved with an institutionalised German genocidal machinery. Ukrainians joined a Ukrainian Auxiliary Police Force (Schutzmannschaft), the German security police (Sicherheitspolizei, SiPo) and the intelligence agency (Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, SD). Others hunted Jews in their forest warden jobs. Local policemen were empowered to kill anyone the Germans defined as enemies of the state, including Jews; indeed, the Germans relied on the dramatically increased numbers of local forces to do the dirty work of the Holocaust, including the shooting of children. Between 1941 and 1944, 1.6 million Jews had been murdered in Ukraine. In 1943, 100,000 of these men volunteered to join the Waffen-SS Galizien Division. In this capacity, they have been accused of murdering Polish civilians.
The United Nations’ International Refugee Organisation resettled the displaced persons in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The western world was eager to use the labour of these healthy, white, and stridently anti-communistic young men. Australia resettled 170,700 displaced persons including Poles, ‘Balts’ (Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians), Yugoslavs, Ukrainians and Hungarians. There was immediate criticism by Jewish groups and sections of the press that the new migrants included war criminals but these were roundly dismissed as Soviet communist propaganda.
Decades later, all four of the main resettlement countries instituted judicial processes against the alleged perpetrators of the Holocaust who were now resident in their countries. In Australia, such men were guaranteed a fair criminal trial: the evidence, for crimes that occurred over forty-five years before, had to include documentary and material evidence and, ideally, eyewitnesses to the alleged individual perpetrator carrying out a war crime. Of course, the nature of the Holocaust was such that very few eyewitnesses to genocide survived in order to testify against individual killers.
After a flawed investigative process, only three men were charged. All three were Ukrainians who had resettled in Adelaide. Ukrainian auxiliary policeman Mikolay Berezowsky was accused of being party to a mass murder of 102 Jewish villagers. Henry Wagner, an ethnic German liaison officer between the German and Ukranian auxiliary police force, was charged with being party to two mass murders, including the shooting of nineteen part-Jewish children. Forest warden Ivan Polyukhovich was accused of hunting and killing Jews under the German occupation, and in taking part in a mass shooting. However, the evidence bar was so high that there were no convictions.
Immediately after the unsuccessful war crimes trials, Ukrainians again attracted attention with an award-winning novel by Helen Demidenko, purporting to be written by a Ukrainian-Australian and based on the life story a member of that community. To the great embarrassment of the Australian literati, Demidenko was soon unmasked as English-Australian Helen Darville, who had attended the Polyukhovich trial with a young man who was noticed to be repeatedly muttering ‘Jews’.
Many responses to Ivan Katchanovski’s tweets shedding light on this unsavoury history — one that Canada and Australia share — claimed that this was not the time to be critiquing Ukraine or Ukrainian nationalists. Ukraine was, of course, invaded by Russia in 2022 and that war is ongoing. Most in the West sympathise with, and support, Ukraine’s fight. And Russia has attempted to smear all Ukrainians with accusations of Nazism, which is simply not true. Dismissing inconvenient histories and the problematic pasts of individual migrants to both Canada and Australia, however, is not useful.
The complicity of the West in assisting perpetrators to escape justice should be acknowledged, and we must be wary of any attempt to normalise fascist views and actions in the public sphere. #Ukraine
Who finances RePlanet and its love for nuclear energy?
Could a fossil fuel lobby really be behind the promotion of fissile fuels?
October 10, 2023 https://electricalreview.co.uk/2023/10/10/who-finances-replanet/
In this week’s Gossage Gossip, our columnist discusses the financing behind environmental activist organisation RePlanet.
It is worth looking at who actually finances RePlanet – the organisation behind Swedish teenager La Anstoot, who is very publicly asking Greenpeace to get on board the nuclear train via a slick website and multiple media interviews.
Well, according to its EU filing, 94% of RePlanet’s two million euros per year comes from the Quadrature Climate Foundation. This was established by Quadrature Capital which owns $170 million in fossil fuel companies, including a $24 million stake in ConocoPhillips, the multinational oil giant behind the controversial Willow project that will drill in the Arctic.
