Newsletter II 2023 |
January 8th to 14th
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| Current news+ | Background knowledge |
The PDF file "Nuclear Power Accidents" contains a number of other incidents from various areas of the nuclear industry. Some of the incidents were never published through official channels, so this information could only be made available to the public in a roundabout way. The list of incidents in the PDF file is therefore not 100 % identical with "INES and the disturbances in nuclear facilities", but represents an addition...
1 January 1977 (INES 5) Beloyarsk, USSR
2 January 1958 (INES ? Class.?) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR
3 January 1961 (INES 4 | NAMS 2,9) NRTS Idaho Falls, USA
5 January 1976 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Jaslovke Bohunice, SVK
6 January 1981 (INES 3) Nuclear factory La Hague, FRA
6 January 1986 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Cimarron, USA
6 January 2016 (North Korea's 5th nuclear weapons test) Punggye-ri, PRK
13 January 1977 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Gundremmingen, DEU
17 January 1966 (Broken Arrow) Palomares, USA
18 January 2012 (INES 2) NPP Cattenom, FRA
20 January 1965 (INES 4 | NAMS 3,7) LLNL, Livermore, USA
21 January 1968 (Broken Arrow) Thule Airport, Greenland, USA
21 January 1969 (INES 5 | NAMS 1,6) VAKL Lucens, CHE
21 January 2002 (INES 2) NPP Flamanville, FRA
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We are looking for current information. If you can help, please send a message to: nukleare-welt@reaktorpleite.de
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14. January
sticky | Nuclear powers | MIC
Everything sticks...
Nuclear powers cling to the brute force of the thickest club
The powerful nuclear powers, such as the United States, Russia and in the second wave Great Britain, France and China, are glued to the arsenals of nuclear, biological, chemical and heck knows what other weapons they amassed during the Cold War. Driven by sheer fear, they have been together since 1939 entered this race for the most powerful weapon and haven't been able to get away from this drug since.
Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea are the third wave of states committed to big bomb power. They all had good reasons for building a military-industrial complex, but their increasing reliance on this massive power bloc makes them more addicted by the day. More and more money is pumped into the Moloch MiC and the population suffers from deliberately created fears and ever scarcer financial resources to be able to promote positive development in their country.
The civilian population was - and still is - first taken for fools and then squeezed to finance these weapons of mass destruction. These weapons, in turn, were developed to reduce large cities to rubble and ash, thus destroying large sections of the civilian population in one fell swoop.
end of blinding
We are all on the drip of power, otherwise we humans would feel terribly poor, small, lost and not belonging, as we do in real life. For millennia, family and clan were the only things that mattered to us when it came to a sense of belonging. To control when, where, and why members of the clans smash each other's heads, religion and kings soon came into play, securing their power with beautiful stories and force of arms. And that's exactly where humanity still stands today - evolution is a damn long-winded undertaking.
Where would we humans be without our need to belong? Free, independent, disillusioned and quite alone.
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
Kris Kristofferson
To what extent this is good or bad, desirable or not, everyone has to decide for themselves. But what's really important about this idea is that we don't fool ourselves and don't let ourselves be fooled...
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Day four of the evacuation in Lützerath: salvage from the tunnel is underway
Special forces are busy rescuing two activists from the tunnel. Thousands flock to the large demonstration in Keyenberg. Some invade open pit mines. The events of the day summarized in brief.
So far, the special forces in Lützerath have not been able to get the two activists out of the self-made tunnel. The entrance to the underground tunnel is apparently in the basement of a house. Rescue workers would have secured the air supply and would keep in touch with the people.
"We assume that they are doing well," said Bente Opitz from the "Lützerath is alive" initiative. The activists would have enough to eat and could stay in the tunnel for several days...
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Climate Crisis | Drastic measures | tipping point
Avert climate collapse? This is only possible with renunciation and reduction in consumption
Robert Habeck and Olaf Scholz promise us that we can achieve climate neutrality without having to accept a loss of prosperity. It's time to say goodbye to this illusion
At the beginning of December, the OECD, or to be more precise: its environmental department, made a dramatic appeal to the public. It was hardly reported at all. The latest research, such as the Hothouse Earth Paper from 2018 and a follow-up publication from 2022, shows, according to the OECD, that the climate is already at significantly lower temperatures than previously assumed, namely at a temperature increase of 1,5 degrees, could tip. There is, wrote the Director of the Environment Unit of the OECD, Jo Tyndall, in the foreword, "undeniable evidence". However, the current climate policy is "far from sufficient to avoid the dangerous effects of exceeding climate tipping points".
These tipping points include the melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet, the dying of the Amazon rainforest, which is threatening to become desert, or the failure of the Atlantic Overturning Current (AMOC), which also includes the Gulf Stream. This would set in motion unstoppable dynamics with "disastrous" consequences for our society and even for the very survival of mankind. Worse, crossing one of these tipping points could cascade into the trigger for the next, such as the thawing of Arctic permafrost. These contain about twice as many greenhouse gases as are currently present in the atmosphere. And then there would be no stopping...
