Australian, and other, nuclear news this sweek
Some bits of good news – Community rewilding in UK. Reintroducing elephants, sharks and other big beasts could help keep the Paris agreement alive.
Pandemic. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update. Countries set out way forward for negotiations on global agreement to protect world from future pandemic emergencies.
Climate. Three consecutive years of rapidly increasing carbon dioxide emissions
Antarctica’s melting ice sheet could retreat much faster than previously thought.
The temperature of the world’s ocean surface has hit an all-time high. Ocean Heat, An El Nino on the Way, Potential New Global Temperature Record by 2024 — robertscribbler.
Nuclear. It’s all about nuclear weapons and the risk of nuclear war, again this week. I’m wondering if the world has got “nuclear-war-fatigue”. So little awareness in the general public and media compared to previous times of urgent danger of nuclear war. Some sort of complacent acceptance that we’ve all got to keep the wonderful nuclear weapons industries going –it means jobs jobs jobs and ever-rising value of those shares. We’ll give the boys the shiny new toys – fingers crossed that they don’t actually play with them.
Christina notes. Nuclear war – it’s a manly thing. The China-bogey-man distraction from the real threat of GLOBAL HEATING.
AUSTRALIA. AUKUS, NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY AND AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE – (this article says it all!) Bigger threat than China’: Defence leaders urge release of ‘scary’ climate report. Absolutely disingenuous – DARC – the Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability – Australia to join USA’s plan for Space as a War-fighting Domain– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KhkdjqSNic
ERA hopes to raise $369 million to continue rehabilitation of Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu . How Australia helped the US keep tabs on its nuclear rivals through a secret balloon program.
CLIMATE. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report fails to mention military or conflict emissions. France’s riverside reactor build plans “irresponsible” – expert. Rethinking Paris: France braces for 4°C warming in “turning point” strategy — (wonder how France’s nuclear reactors will cope?)
CIVIL LIBERTIES. Washington Says “Journalism Is Not A Crime” While Working To Criminalize Journalism.
CULTURE. Americans now fear cyberattack more than nuclear attack. ‘Everything Russian’ must be eradicated in Crimea – Zelensky aide.
ECONOMICS. Classic Megaproject Early Mistakes Will Create A Fiscal Disaster For Netherlands Nuclear.
ENERGY. IPCC report shows the winners in energy transition – wind and solar, and the losers – nuclear power and carbon capture. China on track to triple its terawatt-scale wind and solar target. Renewable energy overtakes nuclear power as the EU’s largest source of primary energy production. European nuclear power generation to continue at historically low levels.
HEALTH. Mental illness plagues Japan’s nuclear disaster survivors. Childhood thyroid cancer cases confirmed in the Fukushima Health Management Survey and others.
MEDIA. Japan – Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center news roundup April/May 2023.
NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Nuclear life extension plans tested by obsolete components. Saudi quest to become a nuclear player is coming up short. Current State of Post-Accident Operations at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Jun. to Dec. 2022). Nuclear fusion is a never-ending dream,
OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. Crowd turns out for town hall on plutonium pits, nuclear waste storage. Campaigners continue to take a stand against the plan for new nuclear power at Bradwell. Saskatchewan must remember opposition to nuclear waste.
PERSONAL STORIES. Northampton nuclear weapons activist Ira Helfand wins peace award.
POLITICS. SCOTT RITTER: The Future of US Nuclear Strategy. US Department of Energy is once again promoting large nuclear reactors, despite lack of supply chain and absurdly unaffordable costs. More warheads, more nuclear waste to New Mexico. Santa Fe fearful, as Carlsbad leaders support efforts.
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. G7 countries are likely to back nuclear power. The West Has Been Planning To Crush China For A Very Long Time. India and Pakistan Must Negotiate Nuclear Responsibilities. Many Speakers Voice Concern over Increase in Dangerous Nuclear Weapons Rhetoric amidst Ongoing War against Ukraine, as Disarmament Commission Opens Session. Convincing major powers to abide by ASEAN’s nuclear treaty is challenging. AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation seriously jeopardizes peace, stability in Asia-Pacific: embassy.
PROTESTS. 8 peaceful protestors arrested at the Nevada National “Security” Site. Four arrested after blockade of two gates at Trident nuclear base in Scotland.
