Australian nuclear news – and more

Above – size of the highly radioactive capsule inexplicably mislaid, in Western Australia

Some bits of good news. What went right this week: ‘positive tipping points’. England got a new rewilding site.        Cancer Plummets, Guinea Worm Eradicated, Bye-Bye Ebola—3 Huge Wins for Humanity.

The polycrisis is upon us……. pandemic, global heating, nuclear fear, plastic and chemical pollution, biodiversity loss,  overpopulation, water shortage ….. all these are interrelated. As Alex Smith shows us, in Radio Ecoshock – this all might develop into a permacrisis. My own thought  is that it’s no wonder that many young people have  problems of anxiety and depression – in our culture focussed on individualism, money, and endless growth.

Nuclear. This newsletter is miles too long. But it’s a critical time- teetering on the brink of nuclear war. Tanks going into Ukraine – a futile symbol for Zelensky’s dream of conquering Russia, – while underneath it all, rumblings of a cease-fire deal between USA-NATO and Russia, before it all gets a lot worse.

Christina notes:  World War 3 danger – it’s getting so like pre World War 1 – can it get any worse? Nuclear toys for the boys. What fun!      Nuclear fusion – here’s where history, culture, and nuclear annihilation technology collide.

AUSTRALIA.   

• Urgent public health warning issued over lost radioactive capsule in Western Australia. [nb. Kramatorsk radiological accident].   Missing radioactive capsule: WA officials admit it was weeks before anyone realised it was lost.     
• Kimba District Council, keen to host nuclear waste dump, but now plans marketing push to get a “brand” different from the nuclear one.   Greens Senator Barbara Pocock ‘s reminder that the Kimba nuclear waste storage has no longterm plan for removal of that waste to permanent disposal. Media keeps mum about earthquake near planned nuclear waste dump. Nothing in writing. No guarantees – the planned Kimba waste dump could get highly radioactive nuclear wastes from submarines.  
• Nuclear submarines deal an exercise in futility and should be sunk. Nuclear submarines are not going to have ‘any effect’ at all. Australia to become major hub for US submarines, [and target?]      Push in US Congress to exempt Australia from International Traffic in Arms Regulations, so that it can import nuclear submarines. 
• The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is a good step towards a nuclear-free world. 
• Bill Gates in Australia – mainly to soft sell his small nuclear reactor business.

Documents show no sign Albanese government lobbied the US to bring Julian Assange home.

CLIMATE. The first breach of 1.5°C will be a temporary but devastating failure. Absurd that we listen to those causing the climate crisis’ in Davos, says Greta Thunberg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU6vQXif5Xo  The ‘all-of-the-above’ story used to sneak nuclear power in as a climate-action technology along with renewables . Suffolk: Sizewell C nuclear ‘should not get licence’ due to coastal erosion.

CIVIL LIBERTIES. Julian Assange and the US government’s war on whistleblowers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOC-c0QdfEo . The Belmarsh Tribunals Demand Justice for Julian Assange. UK police powers increased, to shut down climate protests. UK govt to tighten anti-protest restrictions, despite criticism from human rights groups .

CULTURE. The dirty secret of US nuclear energy.

ECONOMICS. As the war rages on and military spending booms, the US arms industry is a big winner in Ukraine. 

Marketing: South Korea keen to market nuclear technology to United Arab Emirates, and missile technology, too. Poland’s energy company agrees to buy France’s NOT YET DESIGNED so-called “small” Nuward nuclear reactor! 

The British government’s Regulated Asset Base – the test case for reviving its nuclear power dream. “Great British Nuclear “- it’s high time that they came clean on what this will cost. 

As SMR developer X-energy moves to go public, merger partner Ares cautions investors about risks of small nuclear reactors.   David Schlissel: Small modular reactor project likely to end badly for Utah utilities.

EMPLOYMENT. The French nuclear sector up against the wall in terms of recruitment.

ENERGY. Germany aims for faster expansion of wind energy, not nuclear.  Prolonged outages of France’s nuclear reactors.  Renewable energy is the only credible path forward -António Guterres.  Four separate reports show that the UK could save over €120 bn by 2050 by switching to a renewable energy strategy.

ENVIRONMENT. Campaigners fear changes at Hinkley Point C ‘could kill millions of fish every day’. Japan’s Plan To Discharge Water From Fukushima Nuclear Plant Faces Pacific Opposition

HEALTH. Julian Assange’s Biggest Fight in Notorious Prison Isn’t Over Extradition.     The WHO is urging countries to start stockpiling medicines for ‘nuclear emergencies’ after the EU’s latest warning on Ukraine war. WHO updates critical medicines list for radiological and nuclear emergencies.         Investigation underway after nine nuclear missileers develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Nuclear strike chief seeks cancer review of launch officers.

 LEGAL. Fukushima: court upholds acquittals of three Tepco executives over disaster.       UK High Court to hear challenge against plans for Sizewell C nuclear station.            The Ohio nuclear scandal: Davis-Besse and Perry power plants in northern Ohio couldn’t cover costs, let alone make a profit.            Appeals Court Tosses Suit from Environmentalists, Midland Oil Company Contesting Nuclear Waste Storage Permit.

MEDIA. New documentary film ‘Downwind’ explores why testing, using nuclear weapons makes deadly mistakes .

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Nuclear Fusion Won’t Save the Climate But It Might Blow Up the World. The Nuclear Fallacy: Why Small Modular Reactors Can’t Compete With Renewable Energy.    U.S. approves design for NuScale small modular nuclear reactor, but significant problems remain.

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. Demonstrators gather in Hamburg against threat of nuclear confrontation in Ukraine.

PERSONAL STORIES. ‘The day the desert wind cried‘: French nuclear tests cast long shadow in Libyan Sahara.

POLITICS. 

• Donald Trump warns of NUCLEAR WAR as Joe Biden sends 31 tanks to Ukraine. 
• Ukraine steps up preparations for new nuclear reactors (NO this is not a joke!). 
• Military offensives increase nuclear accident odds in Ukraine, warns atomic safety chief.
•  Mini nuclear reactor firm snubs Britain for the French: Newcleo blames political chaos for decision to build prototype across Channel. Jeremy in nuclear wonderland.    Rolls Royce demands that the UK government decides on tax-payer funding for their small nuclear reactors.   2022 saw the slow demise of the Bradwell B nuclear plan. 
• France’s new law on nuclear energy will be a gift to the nuclear lobby. French government moves to fully nationalise the nuclear industry.
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission certifies NuScale’s design for small nuclear reactor, despite predictions on uneconomic costs.
• Canada: Federal gifts for the nuclear and mining industries. 
• King Charles wants to honour nuclear test heroes but medals are being delayed by MoD red tape.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. The Problem With Primacy – America’s Dangerous Quest to Dominate the Pacific. “Chinese Aggression” Sure Looks An Awful Lot Like US Aggression. Can Talks with China about Nuclear Weapons Be Constructive? 

USA tries to prevent a Russian offensive in Ukraine by offering a sort of war endgame deal to Russia. Diplomatic Cables Show Russia Saw NATO Expansion as a Red Line. WikiLeaks cables reveal NATO intended to cross all Russian red lines. 

Pacific islands urge Japan to delay release of nuclear plant waste water. France promises to speed up handover of colonial archives and clean up nuclear test sites in Algeria.

SAFETY. 

• UK’s ‘Protect and Survive’ nuclear attack advice deemed ‘futile’ in face of modern threats. 
• Nuclear power in Ukraine: what would happen if Zaporizhzhia was hit? A reckless response – Ukraine orders more nuclear reactors! Clear and present danger- Ukraine’s reactors remain at risk. The IAEA expands mission in Ukraine to prevent nuclear accident.  IAEA sends staff to all Ukraine nuclear plants to reduce risk of accidents. Ukraine says situation deteriorating at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.  Accident at Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ‘still cannot be excluded’: IAEA . Ukraine storing weapons at nuclear plants. 
• Former DEA Nuclear Security Official Says Wyoming Natrium Reactor Not Safe. 
• Cracking Under Pressure: Inside the Race to Fix France’s Nuclear Plants. French nuclear safety needs review ahead of reactor lifespan extensions, newbuilds. 
• 40 safety incidents with UK nuclear weapons convoys over past 3 years.   Call to end practice of transporting nuclear warheads through Cumbria. 
• Slovenia Extends Nuclear Plant Operation Until 2043. Slovenia’s nuclear power plant gets permit for a 20 year operating extension.

SECRETS and LIES. In Just Under Three Weeks, Ukrainian-Fired Prohibited “Petal” Mines Maim At Least 44 Civilians, Kill 2, in Donetsk Region.    Man arrested on suspicion of terror offences after uranium found at Heathrow.

SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. Geopolitics’ New Frontier in Space. NATO activating space war center in France. New NASA Nuclear Rocket Plan Aims to Get to Mars in Just 45 Days. Nuclear-powered rockets to Mars – there are serious safety risks. NASA partners with the military to test nuclear fission-powered spacecraft engine by 2027.

SPINBUSTER. A bit of panic in the UK small nuclear reactor lobby?

TECHNOLOGY. Canadian MP Charlie Angus Questions the Claims of SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7nR4P39ALo.   

WASTES.  Don’t dump on us. China urges Japan to safely dispose of nuclear-contaminated water.          France’s nuclear waste agency applies to create a long-term underground storage in Eastern France. France issues a 10,000-page dossier to convince people of the safety of the Cigeo nuclear waste site.              US sweetens pot to study siting for spent nuclear fuel. Diluted plutonium disposed of at Carlsbad nuclear waste site as program draws controversy. Many years for removal and disposal of radioactive waste from historic subterranean vaults at Berkeley nuclear power station.

WAR and CONFLICT.  

• WAR and CONFLICT. A clear signal to the US leadership that there will be no survivors in any nuclear exchange between the US and Russia.   Doomsday Clock reset to 90 seconds to midnight.       Doomsday Clock set to 90 seconds to midnight, here’s the plan – ICAN.    How Would a Nuclear Winter Play Out?      
•  US may assist Ukrainian strikes on Crimea – NYT. Ukraine: Is the Hammer About to Fall?. Truth About Tanks: How NATO Lied Its Way to Disaster in Ukraine.  NATO’s ‘war against Russia‘ inches ‘closer to direct conflict’. Putin ready for war with NATO and U.S.? Russia plans renewed offensive in Feb over tanks aid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbIwrFgP-VQ Zelenskyy demands more sanctions, as Ukraine reels from Russian bombardment. 
•  Former US Secretary of State says Pakistan’s 2019 conflict with India almost sparked nuclear war.  Israel appears to have been behind drone strike on Iran factory, U.S. official says.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. SCOTT RITTER: The Nightmare of NATO Equipment Being Sent to Ukraine. CNN: Ukraine Has Become a ‘Weapons Lab’ for Western Arms . Ukraine Narrative Fraying, But Weapons Will Continue To Flow. AP: NATO powers, Ukraine in “fast-track” talks for long-range missiles, warplanes . Ukraine war boon/boondoggle for U.S. arms makers, Pentagon’s warfighting capabilities.  

 Biden to send 31 Abrams tanks, Germany 14 Leopards for war in Ukraine — . Germany Says US Must Lead Way On Tanks For Ukraine, As Republican Party Also Piles On Pressure . Ukraine: Germany spearheads delivery of 90 tanks from NATO allies, partners .    Finnish arms to Turkey in NATO quid pro quo, tanks to Ukraine next.    Ukraine intensifies pressure on Georgia to enter war: ruling party leader .  German foreign minister: “We are fighting a war against Russia” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCJUf5d6UfE

Nuclear Notebook: United States nuclear weapons, 2023.  Pentagon can’t account for $220 billion in govt property, fails fifth audit. It comes down to weapons.

