This week’s nuclear and climate news

It’s been an important week for the world’s climate. Today, the world’s leaders meet in New York for a Climate Action Summit. The United Nations is trying to pressure the world into faster action on climate change.  On Friday, millions, led by children demonstrated in cities around the world, for action, for abandoning fossil fuels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXXAkt2492c. I was at the Melbourne protest, and I have never seen a rally so massive, paralysing the central business district.  So many children! It’s their future.

Some good news – The ozone layer is repairing – international co-operation pays off.

AUSTRALIA

NUCLEAR.

• Trump tries to pull Scott Morrison, ‘man of titanium’, into a military coalition.  A dilemma for Scott Morrison, as Trump suggests that Australia join USA in a possibly nuclear war with Iran.
• Controversial MP Barnaby Joyce on the pro nuclear campaign trail. Nationals MP Sam McMahon lashes renewable energy as ‘hoax’ and ‘fraud’ but says nuclear will help solve energy crisis,. The well-named Liberal Senator Antic goes all out for nuclear power and waste importation.
• Australia must not become a missile base, a nuclear target – Young Labor.
• Australian Workers Union join National Party’s push for nuclear power.
• Exposing misleading evidence to the federal nuclear inquiry.

Found – historic film of Aboriginal resistance to uranium mining

CLIMATE. Australian children, and adults who care, march in their hundreds of thousands, for Action on Climate Change.  Resources Minister Matthew Canavan blasts ‘hypocritical, self-indulgent activists’ holding back mining sector.

Coal’s servant, P.M. Morrison makes Australia an international pariah at UN Climate Summit. He is in USA, but won’t attend the Summit.    UN bars coal nations from climate stage. (especially Australia).  Setting only long term zero carbon targets is code for “we’re doing nothing now”.  National Party disdains report from Farmers for Climate Action.

Australian Labor Party standing firm on its climate policies.

Climate change already damaging Australia’s ecosystems. Hot, dry summer to increase Victoria’s bushfire risk . Australian Capital Territory leads the nation in the climate emergency.

Rare earths. Morrison and Trump open new front in China trade war with rare earth ‘action plan’.

RENEWABLE ENERGY. Revealed: Josh Frydenberg was behind the strange Environment Department decision to block wind turbines on Lord Howe Island.  ANU to explore renewable energy exports for Australia, with Taylor’s backing.

Australia’s capital to be first city outside Europe to transition to 100% renewables.  ACT’s 100% renewable electricity target is saving households cash.

Victoria solar demand still sizzling: another 3,250 rebates gone in 20 minutes. Victoria locks in new solar farm planning guidelines. Another solar farm starts up in Queensland as daytime prices stuck near zero.

INTERNATIONAL

Nature is being exterminated: the Climate Strikes are just the beginning of our fight back. Climate Emergency – ‘We’re losing the race’. From space, the human impact on the Amazon is clearly visible. The good, the bad and the ugly: the nations leading and failing on climate action.

The health impacts of climate change.

Rising temperatures, rising seas – the growing climate change menace to nuclear power.

The catastrophe that would be a “limited nuclear war“. Dramatic rise in the risk of a US-Russia nuclear war, which would kill mega millions.

The ‘advanced’ nuclear power sector is dystopian.

ANTARCTICA. Surface melting causes Antarctic glaciers to slip faster towards the ocean.

USA. Investigative journalism – Humboldt Bay – a case study in how not to involve the community in cleanup of a dead nuclear reactor nuclear.

• Boeing and Northrop fighting over America’s extravagant $85 billion nuclear missile program. Donald Trump talks gibberish about nuclear weapons then announces trip to Mars.  USA’s new National Security Adviser – out of the Bolton nuclear frying pan, into the Kupperman nuclear fire?  Inside the US military’s $223 million ‘doomsday plane,’ capable of surviving a nuclear blast.
•  Security dangers of nuclear energy in space. The danger, the unwisdom, of highly enriched uranium in space.
• Donald Trump’s chilling nuclear warning to Iran. Donald Trump keen to build a military partnership with Australia’s PM ‘man of titanium’.
• Close nuclear talks with Saudi Arabia – U.S. senators urge Trump administration.
• Shutdown of Three Mile Island’s infamous nuclear plant symbolises the end of the nuclear energy era. Radioactive debris to stay above vital aquifer in Idaho for 20 years more?
• Nuclear watchdog groups warn legal action over environmental impact of plutonium pit production.  NRC weakens security measures at nuclear power plants.
• Who is secretly funding campaign to bail out Ohio’s nuclear reactors?
• USA Office of Nuclear Energy taking over STEM education.
• Elizabeth Warren’s comprehensive plan for Anti-Corruption Reforms.   Cory Booker Compares Anti-Nuclear Democrats To Republican Climate Deniers.
• America’s 1,032 Nuclear Weapons Tests, and the tons of problems they caused.
• New York City supports students’ climate protest. Wind farm to take over former nuclear site in New Jersey.

RUSSIA. New nuclear weapons that could make continents uninhabitable.

IRAQ. Iraqi children with congenital disabilities caused by depleted uranium.

CANADA. Canada’s Conservative and Liberal politicians in the service of the nuclear lobby, not the Canadian people. Ontario’s secretive role in helping Trump to nuclear weaponise Space.

UK. Ever cheaper wind energy a big threat to UK’s nuclear white elephants. Strong environmental case to scrap Bradwell B new nuclear build.  Opposition in Suffolk to Sizewell nuclear plan, which hugely threatens wildlife. Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) see Revenue Asset Base (RAB) financial model as a danger to UK’s public purse.   More robots needed to clean up nuclear trash at Sellafield UK.

JAPAN. Despite previous warnings, and findings, court finds Tepco executives not guilty after Fukushima nuclear disaster. Japan is  lying about the Fukushima nuclear disaster as it promotes the 2020 Olympic Games. Japan says Dumping Fukushima’s Radioactive Water Into Pacific Ocean Is ‘Only Option. Japan’s Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi hopes son will push for abandonment of nuclear power.

FRANCE. Faulty parts found in a number of France’s nuclear reactors. Iodine tablets for 2.2 million people in France.

AUSTRALIA. In Australia, millions unite in 40 organisations to say NO to nuclear power.

ISRAEL. Israel’s duplicity about its nuclear weapons.

TURKEY. Turkey’s Foreign Minister explains hurdles in Turkey’s path to nuclear weapons.

INDONESIA. Nuclear lobby’s keen propaganda campaign in Indonesia.

NORWAY. Nuclear freighter’s Arctic voyage sparks fear in Norway.