Newsletter XI 2023

March 12th to 18st

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Current news+ Background knowledge

Nuclear Power Accidents

This PDF file contains a list of accidents and releases of radioactivity. Some of this information was only made public under the most difficult of circumstances. As new information emerges, this list will be expanded and updated...

Excerpt for this month:

March 1, 2006 (INES 2) NPP Kozloduy, BGR

March 05, 1969 (INES 3) Nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR

March 6, 2006 (INES ? Class.?Nuclear factory NFS, USA

March 8, 2002 (INES 3) NPP Davis Besse, USA

March 10, 1970 (INES 3 | NAMS 2,6) Nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR

March 11, 1958 (Broken ArrowMars Bluff, USA

March 11, 2011 (INES 7 | NAMS 7,5) NPP Fukushima I Daiichi, JPN

March 12, 2011 (INES 3) NPP Fukushima II Daini, JPN

March 13, 1980 (INES 4) NPP Saint-Laurent, FRA

March 19, 1971 (INES 3 | NAMS 2) Nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR

March 22, 1975 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Brown's Ferry, USA

March 25, 1955 (INES 4 | NAMS 4,3) Nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR

March 28, 1979 (INES 5 | NAMS 7,9) NPP Three mile island, USA

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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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18. March

 

EU Parliamentbuilding efficiency | Energy consumption

Reform of the Building Efficiency Directive

The EU Parliament confirms the obligation to restructure

By 2030, the houses with the worst efficiency classes in the EU are to be renovated. The MEPs spoke out in favor of this this week. Critics warn of a "compulsory renovation". Numerous exceptions are planned.

"Seven out of ten buildings in the EU are energy inefficient, and the number of people at risk of energy poverty is constantly growing," says Ciarán Cuffe, Green MEP in the European Parliament. Most people in Europe live in poorly insulated houses, so energy consumption is correspondingly high, which is largely covered by fossil fuels and thus further drives the climate crisis.

The building sector accounts for a significant share of the total energy demand of the Confederation of States: around 40 percent of consumption and 36 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU are currently attributable to buildings ...

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food lobbyregulation

From Seco to Nestlé: Around CHF 40 per meeting

The former Seco director is to join the Nestlé board of directors. She has lobbied for the company for years.

Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch is to be elected to the Nestlé Board of Directors at the end of April. Ineichen-Fleisch was Director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in Guy Parmelin's Department for Economics, Education and Research for eleven years until July 2022. Previously, she was Swiss ambassador and delegate for trade agreements as well as Switzerland's chief negotiator at the World Trade Organization (WTO) for four years.

[...]

So Ineichen-Fleisch should know what to expect from Nestlé. Last spring she said publicly about her work on behalf of Swiss citizens: "One of the main tasks of my last eleven years as Seco director was to ward off more regulation."

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EmissionsMinister of transport | Climate lawsuit

Minister keeps breaking the law: will the case soon end up in court?

The federal government has achieved its climate target for 2022 and emitted fewer greenhouse gases overall than the year before. However, two important sectors, transport and buildings, have their statutory CO₂ targets. Transport and environmental protection associations therefore accuse the federal government of breaking the law.

[...]

The transport sector under Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) emitted nine million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents more than legally permitted in 2022 - this is the second time since the introduction of the Climate Protection Act that the emission targets in this sector have been missed. So far, Wissing has not yet presented a solution that is intended to prevent this this year. The BUND therefore speaks of a breach of the law.

"SPD, FDP and Greens break the law," explains von Broock. "This is confirmed by the figures from the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) [Federal Environment Agency," Now the environmental protection association is preparing a climate lawsuit against the federal government...

 

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17. March

 

PFAS | Drinking water | Chemical Park Gendorf

chemicals in water and soil

PFAS: Odorless, Tasteless, Carcinogenic?

In industry, PFAS substances are considered a miracle cure. But the chemicals have a downside for the environment and health. One district is particularly affected.

It ripples: the water runs out of the stone man's jug into a basin. The scenery shows Saint Konrad. His fountain is in Altötting in Upper Bavaria, a place of pilgrimage. The well water is said to heal, especially for eye ailments.

"That's a joke. People rub our water on their eyes, of all things," says Frank Bremauer from Altötting. Because the water is contaminated with chemicals: with per- and polyfluorinated acrylic compounds (PFAS). It is estimated that the group includes about 10.000 different substances ...

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World Climate CouncilAvoid greenhouse gases | transformation necessary

If you are in favor of nuclear energy, e-fuels and gas heating, you should read this report

For the sixth time, researchers are collating knowledge about climate change. Many politicians have not yet understood how threatening the scenarios are. The advocates of the market in particular provide too few solution ideas.

Climate change is already an existential threat, and the more we know about it, the clearer this threat becomes. The synthesis report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which will be published on Monday, shows this once again.

[...]

Electricity from wind and sun instead of nuclear/fusion: Renewable energies are the backbone of climate change. A discussion about nuclear energy or even nuclear fusion as a long-term solution is obsolete, since the expansion would take far too long, not to mention the high costs, lack of final storage and high safety risks ...

