Newsletter XLI 2022 |
16. to 22. October
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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:
1 October 1981 (INES 3 NAMS 1,3) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
3 October 1986 (Broken Arrow) nuclear submarine K-219, USSR
3 October 1952 (1st British atomic bomb test) Trimouille Island, GBR
5 October 1966 (INES 4) Enrico Fermi 1, USA
7 October 1957 (INES 5 NAMS 4,6) nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR
9 October 2006 (1st North Korean atomic bomb test) Punggye-ri, PRK
12 October 1969 (INES 4) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
15 October 1958 (INES 4) Boris Kidrič Institute, Vinca, YU
17 October 1969 (INES 4) Saint-Laurent, FRA
18 October 2011 (INES 1) Karachi, PAH
19 October 1989 (INES 1) Vandellos-1, ESP
30 October 1961 (Tsar Bomb AN602) Novaya Zemlya, USSR
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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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22. October
Chomsky on the Iraq War: Why the US gets away with breaking international law
20 years ago, the US Congress gave the go-ahead for the invasion of Iraq. The country was devastated and around a million people were killed. How the intellectual class went into the war of aggression.
It is now the 20th anniversary of the US Congress voting to authorize the war in Iraq, which by some estimates has claimed between 800.000 and 1,3 million lives.
In the following interview, Noam Chomsky comments on the causes and effects of the crime against humanity. Political scientist CJ Polychroniou conducts the interview. It is published in cooperation with the US news site Truthout.
20 years ago, the US Congress approved the invasion of Iraq despite massive opposition to such a venture. Several top Democratic senators, including Joe Biden, supported the war authorisation. Historically as well as related to the future: What were the causes and effects of the Iraq war?
Noam Chomsky: There are many types of support, ranging from overt to tacit. The latter includes those who see the war as a mistake, but no more than that - a "strategic mistake," as Obama judged in retrospect.
There were Nazi generals who dismissed Hitler's important decisions as strategic blunders. Today we do not see such generals as opponents of Nazi aggression. The same is true of Russian generals, who dismissed the 1980s invasion of Afghanistan as a mistake, as many did.
If we are ever able to hold ourselves to the standards we rightly hold of others, we will find that there is little principled opposition to Iraq in the upper circles, including the government and political class. has been war. Similar to the case of the Vietnam War and other major crimes...
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Pensioner invents new wind turbine: "Yield twice to three times as high"
A pensioner from Leipzig has invented a wind turbine that is supposed to generate three times as much income as usual. For the inventor, this is "pure money".
The energy crisis makes it clear that Germany has been asleep when it comes to renewable energy, at least when it comes to phasing out nuclear power, coal and gas without worrying. This year, environmental aid even calls for no Christmas lights. But now there is literally a new wind in the matter. The pensioner and engineer Horst Bendix from Leipzig has invented a wind turbine that is said to generate three times as much income as conventional models. He is already presenting a first prototype for the pioneer of green energy in his garden...
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Gundremmingen | FDP | RWE
RWE rules out restarting Gundremmingen nuclear power plant
The nuclear reactor remains off. The operator of the "dismantling plant" in the district of Günzburg cites other reasons in addition to the political requirements and contradicts the FDP.
For the first time, the energy company RWE, which operates the nuclear power plant in Gundremmingen (Günzburg district), which was taken offline at the end of the year, has responded to repeated calls for reactor C to be put back into operation. The FDP in particular had demanded that Gundremmingen be restarted at the federal and state levels in view of the impending energy shortage.
[...]
No "foreseeable and economical resumption of operation" of the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant
RWE Nuclear GmbH, which is responsible for the "Gundremmingen dismantling plant", sees no need for action due to political requirements, but also from a technological and economic point of view ...
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France | energy crisis | Cracks
Cracks in France's nuclear strategy
Almost half of the 56 reactors are still idle, and the country imports enormous amounts of electricity from its neighbors. The causes are manifold.
Almost a year ago, the company Électricité de France (EDF) discovered cracks in the safety pipe system of the Civaux nuclear power plant 1 near Poitiers. That was the beginning of the malaise. The power plant had to be taken off the grid. The damage then seemed like a contagious disease. More and more of the 56 French nuclear power plants had to be checked, serviced and repaired. And all of this at the worst possible time...
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21. October
Cracks | Isar | Neckarwestheim | Emsland
AKW Isar-2: Not only wobbly valves have to be checked
Use reactor standstill in Isar-2 for crack checks / Two of three nuclear power plants of the same type already show cracks / Bavarian nuclear supervisory authority refuses information on crack tests
Armin Simon from the anti-nuclear organization explained on the shutdown of the Isar-2 nuclear power plant this Friday morning (October 21.10st) for an expected twelve-day repair work:
“In the Isar-2 nuclear power plant, not only the famous wobbly valves have to be replaced. A comprehensive check for cracks in all 16.000 tubes in the four steam generators of the reactor is also absolutely necessary. In the past few years, cracks have appeared in these pipes at both the Neckarwestheim-2 nuclear power plant and the Emsland nuclear power plant, a total of more than 350. Both reactors are of the same type as the Isar-2 nuclear power plant. The tubes in all three reactors are made of the same material. There is therefore an urgent suspicion that such cracks have also formed in Isar-2 and have been eating through the pipes undetected for years ..."
