IAEA Begins Analysis of Fukushima Water
IAEA Begins Analysis of Fukushima Water to Verify Japan’s Claim
September 17, 2022
The International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) has begun conducting an independent analysis and data corroboration related to the discharge of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan in a bid to validate data reported by the country.
In a Friday statement, the IAEA said the activities are one component of a three-pronged safety review being conducted by its task force, comprising eleven international experts, as well as its own staff.
The agency said the other two components are a technical assessment of public safety and protection and a review of regulatory activities and processes, both of which are ongoing and expected to culminate with a comprehensive report next year, prior to the discharge of the treated water.
Japan insists the treated water is sufficiently diluted and will be released over 30 to 40 years, posing no risks to safety or the environment.
But critics are concerned as there is no precedent of having discharged such a large amount of contaminated water into the ocean over a long period of time.
http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?lang=e&Seq_Code=172464
IAEA conducting analysis, corroboration of Japan’s data on Fukushima wastewater
September 17, 2022
To check whether the data reported by Japan is accurate, the International Atomic Energy Agency began independent analysis and corroboration work on the discharge of treated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Along with a technical assessment of public safety and a review of regulatory activities, the process is expected to lead to a comprehensive report in 2023, prior to the discharge.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company is responsible for determining if the water can be released into the sea after its removal of 62 radio-nuclides.
The IAEA’s corroboration work will continue even after the discharge as part of Director General Rafael Grossi’s commitment to remain involved before, during, and after the release.
http://www.arirang.com/News/News_View.asp?sys_lang=Eng&nseq=307720
Kishida pledges to accelerate Fukushima reconstruction
Sep 17, 2022
Minamisoma, Fukushima Pref. – Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday renewed his pledge to quickly rebuild damaged areas of Fukushima Prefecture as he visited the prefecture for the seventh time since taking office in October last year.
“We will make use of research and development, industrialization and human resources development to accelerate Fukushima’s creative reconstruction,” Kishida said to reporters during a visit to the Fukushima Robot Test Field, which was established in Minamisoma as a center for industry creation and advanced research.
Fukushima was rocked by the massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 and the ensuing meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The prime minister tried his hand at controlling an avatar robot that moves in sync with the user’s body and rode in the cockpit of a flying car.
He later exchanged opinions with local business leaders over measures to help startups.
Earlier in the day, Kishida visited a “reconstruction base” zone in the town of Futaba, for which the government recently lifted its nuclear evacuation order issued following the Fukushima No. 1 plant meltdowns. He held talks with Shiro Izawa, mayor of Futaba, one of the two host towns of the nuclear plant, and young town staff members.
He also visited the site in the nearby town of Namie slated to host the Fukushima Institute for Research, Education and Innovation.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/09/17/national/kishida-fukushima-pledge/
Land Regulation Law to be fully enforced on January 20, including orders with penalties for areas near bases and nuclear power plants
September 17, 2022
On September 16, the government decided at a Cabinet meeting to fully enforce the Land Use Regulation Law, which regulates land use around important security facilities such as Self-Defense Forces bases and nuclear power plants, on the 20th of this month. At the Cabinet meeting, the Cabinet also decided on the basic policy for operation of the law, which stipulates specific activities to be regulated. In areas determined by the government, it will be possible to investigate the names and nationalities of landowners and issue orders with penalties for obstructing facilities.
The Land Use Regulation Law was passed at last year’s ordinary session of the Diet. The Prime Minister has designated “watch areas” and “special watch areas” around important security facilities such as Self-Defense Forces, U.S. military bases in Japan, Coast Guard facilities, and nuclear power plants, as well as remote islands near national borders. In these areas, the government will be able to investigate the use of land and buildings, and order the cessation of any activities that would damage the functionality of the facilities, with penalties including imprisonment. In “special watch areas,” the government will also require prior notification of names and nationalities when buying or selling land or buildings over a certain area.
However, the specific types of activities to be regulated were not specified in the article, but were to be determined in the basic policy for operation.
