Bill Introduced in US Congress Calls for US to Drop Charges Against Julian Assange.
Call your representative and tell them to support H.Res. 934
By Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com January 7, 2024 https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/07/bill-introduced-in-house-calls-for-us-to-drop-charges-against-julian-assange/
Aresolution introduced in the House last month calls for the US to drop the charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces up to 175 years in prison if extradited to the US and convicted for journalism that exposed US war crimes.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), expresses “the sense of the House of Representatives that regular journalistic activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, are protected under the First Amendment and that the federal government should drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange.”
Assange, who’s been held in London’s Belmarsh Prison since 2019, has a hearing scheduled at the UK High Court on February 20 and 21 to appeal his extradition to the US, which is likely his final chance. Ahead of the hearing, WikiLeaks and Assange’s supporters are asking Americans to contact their House representatives and urge them to support Gosar’s resolution.
Click here to find your representative, or call the House switchboard operator at (202) 224-3121. Tell them to support H.Res. 934 to protect the First Amendment and press freedom.
So far, the resolution has eight co-sponsors: Reps. James McGovern D-MA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Eric Burlison (R-MO), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Clay Higgins (R-LA).
Vale Uncle Kevin Buzzacott, fierce advocate for his people and a nuclear free Australia
Green Left , Jim Green, January 8, 2024 Issue 1397
Arabunna Elder Uncle Kevin Buzzacott passed away in Alice Springs on November 29, 2023. A fierce advocate for his people and for a nuclear-free Australia, Kevin will be sorely missed.
Kevin was born in 1946 at Finniss Springs, on Arabunna country in South Australia. As a youngster, he learnt culture, language, how to live off the land and he learnt to work with cattle and horses.
Over the years, Kevin and his family lived in many places including Alice Springs, Tarcoola and Gawler. He worked on the railways for many years.
In 1984, Kevin moved to Port Augusta, where he worked as alcohol and drug worker. In 1985 he moved to Alice Springs where he worked on the successful campaign to stop the Todd River from being dammed. He helped establish the Arrernte Council in Alice Springs and served as an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission regional councillor.
Kevin returned to South Australia in the mid-1990s to protect Arabunna country.
One of his major campaigns was to try to stop the rapacious water take from the Great Artesian Basin by mining company WMC (and later BHP) to supply the Olympic Dam copper/uranium mine at Roxby Downs.
The extraction of around 40 million litres of water has adversely affected the precious Mound Springs on Arabunna country — desert oases supported by the underlying Great Artesian Basin.
Kevin’s campaign might eventually succeed: there are plans to build a desalination plant on Spencer Gulf which could lead to a reduction and possible cessation of the water take from the Great Artesian Basin.
Kevin explained: “I’ve been at this game of calling for justice and peace for 30, maybe 40 years, but what really got me going was when Western Mining Corporation (WMC) set up the Olympic Dam mine. They started doing deals with the government on pastoral leases. So they did deals with S. Kidman & Co. and took up one of their cattle stations, Stuart’s Creek Station, which is on Arabunna land. Because of our native title and ongoing land rights campaigning, we’ve been fighting for these places for a long time. Stuart’s Creek is a very special, sacred place for us, and we’ve been trying to get it back for a long time.
“I thought that just before they bought that place I’d go and protest and camp on it. Also, it is on that station, on the shores of the Lake Eyre, where WMC started taking the sacred water out of the Lake Eyre Basin. That was where they started sucking the life blood out of us. That is where they put their big bore down, right on the shores of the lake. That was a real kick in the guts for me and really got me going.”
……………………………………………………………………….. Protest camp
Kevin set up a protest camp on Arabunna country in March 1999. WMC was among the most viciously racist mining companies in Australia and, true to form, the company tried to have Arabunna Elder Kevin Buzzacott evicted. The protest camp lasted until it was busted up by WMC goons and local police in December 1999.
Kevin initiated court actions against WMC and the federal government. These actions weren’t successful in the courts, but helped draw attention to the issues Kevin was fighting for.
“I did a court action against Hugh Morgan, who was the head of WMC. I charged Hugh Morgan with genocide, trying to flush him out and some of the shareholders. Hugh Morgan is based in Victoria. People in Melbourne deserve to live in a good place, they don’t need to live with these criminals and warmongers. Another court action I did was one I brought against Alexander Downer and Senator Robert Hill for stopping Lake Eyre from becoming a World Heritage site.”
After the protest camp on Arabunna country was busted up, Kevin set up a protest camp at Genocide Corner, outside the SA Governor’s residence in the centre of Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide.
“I had to go to Adelaide for the court case against Hugh Morgan, and when I was there the charges against Hugh Morgan were dismissed. The judge was a pastor in the Lutheran Church, and I asked him to stand down because I believed he had a conflict of interest as his church was a shareholder in the WMC. When he refused to do so I told him to get stuffed, walked out and went straight down to Government House to start a protest. I took banners, and whatever things I had,” Kevin said
“While I was talking to the media I was confronted by the cops. I looked over the road and saw a patch of grass and thought, ‘Bugger it, I’ll make camp and a fire here’. I ended up calling it ‘genocide Corner’, and renamed Adelaide the ‘City of Genocide’. It was on the intersection of King William Street and North Terrace [one of the main intersections in the city] so loads of people were passing by.
