Newsletter XXXVI 2022

September 09 to 16

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Current news+ Background knowledge

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Nuclear Power Accidents

This PDF file contains a list of known incidents from the various areas of the civil and military nuclear industry. Some of this information only came to the public in a roundabout way...

Excerpt for this month:

September 1, 1982 (INES 5) Chernobyl, USSR

September 3, 2017 (6. Atomic Bomb TestPunggye-ri, PRK

September 5, 2008 (INES 1-3) Ascó, ESP

September 9, 2016 (5. Atomic Bomb TestPunggye-ri, PRK

September 11, 1979 (INES 4 NAMS 3,4) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR

September 11, 1957 (INES 5 NAMS 2,3) nuclear factory Rocky Flats, USA

September 13, 1987 (INES 5) Goiânia, BRA

September 18, 1980 (Rocket fuel explosionDamascus, USA

September 22, 1980 (INES 3 NAMS 1,6) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR

September 23, 1983 (INES 4) nuclear center Constituentes, ARG

September 24, 1977 (INES 3) Davis Besse, USA

September 26, 2013 (INES 2Institute of Energy Caps, NLD

September 26, 1973 (INESNAMS 2) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR

September 29, 1957 (INESNAMS 7,3) nuclear factory Mayak, USSR

September 30, 1999 (INES 4) nuclear factory Tokaimura, JPN

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We are looking for current information. If you can help, please send a message to: nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de

 

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16 September

 

Antarctica | Glacier | Sea level

Worrying study data from Antarctica

"End of the World Glacier" is "only holding on with his fingernails"

Global warming is also changing Antarctica. Researchers have been monitoring Thwaites Glacier for years. If it melts, sea levels will rise dramatically.

A recent study published in the journalNature Geoscience", now shows how fast the melt has progressed in recent years. "The Thwaites is really just holding on with its fingernails now," said Robert Larter, a marine geophysicist with the British Antarctic Survey and co-author of the study. Once the glacier surpasses a certain point and retreats along a flat ridge in its bed, it has the potential to shrink even faster than before. "We should expect big changes in small periods of time in the future - even from one year to the next," warned the researcher ...

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EnBW | Phillipsburg | Castor

Breakdown when loading a Castor container at the Philippsburg nuclear power plant

The nuclear power plant in Philippsburg has been off the grid since the end of 2019. According to SPIEGEL information, there was apparently a problem when loading old fuel elements on their way to the interim storage facility.

Even when a nuclear power plant goes offline, its fuel elements continue to radiate – and they remain extremely hot for a long time. For this reason, they are normally left in a cooling basin for several years before being reloaded into Castor containers and taken to an interim storage facility. According to SPIEGEL information, a problem apparently arose when loading such a container in the Philippsburg nuclear power plant in Baden-Württemberg.

According to this, the operator EnBW loaded a cask that contained a fuel element with radiation values ​​that were probably too high. The complete process, loading and closing the container, was documented by the TÜV. In the detailed documentation of the process, however, there was no indication of the increased radiation levels. Only now, during an audit, did the process become known...

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LNG terminal | Expansion of renewables

Incomprehensible: LNG terminals approved faster than renewable projects

Carolin Dähling from Green Planet Energy cannot understand why the government is not boldly tackling the expansion of renewable energies. With LNG it was also quickly possible.

... “In view of the dramatically worsening climate crisis – which is manifested, for example, in the melting ice of the Alps and in the Arctic – it is urgently necessary to massively accelerate the expansion of renewables. As the Oxford University study shows again, this would be a win-win situation for all of us. Even today, energy production from sun and wind is cheaper than fossil energy.

Against this background, it is incomprehensible that the approval of floating LNG terminals is apparently possible within a few months, but the planning and approval of wind farms in Germany still takes an average of four to five years, according to the Bundesverband Windenergie ...

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Climate change | Groundwater | Dryness

Alarming finding: Germany is drying up

Hardly any other country has lost as much water in the last two decades as the Federal Republic. The drought monitor paints a frightening picture.

... In addition to climate change, the causes given are the increased pumping of groundwater due to a lack of surface water and the ongoing draining of wetlands. The latter is particularly problematic, since moors and wet meadows store carbon on a large scale, i.e. they remove the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere...

 

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15 September

 

PV system | solar duty

Demand of the state energy ministers:

Solar obligation for everyone

In Baden-Württemberg, photovoltaic systems must be installed on all new non-residential buildings, other countries are hesitant.

Other countries will also follow, but the details will differ in each case. In Berlin, the Solar Act has stipulated a solar obligation from January 2023, which applies to new buildings and, in the case of conversions to the roof, also to existing buildings. In Hamburg, there will also be an obligation for new buildings from January 2023, and two years later for roof renovations as well. North Rhine-Westphalia has already introduced a solar obligation for parking spaces with more than 35 parking spaces, in Rhineland-Palatinate something similar will apply from 2023 for areas with more than 50 parking spaces ...

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France | EDF | Profit

Earnings forecast reduced

Nuclear power crisis costs EDF billions

The decline in French nuclear power production has been causing prices on the electricity exchanges to skyrocket for weeks. The operator EDF now expects further burdens and once again cuts its profit forecast.