PUBLIC OPINION. The British government doesn’t want to talk about its nuclear weapons. The British public does.
SAFETY. Fukushima. New images from inside Fukushima reactor spark safety worry. New Images From Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant Are Causing Big Worries. Foundation in Fukushima nuclear plant reactor likely badly damaged. Disturbing Clues at Fukushima Nuclear Plant May Be an Omen for Another Disaster. Fukushima Now Part 1: Railroading the Contaminated Water Release is Unacceptable! Current State of Post-Accident Operations at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Jun. to Dec. 2022).
Japan’s nuclear regulators find errors in Japan Atomic Power’s safety documents for the Tsuruga plant. Navy’s nuclear-powered super submarine ‘Trident’ fixed with super glue. The Other Atomic Concern in Taiwan—Nuclear Reactors .
SECRETS and LIES. Second batch of Classified Documents Detailing US Ukraine War Secrets Is Leaked Online. ‘A nightmare for the Five Eyes’: New batch of classified documents leaked to social media.
SPINBUSTER. Busting the spin about nuclear wastes – a Letter to the editor of the Hill Times.
WASTES. NMED’s Permit Allows LANL Loopholes for Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility.
WAR and CONFLICT.
- Ukrainian forces mount highly dangerous attack on Zaporizhzhia site. Failed Ukrainian nuclear plant attack revealed – The Times.
- ‘Brink of nuclear war’: North Korea warning on military drills.
- White House: U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan to wage war with Russia, China.
- DID THE UK DEPLOY A NUCLEAR-ARMED SUBMARINE TO THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT?
- Researchers simulate damage from nuclear weapons use in Northeast Asia.
- European war games: 9,000 U.S. troops, 17,000 from 26 NATO allies, partners in 10 nations.
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.
- Worst-kept secret? In tweet, ex-PM Barak seems to confirm Israel has nuclear weapons. Ex-PM Ehud Barak Confirms Israel Has Nuclear Weapons: Why it Matters.
- B61-12 nuclear sharing: Finnish flag raised at NATO Air Command HQ .
- Blinken demands NATO allies cough up more wealth, weapons for Ukraine war.
- NATO’s biggest infrastructure investment in 30 years: U.S. Army expands base in Poland.
- NATO orders Poland to deliver 200 APC to Ukraine as “mortars, missiles and MiGs are arriving”.
- US Navy sends nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine to Middle East.
- US deploys nuclear submarine to West Asia.
Absolutely disingenuous – DARC – the Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability – Australia to join USA’s plan for Space as a War-fighting Domain
“So, what worries me most is China’s use of space to complete the kill chain necessary to generate long-range precision strikes against the maritime and air components scheme of maneuver. That’s what concerns me the most,” Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir, commander of Space Forces Indo-Pacific, said.
By COLIN CLARKon April 07, 2023
SYDNEY — The vast landmass of Australia, possessed of clear skies free of city lights or pollution, is the perfect spot to place the most acute space situational awareness systems. Which is why Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir, the head of Space Forces Indo-Pacific says it’s “absolutely critical” to get a new radar system there as quickly as can be.
“When you look at a place like Australia as a landmass, you have a lot of opportunity to contribute to that space picture,” Mastalir told Breaking Defense during an interview during the Sydney Dialogue, put on by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “The Australians, the defense Space Command folks and the acquisition arms, they absolutely understand that, so they’re moving aggressively to embrace some of these opportunities and bring systems like DARC — deep space radar capability — here on the continent.”
DARC, officially the Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability, was designed by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to provide global monitoring of geosynchronous orbits in all kinds of weather and during daylight. According to the APL, it relies heavily on commercial technology. The Space Force received DARC technology from APL last year, with demonstrations taking place at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Ultimately, the operational DARC program calls for three transmit/receive sites, spaced at mid-latitudes around the world, to detect and track satellites. Northrop Grumman won a $341 million contract from US Space Force’s Space Systems Command last February to begin building the global system, with the first location in Australia targeted for calendar year 2025. That will be followed by one in Europe and a third in the US, with those locations yet to be announced.