“Four ceremonial fires for peace were lit and, after 21 days, the Adelaide City Council and 50 police came down and arrested me for failing to cease to loiter. It was one of those laws they hadn’t used in a long time, but they used it to clear away all my stuff and my supporters.
“One of the court conditions was that I was not able to walk within the vicinity of Genocide Corner. I was of a mind just to walk straight back there, but I had the Peace Walk from Lake Eyre to Sydney coming up so I had to let that one go.”
The Peace Walk was timed to reach Sydney for the Olympics in September 2000.
“We walked for months, for 3000 kilometres, and all sorts of people from all walks of life joined us. We were carrying the fire for peace and justice. I made sure that we went through lots of different Aboriginal communities. I got a lot of support, but the government also pressured a lot of people not to support me by threatening their jobs and funding. Each place we went to, people took us through their land and we respected each mob.
There were all types of pressure put on people along the way. The cops were nasty and threatened some of the walkers with guns and everything. I visited all the jails along the way from Broken Hill to Dubbo and Bathurst. It was sad to see so many young brothers confined and locked up.
“We went to Canberra and met up with the Tent Embassy mob. A couple of politicians came to meet us and then we all went to Government House to present the Governor-General with a document of peace and justice.
“When we arrived in Sydney for the Olympic Games the Tent Embassy mob had already set up a camp [in Victoria Park], so we joined up with them. We did all sorts of things. We did a re-enactment at the beach where Captain Cook came in. We re-enacted the bad way in which he came with guns and all that and then the next day we did how they should have come.”
Reclaiming totems
In 2002, Kevin reclaimed the Emu and Kangaroo totems from the Australian Coat of Arms hanging outside Parliament House, Canberra………………………………………………………..
In 2004, Kevin participated in the Peace Pilgrimage from the Olympic Dam uranium mine to Hiroshima, Japan.
“During the first walk and then in Sydney we met people from all over and that got everything going. Aboriginal nations from Queensland were saying there should be a walk up the coast to show the world the things they were suffering. Then some people made contact with people in Hiroshima to have a walk from the uranium mine in Roxby to where the bomb was dropped in order to show how all these things are linked. Aboriginal people, Japanese monks, all sorts of people were involved. It started at Roxby and then went to Canberra and then an aeroplane took us to Japan where we walked all over the country. We visited Nagasaki and Hiroshima and met a lot of people who were kids when the bombs were falling. We did talks and took part in a huge ceremony on the anniversary of the bomb being dropped. There were people everywhere and lanterns lit and people crying, it was full on.”
In 2006, Kevin went to Melbourne for the Stolenwealth Games…………………………………………..
And Kevin was back in Melbourne in 2008 for BHP’s Annual General Meeting.
‘Born to be peacemakers’
“BHP have taken over WMC. They now own Olympic Dam and want to make it bigger. Myself and others who want to stop the mine got to be proxies for shareholders, they gave us tickets and we got to go inside on their behalf. I got to speak and I told the people there about the damage they are doing and that they need to stop it immediately.
“Aboriginal people have lived here for more than 40,000 years and cared for this country, but now it’s being turned into a sick and evil place. Myself, and others around this country, were born to be peacemakers.
“We mustn’t be frightened to educate others and fight, but not in a warlike way, to protect the earth and let everything run free. I don’t want to shoot or bomb the people from BHP and the others who are destroying this country because two wrongs don’t make a right. I think if I can help them to wake up to what they are doing then that will be punishment enough.”
Kevin was at the first meeting of the Alliance Against Uranium (later renamed the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance) in 1997 and, for many years, he served as the Alliance’s President.
He actively supported countless campaigns against uranium mining and plans to dump nuclear waste on Aboriginal land. He was at the Beverley uranium mine supporting Adnyamathanha Traditional Owners in May 2000 when SA Police viciously and illegally attacked protesters, children and journalists.
Kevin was at the Lizard’s Revenge protest at Olympic Dam in 2012.
Kevin was awarded Nuclear-Free Future Resistance Award in 2001 by the Nuclear-Free Future Foundation and travelled to Ireland to accept the award. Kevin was awarded the SA Conservation Council’s Jill Hudson Award in 2006.
Kevin was awarded the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Peter Rawlinson Award in 2007 for two decades of work highlighting the impacts of uranium mining and promoting a nuclear free Australia.
ACF Executive Director Don Henry said: “Kevin is a cultural practitioner, an activist, an advocate and an educator. He has travelled tirelessly, talking to groups large and small about the impacts of uranium mining and the threats posed by the nuclear industry. Kevin has had a profound impact on the lives of many people – especially young people – with his many tours and ‘on-country’ events. For many young activists ‘Uncle Kev’ is truly an unsung hero and, against the current pro-nuclear tide, his is a very important struggle and story.”
Kevin participated in many of the Radioactive Exposure Tours run by Friends of the Earth. We camped at the ‘Old Lake’ (Lake Eyre) and generations of young activists learnt first-hand about the impacts of the Olympic Dam mine on country and culture.
Kevin’s partner Margret Gilchrist passed on Kevin’s final message when he returned to Alice Springs with his health failing: “Keep that old fire burning; don’t stop til we’ve won; Lake Eyre for World Heritage.”
[Kevin’s funeral service can be viewed online and many videos featuring Kevin can be found at Cinemata and YouTube. Jim Green is the national nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth.]