Plutonium Pit Bomb Plans Excoriated by General Accounting Office.

 Cost Estimate for Plutonium Pit Project at Savannah River Site Hits $16.5 Billion, $5 Billion above Current Estimate . 

US Installs New Nukes in Europe: As Destructive as 83 Hiroshima Bombs. 

The US has a new nuclear proliferation problem: South Korea. The Disastrous Downsides of South Korea Building Nuclear Weapons. 

January 30, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

This week in nuclear news

Some bits of good news. Eight things that went right this week, including big energy and health wins. Once Biologically Dead, the River Mersey in England is “Best Environmental Story in Europe”.

Pandemic. The world needs a COP-like process for pandemic preparedness

Climate.  A few pieces of good news on climate change (and a reality check)

Nuclear.  Am I the only one who thinks that it’s a bit bizarre to see the World Nuclear News bragging about new nuclear reactors going ahead in Ukraine –     just as the IAEA staff are tearing their hair out about the dangers of nuclear reactors in Ukraine?

AUSTRALIA. Greens Senator Barbara Pocock ‘s reminder that the Kimba nuclear waste storage has no longterm plan for removal of that waste to permanent disposal. Media keeps mum about earthquake near planned nuclear waste dump. 

Nuclear submarines deal an exercise in futility and should be sunk. Nuclear submarines are not going to have ‘any effect’ at all. Australia to become major hub for US submarines, [and target?].      Push in US Congress to exempt Australia from International Traffic in Arms Regulations, so that it can import nuclear submarines. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is a good step towards a nuclear-free world.

Christina notes: Nuclear toys for the boys. What fun! To ramp up militarism, (and the USA weapons corporations) the US Congress might decide to dump Regulations on Traffic in Nuclear Weapons.

CLIMATE. The first breach of 1.5°C will be a temporary but devastating failure. Absurd that we listen to those causing the climate crisis’ in Davos, says Greta Thunberg. The ‘all-of-the-above’ story used to sneak nuclear power in as a climate-action technology along with renewables . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU6vQXif5Xo Suffolk: Sizewell C nuclear ‘should not get licence’ due to coastal erosion.

CIVIL LIBERTIES. UK police powers increased, to shut down climate protests. UK govt to tighten anti-protest restrictions, despite criticism from human rights groups .

ECONOMICS. As the war rages on and military spending booms, the US arms industry is a big winner in Ukraine.    Marketing: South Korea keen to market nuclear technology to United Arab Emirates, and missile technology, too. Poland’s energy company agrees to buy France’s NOT YET DESIGNED so-called “small” Nuward nuclear reactor!  

The British government’s Regulated Asset Base – the test case for reviving its nuclear power dream. “Great British Nuclear “- it’s high time that they came clean on what this will cost.       David Schlissel: Small modular reactor project likely to end badly for Utah utilities.

EMPLOYMENT. The French nuclear sector up against the wall in terms of recruitment.

ENERGY. Germany aims for faster expansion of wind energy, not nuclear. Prolonged outages of France’s nuclear reactors. Renewable energy is the only credible path forward -António Guterres. Four separate reports show that the UK could save over €120 bn by 2050 by switching to a renewable energy strategy.

HEALTH. Investigation underway after nine nuclear missileers develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

LEGAL. Fukushima: court upholds acquittals of three Tepco executives over disaster. UK High Court to hear challenge against plans for Sizewell C nuclear station

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. The Nuclear Fallacy: Why Small Modular Reactors Can’t Compete With Renewable Energy. U.S. approves design for NuScale small modular nuclear reactor, but significant problems remain.

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. Demonstrators gather in Hamburg against threat of nuclear confrontation in Ukraine.

POLITICS. 

• Ukraine steps up preparations for new nuclear reactors (NO this is not a joke!). 
• Mini nuclear reactor firm snubs Britain for the French: Newcleo blames political chaos for decision to build prototype across Channel. 
• Jeremy in nuclear wonderland. 2022 saw the slow demise of the Bradwell B nuclear plan. 
• France’s new law on nuclear energy will be a gift to the nuclear lobby. French government moves to fully nationalise the nuclear industry. 
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission certifies NuScale’s design for small nuclear reactor, despite predictions on uneconomic costs.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. The Problem With Primacy – America’s Dangerous Quest to Dominate the Pacific.     Diplomatic Cables Show Russia Saw NATO Expansion as a Red Line. Pacific islands urge Japan to delay release of nuclear plant waste water.

SAFETY.

• The IAEA expands mission in Ukraine to prevent nuclear accident. IAEA sends staff to all Ukraine nuclear plants to reduce risk of accidents. Ukraine says situation deteriorating at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Accident at Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ‘still cannot be excluded’: IAEA . Ukraine storing weapons at nuclear plants. 
• French nuclear safety needs review ahead of reactor lifespan extensions, newbuilds. 
• 40 safety incidents with UK nuclear weapons convoys over past 3 years. Call to end practice of transporting nuclear warheads through Cumbria. 
• Slovenia Extends Nuclear Plant Operation Until 2043. Slovenia’s nuclear power plant gets permit for a 20 year operating extension.

SECRETS and LIES. Man arrested on suspicion of terror offences after uranium found at Heathrow.

SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. NATO activating space war center in France. New NASA Nuclear Rocket Plan Aims to Get to Mars in Just 45 Days

SPINBUSTER. A bit of panic in the UK small nuclear reactor lobby?

TECHNOLOGY. Canadian MP Charlie Angus Questions the Claims of SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7nR4P39ALo

WASTES. 

• China urges Japan to safely dispose of nuclear-contaminated water. 
• France’s nuclear waste agency applies to create a long-term underground storage in Eastern France. France issues a 10,000-page dossier to convince people of the safety of the Cigeo nuclear waste site. 
• Diluted plutonium disposed of at Carlsbad nuclear waste site as program draws controversy.          Many years for removal and disposal of radioactive waste from historic subterranean vaults at Berkeley nuclear power station.

      WAR and CONFLICT. US may assist Ukrainian strikes on Crimea – NYT.       Ukraine: Is the Hammer About to Fall?.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. CNN: Ukraine Has Become a ‘Weapons Lab’ for Western Arms . Ukraine Narrative Fraying, But Weapons Will Continue To Flow. Ukraine war boon/boondoggle for U.S. arms makers, Pentagon’s warfighting capabilities.        Germany Says US Must Lead Way On Tanks For Ukraine, As Republican Party Also Piles On Pressure         Nuclear Notebook: United States nuclear weapons, 2023.

 Plutonium Pit Bomb Plans Excoriated by General Accounting Office.  Pentagon can’t account for $220 billion in govt property, fails fifth audit. US Installs New Nukes in Europe: As Destructive as 83 Hiroshima Bombs.    

The US has a new nuclear proliferation problem: South Korea. The Disastrous Downsides of South Korea Building Nuclear Weapons. It comes down to weapons.

January 24, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

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 | Leave a comment

This week, in Australian and other nuclear news

A bit of good news. Quitea shortage of good news this week. I’m reduced to falling back on stories of individual goodness. Well, why not?  Individuals in their millions are doing kind things every day – that just doesn’t get into the news media. The Top 10 Acts of Kindness in 2022 Warmed Our Hearts and Restored Our Faith in Strangers and Neighbors.

Coronavirus.  Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19

Climate.  Climate change could cause ‘disaster’ in the world’s oceans.

Nuclear. Not much happening, except hype for small nuclear reactors. Australia’s nuclear submarines project is beginning to sound less like a goer, and more like something of a 171$billion ego-trip by former PM Scott Morrison, in a bid to look important on the world stage

Christina’s notes: They’re at it again! The nuclear industry dazzles journalists with its newest hogwash – “inflection point”.         Corporate media focusses on ‘new’ nuclear solutions. Are they stupid? Or is it just what they’re paid to write?

AUSTRALIA.  

• US President Joe Biden warned AUKUS nuclear submarine deal could come at cost to American fleet. Dear US Congress, thank you for saving Australia from itself.    
• Australia to buy long-range HIMARS missile system from United States – at unknown cost (? 2 $billion). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_M2JqeY8CA 
• Military join rescue effort as floods ravage outback. Bushfire deaths and smoke-related healthcare costs predicted to rise in next few years.

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CIVIL LIBERTIES. Guilty of Journalism. Key US Allies Collaborate On Espionage Laws Considered Harmful To Whistleblowers And Journalists.

CLIMATE.  Coal 2 Nuclear: From the fossil fuel frying pan into the fission fire.   Under present conditions, a huge loss of the planet’s glaciers will happen in the next 30 years. Writers protest against UK’s imprisonment of climate activists. 

ECONOMICS  

• Green surge is circuit breaker on nuclear revival.   Nuclear power saw multiple gains in 2022, but economic and other questions remain. 
• Sizewell C Nuclear Project’s biggest stumbling block is its funding problem. Sizewell C: How will the £20billion plant be fully-funded? Is EDF using Britain’s “windfall tax” as an excuse to get out of uneconomic Hartlepool and Heysham nuclear reactors? 
• Japan’s shortage of engineers and manufacturing capacity sets back its nuclear ambitions. 
• GUSTAFSON: Russian nuclear power – unsanctioned – is prospering worldwide.

ENERGY. Analysis Shows U.S. Wind and Solar Could Outpace Coal and Nuclear Power in 2023.    European Energy Crisis: France Close to Electricity Rationing Over Problems with Local Nuclear Plants.  The Future Remains Uncertain For Nuclear Energy.   Nuclear is not the answer to the UK’s energy requirements, and honesty about Sizewell is needed.  Solar power innovation by two British local councils. Great Britain produced a record amount of wind-powered electricity in 2022. 

ENVIRONMENT. Namibia orders Russian uranium exploration to stop due to environmental concerns.

HEALTH. Electromagnetic radiation – cellphones as a health hazard.  Ionising radiation. Return to studying baby teeth for radioactivity from nuclear weapons and nuclear facilities.

HISTORY. It’s all about the bomb: why civilian nuclear power is merely a cover for producing more nuclear weapons. Why Did Portland General Electric Want to Build Trojan Nuclear Plant in the First Place?

LEGAL. John LaForge Set to Be First US Activist Jailed in Germany for Anti-Nuke Protests. Take Japan to court for nuclear water dumping.

MEDIA. Under Musk, Twitter Continues to Promote US Propaganda Networks. Zelensky Expands Crackdown on Ukrainian Media. Media Silent as Latest Twitter Files Expose Flagrant Misconduct in Govt. & Journalism.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY.  

• $Billions of tax-payer money to go to kickstarting the “new nuclear reactor” industry’s “inflection point”. 
• Small Nuclear Reactor (SMR) developers submit 6 designs for UK approval. SMRs – an oversold hype? 
• International nuclear fusion project may be delayed by years, its head admits. Is Nuclear Fusion Hotter Than the Sun?. Nuclear fusion may change our world but renewable energy sources will save it: experts.

PERSONAL STORIES.. Beatrice Fihn – a decade fighting to ban nuclear weapons. This man saved the world from nuclear war. His story is a heart-pumper.

POLITICS. German minister reignites coalition row with call to review nuclear exit.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. US and South Korea hold talks on “nuclear sharing”. South Korea asks US for greater role in managing nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons and the resistance to reality.  U.S. President Biden contradicts South Korea’s President‘s claim that the two countries are planning joint nuclear exercises.   

 Pakistan supplies India with a list of its nuclear facilities.  US Says ‘All Options’ On Table As Iran Nuclear Talks Remain Deadlocked.

SAFETY. 