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FDP Fossil CapitalE-fuels | Combustion engines

Obscene espousal of fossil capital

The FDP is a marketing measure in the portfolio of powerful industrial associations such as the auto industry, says Leo Fischer

The European ban on combustion engines - overturned by the FDP! Even other European liberals complained that such an obscene partisanship with fossil capital is considered bad form even there. The FDP drama was linked to a campaign by the German car industry to promote eFuels - allegedly ecologically produced fuels that the car industry believes are indispensable for climate-neutral passenger transport. In truth, this industry is all about pushing its planet-destroying and downright apocalyptic business model as far as it can go, with the next green label, the next inconsequential promise. People should buy cars, cars and even more cars, against all reason and against all better judgement, fully air-conditioned - and race into the end of the world with five airbags...

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United States | Tritium | NPP Monticello

USA: Radioactive water leaks from nuclear power plant

In the US state of Minnesota, a leak at a nuclear power plant caused great concern. Over a million liters of radioactive water leaked out.

According to the operator, water contaminated with radioactive tritium has leaked from a nuclear power plant in the US state of Minnesota. The authorities and the federal supervisory authority NRC were informed about the incident in November, the company said on Thursday (local time). Accordingly, the contamination was largely limited to the plant in Monticello itself. The energy supplier did not explain why it was only now informing the public...

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Hydrogenraw material occurrence

What an exploding well means for the future of energy

Some experts suspect large deposits of hydrogen in the earth's crust, which could be obtained cheaply, efficiently and in an environmentally friendly manner. What's behind it?

An event has burned itself into the collective memory of the village of Bourakébougou in Mali. On a hot day in 1987, workers drilled a hole about 100 meters deep to extract drinking water. They were amazed when, instead of water, a kind of wind flowed towards them. A worker peered in, a cigarette in his mouth. Suddenly the wind exploded in his face. He escaped with burns, but the borehole caught fire. During the day it glowed blue. At night it shone golden in the dark. The population feared for their village.

The borehole was quickly considered cursed. The workers closed the well. It wasn't until 20 years later that a businessman from Mali bought the rights to explore for mineral resources in the region. A contracted company found out what flows out of the mysterious borehole: 98 percent hydrogen. A few months later, the village was supplied with electricity from a generator that ran on the hydrogen from the depths...

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Nuclear phase-outEnergy transition

BEE analysis: nuclear power plants irrelevant for security of supply and counterproductive for the energy transition

Continued operation of the nuclear power plant would have no significant impact on improving security of supply in Germany in the winter of 2023/24, but would hinder the accelerated expansion of renewable energies.

This is the result of new analyzes by the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE). "Some expectations of the continued operation of the three remaining nuclear power plants do not stand up to the reality check," says BEE President Dr. Simone Peter. "Our supply is better secured without nuclear power plants and the exit in April is essential."

The BEE analysis makes it clear that the German nuclear power plants have run between 7.000 and 8.200 full-load hours a year in recent years. Even at times of negative electricity prices, when there was already an oversupply of electricity, they fed an average of over 65 percent of their rated output into the grid in the last seven years...

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EmissionsClimate Crisis | Traffic light must act

"If we land at 3 degrees globally, Germany is threatened with around 6 degrees"

The world is on a 2,7 degree course. This will also have serious consequences for Germany, says climate researcher Stefan Rahmstorf in an interview. What still gives him hope?

Marianne Falck: In a current survey by the ZDF political barometer, 74 percent of those questioned believe that the world will not be able to combat climate change in the coming decades. Do you share this opinion?

Stefan Rahmstorf: People see that politicians have so far failed to effectively counter climate change. The key measure of this is global greenhouse gases, especially CO2 emissions. And as is well known, they are continuing to rise. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has just reported that in 2022, global subsidies for fossil fuel consumption have risen to over one trillion US dollars. This shows that we are financing climate change - not fighting it.

[...]

What advice would you give traffic lights?

To put aside all party tactics and to understand that we are in a real emergency situation where decisive action is required now - because the future of the people depends on it ...

 

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16. March

 

Libya | uranium

2,5 tons of uranium missing in Libya found again

Benghazi. According to the Libyan National Army (LNA), the 2,5 tons of uranium that disappeared in Libya have turned up again. The ten barrels of uranium ore concentrate were found about five kilometers from where they were originally stored, LNA spokesman Chaled Mahjub said on Thursday. The camp was located near the border with Chad and was sealed by the UN nuclear regulatory agency IAEA in 2020. Mahjub suggested that thieves from Chad had robbed the camp and left the barrels later...

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Corruption | Lobby register

Admonition of the Council of Europe

Germany should do more against corruption

The anti-corruption committee of the Council of Europe made 14 recommendations, Germany implemented only one. The federal government must do more, the experts state in a new report.

According to experts from the Council of Europe, Germany is not doing enough to combat corruption. Of 14 recommendations made by the Council's anti-corruption body Greco in 2020, only one has so far been fully implemented, according to a report presented in Strasbourg. These are training courses for the corruption officers of the Federal Police. According to the report, five other recommendations have been partially implemented and eight have not been implemented at all ...

