Newsletter LII 2022

December 26-31

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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:

02 December 1949 (INES 4 NAMS 3,8) Nuclear factory Hanford, USA

05 December 1965 (Broken Arrow) Douglas A-4E Skyhawk, USA

06 December 1972 (INES 3 NAMS 1,6) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR

07 December 1975 (INES 3) Greifswald, GDR

10 December 1994 (INES 2) Pickering, ON, CAN

21 December 1972 (INES ? Class.?) Pawling, USA

31 December 1978 (INES 4) Beloyarsk, 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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31. December

Climate protection | Implementation | climate change

A year without Putin

It was not all bad in 2022. Large and important countries have decided on a climate protection course. Now the plans "only" have to be put into practice.

2022. How will the year go down in history? As a year in which a Moscow despot bombed Europe back into the last century, with thousands of deaths, millions of refugees and as collateral damage of a renaissance in the use of coal and nuclear power?

Or as a year in which the western democracies put a stop to the brutal mixture of nationalism, imperialism and environmental destruction and laid the basis for the breakthrough of climate-friendly energies? 

It's still too early to decide. Still, there is hope that Russian President Putin will not have the last word in his devastating attack on Ukraine and humanity.

The year that has ended has brought a slew of good news, showing that the global community has realized what is at stake for what is now eight billion people...

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renewable | Extension | Vocational Training

Renewables: waiting for the turbo

Energy and climate – compact: The expansion of sun, wind & Co. is still far too slow. New laws promise a remedy. A look behind the scenes.

Despite a lot of resistance, renewable energy sources, especially wind and solar energy, are still on the rise. Both internationally and domestically, but considerably slower here. Of course, the expansion would have to go much faster in order to get the climate crisis under control.

In the third and last part of our small, highly incomplete annual review, we now turn to the status and perspectives of the expansion of renewables.

According to figures from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, the share of renewables in the net electricity generation for the public grid was around 2022 percent in 49. That's just under the previous record from 2020...

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France | Electricity price | Ukraine

What is part of the problem is sold as the solution

In France, nuclear power plants are standing still in rows, electricity prices in Europe are going through the roof - and what is a federal government doing with the participation of the Greens? She is simply postponing the nuclear phase-out and is looking forward to a new pro-nuclear campaign in the coming year with the support of the co-governing FDP.

The year 2022 was full of surprises - many of which, on closer inspection, were not so surprising after all. What actually surprised me last year was that nuclear energy was not phased out.

Almost half of the nuclear reactors in France are standing still, electricity prices are exploding at the European energy trading centers, nuclear plants are being shot at in Ukraine and attempts are being made to use them as stationary dirty bombs - and yet nuclear power is suddenly being used again as a solution to energy and climate problems hyped...

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Finland | Energy transition | Wind power

Energy transition in Finland: The wind blows even in the dark winter

Wind power The country in the far north needs a lot of electricity. For electric cars, but also for heating. For a long time it therefore relied on imports from abroad and nuclear power. Now Finland is changing course

[...]

The 4.000 megawatt hours that the country now has left and can feed into the market come from wind power. It took Finland a little longer for that: In fact, the announcement that a third pressurized water reactor would soon go into operation on the western Finnish island of Olkiluoto has been hanging in the political arena for years like a new promise. Green Anni Sinnemäki doesn't find nuclear power reprehensible either, but she also sees that Olkiluoto has slowed down investment in renewable energy.

From atomic Olkiluoto to windy Kalajoki

The third reactor block is now around 14 years overdue and three times over budget. It is finally due to go online in January and increase the proportion of nuclear power in total production by almost a third. They stuck "We did it!" in big letters on the entrance gate, but even the enthusiastic press spokesman admits that the jubilation came a little early: After the test run, the system went off the grid again, and now they have to investigate the cause of the centimeter-long cracks clear four cooling pumps. The spokesman does not know what will happen next.

The Finnish wind energy sector, on the other hand, is developing rapidly - from just under 630 megawatt hours in 2014 to 5.000 now, although in the meantime, after state subsidies expired in 2017 and no new turbines were built at all in the following year, capacity had even fallen ...

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Ukraine War | Media | Sanctions

Ukraine war: The big game of poker for victory

Can the West keep up with the sanctions? And who is bluffing, with what consequences? And above all the question: How likely is a victory for Ukraine? (Part 1 - 2 - 3)

It can be considered fairly certain that Russia can no longer subdue Ukraine. Even if Ukraine had to capitulate, after everything that has been done to the Ukrainians, there would still be internal resistance.

