UK has ‘no future’ if it fails to act on ecosystem collapse threatening national security
Members of parliament have demanded full publication of an explosive
report by the UK’s spy leaders that found the collapse of ecosystems
overseas would have catastrophic consequences for the UK’s national
security, warning that the UK has “no future” if the findings are not
urgently acted on.
Despite growing concerns for the UK’s food security,
likely to be worsened by the third heatwave this summer currently
afflicting the UK and swathes of the northern hemisphere, the government
has refused to publish the full report, which has circulated among defence
officials for more than a year.
The report paints a devastating picture of
severe food shortages, price rises, migration, political destabilisation
and possible war, resulting from the collapse of ecosystems, fuelled by the
human-induced climate crisis and over-exploitation, as the Guardian has
previously revealed. Food shortages could result within five years.
Guardian 8th July 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jul/08/uk-report-ecosystem-collapse-national-threat-food-security
Almost forgotten? the Church Rock nuclear tragedy
On July 16, 1979, the worst accidental release of radioactive waste in U.S.
history happened at the Church Rock uranium mine and mill site. While the
Three Mile Island accident (that same year) is well known, the enormous
radioactive spill in New Mexico has been kept quiet. It is the U.S. nuclear
accident that almost no one knows about. Just 14 weeks after the Three Mile
Island reactor accident, and 34 years to the day after the Trinity atomic
test, the small community of Church Rock, New Mexico became the scene of
another nuclear tragedy.
Beyond Nuclear 16th July 2023, https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2023/07/16/a-90-million-gallon-nuclear-tragedy/
America’s AI War Has No Civilian Stop Rule
July 10, 2026, Brian Hudson Foreign Policy in Focus, https://www.juancole.com/2026/07/americas-civilian-stop.html
When the Pentagon made Palantir’s Maven Smart System a formal “program of record” in March, it did more than approve software. It gave long-term status to a platform that analyzes data from satellites, drones, radars, sensors, and intelligence reports to identify potential targets. Maven supported almost all of the 13,500 U.S. strikes in Iran. The designation is meant to secure funding and extend its use across the military.
That decision came while the United States was still investigating the February 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, Iran. An initial U.S. military inquiry found that U.S. forces were likely responsible, but the Pentagon has not released a final public conclusion. Iranian authorities have reported between 155 and more than 175 deaths, most of them students and teachers. The question is why a military system designed to move faster from information to action has no equally clear public requirement to slow down after grave civilian harm.
In software engineering, an “error budget” is meant to protect users. When a service exceeds an agreed level of failure, new releases stop until the problem is understood and fixed. War is obviously not software. But in Washington’s AI-assisted operations, civilian deaths do not automatically trigger a temporary suspension of the relevant tools, an independent review of the data, or a public account of the decisions that led to the strike.
Advocates of military AI argue that better data and faster analysis can make attacks more precise. That is possible in principle. But precision is not something software simply possesses. It depends on the quality and age of the data, what a system treats as suspicious, and whether people have enough time to challenge its output.
AI does not turn stale or biased information into truth. It can make bad information travel faster. Human Rights Watch has warned that Israeli digital tools used in Gaza relied on incomplete data and inexact estimates that could raise the risk of civilian harm. The lesson is not that every use of AI is unlawful. It is that speed can magnify the consequences of a bad premise before anyone can catch it.
The familiar assurance that a “human remains in the loop” does not solve this problem. A person who sees only a final recommendation, cannot inspect the data trail, and has seconds rather than hours to decide is not exercising meaningful independent judgment. AI can shape lethal force without pulling a trigger. It can determine what appears urgent, which people or places rise to the top of a list, and which facts never appear at all.
The Iran campaign makes this concern immediate. Maven and Anthropic’s Claude were used to process classified intelligence, suggest coordinates, rank targets, and turn planning that once took weeks into real-time operations. That does not establish that AI independently chose every target or that every AI-supported strike was unlawful. Reuters later reported that Palantir faced the task of removing Anthropic technology from Maven. But the larger point remains: the Pentagon is institutionalizing systems built to compress the time for human deliberation before force is used.
The Minab tragedy represents the human cost of treating speed as a virtue in itself. The school had a public website, posted student photographs, and was visible in satellite imagery. It also reported that targeting officials appeared to have used outdated intelligence. The exact role of AI in the strike has not been disclosed. But information apparently did not distinguish the school clearly enough from the adjacent military compound, and the Pentagon has not publicly explained how that failure traveled through the targeting process. That is an accountability problem, not just a technical one.
Congress should establish a civilian stop rule for AI-assisted targeting. Credible evidence of grave civilian harm should trigger a temporary suspension of the relevant system in comparable missions, an independent review of the data and approval process, and a public explanation of the system’s role. This would not treat every civilian casualty as proof of a crime or ban every military use of AI. It would mean families do not have to wait through months of secrecy to learn whether a database, a contractor, or a command decision helped turn a civilian site into a target.