Uranium ship sneaks into ‘nuclear free’ Fremantle port, sparking concern by wharfies over safety
The West Australian, Sat, 6 January 2024
A container ship carrying uranium ore was allowed to dock at Fremantle on Thursday, but was forced to wait for several hours whilst officials checked it was safe for it to berth.
The Maritime Union of Australia said wharfies expressed safety concerns when they became aware of the radioactive cargo.
”They’ve never had that cargo on board that anyone can remember so there was some push back from the workforce, to make sure all the safety requirements were in place,” union organiser Daniel Piccoli told The Sunday Times.
The vessel APL Mexico City was eventually allowed in on Thursday morning and the ship was due to sail on Sunday night.
The uranium stayed in 18 containers on the ship, which had left Adelaide on December 30.
Fremantle Port Authority said that while the cargo was prohibited from being handled, it was permitted for transit through the Port…………………………
Fremantle was a nuclear free zone under a long-time City of Fremantle policy.
According to the policy, “Council would object to uranium, nuclear waste or other material connected with the nuclear power industry being stored or transported in or through the municipality.“
Fremantle Greens MLC and former mayor Brad Pettitt said the transit was unusual, but it raised questions about whether the port workers were adequately informed about the dangerous cargo and were all the safety protocols adhered to.
He said protocols should be transparent as well as strong………. https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/uranium-ship-sneaks-into-nuclear-free-fremantle-port-sparking-concern-by-wharfies-over-safety-c-13132756
The real reason why the USA pushed for the world to “triple nuclear power” at COP 28.
While China dominates the wind- and solar-power sectors, nuclear energy is one area where officials believe the U.S. could compete with its long menu of newer reactor types and fuels.
U.S. puts diplomatic clout behind sales of cutting-edge reactors that have yet to show commercial success
Washington Heats Up Nuclear Energy Competition With Russia, China
By William Mauldin and Jennifer Hiller, Jan. 6, 2024 https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/washington-heats-up-nuclear-energy-competition-with-russia-china-f2f18e75
WASHINGTON—To compete with its biggest geopolitical rivals, the U.S. government is looking toward small nuclear reactors.
Not a single so-called small modular reactor has been sold or even built in the U.S., but American officials are trying to persuade partner countries to acquire the cutting-edge nuclear reactors still under development by U.S. firms. The goal: to wrest nuclear market share from Russia—the global industry giant—and defend against China’s fast-growing nuclear-technology industry.
The U.S. hopes that putting its clout behind a new technology can cement future commercial and diplomatic relationships and chip away at China’s and Russia’s ability to dominate their neighbors’ energy supply.
The Biden administration also sees nuclear energy as a way to export reliable green (?) energy, since nuclear-power plants split atoms and don’t burn carbon-based fuels that contribute most to climate change. With Russia’s broad 2022 invasion of Ukraine sending Poland and other European countries looking for new energy partners, U.S. officials and industry leaders see a potential opening in the market for U.S. exports to compete with China’s growing nuclear ambitions.
While China dominates the wind- and solar-power sectors, nuclear energy is one area where officials believe the U.S. could compete with its long menu of newer reactor types and fuels. The U.S. aims to sign agreements for partnerships lasting 50 years or longer to provide U.S. technology to Moscow’s former energy partners and to fast-growing countries in Southeast Asia worried about overreliance on Chinese and Russian energy.
“If we’re the supplier, we support the energy security of our allies and partners,” said Ted Jones, head of national security and international programs at the Nuclear Energy Institute, a U.S. industry group. “We help prevent them from finding themselves in the situation of Europe with respect to Russian gas and nuclear.”
At the core of the U.S. campaign is a technology, yet-unproven in the U.S., called a small modular reactor, or SMR. SMRs generate about one-third the energy of a conventional nuclear reactor and can be prefabricated and shipped to the site. Among other potential advantages, they are intended to be cheaper than larger reactors, which often have to be custom designed, and they can be installed to meet growing demand for energy, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
‘Very, very long-term strategic partnership’
U.S. officials say they are working with developers of SMRs, and the government-run Export-Import Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., to win overseas orders that will bring down costs and build an order book for the new technology, all while linking the countries’ energy systems to the U.S. and its allies. By 2035, the U.S. Nuclear Energy Agency estimates that the global SMR market could reach 21 gigawatts of power, enough to power two billion LED lightbulbs.
“It’s important that the United States maintains that leadership in the transition from the laboratory to the grid and deployment and commerciality,” said Geoffrey Pyatt, the State Department’s assistant secretary of energy resources. “It’s about building a very, very long term strategic partnership.”
To make nuclear-energy exports a viable tool of foreign policy, U.S. companies will have to prove they can deliver smaller reactors for export on time and budget, a goal that has eluded larger nuclear-power plants in the West.
The U.S. has yet to build an SMR, and none is yet under construction in the U.S. The concept’s economics remain unproven, as does the timeline for building such a reactor. One company, Kairos Power, recently received construction approval for a demonstration project in Tennessee. It plans to focus on the domestic market. NuScale Power, one of the major U.S. players, recently canceled an SMR project in Idaho when a group of utilities in the Mountain West couldn’t get enough members to commit.
To make the concept work, most SMRs’ developers would need a pipeline of orders so they could move into factory-style production, lowering unit costs.
Among the potential customers U.S. industry and government officials are looking at are Polish energy company Orlen, which wants to build SMRs designed by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank and U.S. International Development Finance Corp. have offered to arrange up to $4 billion in financing for a plant planned by NuScale in Romania, with an aim of going online in 2029 or 2030. U.S. officials also say they are in discussions with Bulgaria, Ghana, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and the Philippines on new nuclear projects.
China is leading the world in reactor construction and recently started commercial operations of a plant with two SMRs. The country is now building 22 of the 58 reactors under construction around the world, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. China has built reactors in Pakistan and aims to join Russia as a major exporter of nuclear technology.
Last year, China and the U.S. were jockeying to provide civilian nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. Washington appeared close to a deal, part of a regional pact with Israel, but it was derailed by Hamas’s attack on Israelis in October and the subsequent war in Gaza.
U.S. sales pitch: We’re less risky than Russia and China
Russia’s state-owned Rosatom, meanwhile, is a major exporter of both reactors and nuclear fuel.
According to the latest World Nuclear Industry Status Report, it was building 24 reactors: 19 large reactors in countries from Turkey to Bangladesh, a barge to be equipped with two small reactors under construction in China but intended for use in Russia, and three reactors at home. Of the reactors under construction in Russia, two are large; the third is an SMR that would use liquid metal for cooling. Rosatom started commercial operations of two SMRs on a floating barge in 2020, though that project took longer and cost more than expected.
Washington is counting on partner countries’ interest in working with U.S. firms and what officials are selling as a less risky tie-up than working with Moscow and Beijing on projects that have a lifespan of 50 years or more.
“It’s never good if our allies are dependent on a potential adversarial country for energy,” said Bret Kugelmass, chief executive of nuclear-power startup Last Energy, which plans to build microreactors that would generate 20 megawatts of electricity and be sited near factories.
The process for hammering out a network of government and commercial deals can take years, with U.S. officials working alongside foreign counterparts, export credit agencies, nuclear-energy firms and utilities, not to mention the U.S. Congress. Russia and China have the advantage of state-led financial sectors to fund projects that can span a decade until power flows.
U.S. industry executives and government officials say they are now working on shortcuts to marketing reactors, including setting up a single government-to-government deal that includes corporate contracts and public and private financing assistance.
The new deals are designed to appeal to partner countries that want a simpler path to getting a reactor, without the heavy dose of Chinese financing that U.S. officials say might have strings attached.
TODAY. The subtle ways that the nuclear lobby manipulates corporate media. Example KISHA CLUBS OF JAPAN
Media in other countries are controlled in a similar way, but Japan has the longest and most successful story of corporate media’s obedience to the pro nuclear dogma that prevails across the world.
Paul Richards 5 Jan 24
Starting with, the source: KISHA CLUBS OF JAPAN
Japan’s Press Club System, known as “kisha clubs,” is a unique arrangement that fosters close relationships between journalists and the institutions they cover. This system is prevalent in government offices, ministries, major corporations, and other influential entities.
1] STRUCTURE OF PRESS CLUBS
Exclusive Access:
Journalists from major media outlets join these clubs, gaining exclusive access to news briefings, announcements, and events hosted by specific institutions. Each institution typically has its own press club.
Regular Briefings:
Officials provide information to journalists within these clubs, fostering a symbiotic relationship. In return for access, journalists are expected to adhere to certain unwritten rules, which can include not reporting certain sensitive topics or leaks without permission.
2] HIERCAHICAL EFFECT
Access to Information:
Press club members receive information directly from sources, creating an information hierarchy where those outside the clubs might lack timely or direct access to crucial news.
Influence and Reporting Bias:
The system can create a situation where reporters develop close ties with the sources they cover. This might lead to a reluctance to publish critical or controversial information that could jeopardise their access or relationships. As a result, it can challenge the ability of the press to hold political power accountable.
3] CHALLENGING POLITICAL POWER
Limited Critical Reporting:
While the press club system provides access, it can also limit critical reporting. Journalists might self-censor to maintain access or avoid upsetting their sources, which can indirectly challenge the media’s ability to scrutinise political power thoroughly.
Alternative Media and Challenges:
Independent or smaller media outlets not part of these press clubs might face difficulties accessing information. However, these outlets sometimes challenge the established narrative and provide alternative perspectives, albeit with limited resources and access to official sources.
While the Press Club System provides journalists with unique access to information and sources, it also poses challenges to independent and critical reporting.
The hierarchical nature of information distribution in Japan within these clubs can lead to a cosy relationship between the press and political power, impacting the media’s ability to fully challenge or scrutinise those in authority.
There have been many concerns raised about the Japanese government’s ruling parties, and pressure on media outlets indirectly, such as withholding access to information or using informal means to influence coverage.
This might affect the independence and objectivity of reporting, though direct censorship is not a prevalent practice.
Overall, Japan maintains, it has a reputation for press freedom compared to many other countries.
However, concerns persist about self-censorship, indirect influences, and the limitations of the press club system that can impact the diversity and depth of news coverage.
The nature of political control over the press in Japan tends to be more subtle and indirect rather than overt and explicit.
Japan earthquake casts cloud over push to restart nuclear plants
January 5, 2024
TOKYO, Jan 4 (Reuters) – The powerful earthquake that hit Japan’s western coast on New Year’s Day has underscored the country’s exposure to natural disasters, casting fresh doubt over a push to bring its nuclear capacity back online.
Nuclear power plants dot the coast of mountainous Japan, which is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis due to its location on the seismically active “Ring of Fire” around the Pacific Ocean.