Since September, Ukraine has even launched a counter-offensive, several thousand square kilometers and several hundred villages have been recaptured. The Russian troops have withdrawn from the strategically important, fourth-largest Ukrainian city of Cherson to the east bank of the Dnieper River and entrenched there.

The momentum is on the Ukrainian side, they say, and Ukraine is in control of the trade. There is even talk of a "victory" for Ukraine. The West has pledged billions more in military aid.

Against the hopes of victory, however, stands the sober finding that the balance of power between Russia and Ukraine still differs drastically. The claims of the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that there are 25 million reservists in Russia may be grossly exaggerated, but even if Russia's military power were weakened, having the world's largest nuclear arsenal at its disposal would be enough to ambush its neighbor or even the threatening the whole world...

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 31 December 1978 (INES 4) NPP Beloyarsk, USSR

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Wikipedia

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernkraftwerk_Belojarsk

On 30./31. In December 1978, the temperature in the area dropped to -50 °C. On the following New Year's Eve, the low temperatures led to a serious incident that almost turned into a meltdown. The roof of the turbine hall collapsed due to material fatigue. Parts fell on the generator and a short circuit occurred, which started a fire in the turbine hall. Measuring lines to the reactor were partially destroyed. Burning oil made it difficult for firefighters to bring the blaze under control. In order to prevent a MAU, the reactor had to be shut down. Dense smoke got into the control room, so that the operating personnel had to leave the control room temporarily and could only re-enter it for a short time in order to carry out some switching operations. In the first few hours, fearing the consequences, they set about evacuating the nearby workers' town of Zarechny. Attempts have already been made to organize many buses and trains for evacuation in Sverdlovsk Oblast.

Eight people were severely radioactive, almost two dozen were temporarily unconscious from the smoke gas, but after a few hours the reactors were under control again...

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Wikipedia - en

Nuclear power accidents by country#Russia

In the English language version of Wikipedia, this incident is - INES 4 "accident" - not mentioned at all.

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AtomkraftwerkePlag

https://atomkraftwerkeplag.fandom.com/de/wiki/Beloyarsk_(Russland) 

From 1964 to 1979 there was a series of events in Beloyarsk-1 in which fuel channels were destroyed and workers were exposed to increased levels of radiation. In 1977, 50% of the fuel assemblies at Beloyarsk-2 melted down; the staff were exposed to high levels of radioactivity. In a fire that broke out on December 31, 1978 due to a falling cover plate, eight people suffered an increased radiation dose.

There were also reports of various incidents in breeder operation (units 3 and 4) in the 1990s ...

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30. December

Neckarwestheim | Stretch operation | Resistance

Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant goes into short shutdown

Neckarwestheim (dpa) - In order to be able to supply Germany with electricity in the coming months, the energy supplier EnBW will shut down the Neckarwestheim 2 nuclear power plant at the turn of the year. The 193 fuel elements are then to be reassembled during a brief shutdown of two to three weeks. After restarting, the pile in the Heilbronn district is expected to produce up to 1,7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity by mid-April. Without the new configuration of the fuel elements, only about a third of this would be possible, explained the head of the nuclear power division, Jörg Michels...

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Australia | environmental policy | renewable energy

The Labor Party wants to make Australia a “renewable energy superpower”.

Australia's environmental policy in 2023: The unholy coalition of corporations, conservatives and powerful private media has stalled any progress on environmental policy for decades.

On March 21, 2022, the Labor Party (roughly comparable to the SPD) in Australia prevailed against the Conservatives (roughly: CDU/CSU/FDP) with 52% (77 seats) against 48% (58 seats) and was thus elected (Green 3 seats). This replaced almost a decade of rule by the reactionary coalition government – ​​consisting of the conservative “(neo-)liberal” party and the reactionary National Party.

In recent decades, one of the main concerns of conservatives has been delaying the fight against climate change. As a result, Australia is in some ways hopelessly behind when it comes to renewable energy compared to other OECD countries.

[...]

In summary, Labor's future environmental policy will continue to be determined by the four key factors. Labor faces four powerful political opponents: first, the all-powerful and extremely conservative Murdoch press; second, the Conservative Party; third, the all-powerful mining corporations; and, fourth, their equally powerful lobby. What's more, these four ensured that Scomo (Scott Morrison) won the so-called "unwinnable" election in 2019.

Well-founded fears of these four opponents and losing the 2019 election will ensure that even if the party is in power, Labor will be very slow in introducing environmental protection measures that are actually a very long time overdue.

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Nuclear lobby | Nuclear phase-out

Nuclear power: "Not an option for Germany"

Energy and climate – compact: The disadvantages are obvious. Nuclear power plants are struggling with cracks, missing fuel rods, a lack of staff and astronomical costs. Why politicians still want to artificially breathe life into the dead industry.