• Nuclear Ukraine? Amid concerns over alleged Russian threat, the world overlooks the real danger .  
• Canada: Pressure tubes at two nuclear reactors deteriorated far too quickly .   
• Letter in the Morning Star Exposes Links Between Subsea Coal Mine and Subsea Nuclear Dumping.  Enforcement action revealed after Hinkley Point C worker death.
•  Japan to use Self-Defense Forces to guard nuclear power plants. 
• South Korea: Credible nuclear regulation needs independence transparency.

SECRETS and LIES.   

• White Lives Matter More in Ukraine. Japan  
• Data rewriting and erroneous statements…Sloppy handling continues at Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant Unit No.2 of JAERI, Regulatory Commission suggests termination of review if no improvement is made. Kashiwazaki Kariwa, a Distant Recovery of Confidence TEPCO Shares Crisis Awareness to Prevent Misconduct. British-run spy tech powers Ukraine proxy war, putting civilians at risk. 
• Russian computer hacking team targeted 3 USA nuclear weapons facilities. 
• Can nuclear safety protocols be maintained in a poor country like Kyrgyzstan, where corruption is rampant?.

SPINBUSTER. Countering nuclear industry propaganda by telling the facts – Joshua Frank’s book “Atomic Days”.      Workington under siege from new nuclear plans.

WASTES. 

• Fukushima, Our ongoing accident. Japan must work with the Pacific to find a solution to the Fukushima water release issue – otherwise we face disaster. 
• Feds push plan to dispose plutonium using nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad. Editorial: New Mexico right to ask for accounting of nuclear waste. 
• Indigenous Taiwanese kept in the dark as a massive nuclear waste dump was imposed on their island. 
• UK. Coal Boss Compiles Lastest Nuclear Dump Report for Government who have just Approved his Coal Mine.

WAR and CONFLICT. Before the Bombs Come the Platitudes. Cold War estimates of deaths in nuclear conflict. A Secret War in the Making: Americans Should Not Die to Defend Taiwan. 

Number of civilians killed in Donbass revealed. Ukraine – The Big Push To End The War. CODEPINK calls on Zelensky, Biden and Congress to seize this chance for peace in Ukraine. Donetsk shelled in first minute of Christmas truce .  Los Alamos National Laboratory’s record $4.6B budget will still mostly fund nuclear weapons. 

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. Pentagon pressures NATO allies to boost arms flow to Ukraine. Defensive and offensive operations: “tank-killers” part of new U.S. $45b arms package to Ukraine

North Korea to have “exponential increase” in its nuclear arsenal. Raytheon sells long-range missiles to Romania for war in Black Sea 

January 9, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

Nuclear news Australia and overseas – to 2nd January

Some bits of good news.      What went right in 2022: the top 25 good news stories of the year  – Climate action – Return of threatened species –   The rights of nature were strengthened  – Land was returned to nature – and indigenous people – and more.

Coronavirus. Three years since coronavirus was detected in China, and how it changed the world.

Climate.  Environmental review of 2022: another mile on the ‘highway to climate hell’.

Nuclear.  In reality – not much is happening. The corporate media is still banging on about nuclear fusion ,  a complete distraction from anything that is really happening in energy and climate issues. In fact, the most interesting thing that is happening is the Europe-wide cutting down on energy use – “demand reduction” – the most unsexy but effective way to address global heating.  The other thing that the corporate media is banging on about is –   small nuclear reactors (SMRs). They faithfully regurgitate nuclear industry handouts – even though these SMRs actually don’t exist, and investors hold back – waiting for governments to pour even more tax-payer money into SMRs.

However, lurking all the time, is the risk of nuclear accident, especially in Ukraine.  And as USA and NATO promise more advanced weapons for the Ukrainians, and Putin flexes his “unrivalled” nuclear-powered missile cruisers, the world could be now teetering on the brink of nuclear war.

AUSTRALIA.

• Scott Morrison’s booby trap: Buying US submarines is a huge mistake. 
• Australia’s Atomic Dilemma: Is the Outback Going Nuclear? 
• Physicists push for nuclear science education: their environmental colleagues not so sure.
• Howard ministers considered extinguishing native title over South Australia site earmarked for nuclear waste dump. 
• Foreign fossil fuel juggernauts dominate the annual Michael West Media Top 40 Tax Dodgers chart.    Fossocracy Australia: government of the people, by the fossil fuel companies for the fossil fuel companies.

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CLIMATE. Growing climate, nuclear risks spark doomsday fears. Growing urgency and intensity — Weather extremes won’t be solved by nuclear power.

CULTURE and ART. MIND OF THE MACHINE Chilling AI predicts what nuclear war would look like with attacks on London, Moscow and Washington .

ECONOMICS. How did the US nuclear industry fare in 2022?

ENERGY. As France’s nuclear energy sector falters, Britain’s wind and solar power booms. France’s nuclear headache – Macron on the brink of rationing electricity. Europe shows how to cut demand for energy use.

ENVIRONMENT. Hot water — radiation in drinking water.

MEDIA. US spies pushed Twitter to censor ‘anti-Ukraine narratives’ – media.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Nuclear Fusion:  Don’t Believe the Hype!. Small modular reactors will not save the day. The US can get to 100% clean power without new nuclear. Japan’s Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing project delayed again – for the 26th time.

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. Civil society groups urge feds to ban reprocessing used nuclear fuel. No new nuclear weapons in Europe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgfckOtqWb8

POLITICS. Canada’s first new nuclear power reactor in 30 years has embarked on a crucial review. Can it pass quickly?

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. The 2022 nuclear year in review: A global nuclear order in shambles.     Tucker “Gets It” – Putin Doesn’t Want American Missiles on His Border.  Ukraine became de facto member of NATO in 2022: DM .     What the Pentagon Doesn’t Want You to Know About China.  Europe’s nuclear industry heavily dependent on Russian fuel and technology – no sanctions there.

RADIATION. Marie Curie’s Belongings Will Be Radioactive For Another 1,500 Years.

SAFETY. German residents told to prepare for nuclear emergencies.

SECRETS and LIES. This Year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners are deeply connected to the CIA. Every social media firm censors for US government – Musk.

SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. Military satellites add to Earth’s orbit, which is already crowded with satellites.

SPINBUSTER. Calling nuclear fusion a potential ‘climate solution’ may undermine actual solutions.

WASTES. In the Pacific, Outcry Over Japan’s Plan to Release FukushimaWastewater.

WAR and CONFLICT. 3,000 civilians dead in Mariupol – Russian officials investigating – and claim that Ukrainian troops are responsible.        Germany assumes command of NATO’s 12,000-troop strike force EU.               Britain to train 15,000 Ukrainian “warfighters” in Lithuania.                100,000 U.S. troops, 20,000 new, to stay in Europe, train Ukrainian counterparts . Historic Golden Rule Peace Boat On Its Way to Cuba.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. More weapons to Ukraine “to bring peace” – says NATO chief. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2_ktxVQooQ                 Under pressure from Washington, Japan rearms.             Increasing kill chain speed: Pentagon augments HIMARS for Ukraine, Latvia, Taiwan .             North Korea says it will boost nuclear warhead production ‘exponentially‘, as another missile fired.            Russia Adds ‘Unrivaled’ Nuclear-Powered Missile Cruisers To Its Arsenal; Putin Says Has No Analogs In The World.

January 2, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

Christmas week – nuclear news in Australia and beyond

It’s that time of year, and I hope that you all did have a really lovely time, despite the madness of the festive season  – and will continue to survive and enjoy the rest of it. And on to a good 2023, one can only hope.

Roberto Prusso’sCopy of painting by PreRaphaelite artist Frederick Sandys

I feel that I should change my name from Christina to Cassandra. Not that I’m a princess, nor  look like her!   And indeed, I’m not as unlucky as Cassandra, in that nobody believed her warnings.   Many do now realise the perils that the world is in.  But still, for 2023,  there’s a prevailing complacency about pandemics. climate change, the “progress” of the Ukraine war, and about nuclear reactors and weapons .

Some readers have complained that this newsletter is too long. (Well, sorry – it’s hard to prune it, and anyway, I hope that you just pick out the topics that interest you).  I put outstanding stories in larger green text.

Recently there have been two remarkable articles that absolutely stood out  – stuff that people really need to know.

This one –  Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site – this one is must.  If anyone ever tells you that nuclear waste is “manageable” – this article would enlighten them.

The other article has a much more subtle tone. It’s about small nuclear reactors (SMRs). You could read it even as being in favour of SMRs.  It is enlightening as it rather quietly suggests all the problems about SMR development. It touches ever so lightly on the nuclear weapons connection –  “security” is the codeword for the military aspect.  And even more interesting, it shows the mindset of the corporate leaders and politicians who are pushing for SMRs. The article is Building promises of small modular reactors—one conference at a time.

Meanwhile, over the past week –   2 things stand out.  Both of them illustrate the gullibility, the lack of imagination, or the sheer subservience of the corporate press.

1,  the fawning of the USA Congress, and the West in general – over the visit of  Volodymyr Zelenskyy  to get more weapons. 

2. the euphoria over a tiny, and hugely expensive, experiment in nuclear fusion.

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Herewith – the dreary old real newsletter. (things don’t stop happening for Christmas, Hannukkah …….)

AUSTRALIA. The nuclear lobby is revving up its campaign, with submissions to the Senate to remove legal bans on nuclear activities. Australia has a new nuclear lobby front group “REPLANET Australia” . Fake, dishonest ‘Australian Greens for Nuclear Energy’ group. Mining lobby tricks government with its big taxpayer fairytale.

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CLIMATE. Greenland’s glaciers are melting 100 times faster than estimated.

ECONOMICS. Bank of America, investors, thrilled and delighted with the nuclear arms race. National Guard informs troops last paycheck before Christmas will be late as Biden admin sends $billions to Ukraine. Zelensky’s diaspora delegation led by economic hit-woman who led plunder of Ukraine. The Ukraine Arms Drain.           Never mind about sanctions – Russia’s export of nuclear products and services is soaring.

EDUCATION. Propaganda drive: Nuclear Power 2.0 Eyes Opportunity, Steep Climb in Coal Country.

ENERGY. UK tipped to export even more energy to France despite blackout fears. Sunak’s wrongheaded renewables tax risks trashing Britain’s wind and solar ambitions..

ENVIRONMENT. 

• ‘Historic’ agreement reached at UN conference to halt biodiversity loss by 2030. 
• Canada’s Federal environment minister rejects impact assessment for small modular nuclear reactor on the Bay of Fundy. ARC-100 SMR: Does the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada do anything other than recommending not to do impact assessments? — Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area Canada’s Feds forgo environmental assessment for controversial nuclear project. 
• Highland campaigners ‘disturbed and disappointed’ to learn 15 radioactive particles discovered near Dounreay.

ETHICS and RELIGION. U.S. Faith Leaders Call for Xmas Truce in Ukraine as Zelensky Visits D.C. Seeking More Arms & Money.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. 

• What’s not to like about nuclear fusion? Nuclear fusion – expensive, far away in time, and not clean, not safe. 
• Small nuclear reactors – the nuclear industry’s last ditch chance to thrive?. Building promises of small modular reactors—one conference at a time – (my comments on this) 
• Dounreay pushes forward plans to build new 37-metre-high stack at prototype fast breeder reactor.

OPPOSITION TO NUCLEAR.  In protecting the biosphere from plutonium and other wastes, the first step is to stop producing them.

POLITICS.