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Ukraine War | Peace negotiations
Plea for peace negotiations in the Ukraine war
The course of the war and aid from the West give Ukraine courage. But Putin's strategy is perfidious. Why we should now be talking about an exit strategy.
The most brutal war of aggression in Europe since World War II brings unimaginable suffering. And there is no end in sight. Millions of people are homeless or on the run. The economy is in free fall. The infrastructure is destroyed daily. Civilian casualties continue to rise by thousands. At least 100.000 soldiers have been killed on each side so far and hundreds of thousands more have been injured.
[...]
In US government circles as well as in public, the voices are increasing that they will no longer support Ukraine unconditionally, but rather carefully prepare them for a compromise solution.
Why? Arms shipments and sanctions will not bring Russia to its knees. This brutal regime at the head of a nuclear power is more likely to escalate than collapse. And should Putin die or be deposed, it will not be a liberal opposition that will end the war, but far-right and even more militant nationalists could wage the war even more brutally. They will also factor in the risk of a European wildfire.
Russians may not trust their own government, but they trust the West even less. In particular, the West's demand that Russia must be punished for this war and should never be resurrected as a great power fuels a fierce and militant nationalism that now dominates on both sides...
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13. January
Japan | Fukushima | IAEA | release tritium
Atomic Energy Agency approves introduction of Fukushima water into the sea
Twelve years after the Fukushima reactor disaster, the International Atomic Energy Agency has approved a plan to dump more than a million tons of treated water into the sea - even though it contains high levels of tritium.
Japan wants to discharge more than a million tons of treated water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea this year. The plan, which was drawn up in 2021, has now been approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said senior government secretary Hirokazu Matsuno. Nevertheless, the government will wait for a "comprehensive report" from the UN organization before it is approved, he said.
"We expect the release to happen sometime this spring or summer," Matsuno said. First, the corresponding systems would have to be completed and tested. The government will "make every effort to ensure safety," he said, citing ongoing concerns from neighboring countries and local fishermen...
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All information about arrival, route, program
Fridays for Future calls for a protest in Lützerath on January 14th
Lützerath/Düsseldorf · After the evacuation of the village of Lützerath, Fridays for Future is calling for a protest on January 14th. The movement calls for an end to coal mining. What the program for the day looks like.
RWE wants to demolish Lützerath for lignite. Therefore, the village near Erkelenz was evacuated on Wednesday, January 11th. Numerous activists gathered in the place to take action against the eviction. But that's not enough for the activists: on Saturday, January 14, a demonstration is planned in Lützerath to protest the coal phase-out and climate justice.
Lützerath demo: Route of the activists on January 14th
The activists will gather in Keyenberg at 12 noon and from there they will march to the main stage in an area on the L12 near Lützerath. The actual rally with program will take place there from 13.30 p.m. ...
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consequences of climate change | Energy companies | Global Warming
accusation by climate researchers
Exxon predicted global warming accurately
The consequences of climate change are now undisputed facts. The oil company ExxonMobil has been doing its own studies on this since the 1970s. According to a research group, the results were clear, but the company remained silent.
Since when did the big energy companies know about the developments in climate change? These questions have been discussed for a long time. Scientists from Harvard University and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now report that the oil company ExxonMobil already knew in the late 1970s what developments to expect. The US company has accurately predicted global warming as a result of greenhouse gas emissions, they write in an article in the journal Science. At the same time, the company has systematically downplayed this connection for decades.
Exxon's long-standing awareness of the threat of global warming was already well known. The climate researchers now evaluated the data available to the company internally and the forecasts based on it from 1977 to 2003 - they called the result "amazing"...
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Lützerath | Protest | eviction
Coal protests in Lützerath
Activists hole up in tunnels
Above ground, Lützerath has almost been cleared - but tunnels in which activists have holed up have now been discovered. The displeasure of many activists is increasingly directed at the Greens: there have been actions against party offices in various cities.
Some squatters in the lignite village of Lützerath have entrenched themselves in tunnels under the village. "There are people in at least one of these underground floor structures who have to be rescued," said Aachen Police Chief Dirk Weinspach. The situation for the activists is not without danger: "We don't know how stable these underground soil structures are. We also don't know how the air supply is there," said Weinspach.
During the night, the Technical Relief Agency ended its mission without getting the activists out of the tunnel. In addition, the police want to clear a last occupied house on Friday. During the night, the climate activists endured heavy rain, strong winds and temperatures below ten degrees. The police did not clear further at first...
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12. January
Lützerath | eviction | Brown coal
Police begin clearing tree houses
The energy company RWE is already starting to demolish vacant buildings and has erected a fence around the village.
