Nuclear news this week – (miles too long)
Some bits of good news. Why tackling biodiversity loss could solve the climate crisis. A believed-extinct butterfly flitted back to the Scottish hills
TOP STORIES. Chris Hedges: Craig Murray on the ‘Slow Motion Execution’ of Assange. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x9Bltb7ZYE
Nuclear submarines challenge trains 10 year old children for war. The Discharge of Fukushima’s Radioactive Water could be a Precedent for Similar Actions.
Hyping Ukraine Counteroffensive, US Press Chose Propaganda Over Journalism.
What is the Digital Prison?
Climate. Global stocktake UN urges radical changes in climate policy plans at Cop28. Fossil fuel industries have captured global UN negotiations on climate change. Antarctic sea-ice at ‘mind-blowing’ low alarms experts.
Christina notes. Blatant hypocrisy and lies from Rafael Grossi and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Digital confusion.
AUSTRALIA.
- 63 Members of Parliament call on US to free Assange.
- The normalisation of nuclear power and militarism in our schools.
- Eating the three-eyed fish: where is Australia on nuclear wastewater in the Pacific? Protesters call on Labor to protest Fukushima nuclear waste dumping.
- Two years after AUKUS announcement, American politicians are divided on delivery of submarines to Australia.
- Peter Dutton wants Australia to jump on the VERY UNECONOMIC “nuclear train”. ”. Replacing Australia’s retiring coal power stations with small nuclear reactors could cost $387bn, analysis suggests.
- Nuclear energy remains weapon of choice for climate deniers and coal lobby.
- Sovereignty mocked in the ‘proxy war’ in Ukraine.
- Waste site: Govt reveals bill for dumped Kimba nuclear facility.
- Big batteries and solar push new boundaries on the grid
ART and CULTURE. Nuclear Free Local Authorities back councillor’s call to preserve bunker as museum to folly of nuclear war.
CLIMATE. Don’t underestimate ravages of climate crisis when storing nuclear waste. Kings Bay nuclear submarine hub dodged a bullet named Hurricane Idalia.
ECONOMICS. A new French fairy tale: “Cheap” nuclear electricity in France is not what it appears. Marketing. Top candidate for head of European Investment Bank cautions about defense, nuclear investments. USA can’t get investors for Small Nuclear Reactors: no problem – flog them off to Ghana! ‘War Is Good for Business,’ Declares Executive at London’s Global Arms Fair.
EMPLOYMENT. 1000 Sellafield Ltd. contractors to be balloted for strike by Unite.
ENERGY. Ukraine plans up to 1GW wind farm in Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone. Endless energy use needed for endless data storage – so, small nuclear reactors for Sweden. Windfarm bid withdrawn after Ministry of Defence raises nuclear testing station concerns. Solar energy boost for France. Renewables boost in Germany: turning the corner after a bad year?
ENVIRONMENT. Earth ‘well outside safe operating space for humanity’, scientists find. Radioactive discharge from Fukushima nuclear plant raising concerns on California coast.
ETHICS and Religion If The US Really Was What It Pretends To Be. “A world free from nuclear weapons is possible”. The US Air Force Is Clearing Out Jungles In The Pacific To Prepare For War With China.
HUMAN RIGHTS. JULIAN ASSANGE AND THE END OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.
INDIGENOUS ISSUES. British activists join Nuclear Free Local Authorities in supporting Swedish Sami against uranium mining. Uranium Mining Protections Needed Across the West. Forced removal of Chagos islanders gave the US a nuclear base and the UK a deal on nuclear weapons.
LEGAL. French nuclear cartel fined €31m. Small island nations take high-emitting countries to court to protect the ocean.
MEDIA. Fukushima’s nuclear waste: Stigmatising Russia, approving Japan.
NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Small modular nuclear reactors for Ukraine (safe?)
OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR . Peace boat’s message is clear: Golden Rule mission urges support for nuclear ban treaty. Activists want California nuclear reactor closed over safety concerns
POLITICS.