• Democrats Are Making a Devil’s Bargain on Pentagon Funding. It’s Not Paying Off. 
• Bill Gates’ Natrium project stalled, lacks Russian fuel – call for tax-payer funding for nuclear fuel development. The Nuclear Subsidy Tango of Bill Gates and Joe Manchin. Owner of Palisades to reapply for taxpayer funding to reopen nuclear power plant. 
• Macron ‘panicking’ as France faces ‘catastrophic’ nuclear energy crisis. 
• Nuclear Free Local Authorities ‘bitterly disappointed’ government will press ahead with ‘criminal nuclear power tax’.
• How Ukraine’s Jewish president Zelensky made peace with neo-Nazi paramilitaries on front lines of war with Russia. 
• EDITORIAL JAPAN : Without national debate, radical nuclear policy shift intolerable.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. 

• The Democrats are Now the War Party. 
• Iran says Jordan summit ‘good opportunity’ for nuclear talks. Iran after a region free of nuclear weapons, Kharrazi says. 
• Chinese nuclear company still has a stake in UK’s Hinkley Point C project, and approval to build Bradwell project. 
• Comments on a Jerusalem Post article that praised Ukraine’s Nazi Azov battalion. Zelensky’s ‘Hollywood-style’ US visit a ‘proxy war’ promotion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41asLQD1GiU European NATO members should reduce reliance on US – Macron .

SAFETY. In a blow to France’s electricity supply, EDF extends maintenance at nuclear reactors.

SECRETS and LIES. Atomic Bomb Effects Cover-up Reported in New York Times. Dishonesty: British authorities knew it was wrong to proceed with the thermal oxide reprocessing plant (Thorp) at Sellafield.

SPINBUSTER. Despite the hype, we shouldn’t bank on nuclear fusion to save the world from climate catastrophe. Media hype about nuclear fusion is designed to make research on thermonuclear weapons look acceptable. 

The Claim That The Ukraine War Advances US Interests Discredits The Claim That It’s “Unprovoked”. Why all the hysteria over not clapping for Zelensky?

WASTES   America’s complicated problem of disposing of tons of plutonium bomb cores, as the government to spend $1.7 billion on more plutonium bomb cores. Getting rid of plutonium pits — so many questions. Trawsfynydd as a nuclear waste dump? Campaign groups want answers on increase in radioactive particles found on Dounreay foreshore. Exposing the dishonest spiel that nuclear waste is “manageable”.

WAR and CONFLICT. Feverishly Racing Toward Our Own Destruction.            Kremlin: “US & Russia On The Brink Of A Direct Clash” In Ukraine. While others are preparing for their holidays, NATO is preparing for war in Black Sea Ukraine: * Congress as War Prop * Christmas Truce  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd-RvfQfUJI It’s worse than they’re telling you in Ukraine – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLh0KYZB9qM&t=249s

“Eva Bartlett: Western Silence As Ukraine Targets Civilians in Donbass” — In Gaza https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETpa-W0lJMc

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. U.S, €100b European next-generation warplanes to carry U.S. nuclear warheads. Fusion Energy: the Nuclear Weapons Connection. Over 500 U.S. military personnel have sought Washington’s okay to work for foreign governments: case of Azerbaijan.

December 27, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

Australian and other Nuclear news for the end of December

Some bits of good news – COP15: Biodiversity experts share 6 reasons why our environment is not yet doomed.  Your Good News round-up: swear words can make you more resistant to pain, and more…Coronavirus.Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update.

Climate. Computer modelling predicts climate change causing cascading animal ‘co-extinctions‘.   Climate change can be beaten – why some scientists are hopeful.

Nuclear. This week, it’s all about fusion ( process in which  2 nuclei merge to one nucleus releasing energy, as against fission, in which the nucleus of an atom splits into 2 nuclei).   Literally hundreds of articles extolling an experiment in which, at enormous expense,  a tiny amount of “net” energy was produced for a fraction of a second. Still a few articles that pour cold water on all this euphoria.

It’s that time of year when in mainly- Christian countries everyone goes a bit silly, madly exchanging gifts and socialising. Serious stuff sort of stops for a bit, which is rather nice, really, (though the nuclear lobby never stops)

Anyway, may we all enjoy the good aspects, have a care for the many who are suffering, and look forward to renewed efforts for decency and care in the New Year 

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CHRISTINA’s SHORT THOUGHTS.   The media – dishonest – or just sloppy and incompetent ?– nuclear fusion coverage as a case in point.    Toad’s new fad– nuclear fusion.

  AUSTRALIA -All about buying weapons. Dumb Ways to Buy: Defence “shambles” unveiled – former submariner and senator Rex Patrick.     Nuclear fusion ambitions in Australia from a coalition of technology companies – a dodgy dream?        The revolving door: Kim Beazley, former WA governor, ex Labor defence minister moves quickly on to a Defence industry board .       Australia’s defence industry and Minister Richard Marles dazzled by (useless) B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber.       The War Memorial plays along with Lockheed Martin.

ECONOMICS. Paul Dorfman: Nuclear power is just a slow and expensive distraction.    Nuclear blow for EDF, the Flamanville EPR delayed again by six months.    Costs of France’s Flamanville nuclear reactor blow out to over $14 billion as project delayed again.

EDUCATION. Military Groomers Are Increasingly Infiltrating US High Schools.

ENERGY. France wants to cut its electricity exports to UK as its aging nuclear reactors are limited, with maintenance issues.               Opinion is split on UK government plan for new nuclear and hydrogen projects.         Point Lepreau nuclear plant taken offline after power loss.

MEDIA. A new book investigates the toxic legacy of Hanford, the Washington state facility that produced plutonium for nuclear weapons.        ‘We are all downwinders’: New film discusses Nevada’s nuclear fallout.       Media enthuses over “sexy”high tech nuclear energy, but ignores the really effective one – energy saving.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. It’s all about fusion.  Exaggerated fusion breakthrough is for military purposes. Fusion. Really?  Fusion “breakthrough” is largely irrelevant to the climate crisis .  Clean energy or weapons ? What the ‘breakthrough’ in nuclear fusion really means. The energy from the nuclear fusion experiment was a tiny fraction of the energy put into the experiment. Very significant barriers to further progress on nuclear fusion .   Fusion breakthrough thrills physicists, but won’t power your home soon.    Researchers claim a breakthrough in nuclear fusion, but that does not mean fusion as an energy force any time soon.        Nuclear fusion – if it eventually works – will require many hundreds of millions of dollars.        ‘Bottling the Sun’: is this a new dawn for the fusion industry? (actually – no!). 

Mini nuclear reactor firms battle it out in UK for approval and government support . Bill Gates-backed nuclear demonstration project in Wyoming delayed because Russia was the only fuel source.

POLITICS. Can France rely on its nuclear fleet for a low-carbon 2050? New Delay, Cost Overrun For France’s Next-gen Nuclear Plant.   UK government ‘s announcement was NOT yet a funding decision for Sizewell C nuclear, just an exclusion of China from the project .

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. A Tale of Two Nuclear Plants Reveals Europe’s Energy Divide.   Hungary’s risky bet on Russia’s nuclear power.        For the Western leaders, Minsk Agreements were designed to buy time for Ukrainians to get ready for conflict with Russia.       German states oppose construction of Poland’s first nuclear power plant.        US prolongs Russia-Ukraine conflict for three aims, aggravates nuclear war risk: experts at GT annual forum.

PUBLIC OPINION. Twice as many people support onshore wind compared to nuclear poweraccording to UK Government survey.

SAFETY. Safety of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant hangs in the balance. Russia building giant dome over Europe’s largest nuclear plant’s spent fuel stores, to shield them from Ukrainian attacks.    Russia installs shield over Zaporizhzhia nuclear storage site.    Ukraine Crisis Highlights Security Needs Of Civilian Nuclear Power.    Ineos: Ine-Not a safe location for any nuclear reactor, say Scottish Nuclear Free Local Authorities. Japanese Power Plants Less Than 40 Years Old Are Experiencing Problems. 

Incident. US Nuclear Bomber Erupts In Flames After Emergency Landing; US Air Force Confirms Mishap With B-2 Spirit.

SECRETS and LIES. The SECOND U.S. suburban husband indicted for smuggling nuclear weapon tech to Russia  . Coal Mine Boss Should be Sacked from Position as Government’s Nuclear Dump Advisor

SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. For Heaven’s Sake – Examining the UK’s Militarisation of Space.

SPINBUSTER. “FUSION NET GAIN” is manufactured ignorance. What’s all the fuss about fusion?  – a breakthrough, and if so, for whom? It’s All About the Bomb.: civilian nuclear power is merely a cover for producing more nuclear weapons.

WASTES. Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site. Alliance of Pacific organisations condemn Japan’s decision to discharge nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. At the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant new areas begin to be filled with radioactive debris.

WAR and CONFLICT. INTERVIEW: Ukraine has lost the war, it just isn’t over yet, says Col. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdshHJW3PMU             Kiev’s Worst Attack Against Donetsk In Eight Years Is A Desperate Attempt To Save Face. The folly of the proxy war in Ukraine and how the military-industrial-complex has become the enemy from within. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b079rbpYIzUU.S. troops deployed near Russian border. 

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. US to send Patriot air defence system to Ukraine: CNN Weapons delivered to Ukraine ‘beginning to filter’ to Africa: Nigeria. UN committee adopts Russian draft resolution on prevention of arms race in space. Remilitarized Japan doubles war spending to meet NATO standards, confront Russia, China .

WOMEN. Mothering a Movement: Notes from India’s Longest Anti-Nuclear Struggle.

December 19, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

Nuclear news – Australia and more – week to 13 December

A bit of good news – Once devastated Pacific reefs see amazing recovery.

Coronavirus.  COVID is running rampant in China and its hospitals are overwhelmed.  Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update

Climate.          Climate Honesty – Ending Climate Brightsiding, ( but also including revolutionary technology – mirrors to reflect the sun’s energy back into space).   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw85K7MjwYk Climate change could force 1.2 billion to move by 2050. Is the world even remotely ready?

Nuclear.  Is the West playing some sort of Russian roulette with the war in Ukraine?   Supplying Zelensky with long range missiles, that Ukraine is now using to target sites within Russia –    this amounts to some sick sort of game of chicken.   How far can we push Putin into using even more devastating methods against Ukraine?   Of course nobody’s going to use “tactical” supposedly sorta “little”” nuclear weapons, are they? 

Do the men who run the world ever consider the psychology of the macho military men who are mad keen to use the most powerful weapons?  So much easier and quicker to make such a decision , compared with the dreary task of negotiating an end to the horror, an end which would mean conceding to some of Russia’s not unrealistic demands.  Meanwhile Zelensky and co are being bolstered with all sorts of honours and acclaim – encouraged to continue in their ultranationalistic  and probaly suicidal dream of complete victory over Russia.

AUSTRALIA.  

• Call for Parliamentary vote required before Australia goes to war. War veterans call for Parliamentary vote on going to war, but most politicians OK with Prime Minister’s power to alone make that decision. Aukus will lock in Australia’s dependence on US, intelligence expert warns.   
• Australia a”pot of gold” for America’s military section to wage war in space. Nuclear submarines will be ‘massively expensive’ – (even Australia’s right-wing is waking up to this!)    Undue influence of the arms industry. 
• Nuclear power does not stack up for Australia – PM Albanese. South Australia’s premier, Peter Malinauskas, is in ‘furious agreement’ with PM that nuclear power would not work for Australia. Nuclear off table as states seek power fix. 
•  Dangerous radiation mishaps surge across NSW hospitals and medical centres. 
•   Mining lobby tricks government with its big taxpayer fairytale.

CIVIL LIBERTIES. Biden faces growing pressure to drop charges against Julian Assange.

ECONOMICS. Another dodgy Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) set up to promote small nuclear reactors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAJTkL99anI&t=22s

EDUCATION. Nuclear lobby continues to capture universities. 

ENERGY.  Every home and community could be a power station’: the Nuclear Free Local Authorities’s future renewable energy vision for Wales. How to scale rooftop community solar in cities, UK policy changes: windfalls and renewables.