Heavily indebted French utility EDF has cut its earnings forecast for the fifth time this year. The group, which operates all 56 nuclear power plants in France, expects a lower production of nuclear power. The operating result (Ebitda) will probably be burdened with about 29 billion euros this year, said the group, which is about to be nationalized. Previously there had been talk of 24 billion euros ...

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Interim storage Lubmin | nuclear waste barrels | Corrosion

Rust holes discovered in barrels of nuclear waste

Rust was found on drums with radioactive waste in Lubmin. The Ministry of the Environment has already assessed the danger of the defects.

The disposal plant for nuclear plants (EWN) in Lubmin discovered corrosion damage to stored drums with radioactive waste during an inspection last Wednesday. The Ministry of the Environment in Schwerin announced on Thursday that rust holes measuring two millimeters in size were discovered on the two containers containing solid and dry evaporator concentrates that were processed in 1999. However, no pollutants escaped...

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Runtime | emergency reserve | Security Check

»Nuclear power plants are flying blind in terms of safety«

Nuclear power plants have not been subjected to a safety check with a view to the end of their lifetime for a long time. A conversation with Armin Simon

The federal government has announced that it will continue to operate two of the three remaining nuclear power plants in reserve mode. What does that mean?

The proposal from Federal Minister of Economics Habeck was to keep the plants in operational readiness and to see again in December or the following months whether a situation arises where the Federal Ministry of Economics believes it would make sense to let the reactors continue to run or to start them up again. However, the proposal ignores the actual condition of the nuclear power plants.

What are the critical points in continued operation?

Basically, since 2009, the nuclear power plants have been flying blind for safety reasons. That's when the last major security check took place. The next regular review should have taken place in 2019. Safety deficiencies that would have been recognized there would have had to lead to retrofitting. For this reason, the power plants no longer correspond to the state of the art in science and technology required by the Federal Constitutional Court. The fact that the piles are still allowed to continue running until the end of this year is already a safety discount that the operators have already received. It can't be that it's going to be enlarged...

 

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14 September

 

the European Parliament | Rainforest | deforestation

Less deforestation for breakfast

The EU wants to prevent forests from being destroyed for imported goods. The European Parliament voted in favor of strict rules by a large majority.

Do you actually know how many trees were cut down in tropical rainforests for your chocolate spread on your breakfast sandwich? For coffee at lunchtime or for a slice of sausage on bread in the evening?

Many products made from soy, palm oil or corn are driving global deforestation. Millions of hectares of grassland, savannah and rainforest have been destroyed in recent decades for the cultivation of soybeans, cocoa and the like - also to meet the demand from Europe. The consumer behavior of Europeans contributes to deforestation on a large scale.

According to an analysis by the environmental organization WWF Austria, the EU countries are responsible for 16 percent of global rainforest deforestation with their imports of agricultural goods - only China is responsible for even more deforestation through imports ...

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Climate change | Renewable energies | Energy transition | Energy price

Green is cheaper: Energy transition will save trillions of dollars

Renewable energies are no longer a necessary but expensive evil. This is shown by researchers from Oxford in a recent work. Their model proves that a very fast transition to clean energy saves a lot of money. And not only the planet and the money bags of the countries of this world would benefit.

... Twelve trillion dollars, that's twelve million millions – written out, this sum has twelve zeros. For the researchers from England, however, this is only the minimum saving that a transition to carbon-free energy systems should bring by the middle of the century. In the previous conception, the energy transition costs more money than it brings in any.

Win, win and win

The researchers, on the other hand, stick to the superlative and speak not only of a win-win situation, but of a win-win-win scenario. In addition to lower system costs than fossil fuels, more energy would be provided to the global economy and access to energy would be given to more people around the world...

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Belgium | Cracks | Purpose

Belgian nuclear power plants:

The first "Riss-Meiler" goes offline

The Belgian nuclear reactor Doel 3 will be shut down on September 23rd. NRW Transport Minister Oliver Krischer believes that this will make the country safer.

... Tihange 2, which is only about 50 kilometers from the Aachen city limits as the crow flies, will be shut down next year, by February 1, 2023 at the latest.

"If the two kilns go off the grid, that will make NRW safer," says NRW Transport Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens), who, as a Düren and former Aachen member of the Bundestag, has been campaigning for years to switch off the "Riss kilns"...

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France | uranium transport | Lingen fuel element factory

Despite the Russian boycott: uranium continues to be delivered to Germany

France is dependent on doing business with the Russian state-owned company Rosatom. But Russian uranium also comes to Lingen in Lower Saxony. The neighboring country with its large nuclear park is preparing for a winter with blackouts.

The Russian cargo ship Mikhail Dudin, coming from Saint Petersburg, was supposed to arrive in Rotterdam in the Netherlands on Sunday. But suddenly the ship, with a uranium cargo for a plant in Lingen, Lower Saxony on board, changed the destination and turned to Dunkerque (Dunkirk) in France, as reported by the "Action Alliance Münsterland against nuclear plants". The Mikhail Dudin carries a cargo of the Russian company Rosatom. The ship finally arrived in Dunkirk on Monday, as pictures show.

There the radioactive cargo was loaded onto trucks. She is now on the street under police protection. It is currently unclear whether the uranium will continue to be brought to the fuel element factory in Lingen or whether the French Framatome would prefer to have it further processed in France.