Congress has begun to consider broader guardrails. The House Armed Services Committee’s FY2027 defense bill would direct the Pentagon to extend its AI policy to systems that support or materially influence operational planning, target development, weaponeering, and engagement recommendations. That is a start. But it is not a civilian stop rule. It does not automatically pause a system after a devastating incident or guarantee a public answer.
Such a rule would reinforce the law of war. Customary international humanitarian law requires militaries to take all feasible precautions to verify targets and reduce foreseeable civilian harm. It also requires them to cancel or suspend attacks when it becomes clear that a target is not military or an attack would be unlawful. The Red Cross has recommended after-action reviews and re-testing or suspending AI systems when reliability, safety, or legal compliance concerns emerge. Recent scholarship points in the same direction. Renato Wolf emphasizes precaution throughout AI-assisted target verification, while Jessica Dorsey warns that over-reliance on computational systems can weaken the human judgment needed to protect civilians. If an AI-enabled process makes verification harder because it rewards speed, the problem is a failure to meet an existing legal duty.
Palantir can say it supplies the platform. The Pentagon can say software only supports decisions. An operator can say the data arrived already ranked.
But people grieving outside a destroyed school are left with no clear answer about who is accountable. Until Washington creates a publicly disclosed civilian stop rule, “precision warfare” will remain a technical phrase that conceals a political choice: to accelerate force without a meaningful way to stop, inspect, and answer for its failures.
Great British Energy appoints Amentum and Cavendish in £360M SMR deal
06 Jul, 2026 By Gavin Pearson, https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/great-british-energy-appoints-amentum-and-cavendish-in-360m-smr-deal-06-07-2026/
Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE‑N) has awarded a long-term Owner’s Engineer (OE) contract worth up to £300M to two contractors.
Amentum Clean Energy and Cavendish Nuclear were signed to the role in a 14‑year contract which formally runs from 23 April 2026 to 23 April 2040.
The contract notice also states the possibility for an extension that could take it to October 2041.
The total value for the contract including VAT is listed as £360M and £300M without VAT, although GBE‑N said the contract’s final value is uncertain and depends on how the project progresses.
This will include timetables and milestones agreed with the SMR technology partner but the procurement notice envisages the OE supporting the client up to the completion of the first fuel cycle for the initial reactor.
The OE role will provide independent technical assurance and oversight to GBE‑N’s “Intelligent Customer” and “Intelligent Client” teams as the SMR programme moves through design stages and towards a final investment decision.
Responsibilities will include specification, audit, review and advice on design, scope, budgets, risk, delivery and contract compliance and acting as a subject matter expert delivering “Line of Defence 2” assurance on major design and build contracts.
Amentum and Cavendish are both established contractors in energy and nuclear services. Cavendish Nuclear is part of Babcock International Group, known for nuclear construction and engineering work in the UK and Amentum is an international engineering and technical services company.
The contract includes monthly reporting against key performance indicators such as deliverable quality, core team availability and social value measures, including targets for female apprenticeships.
North Korea vows boost to nuclear buildup, military intelligence
North Korea will strengthen its nuclear force “both in quality and
quantity” and expand the role of its military intelligence agency focused
on South Korea, state media said Friday.
Pyongyang is under widespread
sanctions over its nuclear programme, and the two Koreas remain technically
at war as their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace treaty.
The announcement comes after North Korea has repeatedly spurned South Korean
President Lee Jae Myung’s dovish overtures, labelling Seoul its “most
hostile” enemy and declaring itself an “irreversible” nuclear state.
Daily Mail 10th July 2026,
https://www.dailymail.com/wires/afp/article-15967405/North-Korea-vows-boost-nuclear-buildup-military-intelligence.html
Labour MP Brian Leishman opposes new nuclear energy near Clacks
10th July, By Hannah Emma Shedden,
https://www.alloaadvertiser.com/news/26259252.brian-leishman-opposes-new-nuclear-energy-near-clacks/
BRIAN Leishman MP says he “cannot support” new nuclear power plants – despite his party earmarking Fife and Stirling for future development.
Last Tuesday, a UK Government report identified six locations across Scotland where the Labour administration would like to develop as part of their drive towards alternative energy sources.
To the east of Clackmannanshire, “the north coast of the Forth” was listed, which many local politicians understood as referring to Longannet, a site next to Kincardine and just over seven miles from Alloa town centre.
West of the Wee County, the “south bank of the Forth” near Stirling, was identified, though the exact location remains unclear.
Currently, through devolved powers, the Scottish Government have the power to block planning, and said they would not permit the building of any nuclear sites.
Mr Leishman, Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, said: “On balance, I simply cannot support plans to expand nuclear power plants, including any potential sites in Scotland.