ENVIRONMENT. ‘Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction‘. Past time for action — France should clean up atomic mess in Algeria. Commitments to nuclear HS2 and Sizewell C undermine UK Government promises on climate.

HEALTH.

•  What are the risks and treatments if nuclear power plant radioactivity is released? 
•  Radiation: Missouri Community and Its Children Grappling With Exposure to Nuclear Waste. US military atomic cleanup crews were sent out in the wake of American nuclear testing, and many paid a heavy price, veterans say.  Plutonium:   Plutonium’s Fatal Attraction. The ‘Demon Core,’ The 14-Pound Plutonium Sphere That Killed Two Scientists.
• Large Multinational Study Shows Link Between CT Radiation Exposure and Brain Cancer in Children and Young Adults.

LEGAL. Revealing He Too Had Manning Leaks, Ellsberg Dares Justice Dept to Prosecute Him Like Assange. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nHA0zhYma8

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. ‘New’ Nuclear Reactors Will Make Us a Guinea Pig Nation. Will small modular reactors seed a nuclear renaissance? THE ROBOTS OF FUKUSHIMA: GOING WHERE NO HUMAN HAS GONE BEFORE (AND LIVED).

OPPOSITION TO NUCLEAR. Ineos Grangemouth refinery: Anti-nuclear campaigners will put up a huge fight against any attempt to build small nuclear reactors – Dr Richard Dixon.

POLITICS.

• Lawmakers reject bid to audit US aid for Ukraine.   Five ways the Biden DOE is spending tax-payers money big on nuclear energy .
• UK Tories getting nervous about nuclear power plans? Hypocrites: Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) decries government ministers for promising wind turbines, but not new nuclear projects, must have ‘local support’.
• If Finland joins NATO, it needs a new nuclear weapons policy.
• European Commission supports French government in funding for small nuclear reactors.
• Objections to nuclear power in Taiwan.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. Macron: Russia Needs Security Guarantees ‘Essential’ To Ending The War. USA and UK welded together firmly in the grip of the nuclear lobby, with their Small Nuclear Reactor folly. UN: Israel must take ‘immediate steps’ to give up nuclear weapons. Japanese prime minister may seek in-depth nuclear abolition talks at Hiroshima G7 summit.

SAFETY.Why nuclear-powered France faces power outage risks. France: EDF extends nuclear outages by up to 42 days. Finland warns of power outage risk over nuclear plant startup delay – Olkiluoto 3 reactor unreliable?       Slovakia’s new nuclear power plant delayed due to a technical fault.           US imposes sanctions on six Pakistan companies for unsafeguarded nuclear activities.          TVA sends calendars to households near nuclear plants with preparedness tips in case of emergencies.

SECRETS and LIES. How the Global Spyware Industry Spiraled Out of Control.

SPINBUSTER. Watch Stella Assange Slap The Mustache Off John Bolton’s War Criminal Face.

WASTES. The world’s deepest nuclear clean-up – the Dounreay shaft. Nuclear waste permit ‘more stringent’ New Mexico says as feds look to renew for 10 years.

WAR and CONFLICT. NATO Chief Voices Fear Of War With Russia While US Greenlights Drone Strikes On Russian Territory.   Putin: Nuclear risk is rising, but we are not mad.      Ukraine war: Red Cross appeal, Kremlin sees Crimea attack ‘risks’.        Maligned in Western Media, Donbass Forces are Defending their Future from Ukrainian Shelling and Fascism.     PETER HITCHENS: The arrogance and folly in Ukraine that could yet send us hurtling towards nuclear catastrophe.’         Warfare Development Conference: NATO touts successful operations on four continents. 

WEAPONS INDUSTRY. Are the bombs are back in town? US atomic weapons in Britain would make nuclear war more likely. U.S. provides more missiles to Ukraine in new $275 million arms package Weapons interoperability and “sovereignty”: Polish state bank backs purchase of $4b more in U.S. arms . What could possibly go wrong?

December 13, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

to 6 December – Australian nuclear news, and more

Some bits of good news :  Greece says its entire electrical grid ran on 100% renewables for the first time.  Efforts to Save Endangered Blue Butterfly Quadruples its Population–but Also Saves a Lupine from extinction.

Coronavirus. (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update.

Climate.  Nature needs $384 billion a year, and other climate change stories you need to read this week. 
Climate techno-fixes keep planet on ‘palliative care’.

Nuclear. I’ve been a bit obsessed with Australia this week. The probable nuclearisation of my country could proceed so fast, –  with the enthusiasm of Australian war-mongers, to embrace our role in American plans for a war on China, enthusiasm of American firms to sell nuclear-capable aircraft to us, and News Corpse and the noisy minority extreme Right touting for small nuclear reactors.

Japan is the country often forgotten in the Anglophone media. Our website www.nuclear-news.net keeps news on Japan up to date, because our amazing contributor, dunrenard, provides thorough information translated from the Japanese originals.

AUSTRALIA.

•   Australian PM Anthony Albanese urges US government to end pursuit of Julian Assange. Julian Assange and Albanese’s Intervention. 
•   Albo nukes nuclear energy idea. MP Ted O’Brien’s “grassroots” survey linked to a firm that promotes NuScam’s small nuclear reactors. South Australian Premier and Opposition leader enthuse about nuclear military submarines, and nuclear power, except for the costs. 
•  U.S. weapons firm Northrop Grumman  no doubt salivating as Australia looks to buy its nuclear-capable B-21 stealth bomber.
•   Mining lobby tricks government with its big taxpayer fairytale.

*******************************************************************

CLIMATE. Climate change brings risk of flooding to the multi billion pound nuclear project Sizewell C.

ECONOMICS. 

• UK government desperate for investors in its Sizewell C nuclear project, as it pays out the Chinese company previously involved. Sizewll C nuclear white elephant could cost up to £43 billion.  Eco-Unfriendly White Elephant? Stop Sizewell C’s Alison Downes vs. EDF’s Prof Michael Fitzpatrick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXouiZv_DRU    
•  Marketing. Emmanuel Macron picks a bad time to promote France’s nuclear nuclear technology in a marketing tour to USA. Macron pushes a “renaissance” while French nuclear flops. 

ENERGY. Warning of power cuts for France, as nuclear reactors are working at half capacity. Potential for ‘worrying’ Hinkley Point C delay highlights need for renewables. Europe, weaning off fossil fuels from Russia, but still dependent on Russia for nuclear fuel.

ENVIRONMENT. UK govt goes ahead, with Sizewell nuclear project, despite strong objections on environmental grounds, especially about water use.

LEGAL. Pursuing Assange in a US court could cause even more embarrassment than the WikiLeaks’ publications. European General Court refuses Austria’s appeal against the Commission’s decision to support 2 nuclear reactors for Hungary.

Japan. A book titled “Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident Nakadori Litigation” (published by Sakuhinsha, Inc.) The compensation standards for voluntary evacuees from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident will finally be reviewed on May 5, and there are concerns about whether the standards will be commensurate with the actual situation.

MEDIA. NATO Narratives and Corporate Media Are Leading to ‘Doorstep of Doom’

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Ukraine’s nuclear plants 

face uncertain future . 

USA trying to use Philippines as a guinea pig for its unviable small nuclear reactors – and for military purposes. No legitimate reason to support the 

controversial nuclear technology planned for New Brunswick. Talking

 football pitches but not in Qatar.

OPPOSITION TO NUCLEAR. No place for nuclear in NY’s clean energy future.    140,000 signatures of “opposition” to extension of operation period and reconstruction of nuclear power plants Submitted to the government “Reduction of dependence is the voice of the people”.

POLITICS. 

• Britain may be scaling back its nuclear plans.. UK Funding subsidy to French firm EDF, for the £26bn Hinkley Point C nuclear plant even if it does not start operating until 2036. UK’s £26bn Hinkley Point C nuclear station now faces 11 year delay. 
• UK government to take 50% stake in the French development of Sizewell C nuclear station.
• Small modular reactor plans to be blocked by the Scottish government. 
• ‘A form of self-destruction’: Japan weighs up plan to expand nuclear power. Japan’s Ministry’s action plan drops nuclear policies set after 3/11.  Japanese  plaintiffs against Onagawa  NPP claim that the wide-area evacuation plan is ineffective.
• Iran increasing its nuclear power. 
• The complicated politics of nuclear power.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. 

• UK Taxpayers to hand China millions of pounds to quit Sizewell nuclear plant.
•  Vladimir Putin open to talks on Ukraine if West accepts Moscow’s demands. 
• NATO Exists To Solve The Problems Created By NATO’s Existence. NATO Expands but Original Anti-Russia Mission Is Static 73 Years On. U.S. to use “all tools” to evict Russia from Abkhazia, S. Ossetia, thus paving way for Georgia’s NATO membership 
• Why a new convention to protect nuclear installations in war is a bad idea.

SAFETY. 

• ‘Guinea Pig Nation’– Lax rules for new reactors deliberately endanger communities. 
• War and Nuclear Power: Stakes Are High for People, Environment, and Industry. Situation at Ukrainian nuclear plants worrying as shelling and power cuts threaten containment. UN votes to press countries to stop terrorists from getting nuclear weapons.   IAEA hoping to get a protection zone at the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant.     
• ‘A form of self-destruction’: Japan weighs up plan to expand nuclear power. Concrete melted off ‘pedestal’ for damaged reactor in Fukushima.  Evacuation of Iitate Village’s Nagadori District, Fukushima Prefecture, to be lifted in May.
• Workers at hazardous nuclear waste site test positive for drugs.

SECRETS and LIES. Stolen cryptocurrency has fuelled North Korea’s nuclear program. Could it collapse amid market turmoil? UK government may be covering up the extent of its involvement in the arrest and incarceration of Julian Assange.

SPINBUSTER. China keeps aggressively surrounding itself with US bases. Expert panel full of proponents of nuclear power plants to discuss direction on March 28th, extending operation period and developing next-generation models, rushing to conclusion on “Prime Minister’s directive.

WASTES. Nuclear Free Local Authorities call for Community Partnerships to include critics of the UK undersea Geological Disposal Facility plan. Misleading claims about the supposed recycling of nuclear wastes.

WAR and CONFLICT. Explosion at Nuclear Airbase Just 150 Miles From Moscow Opens Stunning New Phase of War https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFug2Wf3DcU       Britain’s bunkers offer little chance of survival after a nuclear attack. Imperialist wars—and what could be done about them — IPPNW peace and health blog.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. 

• Broken promises: how nuclear armed states are failing on their commitments to disarm. 
• Secrecy on USA’s new nuclear stealth bomber, and of course, secrecy on its cost to taxpayers. 
• Thousands rally in Rome against arming Ukraine. Weapons company Raytheon continues to be the winner in the Ukraine war, with new $1.2 billion surface-to-air missile contract . Blinken: NATO nations have provided $40 billion in weapons to Ukraine, more on way. 
• Kim Jong Un wants North Korea to be a nuclear superpower – the real risk is a regional arms race. 
• ‘Deliberate ambiguity’: Israel’s nuclear weapons are greatest threat to Middle East.

WORLD CRISES. The Guardian view on biodiversity collapse: the crisis humanity can no longer ignore.

December 6, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

TODAY. Australia looks like being really ground under by America

First of all, there’s the Julian Assange horror persecution.

Does anyone think for a moment that Joe Biden, or any other U.S. President would give in to an Australian Prime Minister’s request to free Assange?

Decades ago, the USA made sure that another journalist, Wilfred Burchett, became an international leper, because Burchett went to Hiroshima in the days immediately after the atomic bombing, and photographed and documented what he saw.

That is the fate of anyone who publicly reveals American military atrocities.