So why on earth would the fossil fuel lobby be promoting fissile fuel? Perhaps it has something to do with the decades-long nuclear construction times – which is already up to 17 years, according to the Sunak government. Just think of all those carbon-burn dollars that can be generated in the meantime. #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants
Zelensky pledged not to directly attack nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia, says IAEA chief
“a number of fragile points apart from the reactors themselves”, including “the spent fuel area which is not fortified” as well as other storage areas holding fresh nuclear fuel.
Rafael Grossi says president personally assured him Ukraine ‘will not directly bomb or shell’ plant in counteroffensive
Dan Sabbagh, Guardian, 11 Oct 23
Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says Volodymyr Zelenskiy has promised him that Ukraine will not attack Europe’s biggest nuclear plant as part of its counteroffensive against Russia.
In an interview with the Guardian, the nuclear watchdog chief said he was most concerned about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant becoming engulfed in fighting between the two sides, but insisted he had obtained a commitment from the Ukrainian president.
“President Zelenskiy has personally assured me that they will not directly bomb or shell it,” Grossi said, although he added that Zelenskiy had told him “all other options are on the table” in terms of taking it back.
That means Ukraine would comply with the first of the five new nuclear safety principles – “do not attack a nuclear power plant” – initially outlined by Grossi at the UN security council at the end of May to avert “a catastrophic accident”.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station was captured by Russia in March 2022, the first time any reactor has been captured in war, prompting fears of a fresh incident in the same country where an explosion at Chornobyl spread radioactivity across Europe in 1986.
Grossi said the danger was that “anything can happen at any time” given the prevailing military situation. “I’m often asked, is [the power station] safe now? No. It’s in the middle of a war zone with a counteroffensive,” he said.
He said he believed there “were two main problems”, the most significant of which was “a direct attack, hit” on one of the less secure areas of the plant, while the secondary concern was the maintenance of water cooling, necessary even as the six reactors are in shutdown……….
Grossi said he was particularly concerned by “a number of fragile points apart from the reactors themselves”, including “the spent fuel area which is not fortified” as well as other storage areas holding fresh nuclear fuel.
“The fresh fuel halls, let me remind you, were hit in August 2022,” he added, describing the aftermath of an attack that left holes visible to satellite imagery on the roof of the power station’s key facility.
A few days later, Grossi crossed the frontlines to pay one of three personal visits since the start of the war to the nuclear plant, where he said he saw the damage caused by the attack where “a few metres down, you have the racks containing the fresh fuel”.
Though the damage was likely to have come after a Ukrainian attack, Grossi said he would not say who was responsible. “I don’t have a forensic capacity [to determine who was responsible],” he said. “The Russians would certainly say that [the Ukrainians did it].”
IAEA monitors are permanently based at the nuclear power plant, although last week Greenpeace said their number – at four – was too small and they were unable to provide effective assurances about safety because they had to give a week’s notice of their inspection requests…………..
Russia’s Rosatom nuclear agency has taken over the management of the plant, but has had to rely on a fraction of the prewar Ukrainian staff to keep it operational. Staffing levels plunged from 12,000 before the war to, Grossi said, about 2,000 today, although he added it was “growing again” with more native Russians coming onsite.
Concerns about maintaining water cooling increased sharply after the Nova Kakhovka dam downstream was blown in June, draining the Dnipro reservoir around the plant and leaving its reserve cooling water pond exposed…………………….
Grossi said he regretted how the plant had been used in military brinkmanship between the two sides. “We were not expecting a war with these kind of characteristics,” he said………… https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/10/zelenskiy-promises-not-to-attack-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-says-iaea-chief #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants
Critics are sceptical over County Council’s ‘nuclear engagement officer role’ funded by the industry
Debate ignites over County Council’s nuclear engagement officer role funded by the industry A step towards transparency or a compromise on impartiality?
By Daniel Jaines Local Democracy Reporter , My Local, Lincolnshire, 10 Oct 23
Lincolnshire County Council’s (LCC) job advert for a Policy and Engagement Officer, a role that will research the nuclear sector, has sparked controversy and concerns regarding impartiality and ethical considerations due to its funding by Nuclear Waste Services (NWS).
The job describes the role as a conduit between the council and the proposed Theddlethorpe Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) in Lincolnshire and comes with a salary of £38,296-£42,503. The appointee will be tasked with maintaining an overview of the developments proposed by NWS, ensuring senior politicians and officers are briefed and engaged, thereby helping the council in its role as the principal relevant local authority.