The nuclear debate is the undead in the dispute over the future of energy supply. Today's second part of our small, inevitably very incomplete review of energy and climate policy is about them.

In 2022, nuclear power contributed just under seven percent to the net electricity production for the public grid (wind 24 percent, sun 12 percent). In complete contrast is the space it occupies in public discourse.

At the beginning of the year everything was still clear. The phasing out of civilian use was almost complete and largely uncontroversial. With the military option, which we will not go into further here, things look a little different, because people like to keep a back door open, which is currently opening more and more ...

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Ukraine War | Propaganda | Sanctions

The poisoned discussion about a peace policy perspective

War is terrible, always. But the horrors of the Ukraine war are exploited. How the debate about a peace policy perspective is prevented (Part 1 - 2 - 3)

We all experience it every day: Emotionalism and morally exaggerated accusations dominate the public discourse on Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine. When we turn on the daily news or the Today news in the evening, we see images of bombed houses, dead people or interviews with injured people for several minutes.

Of course it's all terrible. War brings destruction and endless human suffering. In war there is crime and cruelty - on all sides. According to estimates by US Army General Mark Milley, 100.000 Russian soldiers have been killed and injured so far, and thousands have died in Ukraine.

[...]

Heribert Prantl, former member of the editor-in-chief of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, rightly writes:

It is fatal and infinitely foolish that in this country the words "armistice", "appeal for peace" and "peace" are considered disreputable when they are used in connection with the war against Ukraine. It is fatal when promoting a diplomatic offensive is seen almost as an accomplice to a crime.

If the public debate is dominated by morality and feelings are fueled and exploited, factual arguments have a hard time and a sober and rational debate is blocked ...

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29. December

Resistance | Exit | Stretch operation

Nuclear phase-out as a success story

Stretching postponed the nuclear power plant end in Germany

The use of nuclear power in Germany would actually be history this Saturday – at least if it were to go according to the exit law introduced by the CDU/CSU in 2011 and passed by a very grand coalition in the Bundestag. In view of an alleged energy crisis and under pressure from the Union, FDP and some industrial associations, the SPD and Greens have, as is well known, agreed that the three remaining nuclear power plants remain connected to the grid: the Emsland, Neckarwesheim-2 and Isar-2 reactors are to remain in operation until mid-April , continue to produce electricity.

Leading Free Democrats have already signaled that this is not enough for them. They are calling for the reactors to be operated for longer, and some are even calling for the reactivation of plants that have already been shut down or the construction of new nuclear power plants. However, it will not come to that. In the foreseeable future, no more electricity will be produced from nuclear power plants in the Federal Republic. In addition, the construction of new plants would be too expensive and too long, and the major conflict over the storage of nuclear waste, which was initially settled, would flare up again if we started again ...

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Lobby | Taxonomy | Greenwashing

"Greenwashing" in the EU: Nuclear energy and gas receive the eco-seal

From January 1st, nuclear energy and gas will be considered "sustainable" in the EU and will receive an "eco-seal". This new regulation continues to cause controversy.

Brussels - In early July 2022, the EU Parliament voted to classify gas and nuclear power as "sustainable". From January 1, 2023, these two forms of energy will be considered environmentally friendly and will become part of the so-called taxonomy. Shortly before the vote, environmentalists had campaigned for a no to the EU plans. In vain, in future gas and nuclear power plants will also benefit from investments in climate funds.

[...]

Eco-label for nuclear energy and gas: Austria is suing

Can the new regulation still be overturned?

Critics hope to overturn the regulation. Austria has filed a lawsuit with the General Court of the European Union (EuG), which Luxembourg also wants to join. However, this action for annulment has no suspensive effect. Greenpeace and other environmental organizations have also announced legal action. "Nuclear power and natural gas are not a contribution to climate protection," emphasized the Austrian climate protection minister Leonore Gewessler. The EU had "let itself be drawn to the carts of the fossil and nuclear lobby". Austria has seen itself as “nuclear-free” since 1999.

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Gorleben | Sunday walk

Protest against nuclear power on New Year's Day

The citizens' initiative for environmental protection Lüchow-Dannenberg invites you to a protest event in Gorleben on January 2022st under the title »Adieu 2023, AKW nee 1!« and announced on Wednesday:

On New Year's Day, the citizens' initiative for environmental protection in Lüchow-Dannenberg (BI) invites you to its traditional "New Year's Reception" at 14 p.m. on the Greenpeace ship "Beluga". Before that, because it's a Sunday, the Sunday walk naturally takes place at 13 p.m. "We had assumed that we would be able to toast to the end of nuclear power, but that has now been postponed to the weekend after Easter after the last three nuclear reactors have been running until April 15," says BI spokesman Wolfgang Ehmke.