At the same time, the USA Space Force now visits Australia – and can’t wait to use Australia for its War in Space aims.

Of course the USA military wankers are also thrilled with the idea of launching attacks on China from Australia.

Ukraine is good practise for waging war “safely” from another country. Taiwan will be next, but it’s nice to have Australia in the fray too – keep the targets well out of the home country. Australia’s military wankers haven’t really thought of that – they’re NRB (Not Real Bright)

I suppose some might think that releasing Julian Assange in exchange for getting Australia to be a U.S. military base like Guam, might be a fair deal. But why do a deal, when you know that you can both persecute Assange and set up Australia as a target , without any deal?

The Australian media can be relied on to (a) ignore it all, or (b) just scream “jobs jobs” – their standard response to any military or nuclear development.

December 3, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

Australian and more nuclear news -week to 29 November

Some bits of good news: The coming culture peace.    Good News on Tuberculosis in Tanzania, Crime in the United Kingdom, and Forests in Nepal.

Coronavirus.  Omicron variant now prevalent – more infectious but fewer severe sases.

Climate.  COP27 was disappointing, but 2022 remains an historic year for international climate policy.  1.5C warming threshold to be passed in 9 years as emissions hit record high

Nuclear. The two main issues are the danger of nuclear war, sparking from the Ukraine conflict, and the drive for small nuclear reactors simultaneously with the news that their true costs are astronomic. I can only ponder on whether Kamala Harris really has any brain –  as she’s off and away trying to sell USA’s small nuclear reactors to poorer “Third World” countries.

AUSTRALIA.   

•  What caused the Anthony Albanese China change? Better advisors? 
• Defence Minister Richard Marles delighted to welcome American nuclear-powered Virginia Class fast-attack submarine. 
• Upurli Upurli people say no to uranium mining at Mulga Rock, Western Australia.
•   Nukes Corp Australia carries on.     
• Australia’s debt to the world greater given our ‘real’ carbon emissions.  This case has made legal history’: young Australians just won a human rights case against an enormous coal mine 

ARTS and CULTURE   Russia’s former southern capital renounces its past: How Ukraine is destroying its heritage.

CLIMATE. It’s high time to defuse the military carbon bomb. No country has the solution to nuclear waste. Nuclear is no preventer of global heating – in fact, it’s quite the reverse. New Talking Points delivers all the reasons why small modular reactors have no role to play for climate change.  “Environmental Social and Corporate governance” – EDF and the nuclear lobby try to trick the world with fake “green” credentials. 

Take it from the soup throwers, COP’s a cop-out. Fears that oil exporters will control the next COP climate summit. The COP27 promise to fund climate help for poor countries – will it really be kept?  The Amazon forest is reaching a tipping point and starting to collapse

CIVIL LIBERTIES. Videos showing execution of Russian POWs in Ukraine are authentic.

ECONOMICS. 

• Jobs. New Mexico’s revolving nuclear door: top environment officials sell out to nuclear weapons lab. 
• The projected cost of new nuclear power has risen by fourfold since 2008 – and it is still rising.      Costs of NuScam’s Small Modular Nuclear Reactors revised upwards – yet again! Small Modular Nuclear Reactor cost overruns: the same old problems haunt new nuclear in Utah. Ineos corporation to join Rolls Royce’s messy consortium, to push for Small Nuclear Reactors in the Great British Nuclear Swindle.  UK government underestimated the cost to the public of Regulated Asset Base financing of nuclear power.
• U.S. Nuclear Reactors Among the Oldest in the World.   A billion down the drain for Diablo.   
• Marketing: B1 USA Vice-President For the Nuclear Industry Kamala Harris on a marketing jaunt for NuScam’s Small Nuclear Reactors to Southeast Asia. Kamala Harris, nuclear saleswoman extraordinaire, touting small nuclear reactors to Thailand.

ENERGY. EDF Delays Restart of Three Nuclear Reactors as Winter Hits. Amongst alternative energy sources, nuclear power’s prospects are not good.

HISTORY. France opens archives related to nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific.

INDIGENOUS ISSUES. The consequences of nuclear imperialism and colonialism.

LEGAL.  Nuclear Industry Liability under the Paris Convention.    Legal challenge to UK nuclear plan by groups Stop Sizewell C and Together Against Sizewell C (TASC), and others.    Mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city fined for speaking Russian.

MEDIA. ‘Publishing is not a crime’: media groups urge US to drop Julian Assange charges.The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine remains under Russian control, despite media reports.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Nuclear power no solution for Canada’s North West Territory . Putin touts Russia’s ‘Arctic power’ with new nuclear icebreaker. NuScam’s Utah small nuclear reactor project in doubt – needs $billions of tax-payer support.     World’s Biggest Nuclear-Fusion Project Faces Delays as Component Cracks.

OPPOSITION TO NUCLEAR. The Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG) strongly opposes new Bradwell nuclear proposal.

POLITICS. 

• Middle East investors and French developers for Sizewell C nuclear station to be paid by “an extra tax” on UK public’s bills ? Rolls-Royce calls for formal funding talks over small nuclear plants. 
• USA government forks out a $billion to keep uneconomic Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant going. USA’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) cleverly worded so it could be a bonanza for small nuclear plant developers. 
• Lawmaker says Filipinos will be ‘guinea pigs’ in nuclear pact with US.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. 

• Could the Minsk II agreement Have Prevented the War in Ukraine? Merkel explains why she wasn’t surprised by Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Washington’s Iron Curtain in Ukraine. 
• Philippines to be America’s nuclear guinea-pig for experimental small modular nuclear reactors. 
• Finland’s Fortum turns to U.S. in bid to replace Russian nuclear fuel. 
• ‘Dangerous rhetoric’ stoking nuclear tensions: UN chief.  Future war: NATO holds 75-nation planning session in Berlin.  China, Russia and the bomb — IPPNW peace and health blog .
• Zelensky trapped by Moscow and Washington. 
• Iran Media Looks Beyond Nuclear Deal As Negotiations ‘Fail’.     Iran ‘not optimistic’ about nuclear deal revival talks.     
• The coming Sinophobic calamity. Pandora’s box of nuclear progress.

RADIATION. Protecting kids from electromagnetic radiation in school and at home.

SAFETY. Nuclear Guinea Pigs: NRC’s Licensing of Experimental Nuclear Plants . Threat of Possible Nuclear Accident at Zaporizhzhia Sends Tensions Rising. U.N. Supplied Qatar With Tech to ‘Prevent Nuclear Security Incident’ at 2022 World Cup. Electricity production at Olkiluoto 3 reactor delayed until 2023..

SECRETS and LIES. Ukraine quietly abolishes corruption oversight rule. Ukrainian city names street after Nazi collaborator.

WASTES. Confusion over nuclear wastes from small modular reactors. Estonian public concerned about radioactive waste from planned nuclear power plant. Uniting to oppose Japanese plan to dump nuclear waste in Pacific. UK’s costly struggle to deal with dead nuclear submarines.

WAR and CONFLICT. US ‘success’ is Ukraine’s disaster.   Republished from 2019 Maligned in Western Media, Donbass Forces are defending their future from Ukrainian shelling.     China Prevented Transfer Of Polish MiG-29 Fighter Jets To Ukraine; Kept Russia Away From Nuclear Escalation. 

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. 

• US Arms Dealing Is Out of Control. A new nuclear weapons delivery system is the last thing the US needs. U.S. speeds up plans to store upgraded nukes in Europe. 
• USA hurrying to replace its weapons stocks, after sending so much to Ukraine. Most NATO members have run out of weapons for Ukraine – NYT. 
• Nuclear weapons convoys through Lancashire and parked close to primary school. 
• ‘Deliberate ambiguity’: Israel’s nuclear weapons are greatest threat to Middle East. 
• Kim Jong Un Emphasizes Nuclear Development as North Korea’s ‘Ultimate Goal’.

November 29, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

Australian and overseas nuclear news this week

A bit of good news. At the close of COP27 Summit, some progress on climate justice.

Coronavirus. Radio Ecoshock, (mentioned just below) gives a good update on the current situation

Climate. I hope that many readers/listeners have discovered Alex Smith’s Radio Ecoshock. The latest edition gives a good wrap-up on the COP27 Climate Summit. And Alex reminds us that “Paralyzed by fear of freezing or economic collapse, there is no mass movement calling for an end to fossil fuels“. ………and ” politicians cannot go too far ahead of willingness by citizens.”

AUSTRALIA. 

Australia’s reassessment of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. US big defense and Australia’s nuclear crossroads. Albanese must use Xi meeting to return us to the Howard-Abbott golden age of Australia-China relations (this from Murdoch’s Sky News !!!) 

Australia sticks to US nuclear subs despite French criticism. 

What’s happening with the radioactive waste facility in South Australia? Prep work to start next week on Kimba Nuclear Waste dump, despite Government assurances not to pre-empt court case. Radioactive waste works at Napandee, South Australia, ‘pre-emptive and unjustified’. Premier Peter Malinauskas reaffirmed South Australian Labor’s position that the Barngarla people have the right to veto the Kimba nuclear waste dump project.

CLIMATE. Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer. “Everywhere you look at Egypt’s COP27 you can see and hear the influence of the fossil fuel industry” – Greenpeace. ‘On The Highway To Climate Hell’ – The Climate Crisis, Activism And Broken Politics. 

CIVIL LIBERTIES. Moscow accuses Ukrainian soldiers of killing POWs . Russia investigates alleged footage of Ukrainian troops torturing POWs

ECONOMICS. New Westinghouse nuclear deal faces old skepticism: Can it deliver on time and on budget? France’s EDF, Credit Agricole sign 1 bln euro nuclear loan. Even with billions of dollars in tax credits, costs skyrocket at U.S. Small Modular Reactor Project. UK’s Sizewell nuclear project remains unfinanced. Marketing: USA desperate to sell NuScam’s small nuclear reactors – its latest targeted buyer is Thailand.

ENERGY. As Europe Quits Russian Gas, Half of France’s Nuclear Plants Are Off-Line. Putin’s nuclear grip on Europe could spark another energy crisis, expert warns. TIDAL power extinguishes the arguments for new nuclear plants in Suffolk.

ENVIRONMENT. DOE awards millions to restart nuclear operations in southern Ohio as contamination concerns continue.

HISTORY. Who are the Ukrainian integral nationalists ? Fallout from a nuclear past: New book explores human toll of ‘nuclear colonization’ in New Mexico.

MEDIA. Musk’s Money Is Playing Old Games With New Media. With Kiev exposed for a lie that could have triggered a third world war, it is time to examine past deceptions that Western media promoted.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Small nuclear reactors: USA, Japan, South Korea and a whole heap of companies join in the gamble of NuScam’s small nuclear reactors for Ukraine. So-Called Next-Generation Nuclear Power Plants Are Being Oversold. Strange Rolls Royce plan for Large complex of Large Small Nuclear Reactors for Bradwell. The fading promise of low-cost power from UAMPS’ Small Modular Reactors – Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. USA using COP27 to co-opt Europe , especially Ukraine, into the small nuclear reactor gamble. 

Japan’s new nuclear energy policy- is it really feasible? Nuclear fusion discovery uncovers strange behaviour of limitless energy source.

OPPOSITION TO NUCLEAR. Austria digs in anti-nuclear heels as neighbours build out.

POLITICS. 

• U.S. nuclear plants expect government decision on credits by year-end. U.S. rejects funding to re-open Michigan nuclear plant -Holtec. 
• Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk to go ahead, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirms. Nuclear Free Local Authorities welcome energy efficiency plans, but deplore costly Sizewell C nuclear build at the public’s expense. 
• Finland refutes nuclear weapons ‘siting’ and reinforces border. 
• Nuclear is unsafe, unreliable and will leave long and toxic legacy.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. 

