Nuclear news – week to 22 February
The news about events in Ukraine is just coming in. Vladimir Putin would have us believe that it is at last the end of the 8 years of war in the two self-proclaimed rebel republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. But it could be the beginning of something worse.
Russia-Ukraine live updates: United States and UK expected to announce sanctions against Kremlin
Some bits of good news: Replacing environmental despair with hope and action ECUADOR’S SUPREME COURT: NATURE WINS OVER MINING .
AUSTRALIA.
Nuclear. Conservation Council of South Australia CEO Craig Wilkins discusses the Nuclear Waste Dump at Kimba. The writing is on the wall ‒ Kimba radioactive concerns move to South Australia’s political centre. Why nuclear submarines? Early closure of coal plant, battery and renewable developments – all spell the end for nuclear power hopes in Australia .
Holmes à Court: Climate independents offer chance to “fix Australia”.
Extreme weather and temperatures sound alarm on climate change
INTERNATIONAL.
The Ukraine Crisis Could Trigger a Nuclear Catastrophe – Tilman Ruff Media forecasting on Russian invasion is just like religious cult leaders predicting the apocalypse.
Western Democracies Have Mutated Into Propagandists for War and Conflict. Headlines that cause wars.
Antarctica and Greenland’s polar ice shelves are melting from below
Public Opposition to Nuclear Power.
Terrifying “nuke map” reveals danger zone if nuclear bomb dropped on YOUR city.
The supposed new rise in nuclear power and the uranium business is doubtful!
Reality check: The green inflation myth
Highest Number of Reactor Closures in a Decade.
ANTARCTICA. Antarctica will likely set a record for lowest sea ice extent this year
UKRAINE. Russian President Vladimir Putin orders Russian forces to ‘maintain peace’ in eastern Ukraine‘s two breakaway regions. Nuke Power at the Brink of Bankruptcy, War, Apocalypse. Standoff ending, Ukraine and Russia both claim victory? Today’s Crisis Over UkraineUkrainian Pacifists Say US, NATO and Russia Share Responsibility to Avoid War. ACURA ViewPoint. Ambassador suggested that Ukraine might drop its bid for NATO membership – but he was quickly corrected. UK trained Ukraine military, including a thousand-strong neo-Nazi unit. Aspects of the Ukraine crisis and some suggested solutions for de-escalation.
JAPAN.
- I just wanted to live a normal life – Akiko Morimatsu.
- IAEA ‘will not approve or oppose’ release of treated water from Fukushima plant, ‘responsibility of each country’. UN to review Japan’s plan to release Fukushima water into Pacific
- Where to in 2045? Contaminated Soil from the Nuclear Power Plant Accident: Current Status of Interim Storage Facilities in Fukushima. 11 years after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, residents angered by the retreat from decontamination of the entire area.
- Legal action on Fukushima nuclear disaster’s impact on health.
- . Latest look inside Fukushima ruins show mounds of melted nuclear fuel . Robots used to remove Fukushima’s highly radioactive used nuclear fuel, but they’re still problematic
- . Shadow of Hiroshima” at Fukushima nuclear power plant: Animation depicts history of nuclear power.
- Plutonium problems won’t go away. Brief summary of Engineering and Technology’s fine article on UK’s plutonium problem.
- Should the Taishan nuclear plant shutdown worry UK regulators?
- Update on the status of Britain’s Rolls Royce Small Nuclear Reactor project. Mini-reactor for Highlands -too “high cost and high risk” says Scottish MP Maree Todd.
- Bradwell nuclear project -dead in the water? – partly due to work of BANNG (Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group).
- Time is running out to save the Severn Estuary. Severn Estuary – internationally significant fish nursery – threatened by Hinkley radioactive mud. Legal challenge to license for EDF to dump radioactive mud in the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary. Super Furry Animals call out alleged nuclear mud dumping at Hinkley Power Station. The case for Saving the Severn Estuary from the dumping of radioactive wastes.
- New report: Nuclear waste’s shifting sands on the lakeland fringe.
- Lord Truscott questioned the idea that a thermonuclear war with Russia would be an ”unwelcome outcome”.
- Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament marks 40th anniversary of Nuclear Free Wales Declaration.
- Julian Assange appeals to the Supreme Court.