“The reasons for this are numerous and even if issues such as the huge construction costs to the taxpayer were resolved, the problem of nuclear waste remains.”
He said it is often ignored that there are “considerable” carbon emissions from nuclear fuel and waste disposal cycles, adding: “We also need to look at the sky-high cost of decommissioning, Sellafield being a prime example.
“We are yet to deal with all the waste from previous nuclear programmes, and I do not see how nuclear would help us with the climate emergency, considering the length of time it takes to plan and build such power plants.
“I believe that pound for pound, renewables such as wind and solar offer much better value for money as we look to achieve net zero.”
Nuclear power costs billions. Here are seven better ways to use that money – Martin Roche
Given Scotland’s renewables capacity and reserves of oil and gas, opting for expensive nuclear is daft, argues Martin Roche
There’s an energy project in Britain that will take twice as long to build as originally planned. It will at least double its forecast construction costs and require a UK bill-payer subsidy of £1 billion a year.
. Given Scotland’s renewables capacity and reserves of
Toil and gas, opting for expensive nuclear is daft, argues Martin Roche.
There’s an energy project in Britain that will take twice as long to build
as originally planned. It will at least double its forecast construction
costs and require a UK bill-payer subsidy of £1 billion a year
. It’s the nuclear power station being built by the French state-owned company EDF at
Hinkley Point in Somerset. Begun in 2017, its opening date has been pushed
back to 2030. The plant’s cost, unadjusted for inflation, stands today at
£35bn but the final total may reach £50bn.
The argument of the nuclear
power lobby is that we must have wholly reliable ‘baseload’ energy for
when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. I saw one
nonsensical argument that nuclear would be there when renewable energy went
into decline. This is desperate nonsense. The wind will continue to blow
off Scotland’s coast and high places on most days of the year, for as
long as there is a Scotland.
That’s not to say we should rely entirely on
renewables. We must have wholly dependable sources of power. Scotland has
options for both reducing its energy demand and building an energy economy
that can have much more impact over decades than nuclear. We should be
working to reduce energy costs for households and create a far bigger
energy employment sector than anything nuclear can offer.
And we can start
now. No need to wait decades for new nuclear stations. Nuclear generation
may enrich some giant companies and provide jobs in operation and
construction, but the numbers are modest when compared with smarter
thinking.
Labour’s policy may be good for US tech giants that want to
gobble up Scotland’s abundant energy to drive data centres, but it’s
not yet clear what’s in these facilities for the Scottish economy, jobs
or the public purse. Nuclear is a naïve 20th-century solution to complex
21st-century problems.
Nuclear power stations are also big targets and at
the mercy of drones, as we know from Ukraine. So much for energy security.
There is a far better way to spend our money than shovelling public cash
into the board rooms of energy giants or the pockets of California tech
bros billionaires.
It’s called the broader public good. Here are some
thoughts: One, a ten-year programme to bring Scottish homes up to the
highest possible thermal performance standards, so they are more efficient
and cheaper to run in deep winter and high summer. Better homes at less
cost and using less energy. Two, all new buildings – homes, schools,
offices, factories – to be built to the world’s most exacting energy
performance standards.
Three, grid connection costs to be slashed so that
small generation projects in rural areas, like mini-hydro and biogas,
become economically viable.
Four, every tenement building in Scotland to be
made suitable for solar panels, with owners benefiting from their share of
the income to help maintain properties. Our tenement homes can become our
own energy production factories.
Five, localised generation such as
tenement solar means that a network of small battery storage facilities can
be created across Scotland. Connected to the National Grid, they can be the
first line of defence on the odd days when wind can’t do the job.
Six,
some 12 per cent of Scotland’s energy comes from hydro power. We can
double that. Seven, all this will cost money. There are opportunities here
to create new long-term projects and consumer finance products, perhaps
with state guarantees (rather than being a cash cow for nuclear). Better
ways can be found of encouraging community energy firms. A new Scottish
private sector capital markets organisation can be established to provide
start-up and growth capital for new energy sector businesses.
Scotsman 9th July 2026, https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/nuclear-power-costs-billions-here-are-seven-better-ways-to-use-that-money-8786542
Iran war takes terrifying turn, missiles bombard NUCLEAR plant
Daily Mail, By PHILLIP NIETO, US POLITICAL REPORTER, , 10 July 2026
Donald Trump‘s war has escalated after Tehran retaliated by firing missiles and drones at war-weary US allies in the Middle East, while American strikes bombarded an Iranian nuclear plant.
A day after the President declared the ceasefire ‘over’ and struck more than 170 regime targets, Kuwait and Bahrain faced fresh Iranian attacks on Thursday morning.
Jordan, a US ally, said five Iranian ballistic missiles were fired from northwestern Iran toward an air base in the country, delaying flights across the region.
Sirens could be heard blasting for civilians to take cover as all Iranian missiles were intercepted, the government says.
