Antinuclear

Nuclear (and climate) news to 16 January

Some bits of good news.  Here are all the positive environmental stories from 2023 so far.  How the world fixed the ozone layer. The hole over the pole will be closed by 2066.

Coronavirus. Covid cases in China touch 900 million – study.

Climate. Look –  this whole issue is mind-boggling. Glaciers are melting fast. It’s probable that the cleanup of atmospheric pollution by China and others will, for a while, contribute to global heating. I recommend that everyone follow RADIO ECOSHOCK. It’s the best place for getting the most up-to-date and thorough analyses of what is going on with our heating planet.

Nuclear. This week, I’m a bit overwhelmed with the climate stuff – actually more terrible than nuclear. But hey!  the big tennis is on in my country  – so nobody seems to care. (Except perhaps the flooded-out people).  Christina’s notes. NO – Sir Keir Starmer – nuclear power is NOT clean. Strange and contradictory messages from the global nuclear authority IAEA.

AUSTRALIA. Brian Toohey -on Australia’s new arms race. Australia’s ‘optimal pathway’ on AUKUS. Australia’s nuclear submarine plan – a source of disagreement in US Congress.  Population growth is not a good thing: it’s a bad thing. Mining lobby tricks government with its big taxpayer fairytale.

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CIVIL LIBERTIES.  Julian Assange denied permission to attend Vivienne Westwood funeral

CLIMATE. Europe recorded its hottest ever summer in 2022. Worlds oceans were the hottest ever recorded in 2022. Extreme weather is pushing more people to flee their homes.

DECOMMISSIONING REACTORS. Lithuania deal to dismantle Soviet-era nuclear reactors could be world first.

ECONOMICS.

Small nuclear reactors:  Eye-popping new cost estimates released for NuScale small modular reactor. The PG and E plan to sell non-nuclear generation assets could improperly increase rates, groups tell FERC. UK should not be building Sizewell C, and rollout of small nuclear reactors will be a nightmare – energy boss. Uncertainty over government funding for Rolls Royce’s small nuclear reactors . 

The Delusion of Infinite Economic Growth. Slew of companies keeping watch on DOE nuclear cleanup work for small biz. Team Korea to bolster exports of nuclear energy systems.

EMPLOYMENT. The renewable energy transition is creating a green jobs boom.

HEALTH. An unacceptable risk to children.

LEGAL. Pacific states entitled to claims against Japan for discharge of radioactive nuclear wastewater.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Shouldn’t a new and experimental reactor deserve a federal impact assessment? Adam Tooze: Why Nuclear Fusion Is Not the Holy Grail. How close are we to developing commercial nuclear fusion reactors? The problem with nuclear energy advocates. Japan and USA to develop small nuclear reactors “within each country and third countries.”

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. Scottish campaign groups hit back over claims nuclear power is cheaper and more reliable. Significant environmental victory for Savannah River Site Watch in stopping import of high level nuclear waste from Germany.

POLITICS. 

• Trump suggested dropping a nuclear bomb on North Korea and blaming it on someone else in 2017, book claims. 
• Holtec seeks $7.4 billion government loan for expansion tied to new reactor. Going nuclear? MPSC to hire outside firm to study Michigan’s energy future (but will the firm have vested interests?) California PUC launches rulemaking to consider extension of Diablo Canyon nuclear plant. 
• New delay for Hinkley Point C nuclear power – could start operating in 2036. Rolls Royce’s frustration as government holds back on orders for mininuclear reactors. 
• Swedish govt to amend law to be able to build more nuclear power plants. Sweden makes regulatory push to allow new nuclear reactors. 
• South Korea Curbs Plans for Renewables in Push For More Nuclear. 
• Bangladesh puts energy hopes in first nuclear power plant, despite delay, and climate concerns.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. 

• Ukraine war follows decades of warnings that NATO expansion into Eastern Europe could provoke Russia. Ukraine as a country and its armed forces have become members of NATO: defense minister . Republican Rep Joe Wilson of South Carolina wants the US capitol to have a bust of Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky on permanent display. Not all American politicians want to adore Zelensky. 

• Nuclear deal between USA and Saudi Arabia sneaked in under the guise of “clean energy”. 
• Djibouti the 92nd country to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. 
• US military deepens ties with Japan and Philippines to instigate proxy war with China like it did with Russia. 
• The One-Person Monopoly of Nuclear Launches. 
• China’s role in UK nuclear sector poses challenges for net zero push, say think tanks. 
• Alarm in Malta over the proposal for a nuclear reactor in Sicily.
• Philippines looking at Chinese investors for cooperation on nuclear energy. 

SAFETY. Deal on safe zone for Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant getting harder -IAEA. IAEA plans “continuous presence” at all Ukraine nuclear power plants “to help prevent a nuclear accident” amid Russia’s war . Irish Republic monitoring nuclear risk as a consequence of fighting in Ukraine. Nuclear convoys: 40 safety reports in three years. Terror police investigate after uranium found in package at Heathrow airport. Georgia’s Vogtle nuclear plant startup delayed due to vibrating pipe.

SPACE.  Space junk cowboys are ruining our night sky.

WASTES. 

• Huge cost for Japanese tax-payers to clean up the botched nuclear waste storage at Tokai reprocessing plant . 
• Nuclear waste project in New Mexico opposed in recent poll, company asserts local support. 
• Arctic nuclear waste ship gets funding. Nuclear colonialism? 
• Nuclear country Canada “helps” Ghana to develop nuclear waste disposal facility. 
• Fukushima nuclear disaster: Japan to release radioactive water into sea this year. Fukushima water to be released into ocean in next few months, says Japan . Pacific Island Forum could sideline Japan over nuclear waste plan.

WAR and CONFLICT.The Ukraine War Should Alert Us to The Need to Ban Nuclear Weapons. Ukraine on ‘NATO mission’ – defense minister. NATO to train hundreds of Ukrainian troops in US and Germany, in operating Patriot missile system . Ukraine legalizes foreigners in AZOV neo-Nazi regiment. Gordon M. Hahn: The West has been reckless with Vladimir Putin . Britain sending first NATO nation tanks to Ukraine .

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. 

• Nuclear weapons proliferation really just keeps on going.  Support Arms Control, Not Nuclear Weapons.

• The U.S. Can’t Make Enough Plutonium Triggers for Its Nuclear Warheads. Savannah River Site, Los Alamos plutonium pit production plan could cost over $30 billion.
• NATO member sending banned cluster bombs to Ukraine – media. German tank deliveries for Ukraine hinge on US. Pentagon backs Poland’s plans for German, other tanks for Ukraine . 
• The C-17A Has Been Cleared To Transport B61-12 Nuclear Bombs To Europe. 
• Biden Administration Tramples on Japan’s Post-World War II Pacifist Constitution By Pushing Country’s Rearmament. 
• In a first, South Korea declares nuclear weapons a policy option.

January 16, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews