The week in nuclear news – Australia and beyond

May 22, 2023

A bit of good news –   A low birthrate is good news for the planet.   What went right this week? The good news you should know about.Climate.  Cop28 host UAE’s approach is ‘dangerous’, says UN’s ex-climate chief.
Christina notes: Pathetic war-mongering response by G7 stuffed shirts at the historic Hiroshima nuclear-bombing site.

Nuclear.  Linder Gunter writes “Lying is the new black” – about the promotion of nuclear energy. But it’s timely too, about the latest developments in Ukraine. Have the Russians had a win? We are told – not really!  The G7 leaders went to Hiroshima –  all for world peace of course, paid lip service to America’s horror nuclear bombing in 1945, and went on to militaristic planning against Russia and China  – nothing about nuclear disarmament. No suggestion of negotiation.

TOP STORIES:

Hiroshima survivors warn G7 leaders about using nuclear bombs.

Ukraine’s Depleted Uranium Blast: Europe on Brink of ‘Environmental Disaster’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kqpbw6YTLo Depleted uranium won’t end a war that has no winners.

Global heating is predicted to trigger more nuclear outages in France every year..

Should South Carolina have canceled Plant Summer? Yes, and Georgia should have canceled, too

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

AUSTRALIA.   Stella Assange: ‘This is the closest we’ve ever been to securing Julian’s release’   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6N33Ca8UrA

 AUKUS may turn out to be the largest financial swindle perpetrated by the United States and the United Kingdom against Australia and other Asia Pacific nations.    Labor, Greens & Defence Experts call for AUKUS Parliamentary Inquiry    Coalition clown show on nuclear on full display in Senate inquiry.    Richard Marles and the ‘seamless’ transfer of Australian sovereignty.  Pentagon seeks authority to transfer nuclear submarines (and costs) to Australia.     Why nuclear power won’t work in Australia — yet another explainer.    Government gutted as consulting firms PwC, Big 4 pick up $1.4b a year for giving advice, including on Defence purchases.  ‘Extremely difficult’ for nuclear energy to ever have a future in Australia- says Secretary of pro nuclear union.     Defence bombing Indigenous site in Woomera.   Community batteries .

CLIMATE. Siting new nuclear power stations — an unsustainable geography.

ECONOMICS. Finnish nuclear plant throttles production as electricity price plunges. Russia’s Atomflot added to U.S. sanctions list.

ENERGY. Finance for renewable energy.        Germany’s green revolution puts nuclear power in the past.          The nine hours in which Spain made the 100% renewable dream a reality. New report finds millions of Britons planning to get rid of their cars .

ENVIRONMENT. Nuclear Free Local Authorities condemn UK Environment Agency’s failure to protect the marine environment in Hinkley Point C’s nuclear project .

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Nuclear Fusion breakthrough hits hurdles as five experiments fail.

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. How a small activist sailing ship successfully challenged the nuclear arms race.

POLITICS.  Sceptical opinions about Vladimir Zelensky.         France to speed up nuclear power deployment.         Poland’s Greens oppose construction of small nuclear reactor in Kraków.  Energy minister Andrew Bowie in visit to Suffolk projects.        Robert F Kennedy’s Peace Platform.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. 

PROTESTS. Anti-nuclear activists protest Japanese government plans to release radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.

SAFETY. Nuclear Safety Authority identified faults in Olkiluoto nuclear power plant .     IAEA Warns of Tense Military Situation Near Ukraine Nuclear Plant.

SECRETS and LIES. Lying is the new black.

WASTES. Fukushima fishermen speak out against nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping plan.

WAR and CONFLICT.  US hopes to snatch victory from jaws of defeat in Ukraine. Ukrainians forced by Russia to retreat from Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) , their supposed ‘fortress’ in Donbass. Russian forces dig in at Ukrainian nuclear plant, witnesses say.   Ukrainian diplomat fears ‘terrible summer’ ahead.

G7 Desecrates Hiroshima A-Bomb Memory With Warmongering Summit.  Biden Won’t Apologize for 1945 Nuclear Attacks on Japan as G7 Leaders Gather in Hiroshima.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. UK and Netherlands agree ‘international coalition’ to help Ukraine procure F-16 jets.    Western Weapons to Ukraine: Black Market for Terrorists “On Command”.        $3 BILLION Pentagon ‘accounting error’ means more weapons for Ukraine.

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Nuclear news (too much) this week.

May 16, 2023

A bit of good news – What is Black Climate Week? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1YQWBoDN_w

Climate. 75 active wildfires rage in Alberta, Canada. Wildfires, heat waves in Canada, Russia, Mongolia Kazakhstan.

Nuclear. Hard to know which issue to tackle. There’s the frenzied pro nuclear propaganda (type “nuclear” into Google News and see what you get). There’s Zaporizhzhia. There’s waste. And there’s Zelensky and Ukraine – where the Washington Post forgot that its job is adulation, and quickly has to correct any suggestion that Zelensky is less than a saintly hero. USA and its lackeys (UK, Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan etc) are not actually at war against Russia. But the Western media must think that we all are, so its infra dig to publish anything other than war-mongering propaganda worthy of the WW1 British style.

AUSTRALIA. 

CLIMATE. How a campaign to keep fossil fuels underground is gaining traction. Weatherwatch: concerns over climate impact on UK nuclear power sites.

CIVIL LIBERTIES. Chris Hedges: Julian Assange – A Fight We Must Not Lose. Threats to journalism posed by UK National Security Bill brushed aside by Parliament.