This includes providing advice on the potential advantages and disadvantages of the proposed investment.
The officer will be responsible for ensuring that the local community is provided with balanced information and will coordinate with local and national authorities and organisations to manage and distribute the latest information about nuclear industry developments and waste disposal.
The role also involves advocating activities that enable both the council and the area to derive financial benefits from the proposed GDF through investments in critical infrastructure, business and employment supply chains, and community grants.
The advert notes that while the post is fully funded by NWS, it will operate independently of them, and the LCC has adopted a neutral stance on the GDF.
However, the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) has expressed concerns, stating that the LCC’s understanding of the sector’s harsh realities is lacking, and that their motivations might be economically driven due to the long-term and uncertain nature of nuclear propositions.
The campaigners believe that LCC, by accepting funding from NWS, may be perceived as aligning itself with NWS or potentially compromising its impartiality in future nuclear-related decisions and policies.
The critics suggest that this funding could be seen as LCC getting “off the fence” and taking a side in the ongoing discussions and debates related to nuclear projects in the region.
Councillor David Blackburn, Chair of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) English Forum, expressed his concerns about the direction in which the LCC is heading: “Whilst this may mean job security for the successful candidate, it must represent insecurity for the residents of Theddlethorpe, Mablethorpe, and Sutton.
“For the first duty listed for the post holder will be to act as ‘the main point of contact between the council and the geological disposal facility which is proposed by Nuclear Waste Services for Theddlethorpe in Lincolnshire’.
“If NWS is indeed providing ‘permanent’ funding then it must remain of the view that, despite the clear local opposition to the proposal, a GDF might go forward for Theddlethorpe in the future. Otherwise, why would they invest?”
The Theddlethorpe site, currently under consideration for a GDF by NWS, has been met with significant opposition from the local community and elected members.
Ken Smith, a Theddlethorpe campaigner, has voiced that accepting funding from NWS suggests a bias on the part of LCC towards the GDF, rather than maintaining neutrality.
“In my view, it is totally unethical,” he said. “It gives NWS a direct line to councillors. They can claim independence as much as they like, but he who pays the piper calls the tune.”
He further emphasised the need for the council to encourage companies developing renewables, given Lincolnshire’s ideal location for such technologies………………….more https://mylocal.co.uk/lincolnshire/feed/120078/debate-ignites-over-county-council-s-nuclear-engagement-officer-role-funded-by-the-industry #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants
PETITION: Stop calling uranium mined fuels “clean energy”
Scrap the rebranding of nuclear as “clean.” Even the very first step of the fuel cycle, the mining of Uranium is uniquely dirty and dangerous. The extraction of a finite resource which is far from “home grown.”
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced in July that “The UK’s nuclear renaissance begins with the launch of Great British Nuclear helping us deliver clean, reliable energy for generations to come.”
Future generations are being dangerously misled about the main product of nuclear power – nuclear waste. This will be just as dangerous to their lives as it is to ours. Using Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology, the total NDA (Nuclear Decommissioning Authority) group carbon footprint for 2019/20 is 1,046,950 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)”. We believe much of this is indirectly looking after radioactive wastes at Sellafield………… #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants
Ukraine admits to conducting 3 commando raids against the city that hosts Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant
Ukraine’s nuclear admission a ‘wake-up call’ to the world – Moscow
https://www.rt.com/russia/584418-zakharova-budanov-energodar-raids/ 11 Oct 23
Kiev’s top military spy Kirill Budanov confirms launch of three botched assaults to retake Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
The acknowledgement by Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov, that three amphibious commando raids had been launched against the city that hosts Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, must not go unnoticed by the UN or by citizens of NATO states, Russia’s foreign ministry has said.
In an interview with Ukrainian media last week, Budanov and some subordinates described how the country’s military intelligence agency GUR had conducted commando raids on the city of Energodar and that each of these had failed.
The confession should bring people in NATO states “out of their hypnotic trance” in which they were “led to believe [by their governments] that Russia creates nuclear threats,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on Monday.
Zakharova also called for a reaction from the UN, which she said “has been claiming for all these months” that they couldn’t determine the direction from which the nuclear facility was being threatened.