The basic policy approved by the Cabinet…
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQ9J6SM2Q9JUTIL032.html?iref=pc_photo_gallery_bottom
Japanese food imports found with radioactive residues in Taiwan destroyed
Importers advised to return or destroy radioactive contaminated foods, though risk low
September 15, 2022
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s food authorities said Wednesday (Sept. 14) radioactive isotopes have been detected in six food samples from Japan this year.
Traces of cesium-137 were found in foods including konjac powder, blueberry juice concentrate, shiitake mushrooms, shiitake mushroom powder, and maitake mushrooms. The contaminated food products were imported from Gunma, Tokushima, Nagano, Yamagata, and Tottori prefectures, between March and August, wrote CNA.
Taiwan lifted the ban on food produced in five prefectures affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in February, which are Fukushima, Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi. The konjac powder from Gunma was the first radioactive contaminated product inspected from these areas since the removal of the ban.
Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅), director general of the Food and Drug Administration, said while the radiation levels of the questionable goods did not exceed those imposed by Taiwan, all were returned or destroyed by the importers at the advice of the authorities. The practice is in line with a resolution passed by the legislature, she added.
The scrapping of the ban has caused a stir in the public over food safety. The Tsai administration has promised vigorous inspection and the implementation of radiation standards on food imports stricter than those of the U.S. or EU.
Japan Plans To Restart Seven Nuclear Reactors By Summer 2023
September 14, 2022
In Japan, a major reversal last month, the government now wants to restart more nuclear power plants that were idled after the 2011 Fukushima disaster and is interested in expanding investments in next-generation plants. Weeks after the announcement, Japanese broadcaster NHK commissioned a new survey that revealed half of the population supports the government’s initiative to expand nuclear power.
NHK found that 48% of the respondents supported Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plan of developing next-generation nuclear reactors as a reliable, clean energy power source in the country. About 32% opposed the plan, and another 20% were undecided.
The survey was conducted between Sept. 9-11 via random telephone conversations among 1,255 adults and came two weeks after Kishida announced plans to examine the construction of new plants that would break more than a decade of energy policy following the Fukushima disaster, which led to a decade-long effort to eliminate nuclear.
Japan’s energy policy is coming out of a decade of paralysis with increasing political and public support. The prime minister announced the restart of seven nuclear reactors across the country by the summer of 2023, bringing the total number of operating power units to 17.
Kishida’s reasoning behind revisiting nuclear comes as Japan could face electricity supply problems due to soaring prices of natural gas and other energy products.
Uranium bulls should be jumping for joy at the prime minister’s statement last month:
“Nuclear power and renewables are essential to proceed with a green transformation,” Kishida said. “Russia’s invasion changed the global energy situation.”
https://www.yahoo.com/video/japan-plans-restart-seven-nuclear-180000803.html
Total submersion of Fukushima nuclear reactor building mulled
September 15, 2022
IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture–A government-authorized corporation said it is considering submerging the No. 3 reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to retrieve melted nuclear fuel debris from the reactor.
The Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corp. (NDF) said Sept. 3 that the entire reactor building would be enveloped in a steel structure before being engulfed in water, according to the proposal.
“No radioactive materials would be swirling up underwater, so there would be almost zero impact on the outside,” NDF President Hajimu Yamana said.
High radiation levels in the reactor building deny safe human access.
The total submersion method, which has no precedent, would help reduce workers’ exposure to radiation as water provides an effective shield against it.
NDF officials said they will study other methods as well before proceeding to narrow down feasible options.
The NDF proposal for submerging the entire reactor building was presented at a government meeting held in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
Yamana said the NDF will study the feasibility of the work being proposed and consider the alternative option of retrieving fuel debris from the top or the side of the containment vessel without filling the vessel with water.
“I cannot say anything for sure yet (about the feasibility of the total submersion method),” Yamana told The Asahi Shimbun following the meeting. “We are still in the very, very early stages of concept study. There are still a lot of things to study as the attempt would be the first of its kind in the world.”
A separate option of filling with water the containment vessel housed in the reactor building was previously considered for the fuel debris retrieval process, but the proposal was shelved after it was found it would be difficult to fill the holes in the containment vessel.