The clearing of the North Rhine-Westphalian village of Lützerath, which is occupied by climate activists, will continue on Thursday. Police officers are trying to get the demonstrators out of the remaining buildings and tree houses.
With their occupation, the activists want to prevent the village from being demolished and the energy company RWE from continuing to mine climate-damaging lignite on the site. The rainy and stormy weather is becoming increasingly difficult for them. The situation is particularly dangerous for the activists in the tree houses, said a spokeswoman for the coal opponents. "Usually they come down in a storm"...
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Climate change | Arctic | ice loss
Battle for the Arctic: Climate change exposes polar seas and ignites a bitter power struggle
Climate change is causing thin ice in the Arctic. Actually, this should alarm the world's great powers. Instead, they hope for one thing above all from the melting ice: economic profit. The competition is dangerous.
The ice in the Arctic is melting at a rapid pace. In hardly any other place are the effects of climate change as dramatic as there. Still, Russia, China and the US are eyeing the shrinking ice sheet greedily. As it thins out, the once neglected polar region is becoming an increasingly coveted and thus contested geostrategic hotspot – and a bone of contention between the great powers.
The Arctic becomes one of the most important trade routes
Impressive ice landscapes as far as the eye can see, the area is rough but beautiful. But the reason why Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's Xi Jinping or US President Joe Biden are reaching out to the Arctic is different. According to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982, the so-called "Northeast Passage" has so far been international waters ...
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Belgium | Purpose | Tihange | lifetime extension | shutdown
Life extension of Belgian reactors
After the agreement between the Belgian government and the operator to extend the operating life of the Doel 4 and Tihange 3 reactors, what tests and decisions are now pending in Belgium?
[...]
The dates for the final shutdown of the other Belgian nuclear power plants remain unaffected by the extension now sought: from the Doel 3 and Tihange 2 plants, in whose reactor pressure vessels crack indicators were discovered during tests in 2012 (further information on this can be found in the statement of the Reactor Safety Commission ), the one in Doel was already shut down in September 2022, and the reactor unit in Tihange is to be finally taken off the grid on February 1, 2023. On these dates, the plants reach their so-called "design age" of 40 years; unlike the other reactors, the service life was not extended in view of the crack indicators. The final shutdown of the Doel 1 and 2 and Tihange 1 reactors is scheduled for 2025.
Extensive tests and corresponding official decisions are now required for the planned continued operation of Doel 4 and Tihange 3. Following a request from the Belgian government, the Belgian supervisory and approval authority FANK has presented a concept that explains the objects, the timing and the standards for these tests...
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Sweden | announcement | Nuclear new construction
Sweden's turnaround on nuclear energy:
Nothing but window dressing
The announcement by Sweden's government to build new nuclear power plants shouldn't be taken seriously. Currently there is nobody who would be interested in it.
These days, Swedes are receiving the electricity bills for December. This will come as a shock to some. Many apartments and single-family houses are equipped with electric heating, and their owners have to reckon with costs that are several times higher than a year ago. It is no coincidence that the government in Stockholm approved new electricity subsidies this week to relieve households.
The announcement that the prerequisites for the construction of new nuclear reactors will be created is apparently primarily intended to demonstrate the power to act. However, what Ulf Kristersson's government is presenting as a solution to future energy needs is mere window dressing. If there really is a majority for the government's plans, there is no energy company in sight that would take the risk of even planning a future nuclear power plant construction ...
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Climate change | Temperature | Ocean | heat record
Oceans break heat record again
In 2022, the world's oceans will store more heat than ever before
The oceans have reached a new heat record - they are warmer than ever measured, as analysis of measurement data shows. Accordingly, in 2022 the oceans absorbed around ten zettajoules more heat energy than in 2021. This means that the oceans have now set new heat records for several years in a row. Stratification and salinity are also becoming increasingly extreme: Salty sea areas became even saltier in 2022, while those with less salt became sweeter. All of this affects not only the oceans, but also global weather patterns.
The oceans are the most important climate buffers on our planet: They absorb around 90 percent of the excess heat that is caused by anthropogenic climate change. But that has consequences: The oceans are heating up and have repeatedly broken new heat records in recent years. In addition, marine heat waves are becoming more frequent and the stratification of the oceans caused by temperature and salinity is becoming more rigid and impermeable ...
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Ukraine War | Ceasefire | Peace negotiations
Three scenarios: where the Ukraine war could lead in 2023
Military gains and losses will determine how the conflict unfolds. The three most likely scenarios involve problems and dangers. What to expect.
Ultimately, as in any war, the most important factor determining the future course of the Ukraine conflict will be what happens on the battlefield. There are essentially three possibilities, each of which would have a number of potential consequences: a Ukrainian breakthrough, a Russian breakthrough, and a stalemate roughly analogous to current military front lines...
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11. January
Sweden | Nuclear new construction | SMR
Nuclear instead of wind power:
New nuclear power plants planned in Sweden
Sweden's right-wing coalition sets the course for new nuclear power plants. This is to prevent power shortages and high prices.
STOCKHOLM taz | Sweden's government wants to create the legal prerequisites for the construction of new nuclear power plants. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced on Wednesday that a draft law would be introduced in Parliament that would eliminate existing legal hurdles for new nuclear power plant construction projects. The law is scheduled to come into force in spring 2024.
[...]
Sweden's Greens criticized the government: The fixation on nuclear power makes it difficult to build offshore wind turbines, which generate more electricity and can be built much faster than nuclear power plants.
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United States | Flooding | California
Floods in California
Fear of the ARkStorm
Flash floods have ravaged the west coast of the United States. It could be a taste of what's in store for California in the years to come.
At least 17 people have died, a five-year-old is still missing, he was swept away by the masses of water: violent storms and rainfall have caused flash floods and landslides in California. Streets are flooded, trees are downed. Around 150.000 households were temporarily without electricity.
Authorities ordered the evacuation of several localities, including the small town of Montecito.
[...]
And in the coming years, the rains could get even worse. Scientists have been expecting an ARkStorm, the abbreviation for Atmospheric River kilo Storm, for a long time.
According to this scenario, rainstorms gain such momentum that, like a gigantic fire hose, they transport fantastic amounts of water from west to east across the Pacific. The clouds are rushing in only about a mile above the sea. As soon as they collide with a mountain range and the warm air is pushed upwards, a torrential rain erupts for days...
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Lützerath | RWE | green | Brown coal
"Greens shouldn't have given in to RWE"
If the previous federal governments hadn't hindered green energy, lignite would already be superfluous today, says Hans-Josef Fell. The energy expert and former member of the Bundestag for the Greens on the coal conflict and the climate goals.
Klimareporter°: Mr Fell, what does the eviction of Lützerath mean for the Greens, whose leading energy expert you were during your time in the Bundestag, and your relationship with the climate movement?
Hans Josef Fell: If the strong growth in green electricity, triggered by the Renewable Energy Sources Act of 2000, had continued, we would already be at around 100 percent today. All brown coal power plants would be superfluous, Lützerath would not have to be dredged.
The fact that the Greens are now having to pay for the mistakes of 16 years of Merkel governments is hard to bear. The Greens in particular are still firmly committed to the climate protection movement.
Climate Reporter°: The Green Party considers coal mining under Lützerath to be necessary, as does the energy company RWE. Can you understand that?
Hans Josef Fell: No. Studies show that the coal under Lützerath is not needed. Out of solidarity with the climate movement, the Greens should not have given in to the great climate destroyer RWE...
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Occupation of the village police clears Lützerath
The police have increased their presence and asked everyone to leave Lützerath. Right at the beginning of the evacuation there were scuffles. Stones and pyrotechnics were thrown in the direction of the emergency services, police said.
The police have started clearing the lignite town of Lützerath, which is occupied by climate activists. "The area will be fenced off. People in the cordoned-off area currently have the option of leaving the site without further police action," wrote the Aachen police on Twitter.
"You can now leave the area here without further consequences for you," the police said in a loudspeaker announcement. It came to the first scuffles, as dpa reporters reported. Local climate activists, on the other hand, said they wanted to hinder the operation with human chains and barricades, among other things...
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Renaissance | nuclear power plants | China | Japan | Poland | Turkey | Bangladesh | WNISR
nuclear energy:
Is there a nuclear renaissance?
Germany is isolating itself with the nuclear phase-out, criticize representatives of the FDP and the Union. Other countries would continue to or again rely on nuclear power. But where are new reactors really being built?
"Renaissance" is a big word that describes the epochal turning point from the Middle Ages to modern times. Again and again it comes up as an argument in the energy debate: Nuclear power is experiencing a renaissance abroad, while Germany is phasing out nuclear energy, say politicians from the opposition Union and the coalition party FDP. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) is now demanding that a commission of experts should examine the continued operation of the German reactors.
However, one number does not fit the Renaissance thesis: For the first time in 40 years, the share of nuclear energy in global commercial electricity generation fell below ten percent in 2021. This is shown by the World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR) by nuclear policy analyst Mycle Schneider. The annual report is financed in part by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which is close to the Greens. The record value was more than 1996 percent in 17 ...
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Climate protection | Heat | drought | climate science
Europe in heat stress
Energy and climate – compact: climate scientists take stock for 2022. Europe is warming up particularly quickly. And the world is about to surpass the global temperature ceiling.
One low-pressure area after another is currently rushing from the Atlantic via Great Britain to Scandinavia and bringing winds from the south to south-west across Central Europe. Again and again, this extremely mild air brings in, which seems to trigger spring fever in some birds.
In terms of climate, the new year begins as extreme as the old one ended, while in the Rhenish lignite mining area the police marched in the name of RWE and with the blessing of the Green Economics Minister Mona Neubaur in Düsseldorf and her party colleague Robert Habeck in Berlin.