FY24 budget justification documents show $174M requested for DARC in the next fiscal year. It further states that “The total cost of the DARC Rapid Prototype Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) effort is 844.6M. DARC Site 1 is not fully funded across the Future Years Defense Program.” $40 million is set aside for early work on sites 2 and 3.
“The DARC program will field a resilient ground-based radar providing our nation with significantly enhanced space domain awareness for geostationary orbit,” Pablo Pezzimenti, vice president for integrated national systems at Northrop Grumman said in a statement announcing the first contract award. “While current ground-based systems operate at night and can be impacted by weather conditions, DARC will provide an all-weather, 24/7 capability to monitor the highly dynamic and rapidly evolving geosynchronous orbital environment critical to national and global security.”
Discussions are underway about where to locate the system in Australia once it’s ready. Before anything can be released officially, negotiations must conclude on a treaty level document known as the Technology Safeguards Agreement. Negotiations began in mid-2021. Mastalir declined to discuss the talks, noting they are led by the Department of Commerce.
Russia And China Remain Top Concerns
During the panel Mastalir appeared on at the Sydney Dialogue, the general said that Russia had clearly possessed space superiority at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine but had lost it. After the panel, Breaking Defense asked him to explain his remarks.
“Russia clearly is a dominant space power, relative to Ukraine. So they entered that conflict in that position,” he said. “Now you see no less than seven or eight different commercial entities, everything from GPS jammer detection, communications to tactical ISR that are bringing products to bear to support the Ukrainians. And has Russia been able to deny the adversary, in this case, Ukraine, from benefiting from space? And the answer, I think, is no — not really.”
His assessment is that the two countries have reached perhaps the most dangerous state for two militaries slugging it out on the battlefield: parity.
“Now parity, parity is dangerous, right? Because when you have parity — and I think this is what we’re kind of seeing play out — you have these prolonged conflicts, and a lot of destruction and death. And that’s not a situation that we ever want to be in as the United States.”
Asked if there are lessons for the United States military and intelligence community in light of what he called “a potential paradigm shift.” the general said it raises many difficult policy and operational questions.
That includes the question of how commercial operators are protected, or not, by the government if they are being used for military operations.
“Number one, who’s going to defend those assets? Is there a responsibility for the United States to protect and defend commercial on-orbit capability that’s assisting the US military?” The related issue is, “to what extent should we integrate commercial across all of our space capabilities?”
Given these complexities, what keeps the general up at night in this region?
So, what worries me most is China’s use of space to complete the kill chain necessary to generate long-range precision strikes against the maritime and air components scheme of maneuver. That’s what concerns me the most,” Mastalir said. “I have to have the ability to deny China in this situation, as a potential adversary, the ability to do that. And so those are the kinds of things that that you know, worry me the most now.”
He stressed that the simple possession of such capabilities “doesn’t mean it’s wrong. But if you look at our efforts to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, you quickly run into a situation where our ends, and what we see in terms of behavior coming from China, their ends don’t necessarily align.”
Theresa Hitchens in Washington contributed to this report.
Washington Says “Journalism Is Not A Crime” While Working To Criminalize Journalism
There is no greater threat posed to world press freedoms than the one the US is presenting with its persecution of Julian Assange
Caitlin Johnstone https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/washington-says-journalism-is-not?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=113393100&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email 9 Apr 23
After a certain point criticizing the hypocrisy and contradictions of the US-centralized empire starts to feel too easy, like shooting fish in a barrel. But hell let’s do it anyway; the barrel’s right here, and I really hate these particular fish.
Russian security services have formally filed espionage charges against Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia since his arrest last month. Gershkovich reportedly denies the spying allegations and says he was engaged in journalistic activity in Russia.
This news came out at the same time as a joint statement was published by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemning Gershkovich’s detention as a violation of press freedoms.
“Let there be no mistake: journalism is not a crime,” the senators write. “We demand the baseless, fabricated charges against Mr. Gershkovich be dropped and he be immediately released and reiterate our condemnation of the Russian government’s continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish independent journalists and civil society voices.”
The use of the phrase “journalism is not a crime” is an interesting choice since the most common individual case you’ll hear it used in reference to is surely that of Julian Assange, who has been locked in a maximum security prison for four years while the US government works to extradite him for the crime of good journalism. Every pro-Assange demonstration I’ve ever been to has featured signs with some variation of the phrase “journalism is not a crime,” and any Assange supporter will be intimately familiar with that refrain.