The spokesman for the action alliance, Matthias Eickhoff, told the NDR that it was still possible for the uranium to reach Lingen in a roundabout way. That is why the vigil of citizens' initiatives from Germany, the Netherlands and Russia at the fuel element plant will also be continued...

 

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13 September

 

North SeaoffshoreExtension

North and Baltic Sea countries plan cooperation for rapid offshore wind energy expansion

The North Sea countries want to accelerate the expansion of offshore wind energy: In a joint statement by the energy ministers and the European Energy Commissioner yesterday (September 12.09.2022th, 76) as part of the North Sea Energy Cooperation (NSEC), expansion targets for the North Sea region of 2030 GW agreed by 193, 2040 GW by 260 and 2050 GW by XNUMX ...

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SwitzerlandNuclear waste | Nördlich-Lägern

Swiss nuclear waste repository at the German border

The location with the "biggest security reserves"? The repository is to be built on the Upper Rhine directly on the border. The expansion of a packaging plant for highly radioactive fuel rods is planned for the surrounding area.

"The geology has spoken," says the Swiss National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra) on the decision that the Confederates' repository for high-level radioactive waste should be built directly on the German border.

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climate tilts | Global Warming | tipping point

The climate tilts earlier - the danger zone has apparently been reached

So far, 1,5 to two degrees of global warming has been considered a safety line - but the danger zone has apparently already been reached. This is shown by the evaluation of around 200 studies.

The earth has warmed up by around 1,2 degrees compared to pre-industrial times. That doesn't seem like much, but it already brings about serious changes. There are more extreme weather events, as is evident this year: devastating wildfires in the Mediterranean, dramatic heat waves in China and the United States, historic floods in Pakistan.

In order to avert a further escalation of the climate crisis, the world community decided in the Paris Agreement to stop warming at two degrees, but better at 1,5 degrees. This is to prevent tipping elements of the climate system from being triggered, which could set off a chain reaction with devastating consequences. New research now shows: Even at the current level of global warming, there is a risk that five of the 16 tipping points will be exceeded - and the risks increase with every tenth of a degree ...

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war climate | military industry | fossil industry

Noam Chomsky: Humanity's fate is not sealed - if we act now

Noam Chomsky says: Wars and climate crisis are intensifying: from Ukraine to the India-Pakistan conflict. Can human moral intelligence still contain capitalism's urge to destroy?

We live in extraordinarily dangerous times. Climate collapse is imminent, but states continue to pursue policies based on "national security" and the pursuit of geopolitical goals.

[...]

Noam, the systemic implications of the war in Ukraine are enormous and include economic shocks, food and energy security, geopolitical shifts and climate change. As for the latter, while it is difficult to accurately assess the effects of the Ukraine war on climate, it is clear that it is hampering current efforts to curb global warming and could even change the long-term strategy for climate action. How exactly are the war in Ukraine and the climate crisis connected, and why are governments shifting their focus to coal, oil and gas instead of pursuing a clean energy transition?

Noam Chomsky: An independent observer looking at the world today might well conclude that it is ruled by the fossil fuel and military industries, or by madmen. Or both.

The scientific literature is staggering, showing time and again that previous dire warnings were overly conservative and that we are heading towards catastrophe at a frightening pace. Even without reading the studies, anyone who does not consciously turn a blind eye can see that nature is saying "enough": extreme heat, huge floods, devastating droughts and severe water crises, large regions of the world approaching the point where they will soon be uninhabitable...

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Brazil | release | cesium

September 13, 1987 (INES 5) Goiânia Goias, BRA

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AtomkraftwerkePlag

Goiania, Brazil 1987

In the fall of 1987, just one year after Chernobyl, a nuclear disaster struck in the central Brazilian city of Goiânia. It shows that radioactive substances stored in medical centers can pose similar risks to runaway commercial and military nuclear reactors...

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Wikipedia

Goiânia accident

The Goiânia accident occurred from September 13, 1987 in the Brazilian city of Goiânia. During a burglary in a disused clinic, a medical device for radiotherapy was stolen and the radioactive material it contained was distributed among friends and acquaintances by the thieves. Hundreds of people were radioactively contaminated, some of them severely, four people died within a few weeks and other deaths are associated with the accident. Parts of the city are still radioactive today. The accident was classified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as the world's largest radiological accident to date due to its level of contamination and was rated Level 5 (out of 7) on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). Similar cases were recorded in Mexico in 1962, in Algeria in 1978 and again in Mexico in 1983, in the city of Juarez ...

release of the material

When disassembling the device, Ferreira opened the lead container with the 93 grams of highly radioactive cesium chloride (consisting of 19 grams of the cesium isotope 137Cs, total activity 50,9 terabecquerels) so that it could escape from the device ...

 

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12 September

 

air conditioning repair | Climate protection | global warming

Climate researcher Schellnhuber: "The long-term goal is climate repair"

Climate researcher Hans Joachim Schellnhuber in an FR interview about the script to save the world, the consequences of global warming and the necessary visions for climate protection.

Professor Schellnhuber, you are Germany's most renowned climate researcher. You have been working in this field for more than 40 years. Tell us: What are the chances that the world will avoid catastrophic climate change?

