Fears that a USA ”interim” nuclear waste dump may become permanent
 Is Waterford’s nuclear waste dump status permanent? January 31. 2021 The Day , By Paul Choiniere p.choiniere@theday.com Paul_Choiniere
The highly radioactive nuclear waste being stored at Millstone Power Station The lack of concern about the nuclear waste storage problem was one of my takeaways from the editorial board’s meeting last week with leaders from Millstone-owner Dominion Energy, held virtually of course. Chief Nuclear Officer Dan Stoddard seemed too comfortable with the status quo, which has altered Millstone from a nuclear station to a nuclear station and nuclear waste storage facility. I would have felt more comfortable if Stoddard expressed some level of anger over the failure of the federal government to meet its obligation to remove the material and place it in safe storage for the thousands of years it will continue to emit dangerous levels of radiation. But instead of voicing any urgency to get the stuff out of there, Stoddard offered assurances that the metal canisters, encased in concrete, that secure the spent nuclear fuel rods and block the radiation “will be secure for decades and certainly longer.” Only when I reminded him that leaving the material there for decades was not the deal Waterford and Connecticut agreed to when the plants were licensed, did he say he was “sure” that “eventually” the federal government would meet its obligation and remove the nuclear waste. I don’t know why he is so sure. The deal when nuclear reactors were built across the country was that the fuel rods, when their energy was spent, would be temporarily stored in storage pools within the plants. In time they would be placed in canisters and transferred to Yucca Mountain in Nevada, on which the Department of Energy has spent $7.5 billion, collected from electric ratepayers, to build a safe depository deep within the mountain. …….. An alternative idea has surfaced of moving waste to a couple of other sites, rural locations in Texas and New Mexico have been discussed, before a consensus can be reached on what do with it. But I see no urgency, anywhere, to tackle the challenge. No one wants to deal with the outcry that would result as this stuff is moved across the country from nearly a hundred locations, even if the science shows it can be done safely. And as Stoddard told us, the situation is causing no fiscal pain for Dominion and other nuclear energy companies. The U.S. Department of Energy was required by a law passed by Congress to begin removing and permanently disposing of the spent fuel in 1998. When that didn’t happen, energy companies sued, and won. As a result, DOE is obligated to cover all the costs of storing the nuclear waste on site. There are 31 storage containers at Millstone, each with 32 spent nuclear fuel assemblies. Dominion has built a concrete pad large enough for 135 canisters. On a pad in Haddam, along the Connecticut River, 43 steel-reinforced concrete casks hold all the fuel from the 28 years Connecticut Yankee operated. These containers are monitored and secured and extremely robust in their design. They are safe, for now. But their contents will continue to emit dangerous levels of radiation for hundreds and thousands of years. Who knows what dystopian future might await humankind. Who could possibly assure, over that expanse of time, that tons of nuclear waste located along Long Island Sound and a major river that flows through all of New England will remain safely contained. No one can. Which is why the stuff should be entombed deep in a geologically stable depository as planned. Follow the science. https://www.theday.com/article/20210131/OP04/210139981 |
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If it doesn’t respect the science, Labor might as well put a drover’s dog in climate role — RenewEconomy
Unless Labor decides to become an opposition, and promote science-based climate and energy policies, they are wasting everyone’s time. The post If it doesn’t respect the science, Labor might as well put a drover’s dog in climate role appeared first on RenewEconomy.
If it doesn’t respect the science, Labor might as well put a drover’s dog in climate role — RenewEconomy
Australia’s grid is reshaping itself around the surge in clean energy — RenewEconomy
Australia’s biggest grid is transforming to a cleaner, better, upgraded version even as it continues to reliably operate in extreme condtions. The post Australia’s grid is reshaping itself around the surge in clean energy appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Australia’s grid is reshaping itself around the surge in clean energy — RenewEconomy
13 hydrogen clusters secure seed funding to nurture Australia’s new green industry — RenewEconomy
More than a dozen new hydrogen industry clusters secure funding to encourage industry collaboration and grow the emerging industry in Australia. The post 13 hydrogen clusters secure seed funding to nurture Australia’s new green industry appeared first on RenewEconomy.