Monday’s magnitude 7.6 earthquake, which has killed more than 80 people in the Hokuriku region, destroyed infrastructure and left homes without power, struck days after regulators lifted an operational ban on Tokyo Electric’s (9501.T) Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant.
Tepco hopes to gain local permission to restart the plant, which is around 120 kilometres from the quake’s epicentre and has been offline since 2012. The utility was banned in 2021 from operating the plant due to safety breaches including a failure to protect nuclear materials.
“The Japanese public is still generally less positive toward nuclear power now than they were before the Fukushima disaster,” analysts at Rystad Energy wrote in a client note.
“As a result, public sentiment – and potentially government policy – is likely to be sensitive to any new power-plant disruptions caused by the most recent quake or any future ones.”
Japan had planned to phase out nuclear power after the March 2011 tsunami and Fukushima meltdown, but rising energy prices and repeated power crunches have prompted a shift towards restarting idled capacity and developing next-generation reactors.
After the Jan. 1 quake Tepco reported water had spilled from nuclear fuel pools at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant – the world’s largest – but said radiation levels were normal.
“Citizens had felt that Tepco could probably be able to restart reactors by the end of 2024, but this earthquake seems to have reignited a sense of fear,” said Yukihiko Hoshino, a Kashiwazaki city assembly member opposing the plant restart.
Monday’s tsunami warning reminded him of the Fukushima disaster, he said.
Tepco shares fell as much as 8% on Thursday, the first trading day since the earthquake, before closing up 2.2%.
Hokuriku Electric (9505.T), whose idled Shika plant is located around 65 kilometres from the earthquake’s epicentre, slid as much as 8% before paring losses to end down 2.2%.
The company, which reported water spill-over from spent nuclear fuel pools and oil leaks at the plant after the quake, hopes to restart the No.2 reactor there sometime after April 2026, it said in October………………………………… Reporting by Kantaro Komiya, Sudarshan Varadhan, Mariko Katsumura and Sam Nussey; Editing by Hugh Lawson
Mass layoffs at small nuclear reactor companies
Pioneering Nuclear Startup Lays Off Nearly Half Its Workforce. NuScale is the second major U.S. reactor company to cut jobs in recent months.
Huff Post, By Alexander C. Kaufman, Jan 5, 2024,
Almost exactly one year ago, NuScale Power made history as the first of a new generation of nuclear energy startups to win regulatory approval of its reactor design ― just in time for the Biden administration to begin pumping billions of federal dollars into turning around the nation’s atomic energy industry.
But as mounting costs and the cancellation of its landmark first power plant have burned through shrinking cash reserves, the Oregon-based company is laying off as much 40% of its workforce, HuffPost has learned.
At a virtual all-hands meeting Friday afternoon, the company announced the job cuts to remaining employees. HuffPost reviewed the audio of the meeting. Two sources with direct knowledge of NuScale’s plans confirmed the details of the layoffs.
NuScale did not respond to a call, an email or a text message seeking comment.
Surging construction costs are imperiling clean energy across the country. In just the past two months, developers have pulled the plug on major offshore wind farms in New Jersey and New York after state officials refused to let companies rebid for contracts at a higher rate.
But the financial headwinds are taking an especially acute toll on nuclear power. It takes more than a decade to build a reactor, and the only new ones under construction in the U.S. and Europe went billions of dollars over budget in the past two decades. Many in the atomic energy industry are betting that small modular reactors ― shrunken down, lower-power units with a uniform design ― can make it cheaper and easier to build new nuclear plants through assembly-line repetition.
The U.S. government is banking on that strategy to meet its climate goals. The Biden administration spearheaded a pledge to triple atomic energy production worldwide in the next three decades at the United Nations’ climate summit in Dubai last month, enlisting dozens of partner nations in Europe, Asia and Africa.
The two infrastructure-spending laws that President Joe Biden signed in recent years earmark billions in spending to develop new reactors and keep existing plants open. And new bills in Congress to speed up U.S. nuclear deployments and sell more American reactors abroad are virtually all bipartisan, with progressives and right-wing Republicans alike expressing support for atomic energy…………
Until November, NuScale appeared on track to debut the nation’s first atomic energy station powered with small modular reactors. But the project to build a dozen reactors in the Idaho desert, and sell the electricity to ratepayers across the Western U.S. through a Utah state-owned utility, was abandoned as rising interest rates made it harder for NuScale to woo investors willing to bet on something as risky a first-of-its-kind nuclear plant.
In 2022, NuScale went public via a SPAC deal, a type of merger that became a popular way for debt-laden startups to pay back venture capitalists with a swifter-than-usual initial public offering on the stock market.
In its latest quarterly earnings, NuScale reported just under $200 million in cash reserves, nearly 40% of which was tied up in restricted accounts……………………………………..
NuScale, which has four other projects proposed in the U.S. and tentative deals in at least eight other countries, isn’t the only nuclear startup navigating choppy waters.
In October, Maryland-based X-energy, which is working with the federal government to develop a next-generation reactor using gas instead of water for cooling, cut part of its workforce and scrapped plans to go public.
In September, California-based Oklo appeared to lose a $100 million contract to build its its salt-cooled “micro-reactors” at an Air Force base in Alaska, as the independent Northern Journal newsletter first reported. ………. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nuscale-layoffs-nuclear-power_n_65985ac5e4b075f4cfd24dba
Nuclear disasters–in–waiting
RICHARD STONE, Science 4 Jan 24
Having taken a heavy toll on Ukraine’s ecosystems and water resources, the war with Russia threatens to create a another environmental disaster: damage to the region’s extensive nuclear infrastructure—including 15 power reactors and three research reactors.