Schellnhuber: We can no longer avert climate change that has serious consequences. We will probably exceed the 15 degree line of global warming in 1,5 to 50 years and then overshoot it. However, we can certainly still prevent climate change that endangers human civilization or even the human species. The probability is at least XNUMX percent. This is not a bad chance when it comes to everything...

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Energy transition | renewable | wind bird

Bruchsal climate activist Franz Alt: "The old energies are killing our children"

As a child, he and his father delivered coal in Untergrombach. Franz Alt has been campaigning for the energy transition for decades. At the energy forum he wants to shake up the people of Bruchsal.

Bruchsal wants to be climate neutral by 2040. To achieve this, renewable energies must be expanded. It's about wind power, solar systems, but also about geothermal energy. On September 17 from 9 a.m. there will be a forum for the citizens in the commercial training center in the south of Bruchsal.

[...]

Isn't there a danger that if we now step on the gas so much in the expansion of renewables, important things such as species protection or the protection of groundwater will fall by the wayside?

Franz Alt: I'll just say this much: an outdoor cat kills an average of 28 birds a year. A pinwheel averages three. German cars kill four to five million birds. We have to have a fair discussion here. We have to be fair if we want electricity. We have about 30.000 wind turbines in Germany, but we need 70.000 to 80.000. That's doable...

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Global climate crisis | Climate justice | Natural disaster

Climate Justice and Fair Trade: Why we need to take a holistic view of the climate crisis

The climate crisis is not fair. Those who contribute the least have traditionally suffered the most from the consequences. So how do we achieve global climate justice? Our actions and our trade will decide whether and how we humans will live in the future.

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Lingen fuel element factory

Nuclear opponents protest against uranium supplies from Russia

Lingen (dpa) - Opponents of nuclear power have protested in front of the fuel element factory in Lingen in Emsland against an expected uranium transport from Russia. The representatives of environmental groups called for an "immediate halt to nuclear deals with Russia."

The Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) had confirmed current transports from Russia to the fuel element factory in Lingen, Lower Saxony, on Thursday. The basis is approvals from 2021, said a BASE spokesman. For security reasons, he did not provide any details.

According to the Alliance for Nuclear Power Opponents in Emsland (AgiEL), the Russian ship with enriched uranium hexafluoride did not call at the port of Rotterdam (Netherlands) on Sunday, it is now on its way to France. Therefore, at least this Monday, no uranium transport from Russia is expected in Lingen, said Alexander Vent, a spokesman for the alliance in the morning ...

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Slovakia | Mochovce

Ancient nuclear power plant goes into operation

After more than 30 years of construction, Slovakia wants to put the Mochovce 3 nuclear unit into operation. The obsolete Soviet-design reactor is currently being fitted with fuel rods from Russia.

The third block of Slovakia's Mochovce nuclear power plant is to be loaded with fuel rods by Tuesday. Then pressure tests on the containment begin. The block should then be running at full capacity at the beginning of next year.

"The commissioning of the Mochovce 3 nuclear reactor in Slovakia increases the nuclear threat in Central Europe," says Hauke ​​Doerk from the Munich Environmental Institute. "Not only is the technology outdated and can never be brought up to the current safety level - there are also serious construction defects," warns the physicist and nuclear expert from the environmental organization ...

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CDU | Merzthutjanix

Federal party conference of the CDU

Merz fishes on the right

CDU boss agitates in AfD tone against public law. Federal party congress decides on women’s quota and mandatory »society year«

At its first federal party conference in three years, the CDU not only attacked its political competition. The party, which represented the federal government for 2021 years until 16, intensified its attacks on public broadcasting (ÖRR). The party leadership in Hanover used the current scandals at Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) as well as the debate about gender-sensitive language to once again question the ÖRR system as a whole – and thus in the AfD electorate fishing for votes...

 

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11 September

 

Friends of MIC | Warmonger | Anxiety | Dove | WiP

MIK and the Chorus of Belligerent Doves

The nuclear lobbyists no longer know any borders, the camouflage of the "Friends of MIK" as doves of peace is becoming increasingly threadbare. Yes, one could almost speak of a new transparency.

Warmongers on all sides don't put a fig leaf in front of their mouths and we must all be clear that they don't want to end the war, they want to expand it. With war, armaments and nuclear power as well as with the advertising for it, you can make an incredible amount of money. And all the jobs in the military-industrial complex ...

Who can still do it correctly "nuclear power? No thanks!" accept?

MIC fights for power with all his might, never openly, not fairly and certainly not honestly. Propaganda fakes are the truth of every war. Old enemy images, which worked excellently even before the so-called "thousand-year Reich", are served up fresh and those who think differently are defamed as incompetent and/or malicious enemies.

For weeks, omniscients and professional fear-mongers have been making oracles in a continuous loop on all channels. 

A "top economist" warns of difficult years ahead for Germany:

State will be hopelessly overwhelmed

and Merzthutjanix

There is a risk that the power grid will be completely overloaded in autumn and winter and that there will be an insufficient supply of electricity

etc.

The calculus is clear: Anyone who manages to scare people will, as is well known, make them vote for the right out of sheer fear of the future. And so not a day goes by without scaremongering on a grand scale.

If only the gentlemen don't make a mistake and people would probably prefer to choose the original from the far right.

So what? Then the CDU/CSU will make the junior partner...