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Wind power | Manufacturing Wind Solar | green electricity production
wind power in Germany
lame wings
Wind power from completely German production is not possible. With the closure of the Nordex factory in Rostock, there is no longer a rotor blade factory.
... The company closed its rotor blade production in the Hanseatic city, around 600 employees lost their jobs. Why is a wind turbine manufacturer shutting down its blade production in the middle of the energy crisis? And that in Germany too, where wind power, according to the declared goal of the federal government, is actually to be massively expanded? ...
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Infrastructure | power plants | electricity gas lines | Pipelines
Infrastructure in Germany:
Decentralization protects
The infrastructure must become more resilient to attacks. However, digitization has made the dangers and weak points even greater.
There are more than 33.000 kilometers of rails running through Germany, and those that are in operation. More than 1.000 kilometers of high-voltage cables run through the Baltic Sea between Finland and Germany. There are submarine cables with a total length of around 1,3 million kilometers on the sea floors of this world. And even these rails and cables are only a fraction of what can be summed up as "critical infrastructure".
There are also power and gas lines, mobile phone systems and ports, hospitals and administrations, water pipes and sewage treatment plants. What becomes clear from this list, which is also necessarily incomplete: it is impossible to protect every piece of important and vulnerable infrastructure in such a way that a failure is impossible. But that is not necessary either. Because there is a concept whose name made the rounds with the attacks on the gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea and on neuralgic points in the railway infrastructure in Germany: resilience ...
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Energy transition | solar park | Civic electricity
Acceptance: citizen participation platform for solar parks
IBC Solar, a leading full-service provider of solar energy solutions, will enable citizens to participate in its solar parks in the future. For this purpose, the company has now launched its own digital platform.
IBC Solar will enable citizens to participate in its solar parks in the future. For this purpose, the company has now launched its own digital platform. Interested citizens can use this to find out about current projects and their conditions and to participate directly. The full-service provider of solar energy solutions enables a financial investment even with smaller amounts. This ensures that everyone can actively help shape the energy transition ...
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Parking | Photovoltaics | solar roofs
Why so far only a few parking spaces have been covered with solar systems
It is still rare in Austria for cars to park under photovoltaic systems. The PV roofing of large car parks would have many advantages. Why is it failing?
Photovoltaics (PV) plays an important role in the energy transition in Austria. By 2030, an additional eleven terawatt hours of electricity should come from photovoltaics. It is currently around three terawatt hours. It therefore requires a massive expansion of solar power and millions of additional PV systems. These are to be created first and foremost on built-up areas. In the future, for example, large car parks could be covered more with PV modules. There is always space for this, for example in large parking lots at supermarkets and industrial plants ...
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ZDF | traffic light coalition | Majority
Traffic light loses majority
If next Sunday were really federal elections, the traffic light would no longer have a majority. This is shown by the current ZDF political barometer.
If there really was a federal election next Sunday, the SPD would now have 19 percent (plus one) and the CDU/CSU 28 percent (plus one). The Greens would only come to 21 percent (minus one), the FDP to six percent (minus one) and the AfD to 15 percent (plus one). The left would just about get into the Bundestag with five percent (unchanged) and the other parties would be together at six percent (minus one), including no party that would achieve at least three percent. With such a result, the traffic light coalition would currently not have a parliamentary majority. On the other hand, it would be enough for a coalition between the CDU/CSU and the Greens...
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green power | dark doldrums | Renewables
Sun and wind provide green electricity all year round
There is good news too. Because the renewable energy, above all photovoltaics and wind energy, form a great team over the year. They reliably supply green electricity. When the sun dips a little in winter, the wind takes over, while more solar energy is delivered in summer when the wind is just a gentle breeze.
In times of gas shortages and in the midst of this full-fledged energy crisis, renewable energies are economically more valuable than ever. Even if we are still a long way from satisfying our hunger for energy with wind power and photovoltaics, we can already make use of a major advantage of these two renewables - because solar and wind power complement each other very well over the year.
Wind energy is the leading source of electricity well into spring, and the sun then takes over in the summer months - before the wind turbines supply most of the energy again in autumn and winter...
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Electricity price brake | Profits | Renewables | Merit order
A difficult signal for renewable energies
There is clear criticism of the plans for an electricity price brake and profit skimming from energy suppliers. This would be fatal for renewable energies in difficult times anyway. A new electricity market design seems more important than ever.
Even before an official agreement on an electricity price brake, which is to be approved by the Federal Cabinet on November 18, a joint concept paper from the Chancellery, the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Ministry of Finance circulated, as well as an 18-page paper from the Ministry of Economics. In it, those responsible describe a procedure similar to the proposals of the gas price commission for the gas price brake.
Electricity consumers should be given a certain percentage of their estimated previous year’s consumption as a discounted basic quota. For the gas price brake, the commission for private households proposes 80 percent of the previous year's consumption. The electricity price brake is to be financed by skimming off the profits of certain energy producers ...
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20. October
Democracy | Climate & Environment | Disaster | Emergency
Luisa Neubauer: Excitement about the sentence at Lanz!
On Tuesday evening (October 18) at Markus Lanz's, the main debates were war, energy supply and climate. The guests: Ex-Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière (CDU), climate activist Luisa Neubauer (Die Grünen), journalist Anja Maier and sociologist Matthias Quent.