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Netherlandsspeed limit | CO2 | Nitrogen oxides | particulate matter

Summary after three years of 100 km/h in the Netherlands

In 2020, the Netherlands reduced the maximum speed on motorways to 100 km/h during the day. People's opinions on this have changed over the years

The Netherlands has the highest bicycle density in the world. 17 million inhabitants own 22 million bicycles. On March 16, 2020, exactly three years ago today, they also introduced one of the lowest speed limits in Europe. Since then, it has not been possible to drive faster than 100 kilometers per hour on motorways during the day.

[...]

A car that drives 100 instead of 130 kilometers per hour uses around a quarter less fuel, which means that a quarter less CO2 is emitted. In addition, half as much nitrogen oxides are emitted. They are the forerunners of fine dust, which is also reduced by a third in this way. Nitrogen oxides and fine dust pollute the air and are harmful to health.

[...]

Only 46 percent of the Dutch were in favor of 100 km/h before its introduction, while two years after its introduction, 60 percent were even in favor of a reduction to 90 km/h...

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Energy supplySubsidiesprice brake

Gas and electricity price brake

Do energy suppliers collect subsidies?

At the turn of the year, many district heating suppliers once again raised their prices sharply. The state relieves the citizens and subsidizes these high prices. Some companies take advantage of this.

Many district heating customers have recently experienced massive price increases. Some suppliers have obviously violated legal requirements and the District Heating Ordinance. At the same time, they disregard the case law of the Federal Court of Justice. Nevertheless, energy suppliers are now demanding state subsidies as part of the price brakes ...

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Ukraine WarIraq wardouble standards

Twenty years ago when the US was Putin

The Russian crimes in Ukraine are rightly condemned. But in the Iraq war there is amnesia and hypocrisy. About a time when Washington lost its moral compass.

Who remembers that we Americans were Vladimir Putin in 2003? Today our mass media and social media messages are full of accusations against the President of the Russian Federation for his lawless and brutal invasion of Ukraine.

When Foreign Minister Antony Blinken met briefly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New Delhi on March 2, he unequivocally urged him to "end this war of aggression."

However, Putin himself has a longer memory. In the speech launching his "special operation," he denounced the US for "illegally invading Iraq." Then he added:

We have witnessed lies being uttered at the highest levels of government and from the high UN grandstand. This has resulted in tremendous loss of life, damage, destruction and a tremendous increase in terrorism.

Yes, it's true, on the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, we in the United States have long forgotten that war. Nobody in the Biden administration today cares that he ruined America's credibility as a pillar of international order in the Global South and gave Putin cover for his own atrocities...

 

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15. March

 

Libya | IAEAuranium gone

2,5 tons of uranium disappeared in Libya, according to the international nuclear regulatory agency

According to the international nuclear regulatory agency, around 2,5 tons of uranium have disappeared in Libya.

The Reuters news agency reports on a corresponding letter from the UN agency to the member states of the organization. It states that an inspection yesterday found that the uranium was no longer in the facility where it was previously stored. This is not under government control...

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Climate balance | FDP WissingTransport policy

Climate balance of the year 2022:

Traffic turnaround slowed down

The pace must be increased in housing and transport policy. But the FDP and its Minister Volker Wissing are on the brakes.

At first glance, it looks like good news: Germany has achieved its climate target in 2022. After all, that cannot be taken for granted in the year of the energy crisis, which was exacerbated above all by Russia's war against Ukraine. Lacking gas from Russia, Germany has slowed its coal phase-out and burned more coal than planned.

[...]

It is also worrying that the FDP wants to radically reform the climate protection law. The party wants to abolish binding climate targets for the individual economic sectors. The fact that traffic would then never again be able to achieve a climate target would be practical for the respective transport minister - but not for the climate.

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drought | Dryness | Lack of water

With a strategy against drought

A national water strategy has been adopted in the cabinet. Various measures are intended to help ensure that Germany is not left stranded. The past years of drought have shown that there is little time.

Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) is visibly proud that she has now succeeded in developing Germany's first national water strategy. In the past few months, her department, in coordination with the other ministries, has developed a plan to secure the water supply in Germany for the coming decades.

[...]

Recently, temperatures of over 40 degrees, dried up rivers and streams and dried up fields have made one thing clear: A functioning water system is essential for the survival of animals, plants and people...

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Floating solar panels | Powerrequirementsevaporation water

Floating solar systems could cover a large part of the world's electricity needs

Covering part of the world's water reservoirs with solar panels could cover a large part of the electricity needs and save a lot of water.

With photovoltaic systems on existing water reservoirs, a large part of the world's energy requirements could be covered, thousands of municipalities and more than 150 metropolises could even cover their entire electricity requirements. This was determined by a research team led by Yubin Jin from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China. If all reservoirs and reservoirs with an area of ​​more than 0,01 km² were 30 percent covered with solar panels, this could generate around 9400 TWh per year, the group writes. That would be more than 40 percent of the current global electricity demand. In addition, water loss could be reduced and the existing electricity infrastructure could be used in many places ...

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renewableenergy cooperativeValue Added

Invest in the future

In the electricity and gas crisis, so-called energy cooperatives, which jointly invest in renewables, are booming. Sometimes there is even a high return.