“There continues to be a highly precarious nuclear safety and security situation across Ukraine,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement after explosions were heard near the Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant and its two Soviet-era reactors on 28 November 2023—the second near-miss in a single month at the site. “All of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities remain vulnerable, either directly if hit by a missile or indirectly if their off-site power supplies are disrupted.”
Russia’s assault on Ukrainian nuclear sites began on the very first day of the full-scale invasion. On 24 February 2022, troops overran the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, infamous for the explosion and fire there in 1986 that sent a plume of radioactive smoke into Western Europe. During 5 weeks of occupation, Russian soldiers ransacked labs and kicked up radioactive soil and dust as they dug trenches and slogged through contaminated forests in the exclusion zone around the defunct plant. To the east that spring, Russian troops frequently shelled the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, damaging a hall containing a subcritical nuclear reactor.
Shelling has also flared up repeatedly around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station, a complex of six reactors that constitutes Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Russia captured the plant in March 2022 and the reactors were shut down 6 months later, eliminating the risk of a core meltdown. Still, a prodigious amount of nuclear material remains there: The reactor halls hold 1380 tons of fresh and spent uranium oxide fuel, and two repositories store an additional 2100 tons of spent fuel laced with nasty long-lived radionuclides—the ingredients, many Ukrainians fear, of a “dirty bomb” that would use conventional explosives to spread radioactive isotopes……………………………………….
The presence of IAEA observers at the Zaporizhzhia station since September 2022 has deterred the theft of dirty-bomb ingredients. But a major missile strike on one of its spent fuel repositories could turn the plant itself into a dirty bomb, spreading radioactive contamination in a radius of up to 30 kilometers, says Volodymyr Borysenko, a nuclear engineer with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine’s Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants (ISPNPP).
Even a smaller strike could contaminate the reactor complex. And the spent fuel is also at risk from repeated electricity blackouts that have struck the plant, the latest in early December 2023. Diesel-fueled generators can supply power for up to 10 days, but a prolonged outage could be dangerous, as power is needed to pump cooling water into the plant’s uranium reactor cores and pools holding spent fuel.
A lesser known radioactive risk is situated about 150 kilometers upstream from the Zaporizhzhia plant on the Dnipro River. During the Cold War, the Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant was one of Europe’s largest uranium ore processing facilities. The complex accumulated some 40 million tons of tailings—leftovers of milling uranium—and other foul residues before it closed in 1992. By early 2022, Ukraine, with help from the European Union, had fenced off highly contaminated areas. But a missile or artillery strike on a tainted building or dump could disperse radioactive dust over the nearby city of Kamianske.
One relative bright spot is Chornobyl, where Ukrainian scientists are restoring labs damaged early in the war. But large parts of the exclusion zone remain off limits because of the threat of mines and unexploded ordinance, says ISPNPP Director Anatolii Nosovskiy. Complicating matters for radiation monitoring, he says, the Ukrainian army has built defensive fortifications in the zone, near the border with Belarus…………………. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn7987
We care about Japan’s disaster situation and are concerned about nuclear safety:
By Global Times, Jan 03, 2024
As of Tuesday evening, the 7.6-magnitude strong earthquake that occurred in Japan has caused at least 57 deaths, multiple casualties, building collapses, widespread power outages, and fires. The latest development is a collision between a Japan Airlines plane and a Japan Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport during landing, resulting in at least five deaths among the six crew members of the latter. The Japan Coast Guard aircraft was originally scheduled to transport relief supplies to the earthquake-stricken area in Ishikawa Prefecture. It was preparing for takeoff on the runway when the incident occurred. It’s not difficult to imagine the various chaos that this major earthquake has brought to Japan.
This is the strongest earthquake in Japan since the “3.11” earthquake in 2011. The Japan Meteorological Agency stated on Tuesday that since January 1 local time, there have been 155 earthquakes in Japan, including two strong earthquakes of over magnitude 6. It is uncertain whether there will be continuous aftershocks or even larger earthquakes. Despite Japan’s rich experience in dealing with disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, human society remains vulnerable in the face of unexpected natural disasters.
Meanwhile, we also notice that in this earthquake, there is some important information that may not have received enough attention. For example, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced on the evening of January 1 that the water from the fuel pools at the top floors of the No. 7 and No. 2 reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture spilled over due to strong earthquakes. These waters contain radioactive materials, and the radiation levels are currently being measured. In addition, there was a situation at the Shika Nuclear Power Station in Ishikawa Prefecture where some water had sloshed from a cooling pool for spent fuel rods. Regarding the issues at these two nuclear power stations, the Japanese authorities have promptly concluded that they are “currently safe,” stating that “no damage or leaks were confirmed” and that the fuel cooling at the Shika Nuclear Power Station was “unaffected.”
We certainly hope that this accurately reflects the current situation regarding the nuclear power plants. The information has garnered significant attention from netizens, leading to doubts about whether Japan will experience another catastrophic nuclear accident similar to the Fukushima incident following an earthquake. One reason for this concern is that Japan is one of the countries with the highest concentration of nuclear power plants in the world, coupled with its limited land area. Once a serious nuclear disaster occurs, Japan can hardly cope with it independently. The Fukushima nuclear accident serves as a painful reminder.