An estimated total of 880 tons of fuel debris is left inside the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Finding a way to retrieve the debris represents the biggest hurdle to decommissioning the hobbled plant.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. initially had plans to begin retrieving fuel debris from the No. 2 reactor on a trial basis before the end of last year.
The utility, however, has put off the prospective start date to the second half of fiscal 2023 due partly to delays in equipment development.
TEPCO’s response again…Waste storage facilities are about to run out of space, and contaminated water treatment at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is feared to be delayed
September 13, 2022
◆Sweet prediction led to crisis
This forecast is unreliable. If we make a slight mistake, we will go bankrupt,” said Nobuhiko Ban, a member of the regulatory commission. At a meeting of the regulatory commission, Nobuhiko Ban, a member of the commission, harshly criticized TEPCO’s lenient forecast.
The committee discussed the “HIC,” a container for muddy waste generated by the Advanced Landfill Process (ALPS), which removes radioactive materials other than tritium. In response to TEPCO’s forecast of the amount of waste to be generated, the Regulatory Commission asked for the construction of a new storage facility in anticipation of a case in which the amount of waste generated does not proceed as expected.
The HIC is a high-performance cylindrical polyethylene container with a diameter of 1.5 meters, a height of 1.8 meters, and a thickness of approximately 1 centimeter. It is used to store muddy waste generated as a byproduct of the purification process using the Advanced Landfill Process (ALPS), which removes radioactive materials other than tritium. The waste is stored in a concrete box in an outdoor storage area on the south side of the site. The storage capacity is for 4,192 units, and as of August 4 of this year, 4,027 units had been placed there. When the yard is full, ALPS will not be able to operate.
TEPCO’s failure to prepare for such a contingency is a major reason for this predicament.
The HIC contains highly radioactive sludge, which poses an extremely high risk in the event of a leak. Therefore, TEPCO considered equipment to dehydrate the sludge and turn it into a solid substance. The dehydrated solids will be stored in metal boxes in a separate warehouse, and the HIC will be disposed of by incineration or other means. If everything goes according to plan, the amount of HIC will continue to decrease after FY2022, when the facility will be in operation, and the capacity of the storage facility should not be a problem.
TEPCO has so far continued to deny that it would be able to handle the additional storage space, saying that it would be possible to do so once the facility started operation in FY2010.
However, at a regulatory committee meeting last June, it was pointed out that measures to prevent exposure to radiation at the facility were inadequate, and subsequent discussions led to a review of the design. The plan was delayed more than two years from the original schedule.
◆Life Exceeded and Damage May Occur
What was also unforeseen was the service life of the HIC. TEPCO initially thought that the HIC would exceed its service life after 25 years, but the Regulatory Commission pointed out that this assumption was too optimistic. It was discovered that as many as 79 HICs may exceed their service life and be damaged by the end of FY2010, taking into account the effects of the high density of sludge that had accumulated at the bottom of the HICs.
In February of this year, TEPCO began transferring the sludge in the HICs that had exceeded their service life to new HICs. As a result, the number of HICs is expected to increase by another 45 in FY2010, in addition to the amount generated by the treatment work. The extra amount, equivalent to about three months’ worth of sludge, is the result of underestimating the service life of the HICs.
◆Repeated backpedaling
Even after these contingencies occurred, TEPCO did not immediately move to secure storage capacity. Only now is it finally considering changes to the ALPS operation method and the construction of a new storage facility, in an attempt to avert a critical situation.
At the beginning of the accident, TEPCO underestimated that the generation of contaminated water could be stopped immediately and hastily built bolted tanks with low durability. Contaminated water continued to flow, causing frequent accidents involving leaks from the tanks. The same old “last-minute” response to the situation is about to be repeated again.
Nuclear news this week
Some bits of good news – California Begins Covering Canals with Solar Panels to Fight Drought. World’s first 100% hydrogen-powered trains now running regional service in Germany to replace diesel.
End of Covid pandemic ‘in sight’, says World Health Organization
Climate : As resistance grows to the fossil fuel regime, laws are springing up everywhere to suppress climate activists.
Coronavirus. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update.