CANADA. Michigan Senators Oppose Canadian Nuclear Waste Site Near Great Lakes. MPs and groups oppose hearings to license Canada’s first permanent radioactive waste dump. Proposed license for the NSDF includes no enforceable requirements for “waste characterization” — Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area. In-Depth: Dangers of Burying Nuclear Waste.
USA.
- Damage limitation and US nuclear strategy . Are You Ready for the Big New War? You Damn Well Better Be.
- Nuclear power doesn’t belong in the Green New Deal. ‘Serious problems’ with NuScale’s proposed small nuclear reactors .
- USA’s Department of Energy (DOE) will give $6 Billion in a program to to stop uneconomic nuclear reactors from closing down.
- Beleagured Vogtle nuclear project delayed yet again.
- Opposition to Holtec dumping nuclear waste into Cape Cod Bay.
- Maryland Couple Conspired to Sell Nuclear Secrets.
- New USA Federal Report Warns of Accelerating Impacts From Sea Level Rise.
IRAN. Why the Iran nuclear talks have stalled.
ISRAEL. The Iran Nuclear Deal Isn’t a Threat, and Israel Must Find a New Approach.
RUSSIA. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov informs UN chief about Russia’s talks with NATO on security guarantees.
EUROPE. Any missile launch may be perceived as nuclear strike amid tensions. EU greenwashing nuclear power: Short sighted & counterproductive. Europe’s nuclear power plants will need investments of EUR 500 Billion, so they need to be labelled ‘green” ! The EU’s ‘green taxonomy’ classification system – no longer fit for purpose, if nuclear and gas are included.
FRANCE . French government to subsidise EDF nuclear power company by another €2.1bn, to prop up its failing share price. French utility EDF will check auxiliary cooling circuits, or RRAs, at its 56 domestic reactors, after faults found. No end in sight as the French nuclear industry reduces its output.
BULGARIA. Nuclear project with Russian reactors shakes Bulgarian politics.
NORTH KOREA. Radiation fears after earthquakes at North Korea nuclear test site.
INDIA. Tamil Nadu people’s lives are more important than Kudankulam nuclear reactors: PMK. Concern in Tamil Nadu over spent nuclear fuel storage at Kudankulam site .
BELGIUM. ENGIE Doubles Down On Renewables And Reaffirms Closure Of Belgian Nuclear Industry.
GERMANY. How dare Germany oppose USA over nuclear power !
Nuclear Waste Dump Plan for Kimba – Craig Wilkins of Consrvation Council of South Australia
Monday 21st February 2022 on Peter Goers’ program ABC 891 with Conservation Council of South Australia CEO Craig Wilkins to discuss the Nuclear Waste Dump at Kimba.
Also presentation by Greg Bannon Flinders Local Action Group too, and others who contributed to the program. Interesting that Resources MinisterKeith Pitt, Sam Usher CEO · Australian Radioactive Waste Agency and MP Rowan Ramsey were no shows although they were invited to be involved!
The Conservation Council of South Australia has produced a new booklet on Nuclear waste – domestic Australian issues. Craig Wilkins was the prime author, though not the only author’
Transcript of interview. (basically accurate, but not absolutely word perfect)
CRAIG WILKINS: The book asks what is the best solution for Australia’s radioactive wastes. International best practice is to bury it deeply. That’s not the chosen option. Big difference between the low level waste and intermediate level waste.
PETER GOER. Kimba is very divided – hsad 300mm of rain. We had calls from farmers asking what will happen if nuclear waste is buried there.
CRAIG WILKINS: Wallerberdina was rejected for a site because it was recognised as a flood plain area.
PETER GOER. Govts have seized on this idea and pushed through. The benchmark of 65% community agreement was lowered as only 62% agreed. What’s to stop us importing nuclear waste from overseas in the future?
CRAIG WILKINS This is what is called ”project creep”. The rules change over time. People are concerned about this, particularly the Bangarla who were given native title to this region 2015, – this is one of the first true tests, about how seriously we consider that issue of native title. They did ask to be polled. but were deliberately excluded from the vote. They are fighting this legal battle now, in the Supreme Court. They say they weren’t consulted.
PETER GOER. you cite theUN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. tates should ensure that no storage of hazardous materials should be sited on indigenous land The former SA govt voted not to have a nuclear dump in SA. SA has not been consulted, only Kimba people have been consulted. Politicians have come on this show and mocked people who don’t live in Kimba, even though it’s a state issue, it’s a national issue surely. This material is either to come by sea, or be trundled through 3 states to get here.