13 hydrogen clusters secure seed funding to nurture Australia’s new green industry — RenewEconomy
Why a whole solar farm went “missing” in Queensland — RenewEconomy
The volume of energy from new wind and solar assets in Australia’s main grid is lower than we might have expected a few years ago. In some cases, much lower. The post Why a whole solar farm went “missing” in Queensland appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Why a whole solar farm went “missing” in Queensland — RenewEconomy
USA preparing for war in space
SPACECOM’s New Vision Targets ‘Space Superiority’
Breaking Defense, By THERESAHITCHENSon January 28, 2021 “……… “The intended audience is both internal and external,” Army Gen. James Dickinson told me in an interview yesterday. “Internally, the objective is to set the stage for SPACECOM personnel to develop and sustain a warfighting mindset necessary for our mission challenges in this new warfighting domain.”………
Dickinson’s eight-page manifesto, “Never A Day Without Space: Commander’s Vision” — provided to Breaking D — was briefed to SPACECOM today. It will be the “baseline” for future development of subordinate SPACECOM planning guidance, campaign plans, operational plans and other organizational documents required to running the 18-month-old Combatant Command, Dickinson explained.
The general’s stress on the need for both ‘offensive and defensive’ operations to achieve space superiority is not new, even if it makes some US security experts — including some Democrats in Congress — a bit queasy. It is one of the first things his predecessor, Air Force Gen. Jay Raymond who now heads the Space Force, made clear when SPACECOM was stood up in August 2019……..
Unified Command Plan and Missions
As Breaking D readers were first to learn, the revised UCP sent by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley to President Trump included a number of changes designed to delineate the role of SPACECOM — designated as a new geographic command with an area of responsibility (AOR) from 100 kilometers above the Earth to, well, infinity and beyond in theory — vice the 10 other Combatant Commands. These include giving SPACECOM the lead in deciding who gets priority use of communications satellites during combat, and what targets missile warning and space surveillance sensors are tasked to monitor. Trump signed the revised 2020 UCP Jan. 13, a spokesperson for the Joint Staff confirmed……..
Dickison elaborated during his conversation with Mitchell Institute Dean Dave Deptula that SPACECOM now has three primary missions: “One, our enduring, no-fail mission to enable warfighting operations in other domains. Two, our future mission as global SATCOM manager and global sensor manager. And three, our current new mission set compelling us to fight and win in the space domain in order to protect and defend our interests there.
“Additionally, this warfighting domain is growing, and this AOR is by far the biggest and is getting bigger, each day,” he added………
The ‘protect and defend’ mission, which would include any offensive action in a conflict, is carried out by the Joint Task Force Space Defense, commanded by Brig. Gen. Tom James. ………
Despite the new UCP, however, Dickinson was coy with me about how exactly the decisions about who supports whom when are actually made, and at what level of the US military hierarchy. “Command decisions reside with the Combatant Commander,” he said, although “many of those decisions may be made well above us depending on the situation.”
Some of this, he said, is because such details remain classified. However, a number of sources intimately familiar with these issues tell me that a big problem is that there simply hasn’t yet been any agreements codified on how those decisions will be made. The hope is that the impending Joint Warfighting Concept, in which space plays a central role, will go some ways toward clarifying those questions………… https://breakingdefense.com/2021/01/spacecoms-new-vision-targets-space-superiority/
Off to a good START — but it’s not a nuclear disarmament Treaty
Nuclear weapons will be limited, but they need to go away altogether
Off to a good START — Beyond Nuclear International
The US and Russia have extended the treaty, but it’s not about disarmament
This story was prepared by Linda Pentz Gunter largely derived from information provided by ICANThe United States and Russia have agreed on extending New START for another five years.
Extending New START is an important action by these two countries after four years that saw both countries undermining arms control agreements. However, it is important to remember that it is not a disarmament step, but rather an extension of the current levels of nuclear arsenals.
Nevertheless, it is a welcome development to see the new US administration and Russia return to where they left off four years ago rather than escalate. It also comes at an auspicious time, as the world has just witnessed the entry into force on January 22, 2021 of the first global treaty to ban nuclear weapons, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
The United States and the Russian Federation agreed on January 26, 2021 to extend the bilateral cap on U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) for five additional years. …………
New START is important for a number of reasons:
- The extension of New START prevents backsliding on nuclear disarmament. However, additional steps will now be needed to make progress on disarmament.