So as an Assange supporter it sounds a bit odd to hear that slogan rolled out by two DC swamp monsters who have both enthusiastically supported the persecution of the world’s most famous journalist.
“He has done enormous damage to our country and I think he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. And if that becomes a problem, we need to change the law,” McConnell said of Assange after WikiLeaks published thousands of diplomatic cables in 2010.
“Neither WikiLeaks, nor its original source for these materials, should be spared in any way from the fullest prosecution possible under the law,” Schumer said in 2010.
“Now that Julian Assange has been arrested, I hope he will soon be held to account for his meddling in our elections on behalf of Putin and the Russian government,” Schumer tweeted when Assange was dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy in London almost exactly four years ago. (Assange has not been charged with anything related to Russia or the 2016 election, and allegations of collusion with Russia remain completely unsubstantiated to this day.)
These are two of the most powerful elected officials in the world, puffing and posing as brave defenders of press freedoms after having actively facilitated their government’s attempts to destroy those very press freedoms. Their government is working to extradite and imprison Assange under the Espionage Act for engaging in what experts say is standard journalistic activity, which will allow them to set a legal precedent in which any journalist anywhere in the world can be extradited and prosecuted for exposing US war crimes like Assange did.
There is no greater threat posed to world press freedoms than the one the US is presenting with its persecution of Julian Assange, a persecution which has been fervently endorsed by Schumer and McConnell and all the other Washington swamp creatures who are melodramatically rending their garments about Evan Gershkovich today.
Which is of course ridiculous. You don’t get to say “journalism is not a crime” while literally working to criminalize journalism. Those positions are mutually exclusive. Pick one.
It’s worthwhile to point out the hypocrisy of US empire managers, not because hypocrisy in and of itself is some uniquely grave evil but because it shows that these people do not stand for what they pretend to stand for. The US empire does not care about press freedoms, it cares about power and domination, and the noises it makes in support of journalism are only ever made as a cynical ploy with which to bludgeon disobedient foreign governments on the world stage.
Assange exposed many inconvenient facts about the US empire in his work with WikiLeaks, but none have been so inconvenient as what he’s exposed by forcing them to come after him and reveal their true face in their brazen persecution of the world’s greatest journalist.
Professor Chilla Bulbeck’s submission to Senate warns on the costs of nuclear power – financial, safety, security and more
Environment and Other Legislation Amendment (Removing Nuclear Energy Prohibitions) Bill 2022 Submission No 126
AUSTRALIA DOES NOT NEED TO EXPOSE OURSELVES TO THE DANGERS OF NUCLEAR ENERGY
Interestingly, attitudes to nuclear energy align with attitudes to climate change. Climate change deniers tend to approve of nuclear energy, and oppose renewable energy.
Scientists who accept the reality of climate change and the risks associated with nuclear energy oppose it as a ‘solution’ to the climate.
These are the reasons for retaining our ban on nuclear energy and our focus on clean, cheaper renewable energy:
Nuclear is the most expensive energy option
can take decades to build nuclear reactors and would require a decade or more to develop the legislative framework
Nuclear is dangerous. Either through human error, disaster, or as a military target the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear disaster would create permanent pollution.
Nuclear is unwanted. There is long standing popular opposition to nuclear power in Australia because of the issues above as well as the unsolved problem of nuclear waste and the link to nuclear weapons.
Alternatives like renewables, storage and energy efficiency are faster, cheaper, more deployable and enjoy much more public support
The Prime Minister agrees: “Nuclear power has never overcome the dangers that we have seen played out around the world time after time.
The arguments against nuclear energy are laid out cogently by Professor Ian Lowe, most recently in Long Half-Life which puns on both the interminable time nuclear remains dangerous in our environment and the steadfast opposition by ideologues to the facts about nuclear energy and its dangers. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Nuclearprohibitions/Submissio
‘A nightmare for the Five Eyes’: New batch of classified documents leaked to social media
Helene Cooper, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, SMH, April 8, 2023
Washington: A new batch of classified documents that appear to detail US national security secrets from Ukraine to the Middle East to China has surfaced on social media sites, alarming the Pentagon and adding turmoil to a situation that seemed to have caught the Biden administration off guard.