More importantly, the Japanese government and TEPCO have a bad track record of mishandling nuclear accidents. To some extent, they have lost credibility. Furthermore, Japan’s stubborn and irresponsible actions regarding the dumping of nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima have caused great concerns among the Japanese people
Japan needs to take these legitimate concerns seriously. Although the epicenter of this earthquake was in the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, its impact was widespread, ranging from Hokkaido to Kyushu. The coastal areas of northern Japan, where numerous nuclear facilities and power plants are located, have been affected to varying degrees. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station, which has witnessed problems, is one of the largest in the world.
It is crucial to assess the condition of these nuclear facilities and the radiation levels in the surrounding sea. Does Japan have a comprehensive monitoring plan in place? Are other nuclear power plants along the coast in a safe state? How does Japan ensure transparency in information disclosure? These issues are directly related to the well-being of the Japanese people and the surrounding countries, and they require a serious response from Japan in the process of dealing with this earthquake………………. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202401/1304687.shtml
Japan earthquake raises concerns over restarting country’s nuclear plants
The earthquake struck days after Japan’s regulators lifted a two-year operational ban on a power plant run by Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which operated the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.
Ashima Sharma, January 5, 2024, https://www.power-technology.com/news/japan-earthquake-raises-concerns-over-restarting-countrys-nuclear-plants/?cf-view
The 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan’s western coast on 1 January has raised concerns over the push to bring the country’s nuclear capacity online.
The earthquake struck just days after the country’s regulators lifted a two-year operational ban on Tepco’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant.
Tepco’s plant is located around 120km from the earthquake’s epicentre but has been offline since 2012. Tepco was also the operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant and in 2021 was banned from transporting new uranium fuel to its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant.
The move was to prevent Tepco from restarting the facility’s seven nuclear reactors, ten years after two of its reactors incurred a triple meltdown at Fukushima.
Following the quake, Tepco reported water spillage from two nuclear fuel pools of the No. 7 and No. 2 reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant.
The company ascertained that about 14 litres of water containing radioactive materials spilled from the pools, although it said the radiation levels were normal.
The Shika nuclear power plant, operated by another company, Hokuriku Electric, and located 65km from the epicentre, also reported spillage from spent nuclear fuel pools and oil leaks.
After the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, there was a strong public and political sentiment to phase out nuclear plants in the country. However, over the years, severe power crunches coupled with rising energy prices have pushed Japan towards restarting idle reactors.
In 2023, Japan’s Kansai Electric Power restarted its 12th nuclear reactor at the Takahama plant. The 826MW Takahama No. 2 was the country’s second-oldest operating reactor, having entered service in 1975.
TODAY. Japan’s earthquake: The world must not be conned by the irrational optimism of the nuclear lobby
Dr Pangloss would be in his element. In today’s world, Pangloss would surely be paid a fortune, one that would minimise the fat salaries of Nuclear Publicist Raphael Grossi, and his cronies.
The earthquake in Japan is a timely case in point.
It demonstrates the safety of nuclear technology.
Or does it?
We get the comforting headlines in the corporate media. - “nuclear power plants largely undamaged following quake” “No Irregularities Identified At West Coast Nuclear Power Plants, Says Regulator”
Grossi’s been remarkably quiet about all this. Being the devious slimy propagandist that he is, Grossi knows that the full story may not be so comforting. He really needs a Dr Pangloss to tutor him on this one.
At first, the news of a radioactive spill at at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station was unavailable – labelled “Forbidden”. And no wonder, as this, the world’s biggest NPP, has a chequered safety history, and is about to be restarted! It has 7 reactors, and is situated all too close to the earthquake fault line.
But then, the nuclear lobby rallied – and added ” No Damage or Leak” to the headline, and made it public.
So – the timing of the earthquake was unfortunate for its owner – Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), (especially as TEPCO is still afflicted with the legal and other effects of its Fukushima nuclear catastrophe).
But hey – the nuclear lobby to the rescue! Never mind that the earthquake made radioactive water from Kashiwazaki-Kariwa’s fuel pools spill over.
They will push ahead with restarting this globally iconic nuclear plant – regardless of its recent problem, and regardless of its problematic history:
- Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear powerplant out of action for many months due to 74 instances of defective welding.
- Security lapses at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata.
- Safety and security issues at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station.
- A number of cases of unauthorized access have occurred at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant.
- Japan’s nuclear regulator bans Tepco from restarting Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant due to safety flaws.
- 60 holes at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuke plant found unfilled in violation of building code. TEPCO again!!
- Danger of radioactive groundwater leak at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant
- Trouble with nuclear fuel rods in Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant.
So we wait to see what Grossi, Pangloss, and the rest of of the nuclear cabal come up with, to justify the restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa.
A Visit to Belmarsh Prison, Where Julian Assange Awaits His Final Appeal Against Extradition to the US
The Wikileaks founder says he fears his own imprisonment, US government surveillance, and restrictions on the group’s funding have effectively scared off potential whistleblowers.
The Nation, CHARLES GLASS, 2 Jan 24
MP BELMARSH—It is 2:30 PM on Wednesday, December 13, when Julian Assange strides into the visitors’ area. He stands out in the column of 23 prisoners for his height—6′ 2″—and flowing white locks with trimmed beard. He squints, looking for a familiar face among the wives, sisters, sons, and fathers of the other inmates. I am waiting, as assigned, at D-3, one of about 40 sets of small coffee tables surrounded by three upholstered chairs—two blue, one red—screwed into the floor of what looks like a basketball court. We spot each other, walk forward, and embrace. It is the first time I have seen him in six years. I blurt, “You’re pale.” Through a mischievous smile I remember from past meetings, he jokes, “They call it prison pale.”