Above all, a sentence by Luisa Neubauer from the ZDF program is now making a big round on the net. Both agreeing and dissenting voices form their opinion.
... Neubauer is certain: "Disasters are coming and we won't be able to stop most of them." The infrastructure isn't ready for it, people aren't adequately protected from floods, droughts and crop failures. "There can be no intact democracy if we slide from state of emergency to state of emergency in a world in which the climate is becoming so uncontrollable that we have no way of keeping up," Neubauer puts it in a nutshell. "We're running against time," warns the climate activist.
The former Federal Minister of the Interior intervened: "When it comes to the alternative of time or democracy, then I'm for democracy." This is followed by Neubauer's sentence, which is currently causing a lot of furore on the Internet: "We don't have the choice between time and democracy."
Lanz asks again after the choice between time and democracy: "What does that mean?" Because what we are seeing right now, when the emergencies come, then the democratic spaces are restricted.” Then you no longer have the time, then the emergency dictates and no longer the parliamentary authorities. The Greens member puts it in a nutshell: "The more emergency there is, the less democracy we have!" ...
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France | Energy | armaments policy | EU summit
Dispute over energy and armaments policy: That's why there's a crunch between Berlin and Paris
A joint consultation between the cabinets of Germany and France is postponed. At the EU summit in Brussels, French head of state Macron further tightened the tone.
High inflation, rising energy costs and now irritations in Franco-German relations – the direct and indirect consequences of the Russian attack on Ukraine are putting the European Union to an increasingly severe test.
As EU leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday for a summit, differences between Berlin and Paris threaten to jeopardize the core of the community. There are problems between the two countries in terms of energy and defense policy...
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Spain | France | Portugal | Pipeline
Spain, France now want Barcelona-Marseille pipeline
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Thursday (October 20) that Spain, France and Portugal have agreed to replace the MidCat pipeline with a "green energy corridor".
The new pipeline, which will initially transport gas, is to run underwater between Barcelona and Marseille. The name "BarMar" will probably become naturalized.
Sánchez announced this agreement in statements to journalists upon his arrival at the European Council...
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AKW Isar 2 is shut down for maintenance work
The Isar 2 nuclear power plant in Essenbach near Landshut will be shut down for maintenance work on Friday morning and taken off the grid. Then a valve needs to be repaired. This is necessary so that the kiln can continue to run until next April.
As of Friday, the Isar 2 nuclear power plant near Landshut will no longer supply electricity. The pile will be shut down in the morning. This was announced by the power plant operator PreussenElektra. The work will take about a week...
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Mini wind turbine generates 50% more electricity than solar system
A new type of mini wind turbine generates more electricity than a solar system - without any rotors or noise. And it's significantly cheaper. The system was developed by Aeromine in the USA. It is apparently very well suited for private use.
A mini wind turbine has been developed in the USA that generates a lot of electricity without making any noise or taking up a lot of space. After all, the bladeless wind power plant supplies 5000 watts and also generates electricity at night and in the dark, sunless season. The Aeromine system is said to generate about 50 percent more electricity than a comparable solar system at about the same cost and requires less space.
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Energy price | Exploding costs | network charges
Ray of hope: From 25 to 40 billion euros - historical cost explosion in power grids incomprehensible
Electricity and gas prices are rising rapidly in Germany. Now there is another cost factor. At the turn of the year, the 1600 electricity and gas network operators in Germany are turning the price screw. According to initial evaluations, grid fees will increase by an average of 2023 percent in 25, equivalent to EUR 82 (electricity) or EUR 86 (gas) per household. For example, the electricity grid fees in Berlin will increase by 25 percent (93 euros) and in Hamburg by 17 percent (61 euros).*
For electricity customers, the increases would have been even higher if the German federal government had not recently transferred 13 billion euros to the transmission system operators. The money comes from the pot to finance renewable energies ...
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Abundance and falling prices: Spain doesn't know what to do with gas
Full storage and falling demand: Spain is currently struggling with a gas glut. Prices are also falling rapidly.
After there was a threat of gas bottlenecks recently, prices are now falling across Europe. This particularly applies to Spain, like this Editorial Network Germany reported. There, the gas used to consume electricity on Thursday costs 32 euros per megawatt hour. It's a whole 10 euros cheaper than the day before and for the first time since May it's below the government upper limit of 40 euros...
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save gas | energy security | gas crisis
According to the study, Germany must reduce gas consumption by 30 percent
In order to overcome the gas crisis, citizens would have to restrict themselves significantly more than before. Leading energy researchers are appealing for a change in heating behavior.
People in Germany have to reduce their gas consumption much more than before in order to get through the energy crisis. This is the result of an energy study by 30 researchers from the federally funded Ariadne research project. "30 percent of the gas consumption from before the crisis has to go down," says Gunnar Luderer, deputy head of the Ariadne project at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research ...
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19. October
Bottleneck: why the LNG ships are damming up off the Spanish coast
Europe is desperately looking for alternatives to Russian gas. Meanwhile, a number of liquid gas ships are in the roadstead off Spain and cannot be unloaded.
According to a media report, there are currently more than 35 ships loaded with liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the roadstead off the coast of Spain and in European waters and cannot be unloaded. The gas, which is urgently needed in view of the energy crisis on the continent, cannot currently be transported to Germany, for example, for example due to a lack of infrastructure, where it could help to become less dependent on Russian gas.