Iranian officials claimed that US military strikes sent shrapnel and projectiles slamming into the perimeter of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran.
US strikes on Iran over the last 48 hours have targeted Iran’s military assets near the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway responsible for one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Various Iranian air defense systems, drones, regime speed boats, and missile storage sites have been destroyed, according to US Central Command. US officials claim that the strikes are designed to stop Iran from attacking commercial shipping vessels crossing the strait.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claims it has successfully struck US military bases near the Persian Gulf. The Daily Mail has contacted the Pentagon for comment. ………………………………………………………………
Explosions were also reported in several Gulf nations on Wednesday night, as Iran claimed it attacked US bases in neighboring countries in retaliation.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15965221/Iran-war-takes-terrifying-turn-missiles-bombard-NUCLEAR-plant-flights-thrown-chaos.html
Saugeen Ojibway Nation Says It Was Shut Out of Canada’s Nuclear Strategy
The Nation whose territory hosts the Bruce nuclear site says Ottawa never consulted it on a plan for up to 10 new reactors — and that its consent is required.
Miranda Miller, Jul 08, 2026, https://www.owensoundcurrent.com/p/saugeen-ojibway-nation-says-it-was
The Saugeen Ojibway Nation says the federal government wrote Canada’s new Nuclear Energy Strategy without involving the Nation whose territory hosts the country’s largest nuclear facilities.
In a statement released July 7, the SON Joint Chiefs and Councils said they were disappointed and frustrated by the lack of consultation on the Strategy, which Ottawa released June 22.
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson unveiled the plan, which sets out to build up to 10 new large-scale reactors across Canada — two under construction by 2035, five more planned or under development by 2040 and at least one outside Ontario.
SON says it was not part of developing that Strategy, despite what it calls the significant impacts nuclear development has already had, and stands to have, on its Land, Water and People.
What the Strategy could mean for the Bruce site
The federal plan could include the proposed Bruce C project, an expansion of up to 4,800 megawatts at the existing Bruce Power site in the Municipality of Kincardine, within SON territory.
Bruce Power submitted the project to a federal impact assessment in 2024. The assessment is now in its impact-statement phase and is expected to run to roughly 2028. If built, Bruce C would make the site among the largest nuclear stations in the world.
SON has been taking part in that project-level assessment. Its objection is narrower and specific: that the national Strategy setting the direction for new builds was developed without it.
A letter to a Prime Minister who had no role
SON says its Joint Chiefs and Councils wrote to the Prime Minister before the Strategy’s release to raise concerns about the lack of early engagement.
The Strategy document itself states that Prime Minister Mark Carney was not shown the Strategy and had no role in developing it, which government officials have attributed to the ethics screen he holds over certain assets. Owen Sound Current has not independently reviewed SON’s letter or any federal reply.
SON says its territory already hosts Canada’s largest nuclear facilities and stores most of the country’s nuclear waste, accumulated over decades without the Nation’s consent. It warns that treating nuclear energy as a pillar of national industrial strategy risks repeating a pattern of putting industry priorities ahead of SON’s rights and stewardship responsibilities.
Consultation language versus accountability
The Strategy commits to upholding Indigenous rights and Crown consultation requirements, and states elsewhere that it aims to increase Indigenous equity participation in nuclear projects.
SON says that language does not explain how those rights will be protected in practice, and that commitments without clear actions and accountability are not meaningful.
Chippewas of Nawash Ogimaa Kwe Veronica Smith said Canada and Ontario cannot continue to treat SON territory as “an energy sacrifice zone — an area where the Land, Water and People bear the risks while the benefits flow elsewhere.”
Chippewas of Saugeen Acting Chief Randall Kahgee said SON members are central to decisions on major nuclear development. SON leadership and its Environment Office say they continue to press their position in discussions with Canada and Ontario, and that SON’s consent is required for any new nuclear development in or affecting its territory.
What is it like living near the site of a new nuclear power station?
Richard Daniel,at Sizewell andLaura Devlin, BBC 11th July 2026
New satellite images show how one of the largest construction projects in Europe has transformed the Suffolk countryside. But what is it like living close to the site of a new nuclear power station and associated infrastructure?
Sizewell C itself is yet to take shape – but construction work has already hugely changed the landscape on one part of the Suffolk coast.
Satellite images reveal how the surrounding countryside looked in 2024, before work began, with swathes of green fields around the town of Leiston, up to the existing Sizewell B power station.
Fast forward to April this year, and it is a very different picture. Almost all the sandy-brown areas are construction sites, where a new link road off the A12, a new bypass, two park and ride sites and a new railhead are all being built simultaneously.
Sizewell C has said the infrastructure will ease congestion and improve safety, but residents say they have had to put up with noise, diversions and road closures.