GREG BANNON of Flinders Action Group – This site is in the wrong place. It’s just not scientific.The Whole approach has been to find a swilling community, and then try to make the facility fit the geology there for a nuclear waste site. It’s just not scientific. In the last month, Kimba has received record rain. One of the IAEA guidelines state that a nuclear waste facility should not be sited where you’ve got cross country water flow, or subsoil water, – water table underneath. When the Industry Department had their sites examined by AECOM, they produced 3 reports – the recent floods should be factored in.
Philippa. phoned in – pointing out the success in Canada, marketing radioactive isotopes made not from a nuclear reactor, but from cyclotrons. She mentions the risk of this dump becoming the thin end of the wedge – for importing other countries’ nuclear wastes.
Calls in, especially pointing out the risk to the Eyre Peninsula community region’s clean reputation as an agricultural area.
PETER GOER. Also this has divided Kimba. calls in – suggesting that Kimba has been bribed. A struggling rural community – the promise of more and more money, and jobs. Also questions about how the promised jobs might not materialise – larger waste facilities oversea employ fewer people than promised for this facility. Hard for people of Kimba to turn their backs on these ”rivers of gold”
CRAIG WILKINS It has been a disappointing process. The community there, like every other SA community, deserves a decent medical facility, decent services – there’s been a package of support being offered, in return for them accepting this facility.- which contains investments by govt that should be standard for any community. That makes it a very challenging position for the Kimba people – to work out whether to accept it or not. There’s nothing more divisive than this whole question of nuclear facilities. A previously very close-knit community has had this bomb placed in the middle of it and it has really divided them. It is a terrible shame.
PETER GOER.I do feel for the people of Kimba. Soon Kimba is going to be known world-wide as the nuclear dump town, not the town that’s halfway across Australia, not the home of the big galah. …..perhaps the butt of many jokes Kimba. will be known for that one thing.
CRAIG WILKINS. Places associated with nuclear activity very soon get that name, rather than being known as a very successful agricultural region, rural town of the year fantastic people …
PETER GOER. Rowan Ramsey pointed out that the population of Kimbawas very knowledgeable.
CRAIG WILKINS. Queried this – suggested that the truth was stretched.
Many calls in, mainly supporting the Conservation Council’s case
CRAIG WILKINS responding to questions on waste disposal – old mining sites not necessarily a solution – much research has to be done.
Kimba doesn’t have to accept this plan. It is not the solution, and is placing this community at a disadvantage.
Russian President Vladimir Putin orders Russian forces to ‘maintain peace’ in eastern Ukraine’s two breakaway regions
On Monday, local time, a Biden administration official said, however, the area was already controlled by Russian-backed separatists and Moscow, in practice, and that Mr Putin’s decision to send troops he called peacemakers into the breakaway regions of Ukraine did not as yet constitute a further invasion that would trigger a broader sanctions package.
“This isn’t a further invasion since it’s territory that they’ve already occupied,” the official said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin orders Russian forces to ‘maintain peace’ in eastern Ukraine’s two breakaway regions.
President Vladimir Putin has ordered his Defence Ministry to dispatch Russian forces to “maintain peace” in eastern Ukraine’s two breakaway regions, the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, after he said Moscow would recognise their independence.
Key points:
- Vladimir Putin, joined by Russia-backed separatist leaders, signed a decree recognising the independence of the breakaway regions
- In his address, Mr Putin delved into history as far back as the Ottoman empire and as recent as the tensions over NATO’s eastward expansion
- French President Emmanuel Macron earlier said the US and Russian leaders had agreed in principle to hold a summit
The Kremlin decree, spelled out in an order signed by Mr Putin, did not specify the size of the force to be dispatched, when they would cross the border into Ukraine nor exactly what their mission would be.
Hours later, a Reuters reporter witnessed unusually large columns of military vehicles and hardware, including tanks, moving through Donetsk, the largest city of the self-proclaimed republic.
Mr Putin earlier signed decrees to recognise the two breakaway regions as independent statelets………………………
On Monday, local time, a Biden administration official said, however, the area was already controlled by Russian-backed separatists and Moscow, in practice, and that Mr Putin’s decision to send troops he called peacemakers into the breakaway regions of Ukraine did not as yet constitute a further invasion that would trigger a broader sanctions package.