None of Kiev’s three commando operations managed to establish a Ukrainian foothold in Energodar but officials claimed the expeditions gave them valuable experience and contributed to a larger goal of preventing Russia from using the plant to provide electricity to the region. The Zaporozhye station is in a state of partial shutdown, with a single reactor providing power for its own consumption.
The site was the focus of a protracted diplomatic spat between Moscow and Kiev last year. Ukraine claimed that Russia kept heavy weapons at the plant and was attacking Ukrainian forces from it. Moscow denied the accusation and said Kiev’s forces regularly targeted the facility with shelling and drone strikes.
The mutual accusations turned down a notch after UN watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) deployed a permanent on-site monitoring mission in September 2022. The organization repeatedly declined to assess who was responsible for sporadic incidents involving the facility.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi attempted to mediate a Russian-Ukrainian deal to declare the vicinity of the Zaporozhye plant off-limits for hostilities, but did not succeed.
In July, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed that Russia had rigged the site with explosives and could blow it up at any moment, possibly in a false-flag operation. Kiev described the purported plot as part of Moscow’s alleged “nuclear blackmail” of Ukraine and its Western backers.
Russia dismissed the allegations. IAEA monitors reported that territory outside the perimeter of the plant was mined but otherwise could not confirm Zelensky’s claims. The Ukrainian leader cited reports by his intelligence services. #Ukraine
New Brunswick small nuclear tech could be used for nuclear war: physicist.
John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative reporter|, Brunswick News, 11 Oct 23
A physicist from British Columbia is warning that New Brunswick is heading down a dangerous path, increasing the likelihood of a nuclear war by supporting the development of small reactors for export.
M. V. Ramana, a professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the University of British Columbia, says the two companies that are trying to develop small modular reactors at Point Lepreau near Saint John – Moltex and ARC – use technology that could one day be used to make nuclear weapons.
If those reactors fell in the wrong hands, he says, humankind could be put at risk.
“All reactors use plutonium and many of them use enriched uranium. Both of these processes can also be used to produce weapons material,” the academic said from the Vancouver airport on Wednesday, a day ahead of his lecture at St. Thomas University in Fredericton at 7 p.m. at the Kinsella Auditorium, McCain Hall. “The other issue is personnel. People working with reactors can learn to make nuclear weapons. And lastly, in many countries, it’s the same institutions that are involved in developing nuclear energy as developing nuclear weapons.”
Ramana cited the country of his birth, India, which ostensibly developed reactors for peaceful purposes through its Department of Nuclear Energy but after a couple of decades started making weapons out of the material to counter the influence of Pakistan, which it has fought four wars against since independence in 1947.
He also mentioned Iran, which first acquired the technology for nuclear energy in the 1970s when the Shah was in power and the country was friendly to the West. Following the revolution of 1979, religious extremists took over who now sponsor terrorist attacks around the world – such as the Hamas raid last weekend that left 1,000 Israeli citizens and soldiers dead – and also want to develop their own nuclear arsenal.
New Brunswick, he said, could unwittingly undo years of international efforts to stop nuclear proliferation once the ARC and Moltex technologies are ready, expected sometime around 2030 or a few years after.
Despite a long history of producing nuclear energy, Canada has never made nuclear weapons. Ramana said that could change if the wrong politicians came to power.
“Look at what happened on January 6, 2021 at the Capitol Building,” he said of the attempted insurrection in the United States. “I don’t think anyone thought that would ever happen. And we don’t know who will be in power in Canada in 30 years.”
Moltex and ARC have made no secret of their desire to create prototype reactors in New Brunswick that could one day be made and sold to other places, both within Canada and to other countries. It’s part of their business model.
Rory O’Sullivan, the CEO of Moltex, recently wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rebutting the criticisms of a group of anti-nuclear non-proliferation academics from the United States.
Ottawa has already provided Moltex $50 million to develop its technology, and New Brunswick $5 million. It will likely need more public investment to keep developing its technology…………………………..