The Reuters news agency, citing traders and analysts, reports that 2,5 million tons of liquefied natural gas are currently tied up in "floating storage facilities". With six LNG terminals, Spain currently has the most facilities for regasification of the liquid gas at a temperature of minus 160 degrees in Europe, making it the preferred destination for LNG tankers. A third of the plants are located there. In addition, there would be 44 percent of the storage capacity for LNG ...
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Failure of Tihange 3:
Regulatory authority identifies mobile phone as a disruptive factor
The Belgian Nuclear Safety Authority (FANC) reports that the automatic shutdown of reactor 3 at the Walloon Tihange nuclear power plant in early October was triggered by electromagnetic interference from a mobile phone. Presumably someone had taken a mobile phone into an area where it wasn't allowed. The nuclear reactor then switched itself off automatically.
The Tihange 3 reactor shut down unexpectedly on October 3 after measurements indicated a pressure drop in a steam generator. The reactor remained out of service for two weeks until the cause was found. The reactor could only be put back into operation on Tuesday ...
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Profit | Electricity price | renewable
Electricity gains are to be skimmed off retrospectively
Proposals for the electricity price brake have become known from the Federal Ministry of Economics. The paper presented to Klimareporter° also proposes a retrospective levy on random profits since March. The renewables industry warns of an impending breach of the constitution.
Anyone who produces electricity in Germany with biomethane, hard coal or natural gas would be fine - all other electricity producers would hit the planned profit skimming in the electricity market. This is suggested by a concept paper on the "electricity price brake" that has now become known and is said to have come from the Federal Ministry of Economics...
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energy crisis | Stretch operation | End of term debate
Cabinet approves continued nuclear power plant operation
The cabinet has approved longer terms for the three remaining German nuclear power plants until April. The Greens warn that this should also put an end to the term debate.
The remaining three nuclear power plants in Germany will remain in operation until mid-April - this has been approved by the Federal Cabinet. The ministers approved the necessary amendment to the Atomic Energy Act ...
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Citizen Energy | decentralized | Cooperation
Citizen energy in transition
The proximity of energy communities to local people is a valuable success factor for the energy transition. But it would be wrong to reduce community energy to the role of a provider of acceptance. A practical legal framework and professionalization are the changing tasks.
The conversion of the energy system is in full swing. The climate and energy crisis massively increases the pressure to change. Renewable energies are increasingly being added again. And with the electrification of heat pumps and electric cars, the energy sectors are becoming ever more intertwined.
The transformation inevitably leads to further shifts among the players involved in the energy market. The relevance of citizen: indoor energy is changing ...
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lifetime extension | final line
After a dispute about the AKW runtime extension:
Greens and FDP vow to improve
Only a word of power from Chancellor Olaf Scholz ended the dispute within the coalition about extended nuclear power plant runtimes. The leaders of the Greens and FDP are contrite.
After Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) gave his word of power on the use of the three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany, the Greens and FDP signaled better cooperation. The previous disagreement in the traffic light coalition was certainly not a highlight, admitted Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck on Tuesday evening in Berlin. In this respect, the word of power on the forced nuclear compromise was good and right. "The line has now been drawn," said the Green politician.
FDP boss and Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner also promised improvement: "We are pulling together." He described the compromise as good news, even if the process to get there was not perfect. With the nuclear power plant in Emsland connected to the grid by mid-April 2023, the risk of a blackout will be reduced...
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19 October 1989 (INES 1) NPP Vandellos-1, ESP
A fire at the Vandellòs nuclear power plant severely damaged the safety systems. Vandellòs 1 was then finally switched off by a political decision by the Spanish government.
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AtomkraftwerkePlag
The Vandellós nuclear power plant is located on the north-east coast of Spain, south-west of Tarragona.
Originally, two reactors supplied electricity at the site. Vandellós-1 was a 500 MW gas-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor (GCR) with construction beginning on June 21, 1968 and commissioned on February 11, 1972. In 1990 it was switched off after a turbine fire that almost led to a meltdown...
Near meltdown in Vandellós-1
On October 19, 1989, after shutting down a turbine in the non-nuclear part of the nuclear power plant, hydrogen ignited, whereupon a generator turbine exploded and caught fire. The fire quickly spread and threatened the reactor's cooling system. While the plant manager later explained that all safety systems had worked, the truth was that panic had broken out in the control room. ""The technicians," reported firefighters who had rushed in from the area, "screamed in confusion and fled."
The fire brigade did not fight the fire with foam, as would have been correct, but with extinguishing water, after which the power plant basement was flooded and the cooling systems were threatened. Two out of four carbon dioxide pumps were damaged and the secondary circuit was also compromised. The reactor temperature rose sharply, but luckily dropped back to normal the following day. The nuclear power plant narrowly escaped a meltdown and a possible GAU. Environmentalists saw the accident as the most dangerous after the Chernobyl disaster up to that point...
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More detailed information on this accident and other similar incidents is available in German Wikipedia not or no longer to be found ...
Apparently, slowly but surely, all important information about accidents in the nuclear industry is being removed from Wikipedia!
Wikipedia - de
On October 19, 1989, a serious accident occurred there, in which the block was damaged beyond repair. Repairing the plant would have been uneconomical, so on July 31, 1990 it was decided to shut down Unit 1...