- Since the United States and Russia first agreed to this current cap on nuclear arsenals in 2010, the international community has negotiated, adopted and brought into force a treaty banning nuclear weapons: nuclear weapons are illegal under international law. So, even as the US and Russia may cap nuclear weapons expansion, they remain outlaw pariah states in the eyes of the world as long as they continue to hold onto nuclear weapons.
- Throughout the time the New START agreement has been in place, Russia and the United States have spent billions each year to build new nuclear weapons systems. This is now banned under international law (although non-parties to the TPNW are not bound by it). Under current global pandemic conditions, this kind of spending is even more immoral and obscene.
- With the New START quickly extended and the TPNW in force, the groundwork has been laid for significant disarmament advances in the coming four years. The nine nuclear armed states have no excuses not to walk that path. Nuclear disarmament need not seem daring but simply adherence to international law.
Simply staying at the current nuclear weapon levels will not be enough to protect the world from this catastrophic threat. One nuclear missile is one weapon too many. As studies have shown, even unleashing just 100 nuclear weapons (as India and Pakistan could do against each other) would result in global devastation, suffering and famine. Therefore, New START must be seen as just that; a start. But not enough until all nuclear weapons are abolished.
- With the TPNW in force, there is a new international standard. Russia, the United States and all nuclear-armed nations must take active steps to move towards compliance with this international treaty and join it.
To read more about the implications of the extension of the New START Treaty, please visit this page on the ICAN website. https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2021/01/31/off-to-a-good-start/
A new USA administration, but the same threat of nuclear war
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New administration but same threat of nuclear winter, By Matt Hoffmann News-Pres, JAN 30, 2021
Even though we have a new presidential administration, the risk of nuclear and climate destruction is the same as it was last year, according to an organization that tracks threats to the survival of humanity. A “Doomsday Clock” has been used by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists since 1947 to signal how close we are to nuclear war. The closer to midnight, the closer to nuclear winter. The clock also symbolizes other threats, like climate change. “The hands of the Doomsday Clock remain at 100 seconds to midnight, as close to midnight as ever,” Dr. Rachel Bronson, president and CEO, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said this week. “The lethal and fear-inspiring COVID-19 pandemic serves as a historic ‘wake-up call,’ a vivid illustration that national governments and international organizations are unprepared to manage the truly civilization-ending threats of nuclear weapons and climate change.” Brian Hesse, a professor of political science at Northwest Missouri State University, said the clock represents the threat of grave disaster. While the clock itself is theoretical, the threats have real-world consequences. “For example, from an American standpoint the Department of Defense is already seeing rising sea levels are affecting the infrastructure of the largest naval base,” Hesse said. “What they thought they could spend on defending America now has to be diverted to dealing with infrastructure.” Jerry Brown, the former governor of California, said the United States and Russia must stop “shouting at” each other. President Joe Biden recently spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where the two discussed extending an arms reduction treaty, according to a summary of the call provided by the White House………..https://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/new-administration-but-same-threat-of-nuclear-winter/article_40db5254-60cc-11eb-9551-176bee34bb41.html |
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January 31 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Biden’s Climate Agenda: Is This The Beginning Of The End For Fossil Fuels?” • The author spoke to the man Joe Biden has tasked with drawing up his climate change battle plans – John Kerry. “It is one of his top priorities, without any question whatsoever,” Mr Kerry assured him. “He’ll make more […]
January 31 Energy News — geoharvey
Britain’s unaffordable nuclear power plans collapse, one by one
Times 31st Jan 2021, Nuclear winter for Britain as power plants close. Hinkley Point is last man standing as other power stations are scrapped. Hitachi president Hiroaki Nakanishi had a grand dream whenthe Japanese giant paid £696 million for the right to build two nuclear power stations in the UK. “Today starts our 100-year commitment to the UK and its vision to achieve a long-term, secure, low- carbon and affordable energy supply,” declared Nakanishi in 2012, as he signed a deal to buy the Horizon nuclear project from Germany’s RWE and Eon.
particularly when they are the first of a new design. Theresa May’s government eventually offered to take a third of the equity in Horizon alongside the Japanese government and Hitachi. Boris Johnson’s administration is exploring a new financial model, the regulated asset base, where investors could earn a return during construction.
that had begged Hitachi to grant the project a reprieve, executive Toshikazu Nishino said that it had not received adequate backing from government.https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nuclear-winter-for-britain-as-power-plants-close-gb8c5dx07
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 