“Imagine one day they export reactors to South Korea, or Saudi Arabia, or Nigeria, whatever country you want to think about it. When they send the reactors abroad, they’ll have to send the fuel for those reactors, and they have a very large amount of plutonium. A country could get the reactor and the plutonium and say, ‘we’re going to use the plutonium to make nuclear weapons,’ there’s very little we can do to sanction that country.”– said Ramana #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants
Boss of Sizewell nuclear project calls for “curbing protestors powers’ to block them in the courts
Nuclear plant developer calls for limits on legal challenges. The
government should seek to accelerate major projects by curbing protestors
powers’ to block them in the courts the boss of Sizewell C says.
Times (not on the web) 9th Oct 2023 #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants
Ministry confirms Israel’s deployment of white phosphorous bombs against Gaza
Wednesday, 11 October 2023 https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/10/10/712479/Palestine-Israel-war-white-phosphorous
The health ministry in the Gaza Strip, which has come under an all-out Israeli war, has confirmed the regime’s deployment of banned white phosphorous munitions against a densely populated neighborhood in the coastal sliver.
“Israeli warplanes use internationally #prohibited_white_phosphorus, destroying al-Karama neighborhood,” the official Palestinian Wafa news agency wrote on X on Wednesday, referring to a neighborhood lying in the north of the Palestinian territory.
Calling up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists, the Israeli regime has declared a “long” war on Gaza in response to Operation al-Aqsa Storm.
Gaza’s Hamas and Islamic Jihad resistance movements initiated the operation on Saturday, killing hundreds of Israeli forces and illegal settlers and taking many others among them hostage. The resistance fighters say they waged the operation against the occupying regime in response to its decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Palestinians.
The Israeli war has so far killed 900 Palestinians, including 260 children and 230 women, and injured as many as 4,600 others.
Reporting on Monday, Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam news network reported that the regime had started using the banned munitions against Gaza earlier in the day.
The use of white phosphorus shells for direct targeting of enemy positions is illegal under the international law as the practice can amount to war crime and cause widespread fatalities.
This is not the first time that Tel Aviv targets the territory with such weapons.
Israel admitted to “using munitions containing white phosphorus” during its 2008-2009 war on Gaza, but the regime denied violating the international law by insisting that such weapons were not fired into areas populated by civilians. #Israel
Interest, but skepticism, on nuclear microreactors, fusion , and thorium
The Nuclear Microreactor Race Is Heating Up
Zero Hedge,Oct 11, 2023,
“…………………………………………………………..Interest and Skepticism
Interest in microreactors and other advanced nuclear technology has increased partly because of concerns about climate change. While various processes associated with nuclear power can produce greenhouse gasses–for example, mining uranium for fuel–nuclear fission doesn’t directly generate them. For governments and corporations that have committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, nuclear energy can look rather enticing.
Yet, some experts and activists contend that the world can radically scale back hydrocarbons without using more nuclear power.
In early June of this year, for example, former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) chair Gregory Jaczko held a briefing in which he and others argued that nuclear power is too expensive and risky to help the U.S. decarbonize.
“There are now better ways to generate carbon-free electricity. We have renewable energy. We have geothermal, hydro, solar, wind,” Mr. Jaczko told the CBC in a 2019 interview…………………………
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has also sounded somewhat skeptical of advanced reactors.
In August of this year, he vetoed a bill that would have lifted the state’s moratorium on building new nuclear plants.
In a statement on the veto, his office said that “the vague definitions in the bill, including the overly broad definition of advanced reactors, will open the door to the proliferation of large-scale nuclear reactors that are so costly to build that they will cause exorbitant ratepayer-funded bailouts.”………………………………………………………..
Need for Non-Russian Fuel Another Challenge in Advanced Nuclear
The ADVANCE Act also directs the NRC to report to Congress on its ability to lessen its dependence on Russia for fuel.
Indeed, Russia’s dominance of the high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) used in most small advanced reactors has already delayed the launch of TerraPower’s Natrium reactor.
The Department of Energy in 2020 launched a HALEU consortium as part of its efforts to develop domestic sources.
Nano, a founding participant in the consortium, touts a subsidiary focused on HALEU production, HALEU Energy Fuel Inc.
The HALEU problem raises a basic question: even if Nano’s reactors are ready to roll by 2030, will they be able to operate?
“You can have a Ferrari, but if you don’t have fuel, it’s not going to run,” Mr. Yu said.