Nuclear. Oh dear. I hope that the Zaporizhzhia situation works out safely. Even the IAEA are worried, and their job is to promote the nuclear industry. They also think that Australia’s AUKUS nuclear submarines will be fine – no weapons proliferation implications!
Personal note. I also do hope that the news coverage of the Queen’s death has been adequate, and that everyone is getting enough public holidays etc about this. I can’t get through to TPP Wholesale, to find out when and if they’re restoring our website nuclear-news.net. I guess they’re still in mourning.
AUSTRALIA
Australia needs a non-nuclear submarine – the TKMS TYPE 218SG would be fine – just do it, Richard Marles! China, and others, see the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as biased in supporting AUKUS nuclear submarines plan .
The Defence Strategic Review – Australia is becoming a proxy or is it a patsy for the US in a possible conflict with China. Aw gee shucks – Australia can be IMPORTANT if we lead USA’s attacks with our AUKUS submarines !
Barngarla people say NO to a nuclear waste dump. https://youtu.be/mEn_2_x2fZM
‘Doesn’t seem genuine’: Ex-Pacific leaders question Australia’s climate stance
INTERNATIONAL
Doomsday scenario: Simulation reveals nuclear war with Russia would cause 90 million casualties.
New research on how nuclear war would affect Earth – it won’t matter who is bombing whom.
What’s the real price tag for renewable energy for the planet?
World BEYOND War Volunteers to Reproduce “Offensive” Peace Mural.
US EU LOOMING CRASH, BILLIONS OF US $$ POURING INTO UKRAINE, WAR BETWEEN THE US AND RUSSIA.
China, AUKUS clash over nuclear subs.
Nuclear Power Is Too Risky Even in Peacetime. Ukraine Is the Tip of the Iceberg. Nuclear power still doesn’t make much sense.
Gullible governments – US Energy Department returns to costly and risky plutonium separation technologies.
The madness of some environmentalists sucked in by Edward-Teller style nuclear propaganda.
Extreme hunger is soaring in the world’s climate hotspots – Oxfam
Plunging costs of renewable energy – as nuclear power costs increase. Fast transition to renewables will save the world at least $US12 trillion ($A18 trillion) by 2050.
Study shows ‘unprecedented’ changes to world’s rivers
UKRAINE.
American-backed Ukrainian attack to recapture Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant is a critical part of the Western strategy .
Is Zaporizhzhia safer now?
U.S. Finally Admits Ukraine Bombs Zaporizhzhia’s Nuclear Power Plant. Ukraine’s threatened nuclear power plant has been shut down. Has a crisis been averted? Main power line reconnected to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant . Back-up power lines restored to the shut-down Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station .
Ukraine cracks downs on civilians – official. (Amazingly, this is reported also in the Washington Post – article headed: “Ukraine hit squads are killing Russian occupiers and collaborators”) Hundreds Of Children Included In Ukrainian Public Kill-List. Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ukrainian lawmakers to drop media bill .
Caitlin Johnstone: Ukraine crawling with CIA & Co. Zelensky and NATO plan to transform post-war Ukraine into ‘a big Israel’.
JAPAN. Plan to encase a Fukushima nuclear reactor and then flood it.
Tepco to revise power prices for industry, factoring in nuclear restart.
UK.
- Why future sea levels matter to Suffolk’s Sizewell nuclear plant. Permit problems for Sizewell C nuclear project? Cooling system could kill millions of fish.
- France’s problems with nuclear power now causing electricity shortage in Britain, too.
- Scotland, with its renewable energy success, has no need for nuclear power.
- If we want to cut energy bills we must stop wasting energy .
- Tory Minister Zac Goldsmith who cares about the environment sacked as Environment Minister.
- EUROPE. Russia’s uranium exports can continue – exempt from sanctions imposed on other commodities. NATO’s Approach to Russia’s Borders Planned Years Ago.
- FRANCE.
- France calls for more electricity to be imported from neighbouring countries. Continued drop in France’s nuclear power energy production. EDF’s core profits to take a €29bn hit this year from outages at France’s nuclear reactors.
- EDF contractors relax radiation exposure limits to speed up reactor repairs.