The scale of the leak – analysts say more than 100 documents may have been obtained – along with the sensitivity of the documents themselves, could be hugely damaging, US officials said. A senior intelligence official called the leak “a nightmare for the Five Eyes”, in a reference to the US, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the so-called Five Eyes nations that broadly share intelligence.
The latest documents were found on Twitter and other sites on Friday (US time), a day after senior Biden administration officials said they were investigating a potential leak of classified Ukrainian war plans, include an alarming assessment of Ukraine’s faltering air defence capabilities. One slide, dated February 23, is labelled “Secret/NoForn”, meaning it was not meant to be shared with foreign countries………………….
One analyst described what has emerged so far as the “tip of the iceberg”.
Earlier, senior national security officials dealing with the initial leak, which was first reported by The New York Times, said a new worry had arisen: Was that information the only intelligence that was leaked?
By Friday afternoon, they had their answer. Even as officials at the Defence Department and national security agencies were investigating the source of documents that had appeared on Twitter and on Telegram, another surfaced on 4chan, an anonymous, fringe message board. The 4chan document is a map that purports to show the status of the war in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the scene of a fierce, months-long battle.
But the leaked documents appear to go well beyond highly classified material on Ukraine war plans. Security analysts who have reviewed the documents tumbling onto social media sites say the increasing trove also includes sensitive briefing slides on China, the Indo-Pacific military theatre, the Middle East and terrorism………………………………………………………………………… more https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/a-nightmare-for-the-five-eyes-new-batch-of-classified-documents-leaked-to-social-media-20230408-p5cz07.html
AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation seriously jeopardizes peace, stability in Asia-Pacific: embassy
LONDON, April 8 (Xinhua) http://eng.chinamil.com.cn/VOICES/16215442.html
The United States, Britain and Australia have been pressing ahead with nuclear submarine cooperation despite being widely questioned, which creates nuclear proliferation risks and undermines the international non-proliferation system, the Chinese Embassy in Britain has said.
In response to a question concerning the trilateral Australia-UK-U.S. (AUKUS) cooperation on nuclear submarines, the embassy said on Friday that such cooperation will exacerbate the resurgence of the Cold War mentality, trigger a new round of arms race, and further provoke regional security and military confrontation, seriously jeopardizing regional peace, stability and prosperity.
The Asia-Pacific is now the most dynamic and fastest growing region in the world, which hasn’t come easily, the embassy said in a press release. “The AUKUS cooperation is designed to serve the U.S. geopolitical agenda to introduce group politics and Cold War confrontation into the Asia-Pacific with military deterrence. It is aimed at creating a NATO-replica in the Asia-Pacific, which runs counter to peace and stability in the region.”
The AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation marks the first time for nuclear weapon states to transfer naval nuclear propulsion reactors and weapons-grade highly enriched uranium to a non-nuclear weapon state, it noted.
As the current International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards system is incapable of ensuring effective safeguards, such cooperation poses serious nuclear proliferation risks, seriously compromises the authority of the IAEA, and deals a blow to the agency’s safeguards system, the embassy said.
“If the three countries are set on advancing the cooperation, other countries will likely follow suit, eventually leading to the collapse of the international nuclear non-proliferation regime,” it said.
China urges the three countries to heed the call of the international community and regional countries, discard the outdated zero-sum Cold War mentality and narrow geopolitical mindset, earnestly fulfil their international obligations and do more things that are conducive to regional peace, stability, unity and development, the embassy said.
“This serves the fundamental and long-term interests of regional countries as well as the three countries themselves,” it said. “The UK is not a country in the region and it is unwise to overstretch itself.”
More warheads, more nuclear waste to New Mexico. Santa Fe fearful, as Carlsbad leaders support efforts
“legacy waste” from past programs still waiting for disposal at Los Alamos was being disregarded in favor of the new streams the NNSA intended to generate.
“It’s heart-wrenching when you hear the young people concerned with manufacturing bombs.”
Adrian Hedden, Carlsbad Current-Argus 6 Apr 23,
Two meetings on nuclear waste were held in New Mexico this week, on different sides of the state with very different reactions from attendees.