• Biden, Xi ‘Agreed’ Nuclear Weapons Should Never Be Used. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XsAfxQAZNw  Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance – a leader for action on the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbnsoFftLwc  US nuclear strategy gravely threatens global security. 
• US and Western officials considering diplomacy as winter looms and Ukraine war cost may rise to $60 billion. NATO needs enemies to justify its existence – Russia. Russia and US hold secret talks in Ankara – Kommersant. Urging peace with Russia, top US general challenges DC’s proxy war. Biden and CIA Director Burns in Double Act to Split Putin and Xi. 
• Japan’s changing nuclear energy policy.

SAFETY. Shelling of Zaporizhzhia is playing with fire, says UN nuclear chief, as blasts reported. Reactors at Ukrainian nuclear power plants shut down after Russian strikes. Shutdown of Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyy Nuclear Power Plant due to military attacks in the region .

SECRETS and LIES. USA Views Ukrainians And Russians As Lab Rats For Weapons Testing. Blowback: Italian police bust Azov-tied Nazi cell planning terror attacks. NATO Diplomat HITS BACK At Zelensky After He INSISTS Ukraine Did Not Send Deadly Missile: Report – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjHEi3b28bY

WASTES. Radiation Free Lakeland slams the hypocrisy surrounding “Ethics Committee”s approval of seismic blasting that kills marine life, in the plan for undersea dumping of nuclear wastes.

WAR and CONFLICT. Poland missile incident is step towards World War III – Medvedev. Missile fired at NATO member Poland came from Ukraine, US officials say. Did the “stray missiles” to Poland come from Russian or from Ukrainian military? NATO’s hair trigger: The Polish missile incident was a close brush with nuclear annihilation.Biden’s Nuclear Policy Fails the Ukraine Test. Top US general warns of reality on the ground in Ukraine.      Top Zelensky advisor threatens war with Iran.  NATO pushes to consolidate control of Black Sea —Videos from Finland: U.S. troops rehearse for war on Russian border —N Korea warns of ‘all-out’ nuclear response to US ‘aggression’

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES PERVERSE PRIORITIES UK : CUT PUBLIC SPENDING, KEEP NUCLEAR ARMS AND WARPLANES. Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters blames US profiteers for Ukraine conflict.

November 21, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

Australian and world nuclear news this week

Some bits of good news – What’s this, some good news on climate change? Positive news: From ‘Global Shields’ to young voices, all the climate wins at COP27 so far. The Times got it right about 5 reasons for hope on climate action, but very wrong on one. 4 signs of progress at the UN climate change summit. Saving theAmazon.

 Coronavirus. Weekly Epidemiological Update.  World Health Organization reports 90 per 

 World Health Organization reports 90 per cent drop in global COVID-19 deaths, even as new variants continue to appear

AUSTRALIA.

• A Father Fights for His Son & What’s Left of Democracy. 
• The Australian nuclear lobby is at it again.   Nine right-wing rural senators push to change the laws on nuclear activities. 
• Memo G20 – there is a greater enemy than China to fight. 
• US warns Australia against joining treaty banning nuclear weapons.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-x29u7M7I0   Australia “should not face intimidation from so-called allies under the auspices of defense cooperation,”. 
•  AUKUS and nuclear submarines: Defence Minister Richard Marles sets Australia’s course in lockstep with USA-UK’s animosity to China. Military buildup in Australia stirs fears. The definitive case against nuclear subs. Internal briefing reveals Northern Territory government approach to defence regarding AUKUS nuclear submarines. Government accused of hiding ‘lazy $591 million’ in extra costs from scrapped French submarine program.
•  Friends of the Earth urge all South Australian federal Labor politicians to push for the scrapping of Kimba nuclear waste plan.
•  Science Minister Melissa Price closer to the Liberal Opposition than to Labor, as she backs small nuclear reactors to beat climate change   

Coronavirus. World Health Organization reports 90 per cent drop in global COVID-19 deaths, even as new variants continue to appear.  Weekly Epidemiological Update.

Climate –  miles and miles of COP27 news – not covered here.

Plastic. Your Body Is Partly Plastic. So Is Everything Else.

Nuclear. The human species is really at a crossroads. In all these crises – lies abound. Take the lie that recycling plastic works. No it doesn’t. Recycling plastic exists to enable the oil corporations to keep right on selling oil, and keep the plastics industry going.. COP27 is full of greenwash lies, as fossil fuel lobbyists buy national governments.  But the best lie at COP27 is the one about nuclear power solving climate change.  The only problem it really solves is that it counters and obscures the  public’s bad image of nuclear weaponry –   small nuclear reactors for instance –  totally useless against global heating, but a convenient “nice” step towards nuclear weapons. Makes all the nuclear workers feel better.

CLIMATE.

• At COP27 Climate Summit the International Atomic Energy Agency joins all those paid nuclear lobbyists in pushing the lie that “nuclear solves the climate problem”. The USA’s “climate” envoy at COP27 John Kerry is just another nuclear shill. 
• The world is now deep into the climate crisis. Scientists now see the climate crisis as frightening. Barbados PM launches blistering attack on rich nations at Cop27 climate talks. How likely is progress on climate at Cop27? Revealed: US and UK, Canada and Australia fall billions short of ‘fair share’ of climate funding for developing countries.   A bigger-than-ever pack of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP27.    Sea level rise as Greenland ice thaws faster than expected. To those who sneer at activists blocking roads: what are you doing to save the planet?

CIVIL LIBERTIES. U.S. House Intelligence Committee questioned about alleged surveillance of Julian Assange

.

ECONOMICS. 

• EU Needs $460 Billion Investment Just To Maintain Nuclear Power Capacity, let alone build new. 
• Russia maintains its grip on global nuclear energy landscape. USA, France, continue to buy nuclear supplies from Russia – no sanctions on that industry!  
• Another US nuclear marketing deal done ay COP27 – $3billion for Romania reactors project.  U.S. uses COP27 to market nuclear power to Romania,  offering over $3 billion funding.   
•  France’s Nuclear Power Problems Are Mounting France electricity prices surge past €1,000/MWh as more nuclear reactors close for winter.  
• Welsh Affairs Select Committee to hear from proponents of nuclear power, on funding plans for Sizewell C project .

ENERGY. As France’s aging nuclear reactors fail, France may block electricity exports to UK. EDF nuclear problems increase risk of winter energy shortages. Incident at France’s Civaux nuclear reactor adds to EDFs problems of stress corrosion cracking in nuclear plants . Is nuclear energy actually sustainable? Ukraine joins in USA’s false story, “clean” energy from the mythical small nuclear reactors.

ENVIRONMENT. Closed Dounreay nuclear site records its highest number of radioactive particles in nearly two decades. Concern over radioactive particles on Dounreay shoreline – poor monitoring of the nuclear clean-up. 

HEALTH. ‘Clear case for inquiry into treatment of men in Britain’s nuclear test programme’.

LEGAL. Maryland Nuclear Engineer and Wife Sentenced for Espionage-Related Offenses.

MEDIA. Massive anti-Russian “Bot Army” exposed by Australian Researchers.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Surprise surprise- USA co-opts Ukraine to try out small nuclear reactors. Finland plans to continue using Russian nuclear fuel. Ever the optimists… Rolls-Royce chooses four sites for reactor that’s yet to be built.

OPPOSITION TO NUCLEAR . Austria holds the anti-nuclear line. Campaigners seek early end to Chinese involvement at Bradwell. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,  International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Global Zero, and Black Lives Matter- the reinvigorated anti-nuclear movement . ‘Subpoenas’ Served on US Weapons Manufacturers.

POLITICS. UK government denies reports that the Sizewell C nuclear project is in doubt. German Parliament advised not to extend nuclear power beyond springtime 2023. Germany refuses to build nuclear Uniper plant in Sweden.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. 

•  On Nuclear Treaty, at Least, Biden Aims for Fresh START With Russia. Russia, U.S. Eye Nuclear Arms Reduction Talks in Coming Weeks – Kommersant. 
•   France’s Macron and UK’s Sunak agree on nuclear energy cooperation. 
•  Tale Of Two Broken Accords: Oslo And Minsk. 
•  Finland to continue relying on Russia for nuclear fuel. 
• Israeli nuclear arsenal condemned by world’s govts in overwhelming UN vote.

SAFETY.

• Nuclear risk: How does Zaporizhzhia compare with Chernobyl?  It can’t go on like this’: Power restored to Ukrainian nuclear plant but situation untenable, says IAEA.  
•    Stress corrosion continues to trouble the French nuclear fleet, EDF Nuclear Reactor Has Test Incident,
• Cracks found in feedwater pumps at Finland’s OL3 nuclear plant. Finland’s OL3 nuclear reactor remains offline as probe continues. Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 repairs could take several months, A disaster waiting to happen’:
• British nuclear-armed sub resurfaces after fire onboard. Staff ‘moved after serious radiation breach’ at Trident nuclear base. ‘
• Sweden’s Biggest Nuclear Reactor Shut Down by Turbine Fault. Deepening Supply Concerns.
• Sizewell C – proposed coastal area is not suitable for nuclear reactors.
• UK government to dump European Union nuclear safety laws – a deregulated race to the safety bottom?

SECRETS and LIES. Corruption exposed: US meddled in Ecuador’s election, using Julian Assange as bargaining chip. Azov Nazi speaks to school kids across America.

WASTES. In Suttsu, Japan, residents don’t want nuclear waste. Radioactive Waste Flasks to Share Arnside Viaduct with Walkers and Cyclists ?

  WAR and CONFLICT.

Global majority leads the way on nuclear disarmament: time to reflect that reality here. US flies nuclear-capable B-1B strategic bombers over South Korea. Let’s Be Clear: If WW3 Happens It Will Be The Result Of Choices Made By The US Empire. What Could Nuclear War Mean For Wyoming? Pretty Much The Worst Parts Of The Bible. 

  U.S. long-range missile launch in the Arctic: “We are intentionally trying to be provocative”.  Pentagon exploits post 9/11 laws to wage ‘secret wars’ worldwide: Report. US prolonging Ukraine conflict for profit: Russian envoy. Concealing US Militarism By Making It Sacred. Germany: Pentagon assembles defense chiefs from 50 nations for Ukraine war confab

 ‘Tactical’ Nuclear Weapons Could Unleash Untold Damage, Experts Warn.

 WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. G20 leaders to denounce use, or threat, of nuclear weapons – draft (?a pious hypocrisy in opposition to the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty)) Finland denies plans to deploy nuclear weapons in the country once it joins NATO. more. Will expanding Canada’s plutonium interests support the peaceful use of nuclear energy?lear Australia

www.antinuclear.net

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November 14, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

Australian and more -Nuclear news – week to 7 November

Some bits of good news, Here are all the positive environmental stories from 2022 so far.

Coronavirus:  Long Covid’s astounding impact, explained in numbers and charts – video.

Global Heating: UN weather report: Climate woes bad and getting worse faster.

Nuclear. Where to start?   Today, I am taken with the significance, and danger, of that word “Ambiguity“. It is the means by which we are kept in the dark, by which our governments can start a war, a nuclear war, at any time, without the bother of consulting parliament or people. Why are we letting ourselves put up with this farcical state of affairs – put across by the American government, and repeated by the Australian, (and no doubt other) government?

There’s the ambiguity about Taiwan .  Governments of both USA and Australia recognise Taiwan as part of China, legally a province of China. Yet apparently we’re happy to go to war against China on behalf of Taiwan.

There’s America’s ambiguity about  being the first to attack with a nuclear weapon.  President Biden approved a version of the policy from the Obama administration that permits the use of nuclear weapons not only in retaliation to a nuclear attack, but also to respond to non-nuclear threats.