The BI assumes that things will be turbulent again in 2023: »CDU and AfD never miss an opportunity to plead for the continued operation of nuclear power plants, one reads from the FDP that their Minister of Transport, Volker Wissing, wants to use nuclear power to power electromobility , and its chairman, Minister of Finance Christian Lindner, had already brought up a speed limit on the federal autobahns – in exchange for the continued operation of the nuclear power plants. We see ourselves challenged to bring ourselves into play argumentatively and demonstratively.« ...

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France | EDF | nuclear policy

French nuclear power plants: "Accidental shutdowns and uncertainties" are to be expected

Doubts about the information provided by EDF; nervous government in Paris puts pressure on. There are also fears of power cuts in the winter in Great Britain, as France has switched from being an electricity exporter to an importer.

The power supply situation in France is really not good. Using the example of the Cattenom nuclear power plant, we have just highlighted the "rise and fall of nuclear energy", as the renowned newspaper Le Monde now calls the process.

Because the country is sliding more and more clearly towards a blackout in winter, for which the government is not really prepared if it should actually get cold in winter. Among other things, this has to do with the fact that there are still delays in the restarting of the nuclear reactors ordered by the government.

Dangerous crack reactors, such as those in Cattenom on the German border, are to be connected to the grid with all force in order to supply electricity again in winter. Safety is put aside so things don't get too bad and it becomes obvious that France has gotten itself into a dead end over nuclear policy...

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Nuclear phase-out | Stretch operation | high-risk technology

Nuclear power: stop now! Stretching is useless and dangerous

The nuclear consensus provided for the three remaining German nuclear power plants (NPP) Isar 2, Neckarwestheim 2 and Emsland to be shut down by December 31, 2022. But with the decision to keep the stretching operation until April 2023, the Federal Government and the Bundestag have canceled this broad social compromise. The Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) criticizes this decision in the strongest terms and warns of the nuclear dangers in the drafting operation.

Olaf Bandt, chairman of BUND, criticizes: "The continued operation of the three nuclear power plants is purely symbolic politics. It makes no significant contribution either to the security of supply or to the stability of the power grid in Germany and bears no relation to the risks. Instead of celebrating the end of nuclear power in Germany these days, the state is once again making huge sums available for this high-risk technology. According to the agreement between Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck and the operators, the taxpayers will pay for the dismantling costs, which are likely to increase significantly due to the stretching operation. Benefit: None!” 

Against the background of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the federal government has recklessly opened the door to further extensions of the service life instead of decisively shutting down the high-risk technology ...

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Nuclear waste repository | Safety | Interim storage

Security for a million years?

More than 10 years ago, US President Barack Obama wanted to build a nuclear waste repository in the Nevada desert. A US court ruled: The camp will be approved if the operators can guarantee safety for one million years.

Because that's how long the garbage will shine and that's how long there will be a danger to humanity and to all life. However, the operators could only guarantee safety for 10.000 years. The nuclear waste repository was not approved.

It's like that all over the world

It's similar all over the world. Nuclear "repositories" have been sought for decades, but nowhere has a repository for heavy-duty nuclear waste been found. Also not in Germany.

For 60 years the operators of nuclear power plants have been promising that the problem of nuclear waste will be solved "in a few years". But so far there are only dangerous and temporary "intermediate storage facilities" in the world...

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28. December

German Federal Network Agency | Call for tenders | expansion wind solar

Potential wind power turbo: The construction of wind turbines should become more lucrative

The Federal Network Agency has significantly increased the maximum values ​​for tenders for onshore wind energy. She hopes for more participation in the lottery.

The expansion of renewable energies should pick up speed under the traffic light coalition. On Tuesday, the Federal Network Agency adjusted an important cog and raised the maximum values ​​for the 2023 tenders for onshore wind energy from 5,88 to 7,35 cents/kWh. That is 25 percent more than in 2022. The regulatory authority has thus fully utilized the new competence framework recently specified by the Bundestag.

[...]

According to the regulator, the adjustments are a response "to the increased costs in the area of ​​construction and operation of plants" as well as to increased interest costs for their financing.

[...]

Two percent of the federal territory that can actually be built on would have to be fully designated by 2025. Otherwise the federal government would not be able to achieve "the necessary expansion targets set in parallel in the EEG" by 2030.