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18. October
Nuclear power plant Emsland | word of power | Traffic light coalition
Nuclear power plant Emsland should stay connected:
For a few more kilowatt hours
How long the nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony can continue to operate hardly depends on the Chancellor's decision. The fuel elements are already losing their power.
A lot of excitement about a few kilowatt hours: The chancellor's word of power is hardly relevant for the electricity industry. There is now another reactor that can theoretically continue to run until mid-April. In fact, he can hardly go on for that long. Because his fuel elements will already be pretty weak on the chest by the turn of the year. And then they continue to lose strength every day. It will probably be over with the electricity from the Emsland nuclear power plant as early as February...
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France | Strike | Repair NPP
Operator fears delivery gaps
Strikes in France endanger nuclear plant maintenance
Because of ailing French nuclear reactors, Germany has to supply electricity to the neighboring country for the first time. According to the operators, the current employees endanger the startup of several reactors. For the winter, Paris expects critical moments.
Ongoing strikes at French nuclear power plants could endanger power supplies in winter. The current protests by workers at nuclear power plants have resulted in the startup of several reactors being delayed by two to three weeks, the network operator RTE in Paris warned. At the beginning of November, production is expected to be lower than previously assumed.
The French nuclear reactors are currently producing around 30 gigawatts, which is eight gigawatts less than the previous historic low, RTE said. The total capacity of the French nuclear park is around 61 gigawatts. Workers at several nuclear power plants are currently on strike to back their demands for pay rises...
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solar power | species protection | Renewable energies
Solar power plus species protection as a solution for solar parks?
Experts agree that if Bavaria wants to achieve the energy turnaround, it will not work without solar parks in the fields. But how can they be built in such a way that people accept them? One approach: combine solar power with species protection.
Bavaria would have to build solar parks every day on an area the size of 23 football fields in order to be climate-neutral by 2040 - in addition to significantly more photovoltaics on buildings and wind energy. This was recently calculated by the Association of the Bavarian Energy Industry. So the dimensions are huge. And many local residents are already rejecting new solar parks out of concern for the landscape and farmland. How can photovoltaic systems be built in such a way that they are compatible with the landscape and the environment?
[...]
Solar field plus species protection convinces local council
Andreas Engl worked with Albert Busch in Rott am Inn to create a comparable concept for his solar field. The result: This summer, the majority in the municipal council approved. Against the background of the energy crisis, of course. But what convinced most of the municipal councils and also him, according to Mayor Daniel Wendrock: that it was not a large corporation, but a local developer behind it. And that an ecologically very high-quality area should be created according to clear guidelines ...
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Nuclear power plant continued operation | nuclear law | Health
"The continued operation of nuclear power plants endangers the health of all of us!"
IPPNW demands: The Atomic Energy Act must not be changed!
The medical organization IPPNW sharply criticizes Olaf Scholz's decision to leave all three remaining German nuclear power plants online until April 2023. The stress test clearly showed that the nuclear power plants could neither make a significant contribution to combating the gas shortage nor were they needed to ensure grid stability. Instead, the dilapidated old mines posed an enormous risk to the health of the population.
"In June 2, investigations at the Neckarwestheim 2022 nuclear power plant revealed corrosion damage in the steam generators for the sixth time in a row. This means that cracks, some of which are deep and long, have now been detected in more than 350 pipes. This means that there is an acute danger that further cracks will develop and grow - to the point that the pipes can spontaneously burst or tear off. Reactor safety experts warn that the rupture of just one of the more than 16.000 thin-walled pipes could trigger an accident or even core meltdown...
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Continued operation until 2023
Green youth criticize Scholz' nuclear power plant decision as "Basta policy"
Olaf Scholz has put an end to the nuclear power plant dispute – three reactors are to continue to run until April. While the coalition partners submit, the youth organization of the Greens strengthens.
The Green Youth reacted indignantly to the decision by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to continue operating the remaining three German nuclear power plants until mid-April at the latest. "That's Basta politics, and we don't need it," said the co-head of the Green youth organization, Timon Dzienus, the dpa news agency in Berlin. "We need a debate in the Bundestag on the subject."
The Green Youth also consider the decision to be wrong in terms of content, said Dzienus. "It lacks any factual basis." There are too many unanswered questions. »Continued operation of the Emsland nuclear power plant could ensure that the power grids in Lower Saxony are blocked and wind turbines have to be curtailed. That's absurd.« There is no problem with the security of the electricity supply in northern Germany...
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AfD | Atomic bombs for Germany?!
AfD argues about nuclear armament:
Nuclear weapons for Germany
The defense policy spokesman for the AfD supports the call for “nuclear weapons for Germany”. The party leadership does not.
The AfD has recently presented itself as a peace movement. The inner-party reaction to a decision by the Junge Alternative (JA), which called for “nuclear weapons for Germany” at its federal congress last weekend, shows how much this commitment is worth.
While party leader and parliamentary group leader Tino Chrupalla recently persistently warned of a new Cold War, his parliamentary colleague, defense policy spokesman Rüdiger Lucassen, praised the decision of the YES in the world: "Credible deterrence requires nuclear capabilities. So anyone who wants to protect our country as independently as possible against military threats must seriously consider arming Germany with nuclear weapons.” ...
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18 October 2011 (INES 1) NPP Karachi, PAH
The plant declared a seven-hour emergency after heavy water leaked from a line to the reactor.