Diane Flowitt-Hill lives beside a recently completed new roundabout at Yoxford. She is also close to the construction site of a four-mile (6.5km) link road, which will take Sizewell C traffic straight to the A12, bypassing the villages of Theberton and Middleton Moor.
“It’s been absolutely horrendous – the vibrations, the dust, the noise,” she explains.
“It’s non-stop.”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0lyj21jrxeo
The definitely unofficial nuclear news for the week ending 11 July
Theme of the week – Nuclear frenzy over Small Nuclear Reactors for UK – too good to be true?
Some bits of good news – Scientists hailed the world’s ‘greatest forest recovery’. Blue and fin whales are returning to seas that whaling emptied.
Ugandan Coffee Growers Shrug Off Drought Thanks to Regenerative Agriculture
Can provocative climate messaging on OnlyFans cut through social media’s noise?
TOP STORIES.
Here’s why Labour’s nuclear plans are wrong for Scotland – ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2026/07/11/2-a-heres-why-labours-nuclear-plans-are-wrong-for-scotland/.
NATO vassals buy Trump ‘unity’ with $160 billion bribe.
NATO IS FAILING UKRAINE.
Flatteries and falsehoods – A multi-million dollar PR campaign can’t hide nuclear power’s ugly truth.
Trump Sweetens the Nuclear Energy Pot, But Will Anyone Play?.
Climate. The cities most at risk from extreme heat, ranked. The Heat Is the Story—Climate Change Is the Cause. If this is Climate Change, then bring it on!’ (NOT!)
Noel’s notes. As UK’s Prime Minister fades away, will his beloved Small Nuclear Reactor dream fade too?
AUSTRALIA.
More Australian news at https://antinuclear.net/2026/07/08/australian-nuclear-related-news-week-to-11-july/
Cooperation yes, uranium no: planned uranium sales to India would facilitate certain nuclear waste and risk and possible nuclear weapons.
Former WA health chief warns AUKUS inquiry of ‘nuclear disaster waiting to happen’
23 July Nuclear Weapons Survivors film screening – Adelaide!
Vile abuse, targeted by Murdoch – The cost of speaking out against Israel.
NUCLEAR-RELATED ITEMS
| ATROCITIES. The Zionist Plan for a Concentration Camp in Gaza. |
| CLIMATE. Scottish climate campaigners condemn new nuclear power plans.ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2026/07/09/2-b1-scottish-climate-campaigners-condemn-new-nuclear-power-plans/ |
ECONOMICS.
- Local protests derail US data centre ‘monstrosity’ backed by Wall Street giant.
- Nuclear Propulsion in Shipping: Challenges Ahead.
- The UK’s countryside could be filled with small nuclear reactors after billionaire announces £35bn new investment. Great British Energy – Nuclear offers £1bn contract for SMR partner. SGE unveils plans for 4.2GW UK Small Modular Reactor fleet. AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC Lavalin) signs Sizewell civil works agreement. Consultation to strengthen UK nuclear manufacturing.
- Marketing. Trilateral cooperation agreement on SMR deployment
EDUCATION.University of Manchester and United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL) sign landmark nuclear partnership agreement.
| ENERGY. The clear winner of Trump’s war in the Middle East is… China, says new report. £8.2bn Scottish datacentre development running out of steam? |
| ENVIRONMENT. Stirling nuclear site plan mooted in new report as politicians hit out -PICTURE We’re being asked to save two buckets of water a day.- meanwhile data centres drink a town’s worth |
| EVENTS. July 16 – 19H BST ATOMIC TIES Webinar!! PICTURE 19 July Livestream – A WORLD WITHOUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS |
| HISTORY. Why Israel fears a US-Iran Deal far more than Conflict. |
| INDIGENOUS ISSUES. Ainu land rights in crosshairs as Hokkaido communities debate nuclear waste. |
| LEGAL. Plaintiffs Demand Release of Critical Documents and Extension of Public Comment Period on Expanded Plutonium Bomb Core Production. |
| MEDIA. Francesca Albanese: “The World Is Not Sleeping—It Is Looking Away”. |
POLITICS.
- USA Report From House Dems: Trump Used 250th Planning to Hide Corruption.
- Clearwater ship has been ejected from 250 Hudson sail by US government.
- UK Labour ‘scaremongering’ to push Scotland into new nuclear, experts say -ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2026/07/11/2-b1-labour-scaremongering-to-push-scotland-into-new-nuclear-experts-say/ SNP call for temporary ban on AI data centre developments- ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2026/07/10/1-b1-snp-call-for-temporary-ban-on-ai-data-centre-developments/. Scotland could freeze datacentre projects in challenge to UK’s AI strategy. UK Government scraps public consultation on data centres and major infrastructure projects. MSP says ‘no’ to nuclear power plant as UK Government eyes Fife. Dunfermline MSP speaks out at possible Longannet nuclear site.