Also higher solar subsidies

At the same time, the regulatory authority has set the maximum bid values ​​for solar systems on roofs at 11,25 cents/kWh. The increase for ground-mounted solar systems is currently being prepared "in order to create stable conditions for achieving the expansion targets in this segment as well," emphasized Müller. For the innovation tenders, the office will examine such a step in early 2023...

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Nuclear lobby | Runtime debate | energy transition blocked

And the term extension greets you every day

Unnecessary debates and missed opportunities shaped the year in terms of energy policy. Instead of a strategy for a rapid decentralized energy transition, there was a backward-looking nuclear phase-out discussion. A government party also took part. This can and must change in 2023.

In terms of energy policy, what surprised me the most in this eventful year was the ongoing German debate about the lifetimes of nuclear power plants. It was and is still being discussed whether and for how long the terms should be extended.

I find it amazing how much time and energy a mixture of tabloid press, parts of science and conservative party politicians keep the topic present ...

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Blackout | Renewables

Best protection against blackouts: locally produced electricity from renewable sources

The Ukraine war shows the vulnerability of centralized power supply. But there is a solution against the disaster. Why we should follow the Hamburg police and say goodbye to the diesel engine.

With the war in Ukraine, many people in Germany are also discussing the possibility of a "blackout". Because the brutal Russian rocket attacks on Ukraine's energy supply show how vulnerable the critical infrastructure of a society is in which the power goes out for a long time: then all communication channels suddenly fail, as does the water supply, and after a certain time also the food supply, the banks , the hospitals. And even an emergency power supply with diesel generators only delays failures for a few days.

[...]

Only very few in Ukraine who provide themselves with electricity from renewable energies have electricity. If there were a decentralized blackout-safe energy supply with renewable energies instead of centralized large-scale suppliers such as nuclear, natural gas and coal-fired power plants, then the Russian attacks on the energy supply would by no means have the catastrophic effect they have today.

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Japan | reprocessing | Rokkasho

The Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant awaits completion

Start of nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori is postponed again

The completion of the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the Japanese prefecture of Aomori has to be postponed again, according to Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd, the operator of the plant. This is the 26th shift since the project began more than three decades ago.

Actually, the system should have been ready "already" in the first half of the 2022 financial year. In September, however, the company postponed this date without giving a new date. There is now a new schedule. According to this, the reprocessing plant should be able to be completed in the first half of the 2024 financial year. The company has thus kept its promise to present a new completion date by the end of the year...

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EEG | Call for tender | Citizen Energy

Citizen energy projects up to 18 MW exempt from tendering from 2023

Berlin - In order to strengthen community energy projects and increase acceptance of the energy transition, the federal government has launched two important innovations.

On January 01, 2023, a change in connection with tendering procedures will come into force for onshore wind energy in the Renewable Energy Sources Act 2023 (EEG 2023) for community energy projects. In addition, new funding for onshore wind energy projects by community energy companies will start in early 2023.

As part of the amendment to the EEG 2023, wind and solar projects by citizen energy companies will be excluded from tenders as far as possible in the future. A tender limit of 18 megawatts (MW) will then apply to onshore wind turbines. In addition, in the EEG 2023, the concept of citizen energy society has been redefined according to § 3 number 15 ...

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Expansion of renewable energies | Climate protection

Make 2023 the year of the implementation of renewable expansion

At the turn of the year 2022/23, the Federal Association for Renewable Energy (BEE) names the most important reform requirements to accelerate the expansion of renewables in the coming year.

“This year, the traffic light coalition set a new pace in terms of energy policy. On the basis of ambitious targets for renewables, large reform packages were put together and the energy transition was put back on track. Now 2023 must be the year of implementation. The most recent EU resolutions to accelerate the expansion of renewables in Europe also contribute to this," says BEE President Dr. Simone Peter. “The expansion of renewable energies in all sectors is the basis of a modern economy and the only answer to fossil-nuclear supply crises. Now the final edges of the instruments have to be smoothed out and the measures decided to take effect.”

"The Russian war of aggression and the resulting cost and supply crisis for fossil fuels, the hot summer due to the ongoing climate crisis and the French nuclear power plant park, which has been struggling for months, have once again shown the limits of a supply based on fossil and nuclear energies. At the same time, renewables, which now account for almost 50 percent of the electricity supply, have made a significant contribution to reducing costs on the electricity exchanges, and new dynamics have set in when changing heating systems and buying electric cars. Climate protection, affordability and secure supply are reliably possible through the expansion of renewables in all sectors," says Peter ...

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27. December

nuclear waste storage | highly radioactive | BASE

Storage site for nuclear waste: In the worst case, not until 2068

The search for the place where the nuclear waste is to be stored drags on. In extreme cases, a decision could only be made in 40 years.