Johann Stumpf from Rösrath became a father for the second time two weeks ago. The birth of his daughter motivates him to actively participate in the energy transition. That is why he is involved in founding a citizens' energy cooperative.

"As a family man, you then also think about the future in perspective and set other priorities, because you want to hand over something that will still work in the end," says the family man. A large photovoltaic system is to be built on the roof of a school ...

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Protection of the Constitution | Last Generationclimate protection activists

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution currently does not classify »Last Generation« as extremist

The "last generation" is sometimes acting criminally - but is currently not to be assessed as extremist: That explains the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. But you see how the situation develops every day.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) currently sees no sufficient evidence to assess the climate group "Last Generation" as extremist. That said BfV President Thomas Haldenwang the editorial network Germany (Wednesday). The fact that some of the group's activists acted criminally doesn't change that either...

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INES category 7March 15, 2011 (INES 7 | NAMS 7,5) NPP Fukushima I Daiichi, JPN

Wikipedia

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronologie_der_Katastrophe_in_Japan_von_2011

-

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

Due to the damage to the power supply and cooling system, which were caused by the great Tōhoku earthquake of March 11, 2011 and the subsequent tsunami, as well as the lack of cables for mobile power generators, it occurred in three out of six at the Fukushima-Daiichi (Fukushima I) nuclear power plant Reactor blocks to overheating of the reactor core.

There were several explosions:
In unit 1 on March 12th,
in unit 3 on March 14th and
in unit 2 on March 15th,

in which the outer shells of buildings were destroyed and radioactive material was released. In addition, a fire broke out in reactor block 15 on March 4 ...

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Nuclear power accidents by country#Japan

- - 

AtomkraftwerkePlag

https://atomkraftwerkeplag.fandom.com/de/wiki/Der_GAU_von_Fukushima_und_die_Folgen#Kernschmelzen_und_Explosionen

After initially being classified as level 5 in the INES rating scale, the Fukushima disaster was classified as a catastrophic accident of the highest level 12 on April 2011, 7.

According to an analysis from 2013, the Fukushima disaster would have been avoidable in this form. Among other things, it is due to the fact that the dangers emanating from the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami were underestimated ...

 

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14. March

 

Thailand | cesiumhighly radioactive

Cylinders of highly radioactive cesium lost in Thailand

The search for a tiny cesium container in Australia caused a stir in January. In Thailand, a significantly larger amount of the substance has now disappeared.

A container of highly radioactive cesium-137 has disappeared from a power plant in eastern Thailand. Authorities issued a warning about the health risks if the container were opened. During a routine inspection at the coal-fired power plant in Prachinburi province, staff noticed that the steel cylinder, weighing around 25 kilograms and 30 centimeters long, which was part of a device used to measure the steam pressure in the plant, was missing.

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look for cracks | Switzerland | Beznau 

Swiss nuclear operators are looking for cracks

The discovery of unusually large damage in a nuclear power plant in France has consequences: local systems must also be checked.

Bernard Doroszczuk chooses clear words: It's not a hairline crack, it's a problem, says the head of the French nuclear safety agency (ASN). An unusual discovery was reported last week at Reactor 1 of the Penly nuclear power station in the English Channel: a 15 centimeter long crack in a pipe of the emergency cooling system, which is a quarter of the pipe's circumference. The crack was up to 2,3 centimeters deep, the cable sheath is 2,7 centimeters thick.

It is the largest corrosion damage discovered to date in a French nuclear reactor.

[...]

This is not enough for the environmental organization Greenpeace. "We demand that the operators proceed very conservatively in the new investigations," says nuclear expert Florian Kasser. They now have to check all areas of the cooling system in which corrosion was not expected until now. "It must not be that the investigations in Switzerland are based solely on the state of knowledge in France." Especially in view of the old age of the Swiss nuclear power plants - Beznau 1 as the oldest plant is in its 53rd year of operation - surprises are to be expected.

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Climate changeresource water | water price drought

National Water Strategy: Corporations should pay for water

On Wednesday, the federal cabinet wants to discuss a strategy to prepare Germany for expected droughts. The biggest changes could come to corporations and agriculture. The draft is available to CORRECTIV in advance.

Corporations that use many billions of liters of water every year and pay nothing for it: that could soon be over. By 2025, the federal government wants to examine whether the use of water should be subject to a fee in all federal states. Among other things, the fees could be used to initiate “more conscious use of water as a resource”, as the document states. On Wednesday, the federal cabinet wants to deal with the strategy ...

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Japan | TritiumTEPCO

Japan ignores concerns about Fukushima treated water

Japan plans to soon release treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, despite concerns from its own people and neighboring countries.

Draining is planned to begin in the spring. The operator of the nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), argues that the many large tanks of treated water are hampering work to decommission the decommissioned reactors...

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Iran | LithiumChina

Iran has discovered large lithium deposits: China is happy

The amounts of lithium found are said to correspond to ten percent of the previously known global lithium deposits.