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AtomkraftwerkePlag
Two active units
The Kanupp site, also known as Karachi, is located at Paradise Point, approximately 25 km west of Karachi in the Sindh Province of southern Pakistan.
Kanupp-28 and -2021, two Chinese-made pressurized water reactors of the type HPR19 (Hualong One), have been in operation there since February 2022, 2 and February 3, 1000. Kanupp-1, a Canadian CANDU-137 heavy water reactor with a capacity of 100 MW, was shut down forever on August 1, 2021. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) and commissioned in 1971 was one of the longest serving active reactors in the world.
[...]
risk and incidents
According to an April 2011 article in The Guardian, the active Kanupp-1 unit is considered highly unsafe due to its age, its heavily loaded structure and the risk of earthquakes and tsunamis in the Arabian Sea. In the event of an accident, the 15 million city of Karachi would be contaminated.
An incident in January 1985 casts a bad light on the safety culture at Kanupp: When transferring radioactive waste, there was a problem with a leaking rubber hose that was leaking heavy water containing tritium. The hose was first wrapped with adhesive tape, after which water leaked out again. So the team "used a whole roll of duct tape and it leaked very little."
According to Greenpeace, on April 18, 1989, radioactive water leaked into the containment due to a leak in the heavy water system. Several employees were exposed to radiation during the repair.
In October 2011 there was a leak in a heavy water hose. As a result, a temporary state of emergency was declared at the nuclear power plant. The workforce is said not to have been exposed to radioactivity ...
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Wikipedia
On October 18, 2011, an accident occurred at the Karachi nuclear power plant. A state of emergency was declared at short notice when a leak in a water pipe was discovered, but this was lifted again after a team of specialists worked in the reactor for several hours. There was no danger to personnel or the environment, even if water leaked through the leak, but it was not radioactive. The incident was not publicized until October 20, 2011 ...
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17. October
election promise | traffic light coalition | Dependent | emergency reserve
Dear friends,
the traffic light breaks through one red line after another. In Lützerath, the Greens are breaking in against RWE, tonight the Greens and SPD are giving in to the FDP on the nuclear issue. Now Lingen should continue to run until next April - not a word from the fuel element factory and the UAA Gronau. Dependence on Russian uranium, the growing threat of terrorism, the ailing French nuclear power plant, the constant attacks on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the cracks in Lingen and Neckarwestheim, the lack of security checks - none of this is an issue. Nuclear power is declared hell-bent on the bringer of salvation.
The reality is that we have an enormous electricity surplus and wind turbines for nuclear and coal are constantly being curtailed. This also drives up electricity prices and blocks the energy transition.
With the chancellor's "word of power", the SPD and the Greens in Lower Saxony broke their first election promise even before the state government was formed, and the decisions of the Greens at party conferences apparently no longer last 72 hours.
And who thinks that with more atom there is less coal - what an illusion. These are the same corporations, especially RWE and Uniper, that are supported by the same lobby. The FDP announced tonight that it would bring even more coal and gas to the grid next year. They rightly feel like the winners because they can get away with any form of political blackmail.
Luisa Neubauer gave a very good speech on the necessary climate policy at the Green Party Congress yesterday, which you can watch here in the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8onMba916cw
The answers of the green ministers were embarrassing. NRW Environment Minister Oliver Krischer z. B. actually said that the Lützerath agreement with RWE was actually a reason to celebrate. And whoever wants to save Lützi now will be responsible for the demolition of the other villages. After just three months in Düsseldorf, the ministers are in RWE’s pockets and the party congress nods in the end. What else is there to say? Our answer: Solidarity with Lützerath!
That's why the protest must not let up now - neither in Lingen nor in Lützi nor in Neckarwestheim or at Isar 2. In Berlin today climate activists occupied Christian Lindner's Federal Ministry of Finance.
Save the dates: On 3./4. The G7 foreign ministers will come to Münster on November XNUMXst. A large climate demo is planned - more details will follow.
There will also be a demo at the Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant on November 6th.
Nuclear-free climate greetings
SOFA (Sofortiger Atomausstieg) Münster, action alliance Münsterland against nuclear facilities
sofa-ms.de, urantransport.de
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Word of power from Scholz
A chancellor only does that once
Chancellor Scholz has played the policy competence as the penultimate power option. This became necessary because he lacked the respect of his ministers, says Georg Schwarte. Next time he could ask the vote of confidence.
The chancellor has power. Finally, sigh some who were tired of the eternal moderation. Unnecessarily, the quiet procrastinator let the nuclear power debate go on for months.
So now it's backtracking. "Anyone who orders leadership from me gets it," the man once said before he was chancellor. So at first glance everything is fine. Scholz leads, says where to go with his traffic lights and cares neither about red lines of the Green Party Congress soul nor about runtime data of the FDP, which suddenly appealed to common sense ...
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Scheer | continued operation | Renewable energies
SPD energy expert on nuclear power plant continued operation:
"Nuclear energy is displacing renewables"
The chancellor has ordered three nuclear power plants to continue running until April. SPD energy expert Scheer had previously warned against this. That slows down the energy transition.
taz: Ms. Scheer, the FDP argued that in order to ensure a secure power supply, it was necessary to continue operating all three nuclear power plants that were still connected to the grid. What speaks against it?