On Tuesday, a townhall-style meeting was held in Santa Fe which more than 300 persons attended and about 200 participated online.
Most expressed fears and concerns that a federal plan to transport surplus plutonium to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad would endanger local communities along the transportation routes.
The next night at a meeting at the city golf course in Carlsbad, about 30 business leaders, elected officials and invited guests took a much warmer tone with the federal government and its plans for New Mexico and the nearby WIPP site.
Under the federally proposed plan, surplus plutonium would move via truck from the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in northern New Mexico for processing, then to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina for additional preparation before finally heading to WIPP for disposal.
By then, the 34 metric tons of plutonium set for disposal would meet characterization standards for transuranic (TRU) nuclear waste, meaning the program would not result in any waste of a higher radioactivity than that which the repository was intended to store.
But the program would see waste traveling through New Mexico, and especially the northern portion of the state, multiple times.
That’s a problem for Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen, who moderated the Tuesday meeting at the Santa Fe Convention Center with the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) – the agency devising the plan – and argued it could burden her community with the risk of exposure.
At the same time, the NNSA also was planning to ramp up the production of plutonium pits, the triggers for nuclear warheads, at Los Alamos and Savannah River site, hoping to produce up to 80 pits a year by 2030.
Some of the waste from that program would also be destined for WIPP as it’s the only deep geological repository in the U.S. for nuclear waste.
“People feel betrayed,” Hansen said in an interview with the Carlsbad Current-Argus, arguing the two NNSA programs marked an “expansion” of WIPP’s operations beyond what New Mexico originally agreed to when the facility was developed.
She said “legacy waste” from past programs still waiting for disposal at Los Alamos was being disregarded in favor of the new streams the NNSA intended to generate.
“They still feel frustrated that the legacy waste at LANL has not been cleaned up and new waste is being generated and also going to WIPP,” Hansen said of attendees at the Santa Fe meeting. “It’s heart-wrenching when you hear the young people concerned with manufacturing bombs.”
Jack Volpato, chair of the Carlsbad Mayor’s Nuclear Task Force, commended the NNSA and the WIPP project at the Wednesday meeting in Carlsbad for supporting the local community, its workforce and economy in the decades since the site was opened……………………………………………………………………………
Hansen, the Santa Fe County commissioner, said the NNSA’s plans were extraneous to WIPP’s original mission and what should be its primary purpose: to get nuclear waste “off the hill” in Los Alamos.
That’s the only true benefit to the people of New Mexico who host the WIPP site, she said.
“It’s a complete expansion of WIPP’s mission to be putting new and generated waste,” Hansen said. “It’s insanity to move surplus plutonium around the country. We don’t want to continue being left behind. Waste from all over the country has been coming here.”………………………………………………… https://www.currentargus.com/story/news/2023/04/06/nuclear-waste-new-mexico-santa-fe-carlsbad-nuke-plutonium-department-energy-bombs-nuke-warhead/70080266007/
How Australia helped the US keep tabs on its nuclear rivals through a secret balloon program
By Tim Callanan ABC News, 9 Apr 23
For those with a keen mind for history, the recent Chinese spy balloon controversy may have reawakened some distant memories of Australia’s Cold War-era balloon program.
While it was officially “secret”, everyone knew about it.
More than 60 years ago, Australia and the United States launched the Hibal (High Altitude Balloon) project as a way of keeping tabs on weapons developments in other countries.
Not by flying over them, but by testing the air at extremely high altitudes.
It was a bit like sticking your nose out of the top window of your house to smell what the people three doors down were cooking.
The Americans figured the air from nuclear testing sites in the Pacific would waft across to Australia, carrying tell-tale particles with it.
Steven Thorn worked on the program in its early years and has since written his own book on Hibal, which was based in the regional Victorian city of Mildura.
“The Americans were sniffing at other people’s weapons. They were interested in the French [nuclear testing] out in the Pacific,” he said.
“The Americans had trace elements in their bombs and they could determine from the type of residue whether they were a hydrogen bomb or an atom bomb so I suspect that was part of the ‘secret’ part of it.”
The balloons themselves were huge, reaching up to 100 metres in diameter.
They carried a 300 kilogram payload of atmospheric testing instruments to altitudes of more than 30 kilometres — well above the level at which commercial airliners fly.