The resistance of the climate protectors should be broken so that even more lignite can be scraped out of the ground. Ironically, lignite, the most climate-damaging of all fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, the researchers from the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service leave no doubt that climate change is in full swing. On behalf of the European Union, the two institutions collect current and historical data on climate development and conditions at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in Reading, UK. Yesterday, Tuesday, they presented a first evaluation for 2022 at a press conference...
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10. January
Great Britain | Expansion of renewables | Electricity Import Export
Thanks to wind & solar expansion:
Britain produced more electricity than it consumed in 2022
It can be that simple: Great Britain has invested a lot of money in renewable energies in recent years and is now independent of electricity imports from abroad. Since 2022, the island has even been exporting electricity to other countries. As a result, Great Britain took in 3,5 billion euros last year.
For the first time in ten years, Great Britain was able to export electricity in 2022. The island was no longer dependent on electricity imports from abroad. In the past, the mainland neighbors France and Belgium often had to compensate for bottlenecks in the British power grid.
In 2022 it was the other way around for the first time: Great Britain recorded surpluses in electricity production and was able to compensate for electricity bottlenecks in France. One was almost completely independent of imports from abroad this year. This was made possible by the massive expansion of renewable energies ...
Already last week there was an article on the subject (Brits have become electricity exporters thanks to renewable energy) and I had expected that other German-language media would soon be reporting. None, the first article appeared in "derstandard.de" from Vienna, today's article is in "NeueZeit.at" also from Austria. Media professionals in Germany don't seem to think it particularly worth mentioning that Britain has made itself independent of nuclear and coal power...
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climate terrorists | social tourism | Merzthutjanix
"Word of the year" is "climate terrorists" - climate protection is discredited
A language-critical jury chooses the “nonsense word of the year” every year. The word "climate terrorists" made it in 2023 - followed by "social tourism".
“Social tourism” came second behind “climate terrorists”. In 2013, the word was already "non-word of the year". At that time, it was used to create a mood against immigration, the current reference is Friedrich Merz. He had used the word 2022 in connection with refugees from Ukraine. The jury chose the term “defensive architecture” for third place. The word means a construction that is directed against certain people, mostly homeless people in public space ...
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Lützerath: The unnecessary coal
The Greens are seething at the base because they feel like they've been ripped off by RWE. The party leadership is bending the situation against all studies demonstrating that the coal is not needed.
At the moment, everyone, including Telepolis, is reporting about the village of Lützerath, which the black-green state government wants to be evacuated soon in order to get to the coal that is under the village.
The fact that this is happening with green participation could, like the extension of the lifetime of nuclear power plants, become a disaster for the party. Because the coal under the village is needed just as little as the electricity from the so-called stretching operation.
The Greens have evidently become a tumbling party, just like the FDP used to be, which was once often referred to as the party of the "turners". The Greens are now trying to sell "environmental crimes" to their own base. The party was elected to counter the climate catastrophe or to phase out nuclear power ...
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Electricity price boycott | wirzahlennicht.info
"We don't pay" campaign:
Call for an electricity price boycott
Due to the price increases, an initiative is calling for people to stop paying the electricity bills. A million people should take part.
BERLIN taz | The newly founded initiative "We don't pay" calls for a collective boycott of electricity bills. Their goal is to get one million people across the country to stop paying their bills. "Energy is a fundamental right and must be affordable," said co-initiator Maria Bach at the presentation of the campaign on Tuesday. Only when the number has been reached or when a sufficiently large percentage of households have registered for the boycott will the bills actually no longer be paid.
The campaign, based on the British model “Don't pay UK”, was launched at a press conference in the Volksbühne's Red Salon. At the same time, the website wirzahlennicht.info went online, on which all those potentially involved are supposed to register. A counter indicates how many people have already done this...
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Expansion of renewables | Climate protection
Small improvements for renewable energies in 2023, but still no climate protection.
In the last week of the Bundestag session before Christmas 2022, a comprehensive package of laws was passed with the aim of accelerating the expansion of renewable energies.
This finally marks the end of the 16-year Merkel era, during which there was always new pressure on the expansion of renewable energies with every EEG amendment. The slumps in the annual expansion of solar and wind energy, bioenergy and hydropower were devastating. If these legally prescribed slumps had not taken place, but if the exponential growth curves triggered by the EEG 2000 had continued, then we could already be close to 100% green electricity today and not, as the current figures show, at just under 50% at the end of 2022.
The energy price increases of the last two years would not have been nearly as high, only in the electricity sector there were none; dependency on Russian energy supplies would have been reduced years ago; Coal-fired power plants would not have been reactivated; the last nuclear power plants would have gone offline on January 1.1.2023st, XNUMX and the expansion of the LNG terminals would probably not have been necessary. Lützerath would not be dredged either...