GOETTINGEN taz | In autumn 2020, great helplessness and surprise followed the first interim report of the Federal Agency for Disposal (BGE). The publication dealt with the search for a storage site for the highly radioactive nuclear waste.

Many were surprised because the Gorleben salt dome, which was the only site explored, was excluded from the search process due to geological defects. They were at a loss because at the same time 90 so-called siting regions were identified as potentially suitable for disposal.

The BGE commissioned with the search has now announced how to proceed: By 2027, the state-owned company wants to distil a few areas from the regions that could be suitable for the construction of the repository. Insiders guess that it could be three, four at most.

When the supervisory authority - the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) - has examined this proposal and the Bundestag has approved it, these possible repository sites should first be further examined above ground and compared with each other ...

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German Federal Network Agency | Call for tenders

Federal Network Agency raises maximum values ​​for solar and wind power significantly

Bonn – In the last round of tenders for regenerative power generation systems, participation has continued to decline. In addition to the legal approval problems, the increased costs meant that fewer and fewer players took part in the tenders.

The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has now set the maximum rates for the 2023 tenders for onshore wind energy at 7,35 ct/kWh and for rooftop solar systems at 11,25 ct/kWh. Klaus Müller, President of the Federal Network Agency, hopes that the number of bids, which have fallen significantly recently, will increase again ...

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France | Cracks | Cattenom

Cattenom NPP: The Problem in Unit 4

The rise and fall of nuclear energy in France: the misery continues. Necessary repair work will be postponed.

Shortly before Christmas, the well-known French daily newspaper Le Monde summed up the misery in France in a basic report that is well worth reading.

"Rise and Decline of Nuclear Energy" is the title of the article. There it says that it was once the technology from the USA, together with the pragmatism of the power plant operator EDF and the will of the governments, that made "the success of French nuclear power".

But the conditions are no longer there, Le Monde notes, sobered by the fact that although winter has officially begun, 16 reactors are still "shut down due to problems". Eight of them were only built in the 1990s.

That was as of December 20th. In the meantime, the situation in the power supply in the neighboring country had even deteriorated. Because on the German border, the large nuclear power plant Cattenom Block 4 had to be shut down again at short notice...

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Taxonomy | Climate change

Nuclear power goes "green" - Controversial EU classification comes into force

"Billions will flow into options that offer no redemption for the climate emergency."

From January 1st, investments in gas and nuclear power plants in the EU can be classified as climate-friendly. The controversial supplement to the EU Taxonomy Regulation will come into force at the turn of the year. A lawsuit by Austria at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) will not change this for the time being. A decision is not expected for about two years. Experts assume that the new regulation will result in additional investments primarily in existing nuclear power plants...

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traffic light coalition | arms export | battle zone

Approvals in 2022

Arms exports for 8,35 billion euros

So far this year, the federal government has approved arms exports for at least 8,35 billion euros. That is already the second highest value in the history of the Federal Republic.

The federal government approved arms exports for at least 8,35 billion euros this year. This is already the second highest value in the history of the Federal Republic. Only last year was the number even higher at 9,35 billion euros.

More than a quarter of the weapons and military equipment delivered from January 1 to December 22 went to Russia-invaded Ukraine. This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Economics to a request from the left-wing member of the Bundestag Sevim Dagdelen ...

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26. December

Finland | Rosatom | Hanhikivi

Arbitration board: Finland apparently suffers defeat in dispute with Rosatom

Construction of Hanhikivi-1 NPP unilaterally terminated. Rosatom boss sees arbitral award in favor of his group. Why the case should be closely followed in the West.

In the first half of this year, the government in Finland canceled the construction of a nuclear power plant by the Russian state-owned company Rosatom. The reason given for the decision against the already controversial project was Russia's war against Ukraine. Now the Helsinki case could cost dearly: According to the Russian side, an international arbitration board has found the termination to be in violation of the contract.

This may not only invalidate Finland's claims for damages. The Finnish-dominated conglomerate Fennovoima, in which Rosatom holds a 34 percent stake, apparently also has to pay damages. The most recent development in the dispute is likely to be followed closely in the West - even if it has not yet been picked up by the local media. Because there, too, valid energy contracts with Russia were terminated and claims for damages asserted ...

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Energy transition | Bureaucracy | brakes released

Robert Habeck sees the "valley of tears" passed for renewables

"The development points in the right direction": Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck is "not dissatisfied" with the expansion of renewable energies in Germany.

Federal Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) sees progress in the expansion of green electricity in Germany. This year has shown that progress has really been made, he told the dpa news agency. "We're far from done. But we've made big laws, made a number of large and small adjustment screws to simplify procedures, gradually leave bureaucracy behind us and become faster. We've released the brakes everywhere."