- The U.K.’s Goldilocks Moment For Nuclear Power. Huge nuclear lobbying aimed at British Parliament . Sunak gives China green light to build UK nuclear plants despite nation being ‘threat to our way of life’. Nuclear Free Local Authorities’ plea to new Energy Secretary: ‘Don’t make Sizewell C Suffolk’s nightmare.’
- Germany advises against nuclear power in Uganda.
- Israel’s nuclear commission head refuses to side by High Court – in the case of a constitutional crisis
- Public Need Versus the Business of War.
- 50 US Lawmakers Reintroduce ‘CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act’ to Protect ‘the American Way of Life’.
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.
- Germany’s Scholz: Fresh nuclear disarmament talks should include China.
- Guam residents inch closer to compensation for US nuclear testing.
- How the ‘nuclear football’ remains a potent symbol of the unthinkable.
- US incapable of negotiating – Russian diplomat. Ukraine joining NATO ‘would not promote peace’ – ex-French president. Zelensky Implies Ukrainian Refugees in Europe Will Resort to Terrorism If West Curtails Aid.
- Congress should seek ‘poison pills’ for any US-Saudi nuclear agreement.
PUBLIC OPINION. A push-back against Western influence is reportedly prompting countries to reject the pro-Ukraine agenda.
RELIGION. Kiev orders closure of Christian churches
SAFETY.
- Why this Ukrainian nuclear plant is now on brink of a ‘Fukushima’ disaster.
- Safety fears : the problem of Britain’s ageing nuclear submarines. Nuclear Free Local Authorities concerned over safety risks regarding nuclear-armed U.S. base planned for RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk.
- Are They Already Cutting Corners on Worker Protection at DOE’s New Plutonium Processing Plant? Environmental groups urge regulators to shut down California reactor over safety, testing concerns. Cracks at V.C. Summer nuclear plant raise concern from federal regulators.
- Risk assessment and the nuclear cultists.
- UN Nuclear Watchdog Risks Running Out of Money on US, China Standoff. UN nuclear agency slams Iran for barring inspectors from monitoring program.
- A nuclear bomb is still missing after it was dropped off the Georgia coastline 65 years ago.
- Japan to start old nuclear reactor checks in October. Incidents. Radioactive material leaks detected at Japan’s plutonium nuclear fuel research facility’.
SECRETS and LIES.
- Blinken, Assange, And The 20th Anniversary Of The Palestine Hotel Bombing.
- SNC Lavalin changing its name to AtkinsRéalis in effort to shed parts of its past. From the archives: Crooked Canadian company Lavalin trying to sell ?zombie nuclear technology to China and UK.
- IAEA sees no problem with depleted uranium weaponry – Grossi.
- Antony Blinken mouths complacent lies: “very confident in Ukraine’s ultimate success”.
- The UK Government Knows How Extreme the Online Safety Bill Is. G20 Announces Plan To Impose Digital Currencies And IDs Worldwide. Elon Musk’s X venture – leading us into a digital prison?
- Ex-Ukrainian president pictured wearing Nazi symbol (PHOTOS). Ukrainians blame Zelensky for corruption – poll.
SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. Pentagon’s new plan to counter China includes swarms of smart satellites. 7 October – 14 October KEEP SPACE FOR PEACE WEEK.
SPINBUSTER. Blinken: US Does Not Oppose Ukrainian Attacks Inside Russia With US-Supplied Missiles.
WASTES. Decommissioning. September 14, 2023: Dounreay decommissioning end date that proved to be unachievable.
WAR and CONFLICT. NATO’s Steadfast Defender Drills Near Russia Signal Bloc’s Shift to ‘War Footing’, Pentagon blames Russian e-warfare for failed Ukraine counteroffensive.
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.
- Banish Nuclear Weapons ‘to History Books, Once and for All’, Urges Secretary-General, Marking International Day.
- With long-range missiles for Ukraine, US crosses own red line.
- Pakistan nuclear weapons, 2023. Pakistan has 170 nuclear warheads, and may increase it to 200 by 2025, say American atomic scientists.
- Zelensky Issues Veiled Threat To Destabilize Europe If Weapons Flow Curtailed.