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Lützerath | Climate activists | green | eviction
Lützerath – the GAU of the Greens?
At the latest with the eviction of Lützerath, the break of climate activists and Greens should be completed. The party has abandoned its original goals. A comment.
So now it is imminent, the evacuation of the town of Lützerath, the symbol of the climate movement. The responsible state government with Green participation and the CDU Interior Minister Herbert Reul will vacate. She announced this, even threatened it, and she can no longer retreat behind it.
She cannot, as much as the green part of the government around Mona Neubaur, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Climate Protection, would like to.
The only chance of solving this dilemma would have been at the federal party conference of the Greens in Bonn in October. There, the Green Youth - with strong support from the climate movement and the left wing of the party - made a motion to reject the demolition of the symbolic site. It was defeated by a wafer-thin majority...
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09. January
Belgium | lifetime extension | Tihange | Purpose
Belgian nuclear power plants run ten years longer
The extension of the term had already been decided, and now the Belgian government has reached an agreement with the energy company Engie on the final details. The nuclear power plants Tihange 3 and Doel 4 are to run for ten years longer - also because of the Ukraine war.
The Belgian government and the energy company Engie have agreed to extend the service life of the two nuclear power plants Tihange 3 and Doel 4 by an additional ten years. The extension is crucial to ensure security of energy supply over the next decade, said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
The Belgian government had already decided in March of last year that the Tihange 3 reactor near the German border and the Doel 4 reactor near Antwerp should continue to operate until at least the end of 2035. The implementation was still being negotiated with the operator Engie. A nuclear phase-out was originally planned for 2025 ...
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The expansion of wind power in southern Hesse is gaining momentum
150 plants are pending approval in the administrative district of Darmstadt. The process is now to be accelerated.
After years of stagnation, the expansion of wind power in southern Hesse is apparently gaining momentum again. The regional council (RP) in Darmstadt, which is responsible for the approval, has applications for 149 new wind turbines, or at least they have been announced. The authority has set up a project group specifically to accelerate the expansion.
Only one new wind turbine was approved in Hesse in 2019, and not a single one went into operation. In the years that followed, there were a few more, but it is only now that the expansion is really picking up speed again...
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Lützerath | Climate activists | green | eviction
The Greens are also threatened with a day X
The lignite village of Lützerath is about to be evicted. Climate activists have sharply criticized the Greens for this. The eco-party now wants to tighten its climate course.
You sense that the sinking is approaching. But they don't want to give way. Day X has been in effect since Tuesday in the hamlet of Lützerath. Climate activists from "Fridays for Future" have launched a nationwide appeal to occupy the long-abandoned village. The excavators of the lignite opencast mine are already in sight. Around 200 young climate protectors are said to have holed up in courtyards and tree houses to prevent the village from being destroyed. "Lützi is defended," announces "Fridays for Future".
The Greens are also threatened with a kind of Day X. For years, the party fought with the activists to preserve the villages threatened by the Garzweiler II opencast lignite mine. But now the police will move in to clear out what the Green Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck and his party friend and North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Economics Mona Neubaur negotiated with the energy company RWE in the autumn...
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Brazil | Coup attempt | Bolsonaro
Attempted coup by Bolsonaro fans: Storming the Capitol in Brazilian
Right-wing ex-president distances himself from would-be putschists via Twitter. For a short time they occupied important control centers in the country. The police seemed taken by surprise, although it was clear that something was brewing.
The scenes were reminiscent of the storm by supporters of ex-US President Donald Trump on the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021: Radical supporters of right-wing Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the government district in the capital Brasília on Sunday (local time). and according to agency reports, briefly brought important control centers in the country under their control before the attack could be repelled ...
08. January
sticky | Nuclear lobby | MIC
Everything sticks...
- Politicians at chairs, offices and posts
- Nuclear lobbyists at the nuclear power debate
What would politicians - with their professionally pronounced egos - be without their privileges, company cars, personal security, additional income and/or supervisory board positions? They would just be well paid"servant of the people". A hundred years ago they could have at least grown a funny beard and a fancy fancy uniform; now all they have left is more money to polish their ego.
Where would the employees of the media be, with their unerring instinct for circulation, ratings and click rates, if they didn't deliver what they should and are allowed to deliver? Then they would very quickly be free, independent and no longer employees of the media.
It's a similar story with all the oh-so-important experts and professors who stick wholeheartedly to their clients and third-party funders.
So they all do what they think they have to do, lobbying and propaganda for industry: for example the military-industrial complex, because MiK pays particularly well. That's why both the runtime and the underlying nuclear power debate are so infinite and sticky...
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Lützerath | Climate activists | eviction
Before possible evacuation of the village
Activists gather in Lützerath
Shortly before a possible eviction of the village of Lützerath, climate activists informed about their planned protests. Luisa Neubauer and the band AnnenMayKantereit will also be there on Sunday.