"I'm not dissatisfied with how things are going with the expansion of renewables," said the minister. It is true that "everything is still a tender little plant and we really come from the valley of tears here. But they have dried and you can already dare to smile again." ...

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Top
Current news+	Background knowledge

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Current news+

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Part 1 | Part 2

Turning point | UN | Media

"Putin and Lavrov should have gone before the UN"

Daniela Dahn on the worst conceivable variant of Scholz's turning point. About fake news from an Eastern Europe correspondent. And about the need to make peace a better deal than war. (part 2 and conclusion)

Ms. Dahn, in the first part of this interview you expressed a fundamental criticism of the media and related it equally to private and public media. In order not to generalize again, can you illustrate this with a specific example?

Daniela Dahn: I was reading the book "The Ukraine and We" by Sabine Adler, the Eastern Europe correspondent for Deutschlandfunk. The tendentious nature of their like-minded reporting can be illustrated in a single paragraph:

On page 40 she wants to convince her readers that the Russian draft proposal for security guarantees between the USA and the Russian Federation of December 2021, i.e. probably the last chance to solve the geostrategic conflict peacefully, was not worth the paper it is written on . She obviously relies on the fact that hardly anyone knows the wording of the contract offer.

 - Russia's Security Guarantees Treaty Proposal -

Since December, he has not only been on the side of the Russian Foreign Ministry, but also on the side of the Russian Embassy in Berlin. But who bothers to find out something like that? Adler: "As late as December 2021, Vladimir Putin is still insisting on his list of demands that NATO must withdraw beyond the 1997 borders."

That's wrong. It is suggested here that the Kremlin has demanded that the entire eastward expansion of NATO be reversed. How else should one understand "withdrawing behind the borders of 1997", i.e. to a status quo when all the countries of the former Eastern bloc were not yet members of NATO: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. That would indeed be an absurd claim.

Especially since the proposals are expressly identified as a draft and not as an ultimate demand. Article 4 of the proposed measures explains what the contract offer really says: Russia and all the states of NATO's eastward expansion are not stationing any armed forces or weapons on their territory, in addition to those that were there before 1997.

This means that NATO should reverse its rearmament of these countries. These would remain members with the military forces they brought into NATO from Soviet heritage. The potential threat to Russia from Western weapons in the immediate vicinity would be reduced.

The deadline of May 1997 was not chosen arbitrarily, it was the signing of the NATO-Russia document. Is there a reason for such demands in this document?

Daniela Dahn: Absolutely. It stated that both sides no longer see each other as opponents and that the permanent stationing of additional NATO combat troops in these new alliance countries is therefore restricted. It was only allowed in case of defense or in acute threat situations. With its proposal, the Kremlin was therefore building on contracts that were once valid.

In the next sentence, Sabine Adler claims that Putin is demanding an end to the stationing of short- and medium-range nuclear missiles by the USA in Europe. At least that is misleadingly worded.

The Kremlin has proposed that all nuclear powers station their nuclear weapons only on their national territory. Years ago, Russia set a good example by withdrawing nuclear warheads from East Germany and other Warsaw Pact countries.

That's a reasonable approach. The Non-Aligned Movement has been demanding this for years, and it cannot simply be dismissed as the maximum Russian demand. In view of the general UN ban on nuclear weapons, which the majority of UN members have agreed to, it would be a first step towards restriction.

"War is always a failure of politics."

In Germany, too, the withdrawal of US nuclear weapons has often been demanded. A Foreign Minister Westerwelle once described them as "relics of the Cold War", under President Trump, SPD parliamentary group leader Mützenich would rather get rid of the devil's stuff and the parliamentary groups of the Left and the Greens called for an "end of nuclear sharing" in separate motions as late as February 2021. Why did the pre-war Russian proposal suddenly have no official sympathizers?

Daniela Dahn: The fact that the USA, and with it many journalists and politicians, found the proposal unreasonable is evidence of the prevailing, unipolar strategy of insecurity. For decades, Washington has dictated its military doctrine to NATO and the rest of the world.

Sabine Adler prefers to reverse this in the said paragraph: "Moscow believes it can dictate a new political and military order and has absolutely nothing to offer in return. Talks on disarmament, confidence-building measures that the NATO countries are talking about with the Kremlin want to come, Putin is not interested."

Did she even finish reading the draft contract? He writes down everything that de-escalates. He demands that both contracting parties comply with the UN Charter, including the Helsinki Final Act and the OSCE agreements. He wants to resolve "disputes through constructive dialogue." He affirms that "a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought".