The payload looked like something straight from the set of an old Dr Who episode, with visible wires, tubes and funnels all secured in place with what looked like sticky tape.
The project may technically have been classified top secret, but plenty of people knew about it — in fact, people used to come and watch the huge balloons being launched.
But it was the data captured high above the ground that was definitely off limits.
A race to reach the balloons as they crashed to earth…………………..
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, The HIBAL project petered out in the late 1970s as the Americans lost interest in sniffing our air, or found better ways of keeping tabs on their nuclear rivals………………….more https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-09/hibal-australia-cold-war-history-us-secret-balloon-victoria/102057980
Ukraine will eventually reveal ‘horrible’ losses – ambassador
https://www.rt.com/russia/574421-ukraine-losses-horrible-russia/ 9 Apr 23
The true number of casualties will be acknowledged only once the conflict is over, Vadim Pristaiko has said.
Ukraine will reveal the extent of its “horrible” losses once its conflict with Russia is over, Vadim Pristaiko, Kiev’s ambassador to the UK, said in an interview released on Friday.
Asked by British tabloid the Daily Express to comment on casualties among Ukrainian military personnel and civilians, Pristaiko said “it has been our policy from the start not to discuss our losses.”
When the war is over, we will acknowledge this. I think it will be a horrible number,” he added.
Pristaiko dismissed any possibility of talks between Moscow and Kiev – at least until Russia withdraws its troops from the territories Ukraine claims as its own. “So, we have to fight to the very last of them or, very unfortunately, the last of us as well,” the envoy said.
The ambassador also commented on the assault brigades that Ukraine says it has assembled for a much-anticipated spring offensive against Russia. “Whoever says there are 40,000 men in these brigades, I would like to point out that we have mobilized a million men,” Pristaiko stated.
Both sides of the Ukraine conflict rarely provide data on their losses. However, last autumn, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put Kiev’s fatalities at 100,000, a claim that was disputed by Ukraine and later removed from the official’s website. In December, Mikhail Podoliak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, put the death toll among Kiev’s military at between 12,000 and 13,000 people.
Russia has not officially updated its losses since last September, when Moscow’s Ministry of Defense estimated that 5,937 service members had died.
Pristaiko’s comments come as Ukrainian and Western officials claim that Ukraine will launch a counteroffensive in the coming weeks. Commenting on statements about a potential Ukrainian push, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that the Russian military “thoroughly tracks all the relevant information” on the matter.
Convincing major powers to abide by ASEAN’s nuclear treaty is challenging
A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil (The Jakarta Post) 9 Apr 23,
While China’s expressed intent to sign the protocol for ASEAN’s nuclear weapon free zone treaty should be supported, convincing other nuclear weapon states to follow suit may be a challenge, experts have said.
In 1995, 10 ASEAN member states signed the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (SEANWFZ) or the Bangkok Treaty, designating the region as one free of nuclear weapons.
The treaty also has a protocol open to signature by recognized nuclear weapon states China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, but none have signed the protocol, objecting to the inclusion of continental shelves and exclusive economic zones in the nuclear weapon free zone. https://www.thejakartapost.com/world/2023/04/09/convincing-major-powers-to-abide-by-aseans-nuclear-treaty-is-challenging.html
April 9 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Will Washington Halt The Global Renaissance Of Nuclear Power?” • New rules mandated by US Congress were supposed to provide a streamlined licensing process for small reactors, which are in advanced stages of development. Instead, the NRC staff simply cut and pasted the existing rules for conventional reactors into a 1,200-page regulation. [Foreign […]
April 9 Energy News — geoharvey
Labor takes victory lap on clean energy after doubling the approval of projects
Labor takes victory lap on clean energy after doubling the approval of projects
The federal government is claiming a boost to investment in renewable energy after it increased spending in last year’s budget to clear backlogs and issue faster environmental approvals
Australia’s hydrogen “superpower” dream could be massive waste of money, says Griffith
Australia’s hydrogen “superpower” dream could be massive waste of money, says Griffith
Rewiring Australia’s Saul Griffith tells government putting hydrogen at the centre of Australia’s energy future makes no economic or thermodynamic sense.
1 This month
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