ECONOMICS. 

EDUCATION. Nuclear enthusiast Jennifer Granholm ‘hopeful’ about $1B in federal loans to restart Palisades nuclear plant.

ENERGY. Germany’s Nuclear Energy Phase-Out, Explained,

ENVIRONMENT. Campaigners claim permit change at Hinkley Point would kill billions of fish. What to Know About Fukushima’s Exclusion Zone and Nuclear Mutations. Japan’s nuclear contaminated wastewater dump plan a cause of concerns even for New Caledonia.

HEALTH. The terrible toll of A-bomb tests — Beyond Nuclear

INDIGENOUS ISSUES. The Quiet Warrior: Russell Jim’s Struggle Against Nuclear Colonialism.

LEGAL. New Mexico State law and multiple federal court challenges may yet block the Holtec nuclear waste project.

MEDIA. Washington Post censors its own report of interview that showed President Vladimir Zelensky in a poor light. THE NUCLEAR CLUB. Christopher Nolan’s New ‘Oppenheimer’ Trailer Sees U.S. On the Brink of Nuclear War. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CXFpWTxS3M The Women of Three Mile Island. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is3jlNhicFY

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Microsoft just made a huge, dodgy bet on nuclear fusion. Helion and Microsoft Lead World Down Nuclear Fusion Rabbit Hole, China’s nuclear ambitions get a boost from Russia, but is energy the only goal?.

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. Save our sceptred isle: NFLAs issue appeal to King over Lincolnshire Nuke Dump. UK’s Nuclear Waste Services ignore overwhelming local council opposition to siting plan for waste dump. Pacific leaders remain steadfast against nuclear waste disposal.

POLITICS 

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.  The success of the Zelensky regime coming unstuck?                                                                                                                          France to host pro-nuclear meet to push for EU recognition of climate benefits.            Whitewashing history. Estonia to issue fines for celebrating WW2 victory over Nazis.              Five years after Trump’s exit, no return to the Iran nuclear deal.                                          NATO – a great predatory bird – now keen to gobble up Japan, too.

PROTESTS. 8 arrested at nuclear protest on Mother’s Day

SAFETY. Luck is not a safety plan. Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant facing ‘catastrophic’ staff shortage amid Russian evacuation. Russia orders evacuation of civilians around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant amid warnings of ‘severe nuclear accident’. Ukraine war: ‘Mad panic’ as Russia evacuates town near Zaporizhzhia plant. Risks too high at Zaporizhzhia. 

Experts urge G7 leaders to discuss nuclear security.                                                              Vogtle-3 nuclear reactor flunked cybersecurity inspections, still at 0% power (7 May)          French nuclear group Orano (previously Areva) evacuates foreign workers to Niger capital following security threat.

SECRETS and LIES. The US silence on Israeli nuclear weapons and the right-wing Israeli government.

SPINBUSTER. Missteps deliver Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez into the hands of the pro-nuclear propagandists – REPROCESSING IS NOT RECYCLING.

WASTES. 

WAR and CONFLICT. Leak reveals Zelensky privately plots bold attacks inside Russia.(Is his halo slipping?) Zelensky plotted attacks deep inside Russia – Washington Post. As Donetsk civilians live in constant fear of Ukrainian shelling, from on the ground, I detail the terror. 

Poland: Pentagon, NATO reach milestone in plans for direct confrontation with Russia. NATO Weapons Go Boom, British Missiles Strike Russia – Ukraine War Escalates Russia’s Nuclear-Capable Tu-95, Tu-160 Bombers Deployed Near NATO Border As Tensions Escalate With Ukraine. NATO holds submarine warfare exercise to block Russia’s entry to Atlantic . 

US Politicians Suggest Bombing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in Event of Cross-Strait Conflict.                                                                                                                        Japanese protesters call for US military to be evicted.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. Biden is selling weapons to the majority of the world’s autocracies. Britain leads the way in escalating the Ukraine war with long range missiles. US to Provide Ukraine $1.2 Billion in Long-Term Security Aid. Pentagon chief pledges Abrams tanks to Ukraine soon. 

US and Taiwan in talks for US$500 million in free weapons after arms deliveries stalled. Pentagon: U.S. deploys warplanes, warships, interceptor missiles to Europe, troops to Mexican border . Links between Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Power. U.S. transfers F-22s from Poland to Estonia to “defend NATO’s eastern flank” . Pentagon wants authority to start work on new technologies without Congressional approval.

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Weakening of Australia’s nuclear prohibition laws – necessary to develop the submarines

May 11, 2023

Parliament takes first steps to nuclear submarines. Examiner, By Andrew Brown, May 10 2023 

The first step to Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarines as part of the AUKUS security pact has been introduced to federal parliament.

Laws brought in to the House of Representatives on Wednesday will update rules banning civil nuclear power to allow for work to be done on the submarines……………….

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the bill would be the first of many associated with the vessels, but a civil nuclear energy industry would not be on the cards.  https://www.examiner.com.au/story/8190260/parliament-takes-first-steps-to-nuclear-submarines/
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This week in nuclear news – Australia and more

May 8, 2023

Some bits of good news. I’ve been ignoring energy sources other than nuclear. But that’s hard to do this week. I’ve come to at least 3 very positive stories: Germany produces 40GW of solar, and much of it exported to other countries. Great Lakes wind power could give Ontario to 100% renewable energy.   Bristol solar farm connects directly to the grid

Climate. Record low Antarctic sea ice is another alarming sign the ocean’s role as climate regulator is changing

Christina Notes. Time for a laugh – in this sorry world.