“This isn’t a further invasion since it’s territory that they’ve already occupied,” the official said.
But, the official added, that a full invasion could come at any time.
The United States will continue to pursue diplomacy with Russia until “tanks roll,” another official said.
“Russian troops moving into Donbas would not itself be a new step. Russia has had forces in the Donbas region for the past eight years … They are currently now making decisions to do this in a more overt and … open way,” the official said……………………
In his lengthy televised address, Mr Putin, looking visibly angry, described Ukraine as an integral part of Russia’s history and said that the regions in eastern Ukraine were ancient Russian lands and that he was confident the Russian people would support his decision.
Russian state television showed Mr Putin, joined by Russia-backed separatist leaders, signing a decree recognising the independence of the two Ukrainian breakaway regions, along with agreements on cooperation and friendship.
Under the two identical friendship treaties — submitted by Mr Putin for ratification by parliament — Russia has the right to build bases in the separatist regions and they, on paper, can do the same in Russia.
The parties committed to defend each other and signed separate agreements on military cooperation and on recognition of each other’s borders.
Their 31-point treaties also say Russia and the breakaway statelets will work to integrate their economies. Both regions are former industrial areas in need of massive support to rebuild after eight years of war with Ukrainian government forces.
The 10-year treaties are automatically renewable for further five-year periods unless one of the parties gives notice to withdraw.
Defying Western warnings against such a move, Mr Putin had announced his decision in phone calls to the leaders of Germany and France earlier, both of whom voiced disappointment, the Kremlin said.
The UN Security Council will meet publicly on Ukraine at 2am GMT (1pm AEDT) on Tuesday, a Russian diplomat said, following a request by the United States, the United Kingdom and France………………………..
Australia condemns Russian actions as ‘unacceptable’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia condemned Russia’s actions and would be in lock step with its allies on any sanctions.
Russia should unconditionally move its troops behind its own borders and stop threatening its neighbours, Mr Morrison said during a media briefing.
“It’s unacceptable, it’s unprovoked, it’s unwarranted … some suggestion that they are peacekeeping is nonsense,” Mr Morrison said.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said Labor supports democratic nations in their condemnation of Russian aggression, adding Russia should “back off”.
“We condemn Russia’s unilateral recognition of breakaway territories in the Ukraine. We respect the sovereignty of Ukraine. Russia should do that too, in accordance with international law.”…………………………………
EU will respond to ‘illegal act’ with sanctions against Moscow
According to another White House statement, Mr Biden had also discussed with France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz “how they will continue to coordinate their response on next steps”. ………………..
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called out Mr Putin’s decision to recognise the separatist regions as independent as “a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine” in a statement read by his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric.
“The Secretary-General urges all relevant actors to focus their efforts on ensuring an immediate cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, preventing any action and statements that may further escalate the dangerous situation in and around Ukraine, and prioritising diplomacy to address all issues peacefully,” Mr Dujarric said.
…………….
With his decision to recognise the rebel regions, Mr Putin brushed off Western warnings that such a step would be illegal, would kill off peace negotiations and would trigger sanctions against Moscow.
“I deem it necessary to make a decision that should have been made a long time ago: to immediately recognise the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic,” Mr Putin said.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-22/putin-orders-russian-peacekeepers-ukraine/100849964
1.This month.
The Road to War brings a sharp focus to why it is not in Australia’s best interest to be dragged into a war with China which will almost inevitably go nuclear very quickly. The filmmaker has interviewed some of Australia’s senior foreign policy analysts who have vast experience behind them in analysing what really is going on here as the United States rattles its sabres with China. And sets us up to be its proxy, like the poor Ukranians have been fed into the Meatgrinder. So America can remain the Top Dog. The Road to War reveals how the United States through its spy base at Pine Gap and by stationing six nuclear capable B52 bombers in the Top End (without permission from the traditional owners) is making Australia a prime nuclear target if the current war of words suddenly melts down into full scale war.
The Road to War shows the implicit connection between Carbon emissions (the US military uses a whopping 70% of America’s annual petroleum to move its armies and vast War Machine around the globe to its 800+ military bases..but under a loophole wangled at Kyoto, the US military does not have to report its C02 annual emissions). The Road to War starts screening at selected cities and regional centres in March. See the trailer end for details.
Antinuclear 