He has not been outdoors—apart from a minute when police dragged him into a paddy wagon—since he took refuge in London’s cramped Ecuadorian Embassy in June 2012. The embassy’s French windows had afforded glimpses of sky. Here at Belmarsh maximum security prison in southeast London, his abode since April 11, 2019, he has not seen the sun. Warders confine him to a cell for 23 out of every 24 hours. His single hour of recreation takes place within four walls, under supervision. His paleness is best described as deathly……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Julian and I sit down, face to face, me on the red chair, he on one of the blues. Above us, glass globes hide cameras that record the interactions between inmates and their guests.
…………………………. Julian had thought prison meant communal meals at long tables, as in the movies. Belmarsh’s warders shove the food into the cells for prisoners to eat alone. It is hard to make friends that way. He has been there longer than any other prisoner apart from an old man who had served seven years to his four and a half. There are occasional suicides, he tells me, including one the night before.
……………………………… I ask whether he still has the radio he had struggled to obtain in his first year. He did, but it was not working due to a defective plug. Regulations permit each prisoner to have a radio purchased from prison stores. The authorities, however, said no radios were available for him. When I heard about it, I sent him a radio. It was returned. I then sent him a book on how to make a radio. That too was returned………………………………………………………………
How did he, a news addict, keep in touch? The prison allows him to read printouts of news stories, and friends write to him. With the invasions of Ukraine and Gaza, I say, now is an important time for whistleblowers to send documents to WikiLeaks. He regrets that WikiLeaks is no longer able to expose war crimes and corruption as in the past. His imprisonment and US government surveillance and restrictions on WikiLeaks’ funding wards off potential whistleblowers. He fears that other media outlets are not filling the vacuum.
Belmarsh does not offer him education programs or communal activity, like orchestra practice, sports, or publishing a prison journal, that are standard at many other prisons. The regime is punitive; although Belmarsh’s 700-odd inhabitants are on remand, awaiting trial or appeal. They are Category A prisoners, those who “pose the most threat to the public, the police or national security” and stand accused of terrorism, murder, or sexual violence.
We talk about Christmas, which is just another day in Belmarsh: no turkey, no carols, no presents. The prison is closed to visitors on Christmas Day and the day after, and the prison has informed his wife, Stella Moris, that she and their two young sons, Gabriel and Max, may not see him on Christmas Eve. He can attend Catholic Mass celebrated by the Polish chaplain, who has become a friend.
………….Apart from occasional visiting days, his days are all the same: the confined space, the loneliness, the books, the memories, the hope that his lawyers’ appeal against extradition and life imprisonment in the United States will succeed……….. https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/julian-assange-wikileaks-belmarsh-prison/
Fears after warning of ‘rotting’ nuclear infrastructure on Clyde
By Xander Elliards
THE UK Government must “urgently” make a statement to parliament on whether Scots living near its nuclear bases remain safe after alarm bells were rung over “rotting” infrastructure, the SNP have said.
It comes after Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, claimed
there was a top-level cover-up of the poor state of the UK’s nuclear
provision. Cummings said that in 2022 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had
approached him for help with the next General Election campaign, and he had
asked for several conditions in return.
One of these, he said, was
addressing the “fundamentally critical” issue of “the scandal of
nuclear weapons infrastructure which is a dangerous disaster and a budget
nightmare of hard-to-believe and highly classified proportions, and which
has forced large secret cannibalisation of other national security
budgets”.
Writing on social media, Cummings added that it was a
“fact that our nuclear weapons infrastructure is dangerously rotting and
is tens of billions secretly in the hole, with huge knock-on effects beyond
its destructive effects on MoD [Ministry of Defence] which has got *even
worse*”. HM Naval Base, Clyde, at Faslane on the west coast of Scotland is
home to the UK’s nuclear submarines. The nearby Royal Naval Armaments
Depot at Coulport is responsible for storing, processing, maintaining and
issuing key elements of the UK’s Trident nuclear missile system.
The National 2nd Jan 2024
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24023426.fears-warning-rotting-nuclear-infrastructure-clyde/
Water Containing Radioactive Materials Spills Over at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant Due to Earthquakes
The Yomiuri Shimbun, 21:24 JST, January 1, 2024
Water from the fuel pools at the top floors of the No. 7 and No. 2 reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture spilled over due to strong earthquakes, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. announced Monday. No damage or leaks were confirmed.
According to TEPCO, when the company checked the fuel pools of reactors No. 1 through No. 7 at around 6:45 p.m., it found that water containing radioactive materials spilled from the pools. About 10 liters spilled from the No. 2 reactor and about 4 liters from the No. 7 reactor. TEPCO is measuring the radiation levels.
1 This month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
15 April – Zoom –Nuclear Power is Not the Solution
Apr 15, 2026 01:00 AM in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) on Tuesday, April 14th for a timely webinar exploring the risks associated with nuclear power and challenging the myth that it offers a simple, safe, carbon-free solution to the climate crisis
21 April Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-04-21 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-04-21 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
Event Type: Virtual
A virtual link will be communicated before the event.
Host Contact Info: australia@icanw.org
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 