Rapid decline in Arctic sea ice
Norwegian Arctic Summers Warmest in 1,800 Years
Summer temperatures on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the High Arctic are now higher than during any time over the last 1,800 years, including a period of higher temperatures in the northern hemisphere known as the Medieval Warm Period, according to a new study. In an analysis of algae buried in deep lake sediments, a team of scientists calculated that summer temperatures in Svalbard since 1987 have been 2 to 2.5 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 4.5 degrees F) warmer than during the Medieval Warm Period, which lasted from roughly 950 to 1250 AD. Scientists say this year’s record declines in Arctic sea ice extent and volume are powerful evidence that the giant cap of ice at the top of the planet is on a trajectory to largely disappear in summer within a decade or two, with profound global consequences.
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/45024
Shell company happy to go blindly on, drilling in Arctic sea
Shell still optimistic about Arctic drilling
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/breaking-news/shell-still-optimistic-about-arctic-drilling/story-e6frf7ko-1226485643427 AP October 01, 2012 THE stars lined up – almost – for Shell Oil to drill exploratory wells this year in waters off Alaska’s north coast.
The Arctic Ocean was on record pace for low sea ice. The Obama administration gave a qualified green light to drilling. Two drill ships and a flotilla of support vessels were staged off prospects.
But as the open water season wound down, Shell announced last week it would limit drilling to time-consuming preparation for an offshore well. The final straw for the decision: damage during testing September 15 to an undersea containment dome, a key to the company’s spill response system.
Environmentalists cheered the setback. Shell Oil President Marvin Odum says he considers it a temporary impediment in the long-term quest to open a petroleum frontier.
Kara sea nuclear waste site- where oil companies plan to drill!
The Kara Sea is so remote that the Soviet Union used it as a dumping ground for radioactive material for more than 25 years. The two oil companies have avoided calls for the nuclear waste, estimated to consist of over 17,000 barrels of radioactive waste, worn-out reactors, and even an old nuclear submarine, to be cleared up before any exploration takes place.
The most dangerous item down on the sea floor in that area is the K-27 nuclear submarine, which was dumped their by the Soviet navy in 1981. The NRPA said that any significant corrosion could damage the ships reactor and cause an environmental disaster.
Exxon, Rosneft eye oil in nuclear wasteland http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2012/0927/Exxon-Rosneft-eye-oil-in-nuclear-wasteland
Exxon Mobil and Rosneft are planning to drill for oil in the Kara Sea, which the Soviet Union used as a dumping ground for radioactive material for more than 25 years, according to OilPrice.com. By James Burgess, September 27, 2012 It has been well documented that oil majors from around the world are looking at oil exploration in the Arctic, where they believe that some of the largest untapped fields in the world still lie.
Environmentalists have been fighting efforts to start exploring for oil, fearing that any serious oil spill could mean the destruction of one of the last pristine wildernesses on the planet. Continue reading
Nuclear waste dump under the Arctic sea
17,000 containers of radioactive waste, 19 ships containing radioactive waste, 14 nuclear reactors, including five that still contain spent nuclear fuel; 735 other pieces of radiactively contaminated heavy machinery, and the K-27 nuclear submarine with its two reactors loaded with nuclear fuel.
one of the most critical pieces of information missing from the report released to the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority was the presence of the K-27 nuclear submarine, which was scuttled in 50 kilometers of water with its two reactors filled with spent nuclear fuel in in Stepovogo Bay in the Kara Sea in 1981.
Information that the reactors abord the K-27 could reachieve criticality and explode was released at the Bellona-Rosatom seminar in February.
Russia Dumped 17 Nuclear Reactors and Tons of Waste in the Arcticby Charles Digges / Bellona.org, Earth First! Newswire, 30 Aug 12, Enormous quantities of decommissioned Russian nuclear reactors and radioactive waste were dumped into the Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia over a course of decades, according to documents given to Norwegian officials by Russian authorities and published in Norwegian media.
Bellona had received in 2011 a draft of a similar report prepared for Russia’s Gossoviet, the State Council, for presentation at a meeting presided over by then-president Dmitry Medvedev on Russian environmental security.
The Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom confirmed the figures in February of this year during a seminar it jointly held with Bellona in Moscow. Bellona is alarmed by the extent of the dumped Soviet waste, which is far greater than was previously known – not only to Bellona, but also to the Russian authorities themselves. Continue reading
Renewed struggle against nuclear power in India
‘Centre, TN govt suppressing anti-nuke protests in Kudankulam’ http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_centre-tn-govt-suppressing-anti-nuke-protests-in-kudankulam_1747176 , Sep 30, 2012, The leader of anti-nuclear protests in Kudankulam today charged the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government with suppressing the struggle “only to support foreign countries” which want to sell nuclear reactors.
At a day-long All-India Left Coordination Convention activist SP Udaykumar demanded through video message the closure of the project. “The central and state governments are ignoring our pleas … to support the American, Russian and French nuclear projects in the country. We strongly demand the closure of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant project and the government should scrap all nuclear power projects,” he said.
“We do need development but not at the cost of putting the lives of millions of people at stake and destroying our natural resources,” he said. He accused the CPI and CPI(M) of supporting the Kudankulam project on one hand and opposing Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant on the other.
At the convention, several leaders of various Left parties accused the UPA government of being “pro-corporate”.
“The state is brazenly becoming pro-corporate and authoritarian,” CPI National Secretary D Raja said.
Encouraging Left and democratic forces to work together keeping differences aside, Raja said, …..
The AILC gave a call for Punjab Bandh on October 5, Parivartan Rally in Patna on November 9 and a two-day strike by central trade unions in February next year.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 