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SwitzerlandNuclear waste | Nördlich-Lägern

Nuclear waste storage facility in Switzerland:

Pretty close

Switzerland wants to store its nuclear waste in the immediate vicinity of the German border. A few years ago, the area was classified as unsuitable.

Switzerland's decision to locate its nuclear waste repository near Hohentengen in Baden-Württemberg was met with skepticism on both sides of the border. The Nördlich Lägern area was classified as rather unsuitable a few years ago, but has now been selected from the three remaining locations, according to the National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra). Nagra wants to explain this in more detail on Monday ...

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Earthquake | Sierentz

Upper Rhine rift between Mulhouse and Basel

4,7 magnitude earthquake shakes southern Baden – epicenter in Alsace

The earth shook twice on Saturday in southern Alsace. The first tremor was felt as far away as Ortenau and the Upper Black Forest. Nothing is known about damage in the region.

The first, more severe earthquake occurred at 17.58:4,7 p.m. Its epicenter was in the municipality of Kembs in the Haut-Rhin department, south of Mulhouse. The Swiss natural hazards portal reports a strength of XNUMX on the Richter scale. The earthquake was felt in large parts of north-western Switzerland.

[...]

At 18.07:2,5 p.m., according to the Swiss natural hazards portal, the earth trembled again, this time with a magnitude of 1. It is classified as level XNUMX (no or low risk) and is said to have been noticeable in the Basel region.

According to the earthquake service, the ground shook again at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning. The epicenter was in Sierentz, Alsace. The magnitude was 2,9, according to the Seismological Service.

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Stress | debate | Past | Skilled workers

Unnecessary nuclear stress, fossil power design and backward-looking energy debates

Calendar week 36: Energy debates are still as backward-looking in 2022 as they have been for 25 years, it's always about nuclear power, coal, fracking or liquefied natural gas, criticizes Claudia Kemfert, energy economist and member of the editorial board of Klimareporter°. Extending the lifespan of German nuclear power plants is unnecessary.

Klimareporter°: Ms. Kemfert, even among energy experts it is controversial whether nuclear power plants are needed in southern Germany to get the electricity system through the winter. They say that having two German nuclear power plants in a so-called emergency reserve is unnecessary. Why?

Claudia Kemmert: Nuclear power does not help in the current crisis. The stress tests show that even in the most extreme scenario – which also has an extremely low probability of occurrence – nuclear power can only contribute 500 megawatts of relief, i.e. less than one percent of the electricity system.

Much more important are grid reserves, load management and the use of renewable energies, including flexibilities ...

And what was your surprise of the week?

What is really surprising is that in 2022 the discussions are still completely identical to all backward-looking energy debates of the last 25 years. It is always and exclusively about technologies of the past - from nuclear power to fracking and liquefied natural gas to coal.

Far too little is discussed about how we can complete the energy transition, what solutions we need to expand renewable energies in the short term, to keep companies and to quickly start a booster of skilled workers...

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Ukraine | Zaporizhia | off the grid | Cooling

Zaporizhia NPP shuts down

According to the operator, the last remaining block of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has also gone offline. Ukraine accuses the International Monetary Fund of lack of support.

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processing plantSellafield | Plutonium

September 11, 1979 (INES 4 | NAMS 3,4) Sellafield Nuclear factory, GBR

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The Sellafield nuclear facility is an important part of Britain's nuclear weapons programme. When radioactive waste water was transported to building B242 130 TBq plutonium released.

Nuclear Power Accidents.pdf

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This accident, as well as several other releases of radioactivity originating from Sellafield, are no longer in the German Wikipedia a DAK Bungalow.

Wikipedia - en

Sellafield# Incidents

Radiological releases

Between 1950 and 2000 there were 21 serious off-site incidents or accidents involving radiological releases that warranted classification on the International Nuclear Event Scale, one at Level 5, five at Level 4 and fifteen at Level 3. In addition, there were in intentional releases of plutonium and irradiated uranium oxide particles into the atmosphere known for extended periods in the 1950s and 1960s...

Translated with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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processing plant | Rocky Flats | Plutonium

September 11, 1957 (INES 5 | NAMS 2,3) Rocky Flats Nuclear Factory, USA

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A fire destroyed parts of a plutonium processing plant at the Rocky Flats nuclear facility of the US nuclear weapons program, 7800 TBq Radioactivity was released.

Nuclear Power Accidents.pdf

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Wikipedia - de

Rocky Flats

Plutonium spontaneously ignited in a container with 600 t of inflammable material. The fire burned 2 t of the material and released plutonium oxide. Soil samples taken around the facility revealed that the area was contaminated with plutonium. Since the operators of the plant refused to initiate investigations, the samples were taken as part of an unofficial investigation ...

 

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10 September

 

SwitzerlandNuclear waste | Nördlich-Lägern

radioactive waste

Confederation confirms: Deep storage facility comes in Nördlich-Läger ++ Nuclear waste is packed in Würenlingen ++ Those affected react with shock

The Swiss repository for nuclear waste is to be built in the Nördlich Lägern area in the Zurich municipality of Stadel. The nuclear waste is to be packed in Würenlingen in Aargau. After speculation, the federal government informed the affected cantons and landowners on Saturday.