The Indian Express reports on Iran's PressTV that the country has discovered an 8,5 million tonne lithium deposit in the Qahavand Plains in western Hamedan province. So far, only 89 million tons of lithium are known worldwide, with most of it in Latin America. If the report is correct, Iran has about XNUMX percent of the world's currently known reserves.

[...]

China has the world's most advanced electric battery and electric vehicle sector, but there's always a risk that poor relations with the US could make it difficult for Beijing to source lithium from the US and its allies. The Iranian deposits are likely to be developed by China and sold by Iran to China...

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CO2 | PFASAir conditioning

Forever chemical from the car air conditioning system

The Federal Environment Agency calls for a ban on refrigerants containing fluorine in new cars. Together with the environmental authorities of other EU countries, it wants to achieve a ban in the European Union. This could also bring the most environmentally friendly refrigerant CO2 back into the discussion.

[...]

In fact, CO2 air conditioning systems are already being used today, for example in buses. Two German car manufacturers, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, have also offered such aggregates in premium models at times. The systems had to be completely redeveloped, partly because they work at higher pressure than conventional units. As you can hear, they work without any problems.

"Switch to CO2 possible in three years"

Despite this, the car companies no longer install CO2 air-conditioning systems. They have completely switched to the controversial refrigerant tetrafluoropropene, which is manufactured by US chemical companies Chemours (formerly DuPont) and Honeywell, which have a global monopoly for it. The conventional air conditioning systems can be used for this, there are no costs for new developments of the units ...

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United States military | Record Armor Expenditure | MIC

Another record budget for the Pentagon

The Biden government wants 842 billion for the Pentagon, in real terms military spending could rise to a trillion. Striving for power is not reasonable.

The US government presents a budget proposal for 2024, which is of course again higher than last year's. With 842 billion dollars it is 69 billion more than in the previous year. Congress was very permissive and once again upped the ante with 45 billion. But the draft also exceeds the real 2023 budget of 816 billion, which Congress will probably surpass again.

If you add outsourced military spending, such as that for nuclear weapons at the Department of Energy, it would be 886 billion. If you add the expected surcharge from Congress and the equally likely military aid to Ukraine, which is not provided for in the draft budget, the budget for the fiscal year could perhaps even reach $XNUMX trillion for the first time...

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INES category 7March 14, 2011 (INES 7 | NAMS 7,5) NPP Fukushima I Daiichi, JPN

Wikipedia

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronologie_der_Katastrophe_in_Japan_von_2011

-

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

Due to the damage to the power supply and cooling system, which were caused by the great Tōhoku earthquake of March 11, 2011 and the subsequent tsunami, as well as the lack of cables for mobile power generators, it occurred in three out of six at the Fukushima-Daiichi (Fukushima I) nuclear power plant Reactor blocks to overheating of the reactor core.

There were several explosions:
In unit 1 on March 12th,
in unit 3 on March 14th and
in unit 2 on March 15th,

in which the outer shells of buildings were destroyed and radioactive material was released. In addition, a fire broke out in reactor block 15 on March 4 ...

-

Nuclear power accidents by country#Japan

- - 

AtomkraftwerkePlag

https://atomkraftwerkeplag.fandom.com/de/wiki/Der_GAU_von_Fukushima_und_die_Folgen#Kernschmelzen_und_Explosionen

After initially being classified as level 5 in the INES rating scale, the Fukushima disaster was classified as a catastrophic accident of the highest level 12 on April 2011, 7.

According to an analysis from 2013, the Fukushima disaster would have been avoidable in this form. Among other things, it is due to the fact that the dangers emanating from the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami were underestimated ...

 

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13. March

 

Glyphosate | PFAS | Poison of eternity | WiP

Poisons Forever - Glyphosate, PFAS, Uranium and all their relatives

The industry is on the run from responsibility

The industrial complex never ceases to amaze me. They are really washed with all sewage. First they get the money out of the country and then the jobs.

The production of raw materials and industrial precursors for the chemical-pharmaceutical industry was outsourced to countries with less stringent environmental regulations and cheap energy prices years ago, and investments in new production facilities are currently going directly to the USA because of the lavish subsidies.

Evonik is building a new plant for the production of so-called pharmaceutical lipids in the United States. According to the company, Washington is supporting the project, which is worth around 220 million dollars, with around 150 million dollars.

tagesschau.de

When Bayer spent around $2018 billion on Monsanto in 66, I thought to myself: are they insane? This can only backfire.

Bayer was on trial for poisoning the land in the U.S. and paid vast sums of dollars for Monsanto's legacy.

Why do companies make deals like this? Backflow!

Five years later, we know that this deal was the worst deal of the year only at first glance. More and more money is flowing out of Germany and migrating via barely comprehensible paths into the pockets of those who ...

And so now Aspirin uva. Drugs are hard to get in this country, but glyphosate is available on every corner, in every river, stream and pond.

By the way!

Last week I found in an interactive map with 1500 measuring points of PFAS polluted places also the Ahse in Hamm (7200 ng in the surface water), the eternity poison can come actually only from the Geithe and thus from Uentrop, or not?

DuPont sold the Uentrop plant to Celanese last year.

We are what follows. To be continued...