The number of climate activists in Lützerath who want to prevent the village on the edge of the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine from being demolished is steadily increasing. According to a spokeswoman for the Ende Gelände initiative, there are now more than 1.000 demonstrators on site. The Aachen police even assumed there were 1.500 people on Sunday afternoon...
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France | EDF | EPR Flamanville | Cracks
France lacks the energy
For decades, Paris relied primarily on electricity from nuclear power. But now, of all times, dozens of reactors are out of service - and next winter it is unlikely to get any better.
Things looked pretty good for a short time in early December. French Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire visited the Penly nuclear power plant in Normandy, and the trip delivered pretty pictures: Le Maire arm in arm with the new boss of the French energy company EDF, Luc Rémont, both in blue and orange EDF jackets, with the cliffs in the background of the Atlantic. The night before Le Maire's visit, three reactors that had previously been shut down had been reconnected to the grid. For a moment, EDF and its troubled nuclear park appeared to be on the mend.
[...]
Of the 61 gigawatts that all French nuclear power plants can produce at full capacity, about two-thirds are currently available: 43 gigawatts. That is at least more than last summer, when the proportion was at times less than half. This also relaxes Germany's view of France.
[...]
As EDF announced in December, the EPR is not to be put into operation until spring 2024. The main reason for this is additional testing of the weld seams. The costs of the EPR, which had already more than tripled compared to the original estimates, are also expected to increase by another 500 million euros. The 1,7 gigawatts of power that the EPR is supposed to produce will not be available to France either this winter or next.
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Corruption | EU Parliament | Martin Sonneborn
"Just like the bank robbery, the idea of the EU is a good thing"
"Cancel poverty!" Martin Sonneborn himself in a New Year's interview with Marcel Malachowski: The EU politician and civil rights activist reveals the true extent of corruption in Brussels and the election chaos in Berlin - and he demands that the EU return to its ideals of humanity and democracy
In the ARD program "Maischberger" a longer passage of Martin Sonneborn's critical speech on the gas deal with Qatar was broadcast in the EU Parliament. In the multi-part ARD feature about the "power of satire", Martin Sonneborn asked even before the Kaili-Qatar scandal whether the EU "is just a construct for large companies." His conclusion on what satire should achieve: "Enlighten. In times when there is always a dispute about the value of democracy, Sonneborn, as an active politician "on the spot" and a descendant of the "New Frankfurt School", proves again and again what the real value of democracy should be: humanity - in the sense of " Frankfurt School”: “Never let the power of others nor your own powerlessness make you stupid.” (Adorno) ...
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Off Topic
critical computer science | computer thinking | reason impotence
Missing Link: Joe Weizenbaum and the Poisoned Fruits of Madness
He is considered a pioneer of critical computer science, which does not want to leave the thinking to the computers. Joseph Weizenbaum was born in Berlin 100 years ago.
Joseph Weizenbaum was born in Berlin 100 years ago today. With his books and essays, he is regarded as a pioneer of critical computer science, which does not want to leave thinking to the computers. With his ELIZA program, he revealed how quickly computers are humanized. As a professor of computer science at MIT, he dealt with the "power of computers and the impotence of reason." His main work was published in 1976 under the title "Computer Power and Human Reason. From Judgment to Calculation", in which he critically dealt with artificial intelligence, hackers (compulsive programmers) and the idea of humans as information-processing systems...
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traffic light coalition | Climate protection | Greenhouse gas | Brown stone charcoal
No one intends to reduce greenhouse gases!
Study shows: Germany's emissions are stagnating at a level that is far too high. Traffic light coalition does not care about the climate protection law. Guess who the biggest blocker is?
As reported, Germany's primary energy consumption continued to decline in 2022. Thanks to the mild weather, subdued economy and a few statistical subtleties, since the phasing out of nuclear energy is considered to be particularly inefficient.
Nevertheless, greenhouse gas emissions are stagnating, as the think tank Agora Energiewende has calculated. The increased use of lignite and hard coal is to blame. 761 million tons of CO2 equivalents were blown into the air in 2022, that is, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, the proportions of which are converted into CO2 ...
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Current news+
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We've already won
The protest against the demolition of the town of Lützerath by the energy company RWE stands for hope for a future other than climate hell
Sometimes I wonder why people come here, why I came here. To Lützerath - a place in the Rhenish lignite mining area that should have disappeared for over two years. A place whose surroundings correspond to the definition of Mordor from Tolkien's »Lord of the Rings«: a huge hole, the largest source of CO2 in Europe. A place that is doomed because the apparent "legal situation" demands that it be dug up. The scientific situation is clear: According to the German Institute for Economic Research, we do not need the coal under Lützerath to ensure the energy supply in Germany. It is necessary that it remains in the ground so that the climate targets set by the government can be met.