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ArcticAerosols | Global warming | Greenhouse gas

Record-breaking weather change brought record pollution

During the MOSAIC expedition of the "Polarstern" to the Arctic, measuring instruments recorded two extreme events. Dirt suddenly dominated instead of clean air.

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Stress test | France

Stress test in favor of France

We are not just experiencing a gas crisis. The real danger comes from old nuclear power plants. A look at the crisis in the French nuclear industry and the decision on German lifetime extensions.

The federal government’s stress test published earlier this week provides for the Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2 nuclear power plants to be kept available as emergency reserves until April 2023 – a mistake. Because the two nuclear power plants mentioned represent a particularly high risk. At the same time, their electricity production is not sufficient to remedy any energy shortages.

But instead of expanding renewable energies at full speed and developing an electricity savings plan, the CDU and FDP seem, as in 2009, to be aiming for lifetime extensions beyond April 2023. The reason: Franco-German cooperation and the civil-military use of nuclear energy ...

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Wikipedia | Russia | Manipulation of Wikipedia

The Putin regime and Wikipedia

The Russian-language Wikipedia has 1,8 million articles. Important contributions are controlled by Kremlin. Research on hidden users - and a wall of silence.

Wikipedia is not only the largest collaborative project of mankind, but also interesting for PR people, lobbyists and governments. There is Wikipedia in 325 languages. The national Wikipedia chapters and the different language versions use the server technology of the Wikimedia Foundation in the USA, but are independent.

One problem of Vladimir Putin's rule and the Ukraine crisis is the lack of availability of independent media in Russia. Russian Wikipedia is one of the few media in Russia that is fundamentally independent of the government and also non-government owned. It is also read by Russian speakers in Ukraine.

[...]

It is always difficult to determine who is influencing Wikipedia content on the Russian or any other Wikipedia. Because if you register in Wikipedia, you can choose any username. If you don't log in, only the IP address is saved, which can easily be disguised...

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IMHO

I would regret it very much if Wikipedia were to be made useless by interest-driven, distorted history and the associated loss of credibility. This point was raised in some articles on the subject of atomic energy in the German Wikipedia already clearly exceeded. In the article about the nuclear factory Sellafield , for example, the information on most of the approximately 20 incidents that have become known have been removed.

 

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09 September

 

France | export electricity | import gas

electricity versus gas

The Franco-German Energy Friendship

Energy is scarce in Germany and France. While France fears for its power supply because of ailing nuclear power plants, Germany is looking at gas storage facilities. Both countries have mutually promised solidarity deliveries.

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IndependentlyKini Jödler | Rosatom Uranium

Not because of independence: what Markus Söder is hiding about nuclear power

In view of the energy crisis, numerous politicians are calling for an extension of the service life of German nuclear power plants and criticize Economics Minister Robert Habeck for his vague attitude. Right at the front: Markus Söder. Extending the runtime would only create more dependencies.

Markus Söder currently likes to talk about the advantages of nuclear power. Just a few days after Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Bavaria pushed for an extension of the operating times of German nuclear power plants. Since then, Söder has never tired of emphasizing that "the traffic light's decision to shut down the three nuclear power plants that are still running [...] is wrong." Instead, we in Germany “quickly need an extension of the term”, as Söder emphasized on Twitter …

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United States | Arms industry | Arms trade | MIC

Gun Country USA - (Part 1 - 2)

The fairy tale of the small country

Does state capitalism prevail in the USA? The question seems almost insane given the market liberalism that the country is emblematic of. Part II of the »Armsland USA« series

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave: This has been the USA's self-image since the 19th century, and this is how it is written in the text of the national anthem Star-Spangled Banner of 1814. Since then, this claim has often been translated into the slogan »Free markets, free enterprise, free trade«, as translated by President George W. Bush in October 2008 – a few weeks after the collapse of his state's largest banks and the government bailouts initiated for them.

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The various parts of the military-industrial complex are specifically connected to one another by the practice of »revolving doors«: As if through a revolving door, members of the political elite switch without hesitation to the top management of companies and vice versa. This practice is well known and was criticized as early as the 50s by the sociologist C. Wright Mills, when he showed how former generals ended up in the higher echelons of multinational companies after their military career, often mediated by consulting firms: »rent a general«.

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There were repeated attempts to push back his power (MIC) or even to dissolve it. For example, after Eisenhower's farewell speech, Democratic Senator George McGovern advocated a radical counter-concept to the MIC. He saw the Pentagon's spending as a huge job-creation program that should be redirected to more meaningful goals, and believed that a conversion of the defense industry was possible: "green jobs" to protect the environment...

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Slovakia | Mochovce | Electricity production

Controversial reactor goes into operation

With long breaks, the construction of the new reactor at Slovakia's Mochovce nuclear power plant took 35 years. The project suffered from mismanagement and neighboring Austria in particular had fundamental concerns. Now the kiln went into operation.

Slovakia has put the controversial third reactor of the Mochovce nuclear power plant into operation. Government officials were present the night the first fuel rods were introduced. "We've been waiting for this for many years," said Conservative Prime Minister Eduard Heger.

"Slovakia is progressing from 52 to 65 percent of nuclear energy in electricity production." Slovakia is now self-sufficient in its electricity production and can also export electricity to neighboring European countries...