Nuclear. Sorry – it’s no different from last week – war-mongering rhetoric. But James W. Pfister offers a timely reminder of President John F. Kennedy and Chairman Nikita Khrushchev’s joint “withdrawal from the brink” in 1962. “Both sides settled for less than a win.”

AUSTRALIA. Australian prime minister feigns concern for Assange but defends “national security” secrecy.

Labor’s serial betrayal of Australia. JOHN PILGER: Danger of war exists if we don’t speak up now. Location for nuclear submarine’s base ‘close to a decade’ away. Port Kembla May Day march rejects AUKUS nuclear submarine base plan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgL307PMWMY Unions, communities tell Labor: ‘Port Kembla is no place for a nuclear base’. Unions to march against nuclear subs, citing health risks over jobs. Port Kembla rally to demand NSW site be ruled out as Aukus nuclear submarine base. AUKUS high-level nuclear waste dump must be subject to Indigenous veto.

CLIMATE. Former Nuclear Leaders: Say ‘No’ to New Reactors,

CIVIL LIBERTIES. Julian Assange makes ‘Kingly Proposal’ to Charles III.

ECONOMICS. Newbuild: How Much of Vogtle Nuclear Plant’s Capital Costs Can Southern Recover?   Canada and Ontario are turning to nuclear energy as a green solution –Here’s the problem with that. 

  Marketing. Blaine Higgs, Premier of New Brunswick, Canada, heads to Europe to promote non-existent small nuclear reactors. The Philippines to be the South East Asian guinea pig for NuScam’s small nuclear reactors? US Sells Taiwan 400 Harpoon Anti-Ship Missiles – Profits and Provocations, Not Protection 

HEALTH. DEPLETED URANIUM: COURTS ACCEPT CANCER RISK DENIED BY ARMY. Radiation. Ukrainian soldiers train to deal with radiation as worries over nuclear plant grow.

MEDIA. Multiple US Officials Confronted About US Assange Hypocrisy On World Press Freedom Day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8osNmcVkoY Hypocritical Commemorations: World Press Freedom Day. The Antidote to Oliver Stone is Philippe Carillo’s Film “Fukushima Disaster: The Hidden Side of the Story” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBqk0OtlE8k . A nuclear Bacchanalia .

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. The danger of artificial intelligence controlling nuclear codes. A mess of different Small Nuclear Reactor Designs in UK.

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. Abolish Nukes, Kishida, G7!

PERSONAL STORIES. A life uprooted and stolen — Japanese victims speak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzaE_9l5mSw&t=83s. A Tribute to Daniel Ellsberg .

POLITICS.   

Fukushima: Only 1% of people return home despite lifting of evacuation order

UK.  

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. James W. Pfister: Cumulative risk and nuclear war.          Biden’s leadership on nuclear disarmament to be tested in Hiroshima,

PROTESTS. Protest against investment in Sizewell C nuclear power station.

SAFETY. 

 More Than 1,600 Evacuated From Areas Near Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant.          IAEA head calls situation near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant ‘unpredictable and potentially dangerous‘. Record high water levels threaten dam near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Evacuations spur UN watchdog concern over Ukraine nuclear plant. Disaster Fears After Explosives Found Inside Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant. 

 France’s government postpones its nuclear safety reform indefinitely. Backup generator at Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant fails, triggering special federal review. ‘Lessons not being learned’ as nuclear safety lapses rocket by a third in a year. West Hartford Preps For Hypothetical Nuclear Nightmare.

SECRETS and LIES. Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, and the ‘made men’ of the Biden administration. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken embroiled in alleged attempt to influence US officials on allegedly corrupt company Burisma.

Former CIA Officer Says Decision to Drone Attack Kremlin Was Made by the United States. Meet the Ukrainian children killed by US/NATO funding and weapons.

WASTES. What happens to the UK’s nuclear waste?    Germany’s Asse nuclear waste interim storage facility continues to cause controversy.

WAR and CONFLICT. Russia ‘very unlikely’ to use nuclear weapons, US intel chief. WWIII on the Instalment Plan. The dangers of nuclear escalation have not receded. US ‘Dangerously Close’ To Another Nuclear Missile Crisis; After Russia, China Could Respond To Deployment Of Nuke Subs To S.Korea.   As US-China Tensions Mount, We Must Resist the Push Toward Interimperialist War.   

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. The Twenty-First Century of (Profitable) War– Not Your Grandfather’s Military-Industrial Complex. Nuclear weapons may not be in Seoul’s best interest. Impending NATO inductee Finland welcomes “significant military infrastructure” from Pentagon .  

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The nuclear lobby to get what it really wants?- a high level nuclear waste dump in Australia

May 8, 2023

  07/05/2023 by Brian Hartiganhttps://www.contactairlandandsea.com/2023/05/07/new-agency-and-new-regulator-to-deliver-nuclear-submarine-program/

In leading the delivery of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines, the ASA will be responsible for cradle-to-grave management, including:

Disposal

New agency and new regulator to deliver nuclear submarine program

The government will establish a new agency and a new regulator as part of its commitment to delivering Australia’s conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines.

The Australian Submarine Agency (ASA) will be established by Executive Order and be responsible and accountable for the management and oversight of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program.

Work to deliver the pathway is already underway and remains a key priority for the government, in line with the recommendations of the Defence Strategic Review.