- Canada Canadian nuclear site question would become ‘how’ not ‘whether’ under new law . Radioactive Taxpayer Cash Cow, Canada 2026.
- This EU state’s anti-Russian crusade has become a strategic dead end.
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. Zelensky honoring Ukrainian WWII fighters who massacred Poles and Jews not a good way to get Polish help in lost war against Russia. Deferring a Crisis: The Iran-US Ceasefire Cracks. As in Gaza, the Israel-Lebanon ‘peace’ agreement is designed to fail
| RADIATION. Changes to radiation protection in the USA -could have been worse but are still bad |
| SAFETY. Extensions to improvement notices following asbestos shortfalls at Torness. Sizewell B nuclear power plant granted a 20-year life extension. |
| SECRETS and LIES. Revealed: Cleaning up: Ukrainian Woman suspected of Monaco bombing found shot dead near Kyiv. Labour minister dodges question on SNP Government and UK nuclear plans – ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2026/07/11/2-b1-labour-minister-dodges-question-on-snp-government-and-uk-nuclear-plans/ landmark Scottish AI project has no prospect of meeting renewables promise. GBE-N ‘doesn’t hold’ breakdown of proposed £20bn budget for SMR contract. |
| SPACE. SpaceX just launched the 1st-ever nuclear-powered commercial satellite. We condemn the attempted offshore rocket launch by the military, Hanwha, and the Jeju Provincial Government!. |
| SPINBUSTER. The Patriot Trap. |
| TECHNOLOGY. Agreement could see Odin prototype microreactor built at Berkeley. New images reveal details about Last Energy’s Welsh micro reactor plans. |
| WASTES. Spent fuel emerges as weak point in Japan’s nuclear renaissance.. Japan begins 21st release of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater into ocean. |
| WAR and CONFLICT. U.S. launches ‘powerful strikes’ on Iran after tanker attacks in Strait of Hormuz. Gaza’s 1000-Day Siege: A Catastrophic Humanitarian Collapse Across Health, Food, and Human Life. Israel isn’t leaving Lebanon and Syria may be next. As America Celebrates 250 Years, More U.S. Troops Are Refusing to Fight. |
| WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. Cut the Pentagon, Save the Planet: The $1.5 Trillion Climate Solution We Can’t Ignore. Trump Says He Supports Ukraine’s Long-Range Attacks Inside Russia, Will Allow Ukraine To Produce Patriot Missiles. The hypersonic hypocrisy of Pacific nuclear politics. Hawaii Bearing Huge Brunt of U.S. Military Buildup Directed Against China. As Hawaii Hosts International War Games, Residents Question Costs of Militarism. |
NATO vassals buy Trump ‘unity’ with $160 billion bribe
The NATO arrangement works from the Europeans buying American weapons and equipment for Ukraine. What the latest pledge means is that the 31 NATO members are handing a massive subsidy to the U.S. military-industrial complex.
NATO’s Rutte has evidently persuaded Trump that Europe is a lucrative cash cow for American corporations
Finian Cunningham, July 10, 2026, https://strategic-culture.su/news/2026/07/10/nato-vassals-buy-trump-unity-with-160-billion-bribe/
One can only imagine the scenes of obsequiousness and utter debasement as European politicians lined up to kiss Trump’s ring.
What a turnaround. The NATO summit this week was heading for an almighty crash, its leaders were bracing for impact, and then, suddenly, at the last moment, the alliance pulled out of a nosedive, and everyone was happy ever after.
What happened? U.S. President Donald Trump came to Ankara in a fury over bashing the Europeans. Then the mood swung like a person who just got his rocks off. He was bought off with a $160 billion pledge from the European and Canadian NATO vassals. Money talks for this American president, whose administration is a byword for graft and grift.
The final declaration from the Ankara summit states that the European and Canadian members are to donate $80 bn for military aid to Ukraine in 2026 and 2027. That is a total of $160 bn.
Under Trump, the United States has apparently stopped sending money to Ukraine. The NATO arrangement works from the Europeans buying American weapons and equipment for Ukraine. What the latest pledge means is that the 31 NATO members are handing a massive subsidy to the U.S. military-industrial complex.
There’s a lot more from where that came from, too. Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary-general, and total Trump flunky, was waxing lyrical about how Europe and Canada were due to spend an additional $300 bn on military next year. Much of this money will be spent on buying U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets and Patriot air defense missile systems. In other words, another huge subsidy to American corporations.
This flaunting of money explains the dizzying turnaround in Trump’s behavior over the two-day summit. Going into the conference in Ankara, Trump was berating the NATO alliance as “useless and ridiculous”. He was griping about how it was a one-way street of American military spending and “protection” for European “wasters”.
NATO members were expecting a disastrous display of disunity. Then suddenly, on the second day, Trump and the 31 other NATO leaders went into a behind-closed-doors session from which the media was excluded.