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Ukraine war | Ramstein | diplomacy

IPPNW calls for more diplomacy

Meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group in Ramstein

... IPPNW notes with great concern that there has been no discernible diplomatic progress towards a negotiated solution. The Ukraine Contact Group met again yesterday in Ramstein at the invitation of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to discuss military support for Ukraine. According to media reports, the US Secretary of Defense has promised Ukraine a $675 million package of arms, ammunition and armored vehicles, bringing total US aid to Ukraine since President Joe Biden took office to $15,2 billion increases. The federal government announced that it would also supply Biber armored bridge-laying vehicles in addition to the Gepard tanks that had already been promised.



The war in Ukraine has fundamentally increased the risk of a nuclear escalation. "It is important to be aware that the risk increases when Russia gets on the defensive," warns the four leading peace and conflict research institutes in the peace report ...

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Electricity price | excess profit | Merit order

Who benefits from skyrocketing electricity prices – and when?

The electricity price explosion brings conventional as well as renewable power plants large excess profits. It is imperative to avoid or skim off these. Especially with coal, a wave of profits that is difficult to break is building up. The government can help the fastest with the bulging EEG account.

In August 2022, electricity on the spot market – trading there for the next 24 hours – cost an average of 35 cents per kilowatt hour. Within a year, the price has increased more than sixfold. At the same time, operating costs have risen far less for most power plant operators...

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Climate & Environment | tipping point

Climate: tipping elements more unstable than expected

Five tipping points could be exceeded at just 1,5 degrees warming

Inevitable to tip over? The earth's climate could already have left its stable state. Because the tipping points in the climate system are apparently reacting more sensitively than assumed, as new analyzes suggest. According to this, five crucial systems could already have exceeded their critical tipping threshold. Other tipping elements could switch to a new state from just 1,5 degrees - and trigger a cascade effect with far-reaching consequences for humans and nature, as climate researchers report in "Science".

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North Korea | atomic test

September 09, 2016 (5. Atomic Bomb Test) Punggye-ri, PRK

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Atomwaffen A - Z

North Korea

... Since Kim Jong Il's death in 2011, his son Kim Jong Un has taken power. In March 2012, the United States and North Korea agreed that North Korea would freeze nuclear weapons development and the missile program. In return, the United States pledged to supply North Korea with 240.000 tons of food. Despite this, North Korea systematically continues to work on its ballistic missiles and conducts further missile tests, including a test on December 12, 2012 of an ICBM that North Korea successfully used to launch a satellite into space.

To date, North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests: in 2006, 2009, 2013, twice in 2016 and most recently in September 2017. North Korea claimed on January 6, 2016 that the country had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb for the first time. On May 22, 2018, North Korea closed its nuclear test site at Punggye-ri...

 

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News+ September 09

 

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Demonstration | ANF ​​Framatomes | Lingen fuel element factory

Mikhail Dudin | Uranium Russia

Permanent vigil in front of the gates of ANF Framatome in Lingen

On Monday morning, September 12, 2022, at 6 a.m., a vigil will begin in front of the Framatome gates in Lingen - On the side canal 1 - in the industrial area south of Lingen, only 500 m away from the Lingen nuclear power plant ...

 

Dear friends,
after two days of intensive media work together with our Dutch and Russian friends, it is now clear:

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, the Federal Atomic Energy Agency BASE responsible for nuclear transport and the French Fuel element manufacturer and nuclear company Framatome in Lingen confirm our research that enriched uranium from Russia comes to Lingen for fuel element production - amazing, as if there was no Russian attack on the Ukraine:


https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/energie-lingen-ems-russland-liefert-uran-ins-emsland-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-220908-99-683476

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https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/Lingen-Atomgegner-fordern-Stopp-von-russischem-Uran-Transport,urantransport100.html

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https://www.wn.de/muensterland/uran-russland-lingen-transport-2626248

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https://taz.de/Russisches-Uran-unterwegs-nach-Lingen/!5876705/
 

There is only silence about the specific time, Framatome in Lingen denied due to the many media reports this afternoon to the Lingen local newspaper a uranium transport "in the next two weeks", but confirmed uranium transports from Russia "in the future". This admission alone is only due to the sudden awakening of public pressure.

The fact is, however, that the nuclear ship Mikhail Dudin passed Copenhagen tonight, loudly vessel finder should arrive in Rotterdam at 20 p.m. on Sunday evening and a current Dutch transit license for enriched uranium from Russia to Lingen is available for Rotterdam, including a valid German transport license.

So, at this point, we still assume that the Mikhail Dudin's radioactive cargo is destined for Lingen - otherwise we're in the process of uncovering another very dirty, and so far top secret, nuclear deal with Russia...

What's next? The Lingen alliance AgiEL has for Monday morning, September 12.09.2022th, 6 from XNUMX a.m. a permanent vigil in front of Framatome Lingen (On the side canal 1 - in the industrial area south of Lingen, only 500 m away from the Lingen nuclear power plant). We carry the protest locally and increase the pressure. We need a watertight political embargo against further uranium deals with Rosatom - the Russian nuclear company is involved, among other things, in the occupation regime in the contested Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and in other military nuclear activities. The federal government must finally pull the ripcord here.