- Making Britain a target for nuclear retaliation.
- US to Shift Some Military Aid from Egypt to Taiwan.
WOMEN. Women with medical education to be banned from leaving Ukraine and forced to sign up for military service – Kyiv Post.
The normalisation of nuclear power and militarism in our schools
Solidarity Brakfast (transcript of podcast)
Saturday, 9 September 2023 – 7:30am to 9:00am https://www.3cr.org.au/solidaritybreakfast/episode/palestine-laboratory-ii-militarization-schools-ii-within-these-walls-ii
Annie interviews Sanne de Swart from ACE Nuclear-Free Collective (Friends of the Earth Melbourne) on the normalisation of nuclear power and militarism in our schools.
The issue of normalising nuclear weapons and nuclear power has become a hot topic. STEM competitions financed by weapons companies supported by the Ministry of Defence.
- Friends of the Earth Nuclear Free Collective has an email petition to Environment Ministers to show dissent on this and has other suggestions for actions https://www.melbournefoe.org.au/no_defence_curriculum
Sanne de Swart. Normalisation of nuclear promotion under the guise of STEM education. Nuclear propulsion submarine challenge is directed at primary school students. Very young kids groomed to take part in military preparation. Teachers approached FOE with their concernsVictorian teachers unions are resisting this, and the matter has been taken up by Australian teachers union. AEU federal executive has condemned the programme.Education department guidelines are not to accept sponsorships from tobacco companies. and weapons companies. The STEM hub is working together with Dept of Defence and with BAE weapons manufacturer to promote this nuclear submarine technology.. BAE has been taken to the UN over human rights issues. BAE has pecuniary interest in this promotion.
Vic Education Dept is in breach of their own policy by promoting this actively on their website. Use of financial support from large weapons companies in our schools is against Victorian education Dept policy, probably also the policy in NSW. and SA. STEM education – impression given that STEM has only relevance to fighting machines..
Sanne – But really the STEM hub – we will need the brightest minds for the transition to a greener, more liveable society, need engineering and science and technology. This programme is taking away from that need, and directing education towards militarism and war efforts.It also fails to acknowledge from a nuclear perspective the devastating history around nuclear, that Australia has, starting from the British nuclear bomb tests 70 years ago , through to uranium mining and trying to impose radioactive waste dumps on Aboriginal land, all of which disproportionately affects First Nations people.
The Victorian Education Department is very actively promoting the nuclear submarine project The whole government, with AUKUS deal, is preparing for war, and being quite straightforward about that. Probably the Ed Dept is working with the Defence Dept on the same pathTeachers are concerned that this happening in their classrooms. That it is so explicit. Even BAE Systems is saying they want to create an extraordinary workforce. ADF Careers are talking about the pipeline of recruits that they need. Real concerns from teachers that this will be taught in their classrooms, and that the military agenda will be perpetuated for children – which is irresponsible and unethical, because children under 18 – it is all about positive brand association, they cannot make those decisions, as adults can, they are being groomed from a very young age.
Primary school programmes.
There is a LEGO challenge that is ongoing – also run by weapons companies The weapons companies come in, and promote what they do as something exciting and innovative. There’s a programme called Beacon – it is targeted at years 4 to 6 students. It is funded by BAE Systems – it is less explicit – focussed towards AUKUS, but it’s focussed at lower socioeconomic areas and schools,. That makes it hard for schools to say “No” to them, because those come as well-resourced projects. It is quite insidious in the way that it is targeted at young children, to have that positive brand association with military and weapons companies.I think that this is happening in other countries as well. Teachers in Britainhave been working on this, tooFOE has a few calls for action, for teachers to become aware of this. Also parents are encouraged to take this up , FOE is contacting the government on the issue.There is a lack of alternative programmes for STEM education
1.This month.
13 July Webinar: Don’t Nuke The Climate: how to counter the nuclear disinformation
Saturday July 13 from 10.30am till 12pm.
British High Court Grants WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange the Right to Appeal U.S. Extradition.
Antinuclear 