- 32 organisations challenge French government’s decrees setting up Bure district for a nuclear waste dump that is not yet even authorised.
- A new window into France’s nuclear history.
- France sends reprocessed nuclear fuel to Japan, despite environmental and safety dangers.
- France Urges Brussels To Label Nuclear-Produced Hydrogen “Green”.
RUSSIA. Russia’s Stranglehold On The World’s Nuclear Power Cycle. New study reveals Russia’s comprehensive buildup of nuclear missile test-ground at Novaya Zemlya.
JAPAN. Sendai and Genkai nuclear power stations in the path of powerful Typhoon Nanmadol.
40% of Japan’s nuclear plant staff lack experiences of reactivation.
USA. Veteran Intelligence Professionals: Ukraine Decision Time for Biden. U.S. military leaders are reluctant to provide longer-range missiles to Ukraine. ( Zelensky itching to attack Crimea?) US-South Korea Provocations in the Pacific.
The Weapons Industry as a Taxpayer Scam How we got to an $850 billion Pentagon budget – “independent” think tanks are funded by weapons corporations.
Space race – the old macho aim – USA and China to beat each other.
General: Supply chain problems are hurting nuclear modernization.
Plutonium secretly shipped to Nevada removed sooner than expected. Weapons-grade plutonium secretly sent from South Carolina to Nevada removed early. Watchdog sues nuclear agency over Los Alamos National Laboratory evaluations.
CANADA. Walk held to protest storing nuclear waste in Northwest. Walkers Count on Local Politicians to Oppose Nuclear Waste in North West Ontario.
IRAN. Israeli sabotage should not be allowed to kill Iran nuclear deal: Middle East Eye.
TURKEY. Russian state firm signs $9.1bn loan deal to fund nuclear plant in Turkey. Turkey, Russia reach deal resolving nuclear plant dispute.
Is Zaporizhzhia safer now?
What is “cold shutdown”? And what about the fuel pools?
Cold shutdown reduces risk of disaster at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – but combat around spent fuel still poses a threat
By Najmedin Meshkati, University of Southern California
Is Zaporizhzhia safer now? — Beyond Nuclear International Energoatom, operator of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, announced on Sept. 11, 2022, that it was shutting down the last operating reactor of the plant’s six reactors, reactor No. 6. The operators have put the reactor in cold shutdown to minimize the risk of a radiation leak from combat in the area around the nuclear power plant.
The Conversation asked Najmedin Meshkati, a professor and nuclear safety expert at the University of Southern California, to explain cold shutdown, what it means for the safety of the nuclear power plant, and the ongoing risks to the plant’s spent fuel, which is uranium that has been largely but not completely depleted by the fission reaction that drives nuclear power plants.
What does it mean to have a nuclear reactor in cold shutdown?
The fission reaction that generates heat in a nuclear power plant is produced by positioning a number of uranium fuel rods in close proximity. Shutting down a nuclear reactor involves inserting control rods between the fuel rods to stop the fission reaction.
The reactor is then in cooldown mode as the temperature decreases. According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, once the temperature is below 200 degrees Fahrenheit (93 Celsius) and the reactor coolant system is at atmospheric pressure, the reactor is in cold shutdown.
When the reactor is operating, it requires cooling to absorb the heat and keep the fuel rods from melting together, which would set off a catastrophic chain reaction. When a reactor is in cold shutdown, it no longer needs the same level of circulation. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant uses pressurized water reactors.
How does being in cold shutdown improve the plant’s safety?
The shutdown has removed a huge element of risk. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is a pressurized water reactor. These reactors need constant cooling, and the cooling pumps are gigantic, powerful, electricity-guzzling machines.
Cold shutdown is the state in which you do not need to constantly run the primary cooling pumps at the same level to circulate the cooling water in the primary cooling loop. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that reactor No. 6 is now in a cold shutdown state like the facility’s five other reactors, and will require less power for cooling. Now, at least if the plant loses offsite power, the operators won’t have to worry about cooling an operating reactor with cranky diesel generators.
And by shutting down reactor No. 6, the plant operators can be relieved of a considerable amount of their workload monitoring the reactors amid the ongoing uncertainties around the site. This substantially reduced the potential for human error.