Trump emerged hailing NATO “unity” and a “lot of love in the room.” He claimed that all the heads of state declared their love for him and begged him to remain as their leader.
One can only imagine the scenes of obsequiousness and utter debasement as European politicians lined up to kiss Trump’s ring. Flattery and ego-stroking are one thing. But the money talking is another.
NATO’s Rutte has evidently persuaded Trump that Europe is a lucrative cash cow for American corporations. It’s an opportunity to squeeze, not walk away from, as the grumpy Trump had threatened to do on numerous occasions, with his perception that the U.S. was doing all the heavy lifting in NATO. Yes, American soldiers and warplanes tend to do the war fighting as in Iran currently. But there’s a new role developing, where the Europeans are turning their economies over to fuel the American war machine.
Rutte has pointed out that since Trump became president for the first time in 2017, NATO members have spent an additional $1,000 bn on the military. Last year, alone, they forked out $140 bn. The Europeans and Canadians have committed to raising military expenditure from 2-3 per cent of GDP to 5 per cent by 2035. This involves trillions of dollars, all up for grabs by American corporations.
The relief expressed by European leaders at the end of the NATO summit betrays what happened and their vassal status. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and others were ecstatic that Trump had renewed his commitment to the transatlantic alliance. “NATO is stronger than ever,” declared Merz, who also announced that Germany would be buying Tomahawk missiles from the U.S. Germany makes its own, more modern cruise missiles, the Taurus, so why is it buying from the U.S.? Of course, it’s part of the European effort to bribe Trump.
The European leaders are more acutely Russophobic than Trump. For them, there was a mortal danger that the mercurial American was going to wreck the NATO summit with divisions and acrimony, which would undermine the proxy war agenda in Ukraine against Russia. Trump had been rebuking the Europeans for not supporting his war effort against Iran.
With Russia making significant advances on the battlefield, taking a major Ukrainian stronghold at Konstantinovka earlier this week ahead of the NATO conference, there was deep concern that Trump was going to abandon the Europeans.
To the amazement of many observers, Trump did a last-minute U-turn in Ankara, declaring unity and commitment to NATO and support for Ukraine “against the long-term threat of Russia.”
The key to understanding the giant flip-flop is that the European and Canadian vassals got down on their knees and begged Trump to stay with them. Trump’s megalomania could not resist the pleasure. And he got a hefty fee of $160 bn to take home. Usually, the prostitutes get paid for their services. In Europe’s case, the client walks away with the money.
Of course, the Euro leaders and their pimp, Mark Rutte, will not feel any damage personally. It is the generations of European citizens who are being screwed for the American-NATO gangbang.
Deferring a Crisis: The Iran-US Ceasefire Cracks
9 July 2026 Dr Binoy Kampmark, https://theaimn.net/deferring-a-crisis-the-iran-us-ceasefire-cracks/
Ceasefires in the Middle East seem especially susceptible to revision, alteration and contradiction. Missiles still get fired; airstrikes initiated. Destruction to infrastructure, and death, follows. Yet despite the misunderstandings, the sniping and the harrying, these odd understandings are often described by those funny political coves as “holding”. In the case of the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington, articulated with some fanfare with a Memorandum of Understanding, only the most piously delusional would claim it was holding in any way.
The June 18 MoU stipulates from the outset that the US, Iran and their allies “declare the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, and undertaken from now on not to initiate any war or any military of operation against each other, and to refrain from the threat or use of force against each other, and ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon.” The parties further understood that Iran would commit to a gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping; the US would grant modest sanctions relief on Iranian crude, refined products and petrochemical products as well as lift its own naval blockade. Further talks would take place to reach a final agreement in 60 days.
The Lebanon side of the bargain has, from the outset, been a wretched shambles, with Israel continuing its operations with various shades of intensity against Hezbollah even as it seeks to occupy the south of the country. The Lebanese government has been increasingly confined to the status of humiliated water carrier. As for Tehran and Washington, the Strait of Hormuz has again become an area of rattling contentiousness.Despite being a mere 33 kilometres at its at its narrowest point, this humble body of water was, prior to the February 28 US-Israeli assault on Iran, responsible for the transiting of 20 to 21 million barrels of oil a day, making up somewhere between 20% to 21% of the total global consumption of petroleum liquids. Liquified natural gas to the proportion of 22% of global trade also took place through the strait.
Iran has continued to target vessels in the strait’s southern corridor, notably those transiting near the Omani coastline. Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has declared in rather purplish terms that the Strait was a “divine gift from God granted us during this war and our greatest instrument of power.” Iran maintained sovereignty over Hormuz, though it would coordinate management matters with Oman and the Gulf states. Indeed, pursuant to Clause Five of the MoU, Iran and Oman had “already reached agreement on all legal and service-related matters.” It was only at the insistence of the Gulf states that transit fees would not be charged for 60 days.