Transport route: From the port of Rotterdam by truck via the Utrecht-Amersfoort-Hengelo motorway to the Gildehaus border crossing (A 30). There probably received by German police, then A30 to Autobahnkreuz Schüttorf, A31 to exit Lingen and then B 213 through Südlohne and south of Lingen to exit B70 and immediately right into the industrial area to Framatome.

If you can't make it on Monday - no problem: Come on Saturday, October 1, at 13 p.m. for the anti-nuclear demo from Lingen train station. The AG Schacht Konrad has already announced a bus today - thank you very much for that!

Mobilize and make it clear with us: The nuclear phase-out not only means the immediate shutdown of all three nuclear power plants that are still running, but also an end to the dirty nuclear deals with Russia, an end to fuel element production in Lingen and uranium enrichment in Gronau - and finally massive speed for a climate-friendly Energy transition without nuclear, coal and gas! Time is running out! We need the pressure from the streets together with the climate movement!

Therefore, of course, we are also calling for participation in the Fridays for Future climate strike demos on September 23!

Stay tuned for the next few days and put October 1st in your calendars - let's go!

Nuclear-free climate greetings

SOFA (Sofortiger Atomausstieg) Münster, action alliance Münsterland against nuclear facilities

www.sofa-ms.de, www.urantransport.de

 

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Background knowledge

 

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reaktorpleite.de

 

Map of the nuclear world:

On Monday morning, September 12, 2022 at 6 a.m., a vigil will begin in front of the gates of ANF (Framatome) in Lingen.

On Saturday, October 01, 2022 at 13 p.m., the demonstration will start at the Lingen train station and lead through the city center to the final rally on the market square ...

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The internal search:

Nuclear shipments to and from Russia

brought the following results, among others:

 

June 02nd, 2022 - Forget nuclear plants in NRW: Anti-nuclear power initiatives and associations criticize black-green exploratory talks and urge a "real" phase-out of nuclear power in NRW too!

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March 26, 2021 - TOP SECRET! - Federal government declares nuclear deal between Lingen uranium factory and Russia a secret matter

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November 29, 2019 - Urenco's massive uranium garbage problems

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October 13, 2016 - Anti-nuclear opponents disappointed by green election platform

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July 12, 2014 - Almost 1000 clandestine nuclear shipments since 2012

 

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YouTube

 

Keyword search: uranium nuclear transport

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=uran+atom+transport

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Videos:

Daily news - 05:31

Controversial supply of uranium to Russia

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ZDF planet e. - 28:25

Germany's secret nuclear shipments

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German TV history - 01:06:28

Because we didn't know anything about it! This show is from 1958.

Atomic dust above us - dangers of radioactive radiation (documentation, 1958)

 

Will open in a new window! - YouTube channel "Reaktorpleite" playlist - radioactivity worldwide ... - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJI6AtdHGth3FZbWsyyMMoIw-mT1Psuc5Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...

This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic

 

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Ecosia

This search engine is planting trees!

 

Keyword search: uranium nuclear transport Russia

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Uran+Atom+Transport+Russland

 

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Wikipedia

 

Lingen fuel assembly plant

The Lingen fuel assembly plant is a fuel assembly factory in Lingen (Ems) in Lower Saxony. The plant produces fuel elements for use in light water reactors (a type of nuclear power plant), which are essential components of a nuclear reactor and together with the other internals form the reactor core. They contain the nuclear fuel. The operator is Advanced Nuclear Fuels GmbH (ANF), a subsidiary of Framatome GmbH (formerly Areva NP, now Orano). According to its own statements, the company not only develops, licenses and manufactures complete fuel assemblies, but also supplies nuclear fuel in powder and pellet form for pressurized and boiling water reactors and research reactors and develops zirconium products ...

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Framatome

(formerly Areva NP) is the power plant division of the former Areva Group. The company's headquarters are located in the La Défense business district, on the territory of the commune of Courbevoie, a suburb of Paris.

Framatome offers comprehensive solutions for the design, construction and maintenance of nuclear power plants. The range of services includes the design and manufacture of components, the development and manufacture of nuclear fuel and fuel assemblies, and a broad portfolio of services for reactors. Framatome employs around 14.000 people and has been a subsidiary of the EDF Group since 2018...

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Gronau uranium enrichment plant

The Gronau uranium enrichment plant is the only commercial uranium enrichment plant in Germany. Using a gas centrifuge process, uranium hexafluoride is enriched for use as a nuclear fuel in nuclear power plants. The plant belongs to the Urenco group. The plant, which requires a permit under Section 7 of the Atomic Energy Act, is located about 3,5 kilometers east of Gronau (Westphalia).

transportation and material flow

At the end of July 2019, a delivery of 600 tons of uranium hexafluoride to Russia was confirmed for the first time by the Ministry of Economics, Innovation, Digitization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, but in May 2019 the first six transport trains with a total of almost 3.600 tons of uranium hexafluoride already had one Plant reached near Yekaterinburg. In mid-November 2019, a special train with 12 wagons was held up by demonstrators for a few hours with a blockade action and was accompanied by several actions from Gronau to its destination in Russia. A total of 12.000 tons of depleted uranium hexafluoride is to be exported by 2022, of which only a small part is to be made usable again in the factory there and the largest part is to remain in Russia for "permanent storage" ...

 

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Back to:

Newsletter XXXV 2022 - September 01st to 08th | Newspaper article 2022

 

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