In leading the delivery of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines, the ASA will be responsible for cradle-to-grave management, including:

  • acquisition
  • delivery
  • construction
  • technical governance
  • sustainment, and
  • disposal

ASA will also enable the necessary policy, legal, non-proliferation, workforce, security and safety arrangements.

Royal Australian Navy, led by the Chief of Navy, will continue to be responsible for training submariners and operating Australia’s submarines.

The Nuclear-Powered Submarine Taskforce, which currently operates as part of Defence, will transition to the ASA on 1 July 2023.

t will be headed by a Director General, the appointment of whom will be announced by the government at the appropriate time.

The government will also establish a new independent statutory regulator, the Australian Nuclear-Powered Submarine Safety Regulator.

The new regulator will have the functions and powers necessary to regulate the unique circumstances associated with nuclear safety and radiological protection across the lifecycle of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine enterprise.

This includes associated infrastructure and facilities.

The regulator will be independent of the Australian Defence Force’s chain of command and directions from the Department of Defence.

This will be a fundamental part of a system of regulation, which will work with existing Australian regulators to support the safety of our submariners, Australian and international communities, and the environment.

Both the ASA and the Australian Nuclear-Powered Submarine Safety Regulator will be non-corporate Commonwealth entities within the Defence portfolio and report directly to the Minister for Defence.

Minister for Defence Richard Marles said the government was delivering on its commitment to the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, which is the single biggest investment in our defence capability in our history.

“The establishment of the Australian Submarine Agency and the Australian Nuclear-Powered Submarine Safety Regulator are critical elements of delivering this game-changing capability and will ensure the safe and successful implementation of the pathway for Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines,” Mr Marles said.

“The ASA will be responsible and accountable for delivering the ambitious program to acquire Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines.

“A specialised and dedicated regulator – which will be independent of Defence and the Australian Defence Force – will ensure we have the highest standards of nuclear safety and radiological protection across the lifecycle of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines.”

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JOHN PILGER: Danger of war exists if we don’t speak up now

May 4, 2023

While no threat from China exists, media propagandists are trying to ignite a war the likes of which we’ve never seen. John Pilger reminds us that we need to raise our voices before it’s too late.

“IN 1935, the Congress of American Writers was held in New York City, followed by another two years later. They called on ‘the hundreds of poets, novelists, dramatists, critics, short story writers and journalists’ to discuss the ‘rapid crumbling of capitalism’ and the beckoning of another war………………………………………………

The journalist and novelist Martha Gellhorn spoke up for the homeless and unemployed, and “all of us under the shadow of violent great power”. ………………………….

On 7 March, the two oldest newspapers in Australia – The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age – published several pages on “the looming threat” of China. They coloured the Pacific Ocean red. Chinese eyes were martial, on the march and menacing. The Yellow Peril was about to fall down as if by the weight of gravity.

No logical reason was given for an attack on Australia by China. A “panel of experts” presented no credible evidence; one of them is a former director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a front for the Defence Department in Canberra, the Pentagon in Washington, the governments of Britain, Japan and Taiwan, and the West’s war industry.

There is no threat to Australia. None. The faraway “lucky” country has no enemies, least of all China, its largest trading partner. Yet China-bashing that draws on Australia’s long history of racism towards Asia has become something of a sport for the self-ordained “experts”. What do Chinese-Australians make of this? Many are confused and fearful.

The authors of this grotesque piece of dog-whistling and obsequiousness to American power are Peter Hartcher and Matthew Knott, “national security reporters” I think they are called. I remember Hartcher from his Israeli government-paid jaunts. The other one, Knott, is a mouthpiece for the suits in Canberra. Neither has ever seen a war zone and its extremes of human degradation and suffering.  

How did it come to this? Martha Gellhorn would say if she were here. Where on Earth are the voices saying no? Where is the comradeship?

The voices are heard in the samizdat of this website and others. In literature, the likes of John Steinbeck, Carson McCullers and George Orwell are obsolete. Post-modernism is in charge now. Liberalism has pulled up its political ladder. A once somnolent social democracy, Australia, has enacted a web of new laws protecting secretive, authoritarian power and preventing the right to know. Whistleblowers are outlaws, to be tried in secret. An especially sinister law bans “foreign interference” by those who work for foreign companies. What does this mean?

Democracy is notional now; there is the all-powerful elite of the corporation merged with the state and the demands of “identity”. American admirals are paid thousands of dollars a day by the Australian taxpayer for “advice”. Right across the West, our political imagination has been pacified by PR and distracted by the intrigues of corrupt, ultra-low-rent politicians: a Johnson or a Trump or a Sleepy Joe or a Zelensky.

No writers’ congress in 2023 worries about “crumbling capitalism” and the lethal provocations of “our” leaders. The most infamous of these, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, a prima facie criminal under the Nuremberg Standard, is free and rich. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who dared journalists to prove their readers had a right to know, is in his second decade of incarceration…………………………………………………..more https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/john-pilger-danger-of-war-exists-if-we-dont-speak-up-now,17470—

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This week in nuclear news – all about war-mongering

May 2, 2023

A bit of good news. The Golden Rule, the first boat to protest nuclear weapons is back to inspire a new generation.

Events. 17 May Online Seminar – Beyond Nuclear “Tritium and the U.S. Nuclear Power Sector”. 18 – 28 May .12TH INTERNATIONAL URANIUM FILM FESTIVAL RIO DE JANEIRO .

Climate. The most at-risk regions in the world for high-impact heatwaves.

Nuclear. What can I say? The longest section below “Weapons and Weapons Sales” says it all. It’s the war-mongering economy, stupid.