Nina Scheer: Two things are combined here: On the one hand, concerns about a secure energy supply and, on the other hand, fears of galloping energy prices. But anyone who proposes the use or even the expansion of nuclear energy as an answer to a fossil energy price crisis is throwing sand in people's eyes.
Why?
Nuclear energy is expensive and a high-risk technology. It can only replace electricity generation from gas to a very limited extent and is displacing renewable energies in the grid. My impression is that in the last few weeks we have moved very far away from the facts. At least I don't know on which facts the assumption that more nuclear energy is needed or that nuclear energy is used to increase energy security is based. A look at France shows that this calculation does not add up.
[...]
Ultimately, both securing the expansion of renewable energies and adequate grids are a question of services of general interest, for which the state must also assume a guarantor position in case of doubt.
So state network operators and suppliers like in France?
I think it would make sense if the infrastructure that is important for services of general interest is in the hands of the state and if the state intervenes in the expansion of the grid and the expansion of renewable energies is a real option if energy security or the achievement of our goals require it.
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United States | St. Louis | radioactive contamination
Nuclear waste from World War II: West Lake Landfill
Elementary school in the US state of Missouri radioactively contaminated
Samples from the library, kitchen, classrooms and outside areas of the school showed significant levels of radiation. The school is located in the floodplain of a lake that was contaminated with nuclear waste during World War II.
Significant radioactive contamination has been found at a Missouri elementary school. Nuclear weapons were manufactured near the building in Florissant, in the St. Louis metropolitan area, during World War II, according to a report by consultants from an environmental investigator. The Boston Chemical report confirms concerns raised about the Jana Elementary School in a study by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
The new report is based on samples taken from the school in August, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch” reported. They come from the library, kitchen, classrooms and outside areas of the school. Boston Chemical did not disclose who requested or funded the investigation. Ashley Beranugh, a parents' representative, expressed outrage. "It sounds so cliche, but it takes your breath away," she said...
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WNISR | Photovoltaics | energy crisis
"World Nuclear Industry Status Report"
Environmentalists: Nuclear power is on the decline worldwide
After a global peak in 2018 with 437 nuclear power plants in operation, the number of nuclear reactors worldwide has fallen continuously. In 2022 there were only 411. According to the current World Nuclear Industry Report, the global contribution to electricity generation fell below ten percent for the first time this year.
In the debate about extending the lifetime of German nuclear power plants, environmentalists point to a declining share of nuclear energy in global electricity generation. "There are only 33 countries in which nuclear power plants are in operation, and the number of reactors continues to fall," said the Lüchow-Dannenberg Citizens' Initiative (BI) for environmental protection on Monday...
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Tenant electricity | Photovoltaics | energy crisis
Cheap solar power for tenants: is the breakthrough coming?
Many homeowners screw solar panels onto their roofs to reduce their electricity bills. Renters can't do that easily. For them there is the "tenant electricity" model. Although it is still not very common - but that is gradually changing.
The tenant electricity model works like this: A service provider installs solar cells, pays the landlord a small rent for the roof, and then sells the electricity to the residents at a reduced price. Angela Lutz-Plank from the Munich Tenants' Association thinks it's a great idea, especially now that electricity prices are rising: "Otherwise, tenants have relatively few options compared to owners."
You can neither insulate your apartment nor change the heating, and the photovoltaic options available to tenants are limited to small balcony systems. That's why the tenant representative emphasizes: "We would like it if many landlords offered tenant electricity." ...
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17 October 1969 (INES 4) NPP Saint-Laurent, FRA
More than 50 kilograms of uranium fuel at the Saint-Laurent nuclear plant began to melt after the cooling systems failed. The plant had to be shut down and repaired. The repair of the reactor lasted a year.
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AtomkraftwerkePlag
1980: Partial meltdown in reactor A-2
The accident in reactor A-1 on October 17, 1969 was caused due to human error and a technical error. When loading four fuel chambers, the machine stopped commands several times, but the employee canceled the stops and continued loading. An alarm was triggered due to overheating and an increase in radioactivity, and the emergency shutdown was initiated. Some fuel bundles just loaded melted. Since the cooling still worked with a quarter of the normal value, there was no major catastrophe. Only small amounts of radioactivity escaped from the building. It takes a year to clean the building, after which the reactor was put back into operation ...
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Wikipedia
Saint Laurent Nuclear Power Plant
On October 17, 1969, the reactor core was damaged during loading of the graphite reactor A1. The cooling of a fuel element was interrupted, which then melted. 50 kg of uranium escaped. Only the site was contaminated; the population was not informed ...
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16. October
traffic light coalition | Crisis
Scholz is struggling to find a solution in the nuclear power plant dispute
A meeting in the Chancellery with Economics Minister Habeck and Finance Minister Lindner yielded no result. Lindner sharply attacks the attitude of the Greens in the nuclear debate.
The traffic light coalition tried in vain on Sunday to settle the dispute over the continued use of nuclear power. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) met in the Chancellery. However, it was then said that there was no result yet...
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Green Party Congress | Reserve NPP
Nuclear power: Green Party Congress agrees nuclear reserve
At their party conference in Bonn, the Greens deviate from the line they have held since the party was founded and agree to a reserve of two nuclear power plants.
The party conference of the Greens in Bonn approved a motion by a clear majority, according to which the nuclear power plants Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2 should be kept in reserve until April 15th. The third remaining Emsland nuclear power plant, on the other hand, is to be finally shut down on January 1, 2023. This is the first time the Greens are deviating from their fundamental rejection of nuclear power, which was laid down 42 years ago ...