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nuclear war | Ukraine Warpeace negotiations

Nowhere to hide: what nuclear war would mean

There would be no protection against a nuclear exchange. Most people would die from the nuclear explosions or their aftermath. Which scenarios scientists are sketching. (Part 1)

This two-part post looks at what is likely to happen if the Ukraine war escalates further to the point of using nuclear weapons. The first part describes the effects of a single nuclear explosion and the immediate effects of a nuclear war.

In my last article on the Ukraine war I have explained that the terrible war in Ukraine, which began not only on February 24, 2022, but eight years earlier with the US-backed Maidan coup in February 2014, probably claimed tens of thousands of victims on the Ukrainian and Russian sides and wreaked terrible havoc in Ukraine...

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Efficiency | Heat pumpgas heating

Heat pump dispute between Habeck and FDP: Study clarifies the fronts

Economics Minister Habeck wants to ban new oil and gas heating systems. For this he has received criticism from his coalition partner. The FDP claims that heat pumps as a replacement for the old burners only make sense once the power supply has completely switched to renewables. A recent study now shows the opposite.

A group of international scientists have hypothesized that using heat pumps powered by renewable energy is the quickest way to reduce Germany's imports of Russian gas.

[...]

The researchers' study is based on a comparison of the coefficient of performance (COP) of heat pumps with the efficiency of gas-fired power plants. The coefficient of performance indicates how efficiently a heat pump converts heat from renewable sources such as air, water or geothermal heat into heat for heating and hot water. For the comparison, they use a COP of over 3, which means that the heater generates more than three kilowatt hours of heat from one kilowatt hour of electricity...

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Agriculture | Insects | Pesticides

Too much, too common and more dangerous than expected

In around half of the small bodies of water, the concentration of pesticides is above the maximum values, and 30 percent of the creatures are extremely sensitive to it. A study shows that the basic assumptions about the safety of crop protection products may be wrong.

[...]

According to the result, pesticides bring a slow, quiet death to sensitive species. The findings of the monitoring of small bodies of water are explosive because they shake a basic assumption of German agricultural policy: If farmers farm "properly", i.e. follow all the rules, there should actually be neither limit value violations nor damage to biodiversity. Proper agriculture is therefore permitted across the board, including in the landscape protection areas, which cover a good quarter of the state.

[...]

A separate column is provided for the results in the German Plant Protection Index of the BMEL. But although the alarming numbers have been known within the government for a year, it still says: "Data are currently not available".

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constitutional complaint | revenue skimming | excess profit tax

Lichtblick sued against skimming off the proceeds - inadmissible special levy

Hamburg - The energy supplier Lichtblick, together with 25 other operators of solar, wind and biomass power plants, has lodged a complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court against the skimming off of proceeds. According to the complaint by the Raue law firm, this is an "inadmissible special levy" that violates the freedom of occupation and the property guarantee of the companies concerned.

Markus Adam, LichtBlick's chief lawyer, explains: "It makes sense for the federal government to relieve households and companies in view of the high energy costs. And it makes sense to involve power generators in financing the relief. However, the skimming of proceeds is the wrong instrument. It violates the basic rights of the companies skimmed off and slows down the energy transition. An excess profit tax, such as that levied by the oil or coal industry, would also be the appropriate and legally secure way for green electricity producers.” ...

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Britain's military | Armament | MIC

United Kingdom

Britain wants to invest five billion pounds in defense

Because of the tense world situation, the British government wants to invest in its army. In addition, the foreign and security policy strategy is to be revised.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced that he will invest five billion pounds (about 5,6 billion euros) in defense. "As the world becomes more volatile and competition between countries intensifies, the UK must be ready to assert itself," Sunak said.

[...]

This is the result of geopolitical threats such as the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine or China's "economic coercion" ...

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China's military | defense spending | MIC

Xi Jinping wants to turn the military into a "great wall of steel".

China's head of state is driving the expansion of the armed forces. Prime Minister Li Qiang is also calling for cooperation with the United States.

China's People's Congress has approved the country's budget with a sharp increase in defense spending. Against the background of growing tensions with the USA, the rising power's military budget is expected to rise by 7,2 percent, which is faster than total spending. The People's Congress also approved the government's growth target of "around five percent".

Xi Jinping said in his speech at the end of the annual session of the People's Congress that he wanted to turn the Chinese military into a "great wall of steel". The modernization of the People's Liberation Army should be promoted "in order to effectively secure national sovereignty, security and development interests" ...

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Arms trade | SIPRI

Report by the SIPRI Institute Europe is gearing up

While the global arms trade is declining slightly, European countries are importing more and more arms. According to a report by the Stockholm peace research institute SIPRI, the trigger was the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

Arms imports from European countries have risen sharply over the past four years. According to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the background is the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Between 2018 and 2022, the countries bought almost twice as many weapons as in the previous five years, the peace researchers said when the report on the global arms trade was published in Stockholm ...

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INES category 4March 13, 1980 (INES 4) NPP Saint-Laurent, FRA

A faulty cooling system in the UNGG reactor Saint Laurent A-2 melted fuel together and forced an extended shutdown...