It's a tragedy that RWE is digging its way closer to Lützerath every day in order to make a profit, currently only about 30 meters from the entrance to the village. Nevertheless, a government in which the Greens are involved is now making sure that several hundreds of police are readyto defend capital against anti-coal resistance. Although Section 48 of the Coal Phase-Out Act, on which the eviction is based, is unlawful. And we haven't needed the Garzweiler II opencast mine since at least 1994.
That's why thousands of people keep coming to Lützerath. Because they can no longer stand the injustice and ignorance. Because they don't let themselves be persuaded that it's enough to just take cold showers, eat vegan and never drive again while villages are being demolished. We who are protesting in Lützerath feel the destruction every day: we have a sore throat from fine dust. We fall asleep and wake up to the sound of excavators and floodlights. The police helicopter keeps hovering over us.
We oppose it in the hope that we the energy giant RWE, one of the 100 biggest climate polluters, can stop. Hope for a future other than climate hell. This means revolutionary work: to see hope where others do not see it. Creating networks where people come together. Here, in the face of destruction, are brave people from every continent standing up against fossil fuels in Bangladesh, Kurdistan, Uganda or Colombia and risking their lives. And this at a time when the capitalist system is failing in the face of the simultaneous crises - whether Corona, war or climate.
We managed to preserve this place, we organized demonstrations, actions, alliance meetings, festivals and church services, sent delegations all over Germany and into the world and told of our hope. In doing so, we prevented what RWE actually wanted – that his stalling strategy is draining us. On the contrary: we have used the last two years to stretch our networks, to make new friends and comrades, to organize ourselves beyond the usual circles. To analyze and fight against the flaws of the system we grew up in, such as racism and sexism.
I never thought that Lützerath would give me an incredibly inspiring friend who would call me from Namibia because the first trees were felled here. Or contact with a farming family from the neighboring village, who offer to sleep with me as soon as I need a break. These networks will continue to grow, especially in the coming weeks of eviction more and more people will join us to preserve this place. The RWE share has fallen, internationally people are getting ready for a second Hambi moment. No matter what happens - no one will ever take that away from us. We've already won.
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Background knowledge
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reaktorpleite.de
Map of the nuclear world:
There is a lot of talk about climate protection, there is a climate protection law, but ...
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The internal search for
brought the following results, among others:
December 18, 2022 - The state-believing climate activists
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June 08, 2021 - Climate Protection Act - The last gasp
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May 03, 2021 - Climate Protection Act - CO2 price of 100 euros is within reach
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YouTube
Keyword Search: Climate protection
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Klimaschutz
Videos:
January 5, 2023 - Handelsblatt - 2:03
Use of fossil fuels thwarts climate targets in Germany
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April 29, 2021 - daily news - 3:14
Federal Constitutional Court: Climate protection law unconstitutional in parts
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17 October 2019 - SWR state show - 4:42
Climate protection in everyday life
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: climate protection law coal phase-out
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Klimaschutzgesetz Kohleausstieg
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Wikipedia
Climate Protection Act
Various laws for the implementation of climate policy and specifically for achieving climate goals are referred to as climate protection laws.
The climate protection laws try to fulfill the agreements of the Kyoto protocol, the Paris climate agreement or other international agreements, together with other strategies for the energy transition. These are often integrated into a national climate protection program.
European Union
On December 11, 2019, the European Commission announced that it would present a draft European climate law by March 2020 as part of the European Green Deal to enshrine the goal of climate neutrality by 2050 in law.
... In September 2020, the Commission presented plans for a 55% reduction target. Also out of concern that the carbon sinks planned by the Commission would weaken the climate targets, the European Parliament voted on October 7, 2020 to tighten the interim target to a 60% reduction. On June 24, 2021, the parliament (with Bulgaria abstaining) passed the final version of the law with a reduction target of 55%, whereby negative emissions from carbon sinks can be counted up to an amount of 225 million t CO2eq. With the approval of the European Council on June 28, 2021, the adoption process was completed. Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 entered into force on July 29, 2021 ...
Germany
... On February 18, 2019, the Ministry of the Environment presented a draft bill for a Federal Climate Protection Act (KSG) – without the approval of the Federal Chancellery. After the decisions of the climate cabinet, the draft law was passed by the federal government on October 19, 2019 and introduced in the Bundestag.[22] The Federal Climate Protection Act was announced on December 17, 2019 and the associated tax relief on December 30, 2019.
In a decision dated March 24, 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court declared Section 3 (1) sentence 2 and Section 4 (1) sentence 3 KSG in conjunction with Annex 2 (permissible annual emission levels) to be incompatible with fundamental rights insofar as a regulation on updating the national reduction targets for periods after 2031 is missing. The legislator was obliged to regulate the updating of the reduction targets for these periods by December 31, 2022 at the latest. However, Section 3 (1) sentence 2 and Section 4 (1) sentence 3 KSG in conjunction with Annex 2 remain applicable...
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