On July 7, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre noted three attacks on commercial shipping in the strait. While Tehran is suspected of being behind these, given that the tankers were not seemingly travelling through Iran’s approved transit route, it has so far not claimed responsibility for the actions.
These incidents took place even as representatives gathered in the disagreeable atmosphere of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit just concluded in Ankara. US Central Command (CENTCOM) was swift in initiating strikes conducted “in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels” transiting through the Strait. On July 8, another wave of attacks was announced by CENTCOM “to further degrade” Tehran’s “ability to threaten the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews navigating a vital international waterway.” Sanctions have also been reimposed on Iranian oil sales.
The response from Iran was not long in coming, keeping to the script written at the start of the war. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (RGC) promptly announced drone and missile strikes against the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. Again, the Gulf states must be rueing their misplaced reliance on Washington’s security guarantee.
The NATO summit provided the appropriate backdrop of perverse dysfunction for US President Donald Trump, who managed to berate bruised allies even as various arms deals were made. In responding to a question about whether the ceasefire with Iran had ended, he claimed, as far as he was concerned, “it’s over.” He had no further appetite to “deal with them anymore, they’re scum.” They were “sick people, they’re led by sick people, and they’re vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it.”
Groping for some rationalisation of these latest US attacks – some 80 sites struck across southern Iran – military pundits sense a shift towards crippling Tehran’s maritime denial capability, notably the country’s menacing use of fast attack craft, small submarines and armed speedboats. (CENTCOM insists that 60 small boats had been targeted.) But the occluding language of Washington’s military-industrial complex, one so inured to the propaganda of muscular might over subtle sense (when in doubt, resort to the favoured word “degrade”), remains blinded to the continued resilience of Iran’s war machine.
Even Trump, for all his raging petulance, can see that the diplomatic trail has not gone entirely cold, if only because he has no other sensible option. At the summit, he made grumbling mention of his chief negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “I don’t care, they can talk. But I think they’re wasting their time.” The Iranians were “a bunch of lying guys.” Given that negotiations, especially covering Iran’s nuclear program, have been placed in cold storage for the duration of the funeral obsequies for the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, those lying guys will be waiting full of anticipation.
U.S. launches ‘powerful strikes’ on Iran after tanker attacks in Strait of Hormuz
[your]NEWS, Tue, 07 Jul 2026, https://www.sott.net/article/507318-US-launches-powerful-strikes-on-Iran-after-tanker-attacks-in-Strait-of-Hormuz
U.S. Central Command said American forces began “powerful strikes” against Iran after three commercial vessels were attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. forces began launching strikes against Iran on Tuesday after Tehran attacked commercial ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. Central Command.
CENTCOM announced the military action in a post on X, saying the strikes were aimed at imposing costs on Iran for targeting civilian-crewed commercial vessels in an international waterway.
“U.S. Central Command forces have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway,” the command wrote. “The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
CENTCOM said Iran’s actions violated the ceasefire and created a dangerous escalation in one of the world’s most important shipping corridors.
“Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.”
Reuters reported that the strikes came after the vessel attacks, citing Central Command’s statement that the U.S. response was tied to Iranian targeting of commercial shipping in the strategic waterway.
Iran responded by saying it would take all necessary measures to protect its security and interests. The Iranian Foreign Ministry blamed the United States for any violations of the truce agreement and pointed to Washington’s revival of oil sanctions Tuesday as a breach of the agreement.
The confrontation came after maritime security warnings intensified around the Strait of Hormuz. CNBC reported Tuesday that the threat level near the waterway had been raised to “severe” after Iran attacked tankers traveling on a route protected by the U.S. Navy.
The Strait of Hormuz sits between Iran and Oman and serves as a critical passage for global energy shipments. A significant share of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas moves through the narrow waterway, making disruptions there a major concern for energy markets and international shipping.
The military strikes also came as the Trump administration continued its broader pressure campaign against Tehran. That effort includes restrictions on Iran’s ability to generate revenue from oil exports.
The administration recently moved to end a waiver that had allowed certain countries to continue purchasing Iranian oil despite U.S. sanctions. The waiver had permitted limited transactions involving Iranian crude exports, and ending those exemptions was intended to further restrict Tehran’s access to oil income.
The Trump administration has argued that cutting off Iranian oil revenue is a key part of pressuring Tehran over its nuclear program and regional activities.
Iran has repeatedly warned that efforts to limit its energy exports could lead to retaliation, including actions affecting commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest tanker attacks and U.S. strikes have increased concerns that shipping through Hormuz could face further disruption. Any prolonged threat to traffic through the waterway could affect oil prices and raise costs for consumers.
Tuesday’s strikes mark another escalation between Washington and Tehran as tensions continue over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, regional conduct and oil revenue.
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