Nuclear Power Accidents.pdf

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AtomkraftwerkePlag

https://atomkraftwerkeplag.fandom.com/de/wiki/Saint-Laurent_(Frankreich)

1980: Partial meltdown in reactor A-2

The second accident at Saint-Laurent, described as the most serious in French history, occurred in reactor A-2 on March 13, 1980. A metal plate had come loose and clogged dozens of cooling tubes, after which the cooling system partially failed. Two fuel elements melted, the radioactive contamination of the cooling gas increased massively. Fortunately, the emergency shutdown worked and the reactor was automatically deactivated. The clean-up work was not yet complete in 2011. Despite increased radiation from the reactor building, the reactor continued to operate ...

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Wikipedia

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernkraftwerk_Saint-Laurent#Zwischenf%C3%A4lle,_partielle_Kernschmelzen

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Nuclear power accidents by country#France

 

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12. March

 

Wissing lobbyist | Combustion engines | E-fuels | Exxon

Wissing blocked from combustion engines:

E-fuels could save Big Oil

The FDP is fighting against the end of combustion engines and the use of synthetic fuels. Who is lobbying for it – and who is benefiting from it.

BERLIN taz | The FDP has thrown Europe into chaos: it suddenly no longer wants to agree to the long-decided end for new cars with combustion engines in the European Union from 2035. The fact that the EU member states once again confirmed the decision made last year was actually considered a mere formality. Since Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) no longer wants to play along, other countries have also signaled that they doubt their support. Suddenly the finished EU package for more climate protection in road traffic is on the brink.

"We can only advance our country with concrete proposals, not with climate blah-blah," Wissing said at the weekend at an FDP party conference in Rhineland-Palatinate, where he was re-elected state leader of the party.

[...]

Suppliers such as Bosch or ZF Friedrichshafen are also organized in the Association of the Automotive Industry. But they also make up a large part of the eFuel Alliance, which specifically lobbies for e-fuels and last year wanted to prevent the European agreement on emission-free new cars. The group also includes some car companies such as the Japanese carmaker Mazda - and oil companies such as ExxonMobil ...

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Corruption | EU Parliament | Transparency Lobby Rules

Rules for the EU Parliament

Is Brussels drying up the lobby swamp now?

Since the corruption scandal involving ex-Vice President Kaili, the European Parliament has been dealing with its regulations for dealing with lobbyists. It is clear that many MPs have ignored them so far without being punished for it. The EU now wants to readjust.

The European Parliament is still under pressure. The corruption scandal surrounding his former Vice President Eva Kaili in the winter of last year caused serious image damage. It casts a bad light on the work of the EU institutions, which are estimated to be influenced by around 30.000 lobbyists. There are about as many of them in Brussels as there are employees in the authorities of the European Union.

[...]

There are also opponents of stricter disclosure requirements in Parliament. They include Vice President Rainer Wieland, CDU politician and member of the European People's Party. He doesn't believe that after the scandal "every colleague has to walk around with a dismayed expression", Wieland says in an interview with ntv.de ...

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Fukushima | Tritium | nuclear industrial complex

Japan's nuclear power renaissance: as if the meltdown had never happened

Twelve years after Fukushima, Japan's nuclear-industrial complex is back in charge and pushing the use of nuclear power.

TOKYO taz | From the pier of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the construction ship can be seen in the distance pumping concrete down to the seabed. The one-kilometer-long underwater tunnel is currently being built there, through which the operator Tepco wants to pump filtered and diluted cooling water from the reactors into the Pacific by summer at the latest. Despite being treated, the 1,3 million cubic meters of water stored in 1.060 tanks at the power plant contain radioactive tritium and traces of other radioactive substances...

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Greenhouse gas | Emissions | Methane | Food

We eat the climate

Global food consumption could lead to an additional degree of warming by 2100 and thus single-handedly break not only the 1,5-degree mark, but also the two-degree mark. That shows a new study. But there are various measures that can be used to reduce emissions.

Meat – morning, noon and evening. This not only worries doctors, but also makes climate researchers frown. On no other food is "climate-damaging" engraved as boldly as on meat.

This is particularly true for beef and the meat of other ruminants. The footprint of the world's steaks and cutlets accounts for about a third of the total greenhouse gas emissions from food production.

This has not yet arrived in many minds. When you think of climate change, you see smoking power plants and cars in your mind's eye. There's nothing wrong with that, except that it's only part of the truth...

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billion loss bank

Broke bank paid out bonuses at the last minute

On Wednesday evening, the Silicon Valley Bank reported a massive loss, the next day the Wall Street share slipped into the abyss, US authorities pulled the emergency brake and closed the money house. The annual premiums are said to have been transferred on the day of the closure.

According to a media report, the Californian Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) paid out annual bonuses shortly before its collapse. Eligible employees of the money house received their performance bonuses a few hours before the US government closed them down, writes the US news website Axios. It was about premiums for the year 2022, which should actually have been paid on March 10th, i.e. on the day the institute was taken over by a bank newly founded by the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund FDIC ...