The operators’ jobs are likely to be much less demanding and stressful now than before. However, they still need to constantly monitor the status of the shutdown reactors and the spent fuel pools.
What are the risks from the spent fuel at the plant?
The plant still needs a reliable source of electricity to cool the six huge spent fuel pools that are inside the containment structures and to remove residual heat from the shutdown reactors. The cooling pumps for the spent fuel pools need much less electricity than the cooling pumps on the reactor’s primary and secondary loops, and the spent fuel cooling system could tolerate a brief electricity outage.
One more important factor is that the spent fuel storage racks in the spent fuel pools at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant were compacted to increase capacity, according to a 2017 Ukrainian government report to the IAEA. The greater number and more compacted the stored spent fuel rods, the more heat they generate and so more power is needed to cool them.
There is also a dry spent fuel storage facility at the plant. Dry spent fuel storage involves packing spent fuel rods into massive cylinders, or casks, which require no water or other coolants. The casks are designed to keep the fuel rods contained for at least 50 years. However, the casks are not under the containment structures at the plant, and, though they were designed to withstand being crashed into by an airliner, it’s not clear whether artillery shelling and aerial bombardment, particularly repeated attacks, could crack open the casks and release radiation into the grounds of the plant.
The closest analogy to this scenario could be a terrorist attack that, according to a seminal study by the National Research Council, could breach a dry cask and potentially result in the release of radioactive material from the spent fuel. This could happen through the dispersion of fuel particles or fragments or the dispersion of radioactive aerosols. This would be similar to the detonation of a “dirty bomb,” which, depending on wind direction and dispersion radius, could result in radioactive contamination. This in turn could cause serious problems for access to and work in the plant.
Next steps from the IAEA and UN
The IAEA has called on Russia and Ukraine to set up a “safety and security protection zone” around the plant. However, the IAEA is a science and engineering inspectorate and technical assistance agency. Negotiating and establishing a protection zone at a nuclear power plant in a war zone is entirely unprecedented and totally different from all past IAEA efforts.
Establishing a protection zone requires negotiations and approvals at the highest political and military levels in Kyiv and Moscow. It could be accomplished through backchannel, Track II-type diplomacy, specifically nuclear safety-focused engineering diplomacy. In the meantime, the IAEA needs strong support from the United Nations Security Council in the form of a resolution, mandate or the creation of a special commission.
Najmedin Meshkati, Professor of Engineering and International Relations, University of Southern California
U.S. military leaders are reluctant to provide longer-range missiles to Ukraine
Senior U.S. military leaders have advised the White House against sending longer-range missiles to Ukraine over fears it could provoke a wider war with Russia, officials said
NBC News , By Courtney Kube and Dan De Luce, 17 Sept 22
The Biden administration has held off on a request from Ukraine to provide longer-range missiles over fears it could provoke a dangerous response from Russia, with senior Pentagon officials opposed to the idea, according to two military officials.
Defense officials who have advised against supplying Ukraine with the longer-range missiles, known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMs), have voiced concerns that the missiles could be used against targets inside Russian territory and potentially set off a wider war with Russia, the officials told NBC News.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Thursday warned the United States against providing such a weapon to Ukraine, calling it a “red line.”
“If Washington decides to supply longer-range missiles to Kyiv, then it will be crossing a red line, and will become a direct party to the conflict,” Zakharova said.
The Biden administration on Thursday announced another major package of military assistance for Ukraine worth $600 million, including artillery rounds, mines and more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). But the aid does not include the ATACMs, which have a longer range than the artillery and rocket systems delivered to Ukraine so far.
A number of lawmakers from both parties support Ukraine’s request for the missiles, which have a range of up to 300 kilometers, or about 185 miles. But the Biden administration said last month that Ukraine does not need the longer-range ATACMs, saying that other shorter-range rockets and missiles have proved effective against Russian forces.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said that “we’re not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems that strike into Russia,” though he did not specify whether Washington had ruled out certain weapons………………….
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-military-leaders-are-reluctant-provide-longer-range-missiles-ukrain-rcna48072
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 