Christina notes. Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles – a puppet of the American war industry – leading us on to WW3.

AUSTRALIA. New Defence Review Further Enslaves Australia To US War Agendas. Australia pays Washington swamp monsters for war advice – as they groom us for World War 3. Caitlin Johnstone: Australia Pays “retired U.S. military figure” Clapper to advance USA’s Military Aims.Australia pays former US defence chiefs $7000 a day for advice.  We are being seduced into war again by the US, this time over Taiwan. 

Defence Minister Richard Marles and former Defence Minister (now weapons lobbyist) to spruik for militarism at expensive weapons festivity. AUKUS nuclear submarine cost includes 50% fund for unexpected overruns.    $123B Contingencies for Nuclear Subs Unveiled – a licence to fail.  Port Kembla no place for a nuclear subs base, say local campaigners. 

Memo to ERA: You have one job – clean up Kakadu uranium mess.

CLIMATE. Despite the dangers of climate change, UK nuclear power stations still sited on the coastline!

ECONOMICS. Preparing for War: The Global Military Budget. Nuclear vs Solar: The Race For Renewable Dominance. Marketing. UK courts Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates for investments to salvage the nuclear dream

ENERGY. EDF Q1 revenues rise but nuclear output declines.

ENVIRONMENT. Remembering Chornobyl — Beyond Nuclear. Why did Russians dig trenches in radioactive Chernobyl woods? Marine deaths prompt calls for investigation and halt into any new nuclear dump tests. Hinkley fish deterrent farce makes mockery of Environment Agency and Minister.

HEALTH. Russian troops ‘went FISHING in the nuclear reactor cooling channel at Chernobyl’ and are now suffering from radiation sickness. ‘New Zealand should say sorry’ – sailors posted to watch nuclear tests.

HISTORY. REGAN Vest: Inside Denmark’s secret nuclear bunker.

MEDIA. BBC launches 7 part series on Fukushima nuclear disaster. Fukushima nuclear disaster – new Netflix series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtB8P59xWjw Survivors of Britain’s Cold War radiation experiments to have their stories recorded.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. The age of small modular nuclear? Amid maintenance delays and strikes in nuclear industry, France restarts one reactor.

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. MPs and activists push back as Ottawa pitches expansion of nuclear energy -“a dirty dangerous distraction”.     Citizen opposition blocks discharge of radioactive water from Indian Point nuke into Hudson River, for now.             Anti nuclear campaign groups in Wales (Dwyfor and Meirionnydd) urge government to invest in energy conservation, NOT dirty nuclear power.

PERSONAL STORIES. The mind of Oppenheimer, inventor of nuclear bomb who turned pacifist. Chernobyl: Survivors reflect on nuclear accident, Russian occupation.

POLITICS. 

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY. 

PROTESTS.“We won’t be scapegoats!” — French opposition to nuclear waste dumping.

PUBLIC OPINION. Is nuclear power attractive or risky? In Minnesota, it’s both.

SAFETY Remembering Chernobyl as nuclear danger grows with attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region. Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant: a Catastrophe Waiting to Happen, Ukraine’s nuclear power plants are still a source of nightmares years after the Chornobyl disaster. Chernobyl anniversary offers a bleak look at what may await other Ukrainian nuclear plants. Russia fixing power line from Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to land it controls, IAEA says. 

Japanese authorities doubtful of removal process of Fukushima radioactive sandbags. Libya lost, then found, 2.5 tonnes of uranium – a red flag for nuclear safety.   No change to nuclear transport rules following accident down under, says regulator.

SECRETS and LIES. 

SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. India needs ‘space-based’ weapons – top generals. Stop SpaceX from crashing rockets in the Pacific. The wrong stuff – Musk and the 4/20 rocket drill .

SPINBUSTER. Caitlin Johnstone – The Single Dumbest Thing The Empire Asks Us To Believe.

WASTES. Nuclear waste from small modular reactors – Simon Daigle comments on recent article. A means to dispose of nuclear waste remains elusive and Canada continues to store the most per capita. The long and dirty legacy of nuclear power. Plans to release nuclear wastewater into Hudson River delayed following outcry.

WAR and CONFLICT. 

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.

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Caitlin Johnstone: Australia Pays “retired U.S. military figure” Clapper to advance USA’s Military Aims

April 29, 2023

retired U.S. military figure” generally means someone who used to be paid by the U.S. government to advance the interests of the U.S. empire, and is now paid by corporations and/or foreign governments to advance the interests of the U.S. empire.

Among the American swamp monsters hired by Canberra is the Obama administration’s spy chief, who has an established track record of lying and manipulating to advance the interests of the U.S. empire.

By Caitlin Johnstone CaitlinJohnstone.com April 27, 2023 https://consortiumnews.com/2023/04/27/caitlin-johnstone-australia-pays-clapper-for-us-aims/

Australia has been paying insiders of the U.S. war machine for consultation on how to run the nation’s military, a massive conflict of interest given that Washington has been grooming Australia for a role in its war agendas against China.

In its article “Retired U.S. admirals charging Australian taxpayers thousands of dollars per day as defence consultants,” the ABC reports that, according to documents the Pentagon provided Congress last month, “dozens of retired U.S. military figures have been granted approval to work for Australia since 2012.”

For those who don’t speak imperialist, “retired U.S. military figure” generally means someone who used to be paid by the U.S. government to advance the interests of the U.S. empire, and is now paid by corporations and/or foreign governments to advance the interests of the U.S. empire.