AUSTRALIA. 

 Australia is addicted to fighting other people’s wars.  As Australia gets American nuclear-capable bombers, it risks becoming a dangerous military mess and target – like Guam. ‘Target Oz’: Defence Strategic Review must address nuclear risks. Australia’s $multibillion submarine madness and the phoney China threat.     Australia’s ongoing nuclear submarine debacle – ‘A tangle of overlapping interests’, Why does Australia still sell uranium to China?

 This is what Australia needs to bring to Egypt for COP27

CLIMATE. The climate crisis and the danger of nuclear war are deeply intertwined.   COP27 in Egypt. Will rich nations fulfil their promises to help poor countries to fight global heating?       Environmentalists slam corporate influence at U.N. climate talks

ECONOMICS. French nuclear corporation EDF – facing huge debts, but cosily enmeshed with UK government . Failure of the “nuclear renaissance” leaves Britain with super-costly closures of reactors, and electricity shortage. U.S. company Westinghouse wants to build a fleet of nuclear reactors in Europe, starting with Poland.

EMPLOYMENT. Nice work if you can get it: £750 a day for leading Lincolnshire’s nuclear dump bid.

ENERGY. Does the UK need new nuclear plants like Sizewell C to reach net zero? EDF Warns of Lower Output Across Its Nuclear Reactors in France. France, depending on nuclear power, now imports more electricity than it exports.

ENVIRONMENT. Councillor wants to know why there has been an increase in radioactive particles found on Dounreay foreshore.

HEALTH. Carbon-14: Another underestimated danger from nuclear power reactors.     Studies on nuclear radiation’s impact on people necessary (Indonesia).

MEDIA. Ukrainian First Lady Zelenska ordered The Grayzone’s Web Summit cancellation.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. America’s Abandoned Nuclear Power Projects (includes Interactive Map)

POLITICS. UK government might scrap Sizewell nuclear plan. Will they, won’t they – great uncertainty over government go ahead for Sizewell C.       Japanese government seeks to allow nuclear reactors to operate for 80 years.        The new Jewish state in the Levant: A fanatics-led nuclear power.          Poland picks nuclear power that the International Energy Agency says is “stagnating or in decline”.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. The U.S. President’s Dismissal Of Diplomacy Undermines His Own Party, Prolongs The Destruction Of Ukraine And Threatens Nuclear War. In America Pro-war hawks have progressive Democrats on their Squad. USA’s deliberate ambiguity on use of nuclear weapons really means “don’t mess with us or we’ll nuke you”. Biden lost temper with Zelenskyy in June phone call when Ukrainian leader asked for more aid.

  Poland, South Korea sign outline accords on nuclear power project. When it comes to a nuclear industry project – Europe puts no sanctions on Russia.

Europe can’t cut economic ties with Russia unless it cuts nuclear power use as well.  World Nuclear Industry Status Report delivers all the empirical data we need to know about nuclear power’s decline.

SAFETY. Attacks on Ukrainian nuclear-power plants challenge treaties, and raise other safety concerns.       Nuclear Free Local Authorities ask when will the Olkiluoto farce ever Finnish?

SECRETS and LIES. Israeli finance minister added to Kiev’s ‘kill list’.

WAR and CONFLICT.     War and Regrets in Ukraine.   The nuclear threats that hang over the world. Doomsday Clock Reveals How Nuclear War Would Decimate Civilization.  US troops on the ground in Ukraine – media. Six Reasons Why Americans Should Care That US Troops Are In Ukraine. U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine: this is bad! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXSEhwbZhAc    How Close are We to Nuclear War? Will Biden Gamble on a Ukraine Coalition?      ‘Sloppy’ US Talk on China’s Threat Worries Some Skeptical Experts.    North Korea fired intercontinental ballistic missile – Seoul.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. Nuclear gravity bomb more powerful than Hiroshima blast to be added to NATO’s arsenal.   Finland hints at allowing NATO to station nuclear weapons (?targets) on its soil.    U.S., NATO ready array of missiles for war in Ukraine. Pentagon to provide $400 million more for Ukraine war effort

  Loosening the Nuclear Knot – ARMS CONTROL TODAY,  Pentagon Scraps Submarine Nuclear Cruise Missile Program.3

November 7, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment

This week’s Australian nuclear news – heavy stuff!

some bits of good news. India headed towards 100% renewables power by 2050. Mini Wind Turbines For Rooftops: ‘Up to 50% More Power’ and No Spinning Blades    Ozone Hole Continues Shrinking in 2022.

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Oh dear. This newsletter is miles too long. I have put the most interesting items in larger, bold, green. Perhaps you might read just those, and any other topics of interest to you.

This week, I have been overwhelmed with the media tsunami of war-mongering events and articles – all gearing up to the supposedly inevitable war against China !!

But at the same time –    are you  noticing climate change, -global heating events and research? We might escape nuclear apocalypse, BUT –   I urge you to pay attention to Alex Smith’s Radio Ecoshock, the world-leading coverage of things climate .  This week’s episode is CLIMATE ENDGAME – “irreversible transition to Hothouse Earth”? – Greenland  sea-level rise – and a worrying Culture of Underestimation.

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AUSTRALIA 

The Pentagon builds a network in our Australian Department of Defence amidst media silence.  With nuclear-capable B-52 bombers in Australia, USA could make lethal nuclear attack on mainland China. US Air Force to deploy nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to Australia. US deployment of nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to Australia’s north likely to fuel China tensions. 

Nuclear zealot Jonathon Mead – in charge of the nuclear submarine deliberations? Wants to “cultivate a nuclear mindset”.      Wong, Marles schedule US trip as nuclear submarine deadline nears.   Captive media: what does the submarine scandal tell us about our “defence correspondents”?

Australia changes policy tack – moves in the direction of supporting the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. ‘Small but important step’: Australia’s shift on treaty banning nuclear weapons applauded. 

Government Confirms No Nuclear for Australia. Rather than an endlessly reheated nuclear debate, politicians should be powered by the evidence. Rex Patrick: has the Australian Senate lost its mojo?.

‘Australia’s greatest threat is from within’: Why we’re unprepared for the health effects of climate change

INTERNATIONAL

CLIMATE. Climate summit – window for avoiding catastrophe is closing fast. Global heating levels threaten to destroy economies. “The voices in this world which have the most power belong to those who are destroying it”, writes Greta Thunberg.

Atmospheric levels of all three greenhouse gases hit record high. Rising Sea Levels Spell Disaster For America’s Coastal Nuclear Plants. Insect apocalypse looms as world warms

CIVIL LIBERTIES. Reporters Without Borders leads 16 organisations urging UK Home Secretary to intervene in extradition of Julian Assange.

ECONOMICS . French nuclear power group EDF to have a bigger loss than previously expected. Scotland ‘could fund England’s nuclear plants after independence‘ under “regulated asset base” (RAB) model. Sizewell C nuclear station to be funded 20% by French taxpayers, and 20% by British taxpayers. Rooppur nuclear power plant (Bangladesh) : Cost may rise for multiple factors. USA’s Westingouse likely to build and fund 49% of Poland’s first nuclear power station

EMPLOYMENT. About 100 Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant employees, including senior managers, agree to collaborate with Russian occupiers.

ENERGY. Nuclear power – a ‘religion’ in France. now turning out to be a curse..

ENVIRONMENT. This Abandoned Nuclear City Is Trapped Under Ice, What Happens If It Thaws? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9uW-8vPpAU Dounreay nuclear plant radiation scare over high numbers of ‘harmful’ radioactive particles. The Fukushima Area Has Seen Better Days as Nobuhiko Ito Shows. Long-lived radionuclides from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, and consequences for Pacific ecosystems and seafood consumers.

HEALTH. ‘The nuclear bomb was so bright I could see the bones in my fingers’: The atomic veterans fighting for justice. Meetings scheduled on compensation for Utah’s ‘downwinders‘ affected by nuclear testing.

LEGAL. US nuclear firm Westinghouse sues South Korean supplier over Poland reactor deal. Together Against Sizewell and other groups to fight on, despite legal setback.

MEDIA. All at once corporate media pundits push for World War III. Western military-industrial corporate-media show only the NATO-USA war-mongering side of the news. The biggest lie – ADDICTED TO WAR – what most American people don’t know and don’t want to know. Steps towards multilateral nuclear disarmament – but media silence.

POLITICS. Kucinich Says Call for Diplomacy to end Ukraine-Russia War Must be Heard; Silencing of Congressional Progressive Caucus Casts Democrats as the “War Party” Progressives retract Ukraine letter to Biden after uproar. Worthless House Progressives Retract Mild Peace Advocacy Under Pressure From Warmongers. Democrats Should Not Make Support for War a Test of Party Loyalty – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f76p7NUbV5M Dennis Kucinich: Where Are the Pro-Peace Democrats? 

Crushing blow to French President Macron as EDF braces for £28billion hit over nuclear shortfall. Academics and industry questioned on UK nuclear power supply. Sizewell C nuclear could become low on the priority list of UK government projects. Minister Vows Response to Fukushima Reputational Damage.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. New Study Finds The Rest Of The World Supports China And Russia. West must stop blocking negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Kremlin reveals possible basis for Putin-Biden talks. Zelenskyy blasts Israel, suggests Russia-Iran nuclear collusion. Russia suspends participation in grain deal after Ukrainian attack.   

SAFETY. Ukraine’s Biggest Nuclear Plant Needs a Safety Zone. France discovers ominous cracks in dozens of nuclear reactors. Every nuclear power plant is a ‘dirty bomb’ in waiting: watchdog. Cracks found in all four Olkiluoto Nuclear 3 feedwater pumps. Bulgarian nuclear reactor shut down after technical glitch. ‘Swarm’ of drones spotted flying above UK nuclear plan.

SECRETS and LIES. Meet the spooks, mercenaries s and chickenhawk politicos enlisting as “North Atlantic Fellas Organization” (NAFO) trolls.   Criminals in Finland obtain weapons from Ukraine – police. 

SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. Rocket Lab: Helping the US wage endless wars from space. Rocket Report: Norway’s nuclear rocket concerns.   Russian delegation at UN calls on USA to join initiative to renounce weapons in space.

SPINBUSTER. War, propaganda, and blindness. George Monbiot leads the “left” into being cheer- leaders for USA’s endless wars.

WASTES and REACTOR SHUTDOWNS. Cocooning the past – Plutonium reactor in Eastern Washington encased in steel to protect the river. Bring voices from the coast into the Fukushima treated water debate.

WAR and CONFLICT. EU ‘dancing on edge of volcano’ with Ukraine – French ex-president. Allegations fly about plans to use “dirty bomb” and nuclear weapons in Ukraine war. ‘No need’ for nuclear strikes on Ukraine, Putin says. Kremlin diplomat assures that Russia has no intention of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. NATO primes 20 prospective new members for global strike force. NATO could deploy nuclear warheads to Poland: official.    60 years ago today, this man stopped the Cuban missile crisis from going nuclear. Cuban missile crisis, 60 years on: new papers reveal how close the world came to nuclear disaster. 

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. Cities should increase role in effort to abolish nuclear weapons.24 – 30 October UN Disarmament Week – don’t let the world powers normalise “tactical” nuclear weapons – demand abolition of nuclear weapons now! Tactical Nuclear Fantasists. Spokane poised to declare city a nuclear free zone. US, Japan, S Korea vow response if N Korea tests nuclear bomb. USA upgrades its B61-12 nuclear bombs in Europe. Biden to scrap Trump missile project but critics attack US ‘nuclear overkill’/ NATO adds to warplane, missile defense assets in Baltic Sea. A failure to review America’s nuclear posture.

November 1, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews | Leave a comment