Chuckling at Fusion, Still Bearish on Thorium
In late 2022, the achievement of ignition in a fusion reaction at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory got a lot of media attention.
At the time, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm suggested the result supports the Biden administration’s goal of a commercial fusion reactor in the next decade, saying the work “shows that it can be done.”
Yet, when the subject of fusion came up, both Mr. Yu and Mr. Walker started chuckling.
“Well, the reason why we’re laughing a bit is because we’ve got some scientists on board, and they get asked this quite a lot, and they lose their temper about this,” Mr. Walker explained.
“You do get very hyped-up articles,” he added.
He pointed out that the fusion breakthrough celebrated last year required massive energy input, far more than the reaction itself generated………..
Mr. Walker voiced a few concerns about thorium reactors, saying some of Nano’s technical staff “were very bearish on it” and stressing that he lacks significant expertise on thorium. #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants
Why are we avoiding the ‘what if’ of nuclear war?
Adding to this MADness is the nonchalant manner that a large part of the world has adopted toward the threat of a nuclear conflict.
The possibility has shifted to the back of our collective psyches allowing us to focus on more important issues crowding our agenda.
By Stewart Mackinnon, CEO, Circle Pictures 11/10/2023 https://www.euronews.com/2023/10/11/why-are-we-avoiding-the-what-if-of-nuclear-war
The clear and present danger of nuclear escalation that once lurked over the civilised world’s head has dissipated into the ether, and the nonchalant manner that the world has adopted toward it raises many questions, Stewart Mackinnon writes.
Exactly 37 years ago, on a bleak outlook overlooking the Atlantic, the two remaining Cold Warriors met in Reykjavik and proposed the almost unthinkable — to rid the world of all nuclear weapons.
Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev began a dialogue that set in motion a series of summits that would ultimately not achieve this bold objective but resulted in what many historians cite as the beginning of the end of the Cold War.
However, the question remains: to what end?
Nuclear weapons are deadlier than ever
While the Cold War came to a close, the threat of nuclear war did not. The global nuclear arsenal had reached its peak in 1986 with over 63,000 weapons in circulation compared to 12,500 today, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
But the number of missiles is immaterial, as today’s weaponry is five times more lethal than Big Boy and Fat Man — the two bombs dropped on Japan at the end of WWII.
In addition, the range and mobility of the current arsenal have expanded significantly with the ability to reach any destination — from London to Moscow to Washington — in a matter of minutes, wiping out millions of people instantaneously.
The lethality of the weapons has advanced greatly since their inception in 1942. That historic moment, which was so aptly captured in the sure-to-be award-winning film Oppenheimer, showcased how the technology for “the bomb” was developed.
However, except for a few symbolic scenes in the film, the true horror and devastation of the weapons were largely glossed over. A missed opportunity.
From Megadeath to Mutual Assured Destruction
In 1945, history was irrevocably changed with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, leaving 80,000 citizens dead and another 30,000 to later perish from radiation exposure.
The term “megadeath” — a unit used in estimating the number of casualties from a nuclear bomb strike — had become a reality and the horrific devastation wrought on its victims was unimaginable.
Many survivors were burned beyond recognition and exposed to high levels of radiation that would burden them physically and psychologically for the rest of their lives.
The subsequent arms race that ensued between America and the Soviet Union led to the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction, or MAD, that served to handcuff both sides with the premise that “if you fire on me, I’ll fire on you.”
A flawed concept to be sure. Yet the MAD strategy (which it truly is) remains the primary nuclear conflict deterrent today.
Nuclear engagement is not out of the question
Adding to this MADness is the nonchalant manner that a large part of the world has adopted toward the threat of a nuclear conflict.
The possibility has shifted to the back of our collective psyches allowing us to focus on more important issues crowding our agenda.
A case in point is the most recent Republican presidential debate. While there were several questions around Taiwan and Ukraine, there was no specific reference to the “what if” of a nuclear engagement.
Sadly, such an event is not out of the question. Russia’s Vladimir Putin has openly threatened the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
And recently leaked documents revealed plans to conduct nationwide nuclear war drills in Russia along with the testing of a nuclear weapon in the Arctic as a show of force to the West.