He proposes reviving all agreements that once served to reduce risks. It also obliges the contracting parties to "settle all international disputes by peaceful means" and to exchange information on current threats or maneuvers on a regular basis.

All "instruments for confidence-building measures" should be used "to ensure transparency and predictability of military activities".

At the time, the draft treaty offered the West a certain amount of leeway, which it brusquely turned down.

Are you saying that war became inevitable?

Daniela Dahn: No way. War is always a failure of politics. And politics always starts with finding alternatives. Putin and Lavrov should have gone before the UN Security Council or the General Assembly with their sense of threatened security and the draft countermeasures.

They should have hung him on the big bell. It could not be ruled out that they would have received support from everyone who is also fed up with unipolarity. And if not, they should have found alternative ways to alert the UN to crossing their red lines.

But maybe I'm succumbing to a glorified image of the UN's options for action. At the Peace Council in Kassel, I just heard a disillusioning lecture by long-time UN employee Hans-Christof Graf von Sponeck, who described the powerlessness of the majority of countries and their dependence on Western donors.

How will the peace movement deal with the "turning point"?

Daniela Dahn: The council was well attended and very stimulating. It seems to me that the movement is slowly overcoming its shock. The UN-experienced Michael von der Schulenburg showed ways for a peace solution, which of course lead to a ceasefire and negotiations as soon as possible.

No one, really no one, can guarantee that further arms deliveries will not cost more lives than they purport to protect. Wars are far too unpredictable for that. The destruction of Ukraine in the name of her salvation. That must be avoided.

We also discussed whether, given the injustice of this attack and the proxy war between the US and Russia that developed from it, pacifism can still be maintained. I have referred to the recently published defense of the philosopher of science Olaf Müller, who recommends a "pragmatic pacifism".

As a pacifist, he is willing to grant very rare exceptions. If a pacifist attitude would have worse consequences than the war itself. Like the "militant pacifist" Einstein and Lord Russel, he sees only one legitimate exception to this day: the Allied war against fascist Germany.

He believes in "the good in people" and the power of love and is confident that pacifism will one day prevail because of these drives.

Rather, I fear that what is undeniably good in people is completely powerless against the structural violence of capital. Peace would have to be a better deal than war, then it would have a chance. However, I believe that structural violence is easy to recognize. And that from this analysis pacifism can gain strength.

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Background knowledge

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reaktorpleite.de

Map of the nuclear world:

War always means: the military fights and the population suffers...

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The internal search for

East Extension

brought the following results, among others:

October 02, 2022 - Chomsky: "Will Putin just pack up and sneak away?"

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April 28, 2022 - Wind flags and pocket fillers in tireless use

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February 26, 2022 - Project Encirclement Russia stalled and cheated for years. On the history of NATO's eastward expansion

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YouTube

Keyword Search: Russia's demands security guarantees

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=russlands+forderungen+sicherheitsgarantien

Videos:

24. December 2021 - Faz - 1:29

Putin: NATO's eastward expansion 'unacceptable'

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17 December 2021 - DW news - 6:06

Russia is making far-reaching demands on the West

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: Russia's proposed security guarantees treaty

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Russlands Vertragsvorschlag für Sicherheitsgarantien

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laws quite simply

Russia's Security Guarantees Treaty Proposal

In mid-December 2021, Russia submitted a treaty proposal to the USA and NATO for agreements on mutual security guarantees.

[...]

The Russian Foreign Ministry published two treaty proposals on December 17, 2021 so that the global public can understand what Russia wants to agree ...

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Wikipedia

NATO eastward expansion

In an open letter dated June 26, 1997 to then President of the United States, Bill Clinton, more than 40 former senators, members of the government, ambassadors, disarmament and military experts expressed their concerns about his planned eastward expansion of NATO and called for its suspension. The signatories included Senate Defense Expert Sam Nunn, Gary Hart, Bennett Johnston, Mark Hatfield, Gordon J. Humphrey, and Ambassadors to Moscow Jack Matlock and Arthur Hartman, as well as Paul Nitze, Reagan's disarmament negotiator, Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense. D., Adm. James D. Watkins, former director of the CIA, Adm. Stansfield Turner, Philip Merrill, and scientists Richard Pipes and Marshall D. Shulman. The letter describes NATO's membership offers in 1997 as a "political error of historical proportions" ...

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United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council, often referred to as the World Security Council, is an organ of the United Nations. It consists of five permanent members (also known as P5) and ten non-permanent members (elected members) or states. The five permanent members (France, Russia, the United States, the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom) have an extended power of veto when passing resolutions and are therefore also referred to as veto powers...

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Newsletter LI 2022 - December 20th to 25th

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