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INES category 7March 12, 2011 (INES 7 | NAMS 7,5) NPP Fukushima I Daiichi, JPN

Wikipedia

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronologie_der_Katastrophe_in_Japan_von_2011

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

Due to the damage to the power supply and cooling system, which were caused by the great Tōhoku earthquake of March 11, 2011 and the subsequent tsunami, as well as the lack of cables for mobile power generators, it occurred in three out of six at the Fukushima-Daiichi (Fukushima I) nuclear power plant Reactor blocks to overheating of the reactor core.

There were several explosions:
In unit 1 on March 12th,
in unit 3 on March 14th and
in unit 2 on March 15th,

in which the outer shells of buildings were destroyed and radioactive material was released. In addition, a fire broke out in reactor block 15 on March 4 ...

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INES category 3March 12, 2011 (INES 3) NPP Fukushima II Daini, JPN

Wikipedia 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernkraftwerk_Fukushima_Daini#Erdbeben_in_Japan_2011

Due to the great Tōhoku earthquake of March 11, 2011 and the subsequent tsunami, all four reactor blocks in the Fukushima-Daini (Fukushima II) nuclear power plant were automatically switched off.

On March 12.03.2011, 1, the temperature in the condensation chambers of units 2, 4, and 100 rose above 10 °C and the depressurization systems stopped functioning. An evacuation zone of 20 kilometers radius was ordered for Fukushima II. The evacuation area of Fukushima II was thus almost entirely within the 3-kilometer evacuation zone for Fukushima I Daiichi. The temperature in the 15 reactors did not drop below 100°C again until March XNUMX.

On April 18.04.2011, 3, the Japanese nuclear regulatory authority (NISA) rated the events in Fukushima-Daini as INES level XNUMX.

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Nuclear power accidents by country#Japan

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AtomkraftwerkePlag

https://atomkraftwerkeplag.fandom.com/de/wiki/Fukushima_Daini_(Japan)

From 1981/1983/1984/1986, four boiling water reactors with an output of 1.100 MW each were operated in Fukushima Daini. The plant is owned and operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO). Units 1 and 3 were made by Toshiba, units 2 and 4 by Hitachi...

 

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Current news+ Background knowledge

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Current news+

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Fukushima | Tōhoku earthquake | Nuclear disaster | Poison of eternity

12 years after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima - what have we learned from it?

12 years ago, on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima nuclear disaster began with the Tōhoku earthquake. In four of the six reactor blocks there were extremely serious accident sequences, some with core meltdowns and a massive escape of radioactivity. It was one of those typical serious nuclear accidents, a catastrophe that the operators had not expected in advance.

Luck in disguise was a gracious wind that carried the extreme radioactivity out to sea in the early days and not to the nearby metropolitan area of ​​Tokyo with its 37 million people.

A few months after the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facilities, the operator Tepco and the Japanese government made an agreement to recover the molten nuclear fuel from the destroyed reactors within a decade, but like so many promises from the Japanese "nuclear village", this did not happen . However, the trivializing post-accident PR, which is now called crisis communication, was successful.

12 years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, compensation for the actual victims of the disaster is minimal. But a court in Tokyo ordered the payment of 13 trillion yen (94,6 billion euros) in damages for the shareholders of the nuclear company. (A billion is a thousand million). There are few judgments that better reflect the "Western Values" that Japan and the West unfortunately increasingly stand for...

 

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Current news+ Background knowledge

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Background knowledge

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Map of the nuclear world:

The eternal poisons uranium, cesium, plutonium and PFAS have been coming fresh to the table for many years...

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The internal search for

Fukushima

brought the following results, among others:

 

March 07, 2022 - Will the world end before capitalism?

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May 03, 2021 - Expert predicts another nuclear catastrophe like in Fukushima

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January 01, 2021 - Radiation exposure in Fukushima: Between lying and self-deception

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April 26, 2016 - 30 years after Chernobyl and 5 years after Fukushima

 

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YouTube

Keyword search: Fukushima

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Fukushima

 

Videos:

 

ZDF History - 41: 49

The Great Illusions of the Atomic Age

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3 sat - 52:15

Fukushima and the truth behind the meltdown

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Arte - 1:23:55

Our Beautiful Nuclear World - by Kenichi Watanabe

 

 

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

This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic

 

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Ecosia

This search engine is planting trees!

 

Keyword search: Fukushima

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Fukushima

 

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Wikipedia

 

Fukushima nuclear disaster

The Fukushima nuclear disaster refers to a series of related catastrophic accidents and serious incidents at the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima Daiichi (Fukushima I) and their effects.

On March 11, 2011 at 14:46 local time, the Tōhoku earthquake occurred, a seaquake whose tidal waves (tsunami) killed over 22.000 Japanese, 470.000 people had to be evacuated in the following days. The high waves also damaged the nuclear power plant built on the coast and there were consequential damages that occurred simultaneously in four out of six reactor blocks. Core meltdowns occurred in blocks 1, 2 and 3. As a result, large quantities of radioactive material were released - they corresponded to around one fifth of the radioactive emissions from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster - and contaminated air, soil, water and food in the land and sea environment. Approximately 100.000 to 150.000 residents had to leave the area temporarily or permanently as a result ...

 

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