His comrade in arms Kim Jung Un regularly rattles his nuclear sabre threatening his neighbours near and far and touting North Korea’s advancements of long-range missiles capable of reaching Western shores in the not-too-distant future.
It was refreshing to see nuclear disarmament on the agenda at the United Nations General Assembly meeting a few weeks ago even though it is not one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
However, the issue was largely overshadowed by other global issues from climate change to artificial intelligence. Truly, these are important topics to tackle but they become irrelevant with the launch of a nuclear war where there are no winners, only losers.
We still don’t have a plan B?
As a child of the Cold War, I can still remember the air raid drills in my community and hiding under my school desk.
That clear and present danger had lurked over the civilised world’s head but has since dissipated into the ether.
One would hope bright minds in political capitals around the world are gaming how to avoid a nuclear conflict.
But that notion calls to mind a moment when President Reagan after being briefed on the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction posed the simplest of questions, “What is Plan B?” to which his advisors had no answer.
And today as we celebrate their famous meeting in Iceland almost four decades later it is time again to ask our leaders — “What is plan B?” #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants
‘The Day After’ Director Returns to Sound the Alarm with ‘How to Stop a Nuclear War’
Military.com | By Blake Stilwell 11 Oct 23
It might come as a surprise to some, but for most of the Cold War, Hollywood never really depicted what might actually happen to Americans if the Soviet Union suddenly nuked the United States. Sure, they did emergency drills in schools and likely saw photos of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but it was a 1983 made-for-television movie starring Steve Guttenberg and John Lithgow that changed how many Americans felt about the looming prospect of a nuclear war.
“The Day After” aired on Nov. 20, 1983, and bluntly showed everyday Americans going about their lives before getting vaporized to the bone by a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, as they ran in vain for the nearest fallout shelter. More than 100 million people watched Kansas and Missouri get suddenly and violently obliterated — and they didn’t handle it well.
Nearly 40 years later, director Nicholas Meyer (who is also responsible for all the good “Star Trek” movies featuring the original cast) is back to warn us again about the danger posed by nuclear weapons and how the world is currently teetering on the edge of destruction. This time, he’s doing it through a new documentary, “How to Stop a Nuclear War” based on the book “Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner” by famed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg………………………………………………………….
Whether Jay and Meyer’s upcoming documentary “How to Stop a Nuclear War” will have an effect on whoever occupies the White House after its release is anyone’s guess. But if it’s anything like “The Day After,” it will likely have an effect on the rest of us.
— Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Facebook, X or on LinkedIn. more https://www.military.com/off-duty/movies/2023/10/11/day-after-director-returns-sound-alarm-how-stop-nuclear-war.html #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants
Zelensky fears Israel will distract from Western aid to Kiev
Rt.com 11 Oct 23
The Ukrainian president has visited NATO headquarters, concerned that the flow of Western help could be imperiled
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has voiced concerns that the security crisis in the Middle East could draw international attention away from his country. He blamed Russia for the Hamas incursion into southern Israel last week.
“If international attention shifts away from Ukraine, one way or another, it will have consequences,” the Ukrainian leader warned in an interview with France 2 on Tuesday.
“The fate of Ukraine depends on the unity of the rest of the world,” he added, expressing hope that Washington would ensure continued assistance…………………………….
On Wednesday, Zelensky made an unannounced visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels, where he reportedly sought reassurances that the Hamas raid and Israel’s retaliation would not distract from attention to Ukraine…………..
Last month, the US Congress declined to allocate money for Ukraine aid in a 45-day stopgap spending bill. The White House reportedly wants to include it in a package meant for Israel to overcome resistance from some lawmakers………
The Pentagon announced its latest $200 million package of assistance to Ukraine on Wednesday.
The Zelensky government has rejected the idea of peace talks with Russia and seeks a military victory with Western help instead. Moscow has argued that the US and its allies are using Ukrainians as “cannon fodder” in a proxy war against Russia. https://www.rt.com/russia/584640-zelensky-aid-israel-nato/
Was the massacre in a Ukrainian village in fact a false-flag provocation by the Kiev regime?
More proof of a false-flag massacre at village funeral by Kiev regime
Strategic Culture Foundation, Tue, 10 Oct 2023 https://www.sott.net/article/485035-More-proof-of-a-false-flag-massacre-at-village-funeral-by-Kiev-regime
A massacre in a Ukrainian village last week that was roundly blamed on the Russian military in Western media reports has taken a new twist that further shows the incident was actually a false-flag provocation by the Kiev regime.