These corrupt warmongers rotate in and out of the revolving door of the D.C. swamp, from government to war-industry jobs to punditry gigs to influential think tanks and then back again into government, advancing the interests of the U.S. empire the entire time and growing wealthy in the process.

This dynamic allows a permanent constellation of reliable empire managers to continually exert influence around the world in support of the U.S. empire, regardless of who gets voted into or out of office in the performative display of electoral politics. It’s a big part of why U.S. foreign policy remains the same regardless of who’s officially running the elected government in Washington, and it’s a big part of why the media and arms industry which support the U.S. war machine keep playing the same tune as well.

Among the American swamp monsters Australia paid for consulting work is the Obama administration’s spy chief James Clapper, who has an established track record of lying and manipulating to advance the interests of the U.S. empire:

  • In 2013 Clapper committed perjury by telling the U.S. Senate under oath that the NSA does not knowingly collect data on millions of Americans, only to have that lie exposed by the Edward Snowden leaks a few months later.
  • In 2016 Clapper played a foundational role in fomenting public hysteria about Russia with the flimsy ODNI report on alleged Russian election interference, which remains riddled with massive plot holes. He would later go on to repeatedly voice the opinion that Russians are “almost genetically driven” toward nefarious and subversive behavior.
  • In 2020 Clapper signed the infamous and now fully discredited letter from former intelligence insiders saying the Hunter Biden laptop story was likely a Russian disinfo op, falsely telling CNN that the story was “textbook Soviet Russian tradecraft at work” and that the emails on the laptop had “no metadata” on them.

Also among the American military consultants paid by Australia is a man we just discussed the other day, William Hilarides, who will be telling Australia how to reconfigure its navy because apparently no Australians are available for that job. We now know that according to the released Pentagon documents Canberra has already paid Hilarides almost $2.5 million since 2016 for his consulting work.

This information was originally reported by The Washington Post’s Craig Whitlock and Nate Jones, who last year also broke the remarkable story that a former U.S. navy admiral named Stephen Johnson had actually served as Australia’s deputy navy secretary, a position which needless to say is not normally open to foreigners.

This is just one of the many ways that Australia is being interwoven into the U.S. war machine, from the 2023 Defence Strategic Review which further enshrines Australia’s position as a U.S. military asset, to Australian Secretary of Defence Richard Marles saying that the Defence Force is moving “beyond interoperability to interchangeability” with the U.S. military and being suspiciously secretive about who his golfing buddies were in his last trip to the U.S., to Australian officials angrily dismissing attempts to find out if the U.S. has been bringing nuclear weapons into Australia, to the Australian media pounding Australian consciousness with anti-China hysteria to such an extent that hate crimes are now being perpetrated against Asian Australians.

……………………………………… Australia has always seemed like a fairly irrelevant player on the world stage because of its impotent subservience to Washington. But it’s becoming clear it is exactly because of Australia’s blind subservience to Washington that Australia is worth paying attention to, since that relationship may well end up giving the nation a front-row seat to World War Three.

Australians are going to have to wake up to what’s being done and the abominable agendas the nation is being exploited to advance. Australians are being groomed for a military confrontation of unimaginable horror, one which absolutely does not need to take place, all in the name of something as trivial as securing U.S. planetary hegemony. Australians have got to start saying no to this, starting right now.

 

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New Defence Review Further Enslaves Australia To US War Agendas

April 27, 2023

So to recap, Australia’s foreign policy is being shaped “for decades to come” by an “independent” strategic review that (A) was authored by someone who is compromised by US funding, (B) is being implemented in part by an American former military official, (C) calls for greater and greater cooperation with the United States across the board, and (D) focuses primarily on targeting a nation that just so happens to be the number one geopolitical rival of the United States.

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/new-defence-review-further-enslaves?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=117072144&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
APR 25

The Australian government has released the declassified version of its highly anticipated 2023 Defence Strategic Review (DSR), and the war propagandists are delighted.

Sydney Morning Herald’s Matthew Knott, most well-known for being told by former prime minister Paul Keating to “do the right thing and drum yourself out of Australian journalism” over his role in Nine Entertainment’s despicable Red Alert war-with-China propaganda series, has a new propaganda piece out titled “Defence review pulls no punches: China the biggest threat we face“.

Here are the first few paragraphs to give you a sense of the squealing glee these swamp monsters are experiencing right now:

Angus Houston and Stephen Smith have delivered a blaring wake-up call to any Australians who think they still live in a sanctuary of safety at the southern edge of the Earth: you’re living in the past.

To those inside and outside the Australian Defence Force who think business-as-usual will cut it in the future: you’re delusional.

Their message to anyone confused about the biggest threat to Australia’s national security is similarly blunt: it is our largest trading partner, China.

Like a pair of doctors delivering confronting news to an ill patient, the two men tasked with reshaping Australia’s military for the 21st century have opted for admirable candour in their defence strategic review.

Rejecting vague language about rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, the former defence chief and defence minister call out just one nation – China – for threatening Australia’s core interests.

“Like a pair of doctors.” That’s the kind of third-rate propaganda we get in the nation with the most consolidated media ownership in the western world.

The “defence” review focuses not on defending the shores of the continent of Australia, but instead over and over again makes mention of the need to protect the “rules-based order” in Australia’s “region” — the so-called “Indo-Pacific” — which includes China. It is for the most part 110 pages of mental contortions explaining why “defending” the nation of Australia is going to have to look a whole lot like preparing to pick a fight with an Asian nation thousands of kilometers away. 