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Blackout | Power grid | Power failure
Defect in switchgear
Gaggenau has power again after hours of blackout
Since shortly after midnight, Gaggenau and its districts have been without electricity for several hours on Sunday morning. The reason was apparently a technical defect. On Sunday around 9 a.m. most of the city could be supplied again.
The Series of massive power outages in the region continued on Sunday. The entire city of Gaggenau had been without power since shortly after midnight...
Top | |
| Current news+ | Background knowledge |
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News+ October 16
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Friends of MIC | Nuclear phase-out | Blackout | Power failure | Plutonium | WiP
The "Friends of MIK" in AFD, CDU/CSU and FDP are ready to fight for the nuclear industry until democracy is over.
The phase-out of nuclear power on December 31, 2022 has been law since June 30, 2011, and the FDP now wants to get the SPD and Greens to change this law, because otherwise a very big blackout is said to be imminent.
(Getting started with phasing out nuclear energy ... On June 30, 2011, the Bundestag passed the phase-out of nuclear power by 2022 with a large majority. 513 MPs voted in favor, 79 MPs against, and eight abstained.)
The danger of a major power outage is disputed by many experts, but perhaps the scare mongers know more...
The tail wags the dog in the traffic light coalition.
When this coalition was formed, everyone involved knew where the other partners stood, what the sticking points were and who could not cope with what. Now the FDP wants to get the Greens to hit their electorate with a few Akws in the face and thus commit political suicide.
That failed, and now Chancellor Scholz has to say very clearly what is going on.
First and foremost, it's not about the sausage or the climate, it's about life on this planet.
This world was born of fire and has survived many cataclysms, but never since the origin of life has there been so much radioactive material on its surface and within the magnetic field. Billions of years ago, nature transported the largest amounts of uranium and thorium into the earth's core in order to heat the planet from there and not hinder the development of life on the surface.
We get it from the depths and make it even more dangerous than it ever was in nature through industrial processing into enriched radioactive fuel or bomb material. Over the past 90 years, humans have produced staggering megatons of this radiant material. Several tons of this devil's stuff have already been dumped in the oceans as nuclear waste, and the most toxic of all substances, plutonium, has been successfully released into the atmosphere in more than 2000 nuclear tests.
This madness must be stopped once and for all.
But one thing must be clear to all of us: the nuclear lobby has been drumming for more nuclear energy for many years and yet very few nuclear power plants are being built. And that's only in the states that have nuclear weapons and in the states that desperately want nuclear bombs.
So the politicians know about it, but they are still under enormous pressure to pump huge amounts of tax money into the pockets of the nuclear industry, because otherwise MIK will bring the fascists to power and then the nuclear industry will get as much money as it wants.
Meanwhile, Merz describes the Greens as hostage-takers. So calls political opponents criminals or terrorists and can be sure of the approval of his future coalition partners from the AFD.
The next escalation levels are, as experience shows, dehumanization, ...
| Top | |
| Current news+ | Background knowledge |
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Background knowledge
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reaktorpleite.de
Map of the nuclear world:
History doesn't repeat itself, it's the stories...
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The internal search for
brought the following results, among others:
August 14, 2022 - Brainwashed? – Strategic communication!
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June 26, 2022 - Where torture is "the order of the day".
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September 06th, 2021 - The realm of death: Billions in profits and "cool military commanders"
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April 25, 2021 - MiK gears up for important battles to come
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Those who speak the truth will be accused of lying and insulted by the horror clowns.
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YouTube
Keyword search: military-industrial complex
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Militärisch-industrieller Komplex
Videos:
arte documentary - 00:01:54 - Excerpt from "Wy We Fight - America's Wars"
US President Dwight D. Eisenhower: Warning about the military-industrial complex
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WDR - 43:50
The Military-Industrial Complex in Germany - The Comeback of the Defense Industry
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arte documentary - 01:38:43
Documentary: Why We Fight - America's Wars - The Military-Industrial Complex
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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)
Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...
This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic
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Ecosia
This search engine is planting trees!
Keyword search: military-industrial complex
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Militärisch-industrieller Komplex
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Wikipedia
Military-industrial complex
The term military-industrial complex (MIK) is used in socio-critical analyzes to describe the close cooperation and mutual relationships between politicians, representatives of the military and representatives of the defense industry ...
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Permanent armaments economy
The theory of the permanent armaments economy tries to explain the upswing of the capitalist states after the Second World War within the framework of Marxism. Marxists need to explain this because most of them assumed during World War II that history would repeat itself. As after the First World War, crises and stagnation tendencies along the lines of the global economic crisis of 1929 would soon appear after perhaps short-lived dizzy spells. In fact, capitalism experienced a sustained upswing after World War II. The permanent armaments economics theory takes a certain difference between the post-war periods of the two world wars as its starting point. After the First World War, the states quickly reduced their armaments to a peaceful level, but after the Second World War, the increase in armaments continued in the course of the Cold War. This ongoing armament is responsible for the long upswing after the Second World War. The various varieties of the theory of permanent armaments economy differ in the assessment of how armaments had a positive effect on economic development in detail ...
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Back to:
Newsletter XL 2022 - October 09th to 15th
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| Current news+ | Background knowledge |
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