Western media last week reported that 52 people were killed when a cafe was allegedly hit by a Russian precision missile on Thursday, October 5. All Western media reports cited Ukrainian officials as their source for attributing blame on the Russian military firing an Iskander missile.
The cafe was crowded with families who had attended a funeral for a Ukrainian soldier.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who was on the same day attending a summit in Granada, Spain, with European leaders, denounced the atrocity as “genocidal aggression” by Russia.
After widely reporting the slaughter in the village of Hroza in eastern Ukraine amid a torrent of condemnations of Russia, as usual, Western media have quickly shifted their focus onto other world events, primarily the eruption in violence between Israelis and Palestinians over the weekend.
However, a follow-up report by AP on the horror at Hroza inadvertently sheds more light on who actually fired the missile. There is good reason to suspect that the Kiev regime orchestrated the air strike as a false-flag propaganda stunt. In other words, the regime deliberately killed civilians in its own territory in a cynical effort to smear Russia.
The new twist is that the families of the victims are reportedly at a loss as to how Russian forces knew of the gathering of people for the dead soldier’s funeral. The village has no military bases or tactical value. It is situated nearly 30 kilometers from the frontline between Ukrainian and Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.
The follow-up AP report claims that local people suspect that an informer in the village might have given the coordinates of the funeral to the Russian military. But rather than making that deduction, a more plausible explanation for the deadly attack can be found in the acutely felt political needs of the Kiev regime.
The timing of the massacre on the same day that Zelensky was making a big pitch for more military aid from European NATO members strongly suggests that Kiev regime forces carried out the strike on Hroza village to give its president more emotive power in his set-piece appeal to European leaders.
There is precedent for such a vile act. As noted earlier, when U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kiev last month on September 6 to deliver $1 billion in American weaponry, on the same day a missile strike killed 17 people in the town of Konstantinovka in eastern Ukraine.The town is under the control of the Ukrainian military. That atrocity was immediately blamed on Russia which Zelensky and Blinken vociferously condemned at the time. It turned out later, though, that the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out the air strike in a seeming error, according to the New York Times.
It is argued by this author that the strike on Konstantinovka was not an error, but rather a deliberate act of killing Ukrainian civilians to smear Russia and to garner support for more American military aid.
The same modus operandi is believed to explain the massacre at the village of Hroza last week.
Bear in mind that the summit in Granada addressed by Zelensky where he cited the carnage at Hroza and suitably accused Russia of depraved terrorism was held at a crucial political moment concerning American and European financial support for the Kiev regime. The U.S. Congress has temporarily suspended billions of dollars for Ukraine and the pressure is on Europe to maintain the flow of money.
The highly emotive appeal by Zelensky in Granada appeared to bolster European military support with reports that same day of Spain pledging to supply more air-defense systems to Ukraine.
Returning to the latest AP report, it was said:
“Locals say it [Hroza village] is strictly a civilian area. There has never been any military base, whether Russian or Ukrainian. They said only civilians or family came to the funeral and wake, and residents were the only people who would have known where and when it was taking place.
“Dmytro Chubenko, spokesman for the regional prosecutor, said investigators are looking into whether someone from the area transmitted the cafe’s coordinates to the Russians — a betrayal to everyone now grieving in Hroza… Many share that suspicion, describing a strike timed to kill the maximum number of people. The date of the funeral was set a few weeks ago, and the time was shared throughout the village late last week.”
This version of events stretches credulity. Would a local village inhabitant go out of their way to tell the Russian military about a family funeral gathering? Would the Russian military go to the trouble of firing an Iskander precision missile at a civilian gathering 30 kms from its front line and also knowing that Western media would predictably vilify Russia for “barbarity”?
That explanation of an alleged informer and Russian depravity does not add up.
What does add up, rather, is the Kiev regime authorities knew that a funeral for one of their own soldiers was taking place on the same day that their president was making a big appeal for more weapons at a summit in Spain.
Zelensky needed a propaganda punch for his appeal and Western media obliged as usual to paint Russia as evil barbarians. #Ukraine
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