The public DSR actually only mentions China by name eight times, though by Knott’s ecstatic revelry you’d assume that was the only word it contains. In contrast, the document mentions the United States no fewer than 38 times, with the United Kingdom getting two mentions, New Zealand getting only one, and Australia’s neighbors like Papua New Guinea and Indonesia not mentioned by name at all. 

“Our Alliance with the United States will remain central to Australia’s security and strategy,” the review reads. “The United States will become even more important in the coming decades. Defence should pursue greater advanced scientific, technological and industrial cooperation in the Alliance, as well as increased United States rotational force posture in Australia, including with submarines.”

The overshadowing presence of the United States in a document that is ostensibly about Australian security interests would be confusing to you if you did not know that Australia has for generations served as a US military and intelligence asset, where our nation’s interests are so subordinated to Washington’s that we’re not even allowed to know if the US is bringing nuclear weapons into our country. 

In a foreshadowing of the DSR’s pledge to pursue even greater cooperation with the US, last year Australia’s Secretary of Defence Richard Marles said that the Australian Defence Force is moving “beyond interoperability to interchangeability” with the US military so they can “operate seamlessly together, at speed.” Which is a fancy way of saying that any meaningful separation between the Australian military and the American military has been effectively dissolved.

Marles, who is currently facing scrutiny in Australia for being illicitly secretive about the nature of a free golf trip he went on in his last visit to the United States, has said that the DSR “will underpin our Defence policy for decades to come.”

Even some of the implementation of the DSR’s findings will be overseen by an American, not an Australian. ABC reports that “a major component to determine the future shape of Australia’s naval fleet will be decided later this year in a ‘short, sharp’ review to be led by US Navy Vice Admiral William H Hilarides.”

The review itself has been tainted with severe conflicts of interest with regard to US influence. As Mack Williams noted in Pearls And Irritations earlier this month, the senior advisor and principal author behind the review is a man named Peter Dean, a professor and Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre (USSC) at the University of Sydney. The USSC receives funding from the US government, and Dean’s own CV boasts that he “currently leads two US State Department-funded public diplomacy programs on the US-Australia Alliance.”

So to recap, Australia’s foreign policy is being shaped “for decades to come” by an “independent” strategic review that (A) was authored by someone who is compromised by US funding, (B) is being implemented in part by an American former military official, (C) calls for greater and greater cooperation with the United States across the board, and (D) focuses primarily on targeting a nation that just so happens to be the number one geopolitical rival of the United States.

It is hilarious, then, that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the release of the DSR by proclaiming that “At its core, all of this is making Australia more self-reliant, more prepared and more secure in the years ahead.” It is funnier still that he concluded that same speech with an Anzac Day acknowledgement of Australian troops who who have died in wars “to defend our sovereignty and our freedom.”

It doesn’t get any less self-reliant and sovereign than just handing over your nation’s military to a more powerful nation with a “There ya go mate, use it however you reckon’s fair.” You really could not come up with a more egregious abdication of national sovereignty if you tried. And yet our prime minister babbles about sovereignty and self-reliance while doing exactly that.

Just annex us and make us the 51st state already. At least that way we’d get a pretend vote in America’s fake elections.


“Our Alliance with the United States will remain central to Australia’s security and strategy,” the review reads. “The United States will become even more important in the coming decades. Defence should pursue greater advanced scientific, technological and industrial cooperation in the Alliance, as well as increased United States rotational force posture in Australia, including with submarines.”

The overshadowing presence of the United States in a document that is ostensibly about Australian security interests would be confusing to you if you did not know that Australia has for generations served as a US military and intelligence asset, where our nation’s interests are so subordinated to Washington’s that we’re not even allowed to know if the US is bringing nuclear weapons into our country. 

In a foreshadowing of the DSR’s pledge to pursue even greater cooperation with the US, last year Australia’s Secretary of Defence Richard Marles said that the Australian Defence Force is moving “beyond interoperability to interchangeability” with the US military so they can “operate seamlessly together, at speed.” Which is a fancy way of saying that any meaningful separation between the Australian military and the American military has been effectively dissolved.

Marles, who is currently facing scrutiny in Australia for being illicitly secretive about the nature of a free golf trip he went on in his last visit to the United States, has said that the DSR “will underpin our Defence policy for decades to come.”

Even some of the implementation of the DSR’s findings will be overseen by an American, not an Australian. ABC reports that “a major component to determine the future shape of Australia’s naval fleet will be decided later this year in a ‘short, sharp’ review to be led by US Navy Vice Admiral William H Hilarides.”

The review itself has been tainted with severe conflicts of interest with regard to US influence. As Mack Williams noted in Pearls And Irritations earlier this month, the senior advisor and principal author behind the review is a man named Peter Dean, a professor and Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre (USSC) at the University of Sydney. The USSC receives funding from the US government, and Dean’s own CV boasts that he “currently leads two US State Department-funded public diplomacy programs on the US-Australia Alliance.”

So to recap, Australia’s foreign policy is being shaped “for decades to come” by an “independent” strategic review that (A) was authored by someone who is compromised by US funding, (B) is being implemented in part by an American former military official, (C) calls for greater and greater cooperation with the United States across the board, and (D) focuses primarily on targeting a nation that just so happens to be the number one geopolitical rival of the United States.

It is hilarious, then, that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the release of the DSR by proclaiming that “At its core, all of this is making Australia more self-reliant, more prepared and more secure in the years ahead.” It is funnier still that he concluded that same speech with an Anzac Day acknowledgement of Australian troops who who have died in wars “to defend our sovereignty and our freedom.”

It doesn’t get any less self-reliant and sovereign than just handing over your nation’s military to a more powerful nation with a “There ya go mate, use it however you reckon’s fair.” You really could not come up with a more egregious abdication of national sovereignty if you tried. And yet our prime minister babbles about sovereignty and self-reliance while doing exactly that.

Just annex us and make us the 51st state already. At least that way we’d get a pretend vote in America’s fake elections.

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The week in nuclear news

April 25, 2023

Some bits of good news.   Total Rejuvenation of ‘Dead’ River by a Rural Indian Community Hailed as National Example .   The world’s happiest countries, according to new research.

Climate. Disturbing Sea Level Studies, (Which Threaten All Nuclear Facilities Sited Close To Oceans, Rivers & Lakes).     Searing heatwave hitting Southern and South Eastern Asia.

Nuclear. Folie a tout le monde?   Not just USA, Russia, China –  it seems that everybody is getting into the nuclear weapons race. Former Pentagon official Henry D. Sokolski pronounces  “We don’t know what to do.” Indeed a profoundly true statement. Somebody better think of something, before the omnisuicide takes place – whether it be started by some deliberate military action, – or, more likely, by some unintended glitch, possibly even a trivial one.

Christina notes. Space X rocket – “A successful failure” – George Orwell would love it!         Penny Wong – a huge disappointment to me. At last political folk music is back ! “Killing the Messenger #Free Julian Assange”, by David Rovics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUX2IHm7Aiw

AUSTRALIA. Opposition grows to nuclear submarines in Port Kembla. AUKUS submarines “nation building” says Admiral- No they’re not, says Rex Patrick.      ‘Stupidly dangerous’: AUKUS won’t cause a Chernobyl but experts are still worried.     New Zealand-Australia testiness over citizenship resolved, but nuclear sensitivities remain . 

  Greens support Barngarla people’s opposition to Kimba radioactive waste dump set to open after 2030

Submissions to Senate Inquiry:

CULTURE and ARTS. NUCLEAR AFTER-LIFE: FROM TRAGEDY TO FARCE, THE CLAIMS OF A NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE.

ECONOMICS. 

EDUCATION. The nuclear lobby continues to buy universities- University of Wyoming well and truly bought. With visit of Algerian President France must face up to its nuclear fallout.

EMPLOYMENT. France’s struggle to deliver a second nuclear era.

  ENERGY. Earth Day 2023: A Newly Post-Nuclear Germany vs. California’s Reactor Relapse. Germany’s Energy Revolution (‘Energiewende’) is working. Renewable Energy Is Charging Ahead. Russia’s political and economic winner – its nuclear exports to Western countries.

ENVIRONMENT. Alba MP Neale Hanvey calls for Ministry of Defence to tackle nuclear decontamination at Dalgety Bay. Water shortage at Sizewell: the environmental cost.

ETHICS and RELIGION. Will Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment managers follow the govt in backing nuclear?.

HEALTH.  Radiation. Dogs of war — Chornobyl.    New Zealand’s nuclear test veterans seek recognition.   Inadequate Protection: Current Radiation PPE is Failing to Shield Female Healthcare Workers

LEGAL. EU faces legal action after including gas and nuclear in ‘green’ investments guide.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. Terrestrial Energy’s molten-salt reactor gets over one hurdle – but many more to come -Will it be a lemon?             Russia to set up a small nuclear reactor in the Arctic Republic of Sakha.       Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will switch back to Russian fuel, from Westinghouse fuel .

OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR. This is why Youth, MPs and ICAN are going to Hiroshima next week. Daniel Ellsberg is still fighting — Beyond Nuclear International.

POLITICS. Germany’s last nukes shut down — Beyond Nuclear. Jonathon Porritt:Germany’s nuclear nous vs UK nuclear nutters. ‘There’s a lot of posturing’: Europe’s nuclear divide grows as one plant opens and three close. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vows to ‘unwind US empire’. SEN. MARKEY AND REP. LIEU ANNOUNCE LEGISLATION TO LIMIT U.S. PRESIDENT’S POWER TO UNILATERALLY START NUCLEAR WAR. Whaa -at ? – Bill in North Carolina legislature would define nuclear as source of CLEAN energyUS nuclear taxes — the true costs. Excitement in Kent City Council about new nuclear power (now reclassified as “environmentally sustainable”).

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.

SAFETY. New images from inside Fukushima reactor spark safety worry.       Maintenance impacted at Zaporizhzhia, says IAEA.           Hungary to Prolong Nuclear Plant’s Lifetime as Expansion Stalls.       Nuclear life extension plans tested by obsolete components.

SECRETS and LIES. Leaks Reveal Reality Behind U.S. Propaganda in Ukraine.

SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. SpaceX: Should we colonise the solar system?      Environmentalists say Starship failure boosts their concerns.      SpaceX launches most powerful rocket in history in explosive debut – like many first liftoffs.    Starship’s test was a successful failure.                  Warfighting domain: U.S., Polish militaries sign space agreement 

SPINBUSTER. Disarming the persistent myths of a glowing nuclear renaissance. Six war mongering think tanks and the military contractors that fund them.Return to Russia: Crimeans Tell the Real Story of the 2014 Referendum and Their Lives Since — RADIATION FREE LAKELAND.     In Indiana, small nuclear reactors don’t need to be “small” any more.

WASTES. 

WAR and CONFLICT.

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.

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