Newsletter XIV 2023 |
April 2-8
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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:
3 April 1960 (INES 4) NPP WTR-2 reactor, Waltz Mill, USA
5 April 1968 (INES 5 | NAMS 5) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR
6 April 1993 (INES 4 | NAMS 4,8) Nuclear factory Tomsk 7, RUS
7 April 1989 (Broken Arrow) Submarine K-278 sank south of Bear Island, USSR
10 April 2003 (INES 3 | NAMS 3,9) NPP Paks, HUN
April 10th to May 15st, 1967 (INES ? Class.?) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR
10 April 1963, Submarine SSN-593 sank 350 km from Cape Cod, USA
11 April 1970 (Broken Arrow) Submarine K-8 sank in the Bay of Biscay, USSR
11 April 1968, Submarine K-129 sunk 2900 km northwest of Hawaii, USSR
19 April 2005 (INES 3) Nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
21 April 1957 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR
26 April 1986 (INES 7 | NAMS 8) NPP Chernobyl, USSR
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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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8. April
Atmosphere | Weather extremes | precipitation
Pineapple Express causes storms
Atmospheric rivers as gigantic water masses on the way
Rivers like to meander through landscapes, but there are also rivers far above us that transport gigantic masses of water. They bring sopping wet air across the seas and can cause extreme rainfall on land.
From flying taxis to renewable energy
Far above us, there is a constant flow of moisture from the tropics to the north in the atmosphere. This giant atmospheric river is a band of soaking wet air about 500 kilometers wide and 2000 kilometers long, driven by winds. At an altitude of 1000 to 2500 meters, this conveyor belt transports gigantic amounts of water vapor and returns to earth hundreds or thousands of kilometers further as snow or rain.
Pineapple Express responsible for California storms
A single atmospheric flow can carry about 7,5 to 15 times the amount of water that the Mississippi River normally carries at its mouth. In California, these humidity bands have long been known as the Pineapple Express, because this humid air from the sea area off Hawaii is responsible for 30 to 50 percent of all rain on the west coast. In recent months, this atmospheric flow in California has led to significant weather extremes ...
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Easter March | peace negotiation | Ukraine War
Easter Marches and the Ukraine War
Peace appeals to NATO, Kyiv and Moscow
Negotiations instead of further arms deliveries to Ukraine - this is the core demand of the Easter March movement this year. Thousands of people took to the streets nationwide.
Russia's war against Ukraine has given the Easter March movement a boost this year as well: Thousands of people demonstrated nationwide for peace between Moscow and Kiev, an end to arms aid for Ukraine and the renunciation of the build-up of the German armed forces.
Probably the largest Easter march with up to 2000 peace activists took place in Berlin. There the organizers warned of an escalation of the Ukraine war. Germany is partly to blame for this - through arms deliveries to Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia, "permanent war rhetoric and by fomenting enemy images". Banners and placards read phrases like "Peace, heating, bread instead of weapons, war and death" and "NATO is the aggressor - peace with Russia" ...
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Repository | million years | atomic priest
Atomic Priests and Quartz Crystals
How do you preserve information for more than 500 years?
On April 15, the last three nuclear power plants in Germany will go offline. But the chapter on nuclear energy is far from over, the nuclear waste still has to be stored safely for a long time.
The Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) has the task of storing the information about German nuclear waste for at least 500 years, preferably for a much longer time. The task is demanding: the language will change, society will change, and it is completely unclear whether there will still be states that are able to preserve archive stocks, says Jochen Ahlswede in an interview with ntv.de .
ntv.de: Your job at the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management is, among other things, to ensure that current and future knowledge on the disposal of radioactive waste in Germany is not lost. What time periods are we talking about?
Jochen Ahlswede: High-level radioactive waste is hazardous to humans, animals and the environment for periods of time that are humanly indefinite. The legal goal is to ensure the safety of this highly radioactive waste for a period of one million years. And for at least five hundred years it should be possible to recover the radioactive waste from the sealed repository. The tasks of the BASE therefore also include storing as much information as possible for future generations that is related to the questions of the safety of the repository ...
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The deafening silence of intellectuals in the midst of global conflicts
Progressive commentators are becoming increasingly rare in the major media. Conservative opinion makers dominate the political arena in the West and justify crimes. What's going on there? (Part 1)
Intellectuals have no monopoly over culture, values, or truth, much less the importance attached to any of these "domains of the mind," as they used to be called.
But intellectuals should not shy away from denouncing what they see as destructive of culture, values and truth, especially when that destruction is carried out in the name of the spirit. Intellectuals can certainly point to the positives, in a way welcoming the sun before dawn, but they must also warn of the clouds that menacingly gather in the sky before nightfall, preventing us from enjoying the daylight later.
Europe is witnessing a disturbing (re)surgence of two developments that are destroying the domains of the spirit: the elimination of democracy through the rise of extreme right-wing forces and the subversion of peace through the declaration of war as a force of nature.
Both processes of destruction are legitimized by values that are supposed to make them impossible. Fascism is promoted in the name of democracy; war is sanctioned in the name of peace. All of this has become possible because political initiative and media coverage are left to the conservative forces of the right and the extreme right...
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7. April
Slovakia | Mochovce | Taxpayers pay loss | Leag
research of the organization Global 2000:
Dubious deal with nuclear power
The coal company Leag is said to have never bought the electricity generated by the Mochovce nuclear power plant and thus made a profit – at the expense of the Slovakian state.
FREIBURG taz | The Mochovce nuclear power plant in Slovakia has apparently helped the East German energy company Leag to make huge profits - and this at the expense of Slovakian taxpayers. This is the result of research by the Austrian environmental organization Global 2000, which has been closely following all events surrounding the Russian-built reactor, which is only a good 100 kilometers from its border, for years.
[...]
Although the technical problems of the nuclear power plant have been known for years, the head of the operating company Slovenské elektrárne, Branislav Strýček, sold the entire production of the reactor that could hypothetically be achieved in 2022 at an early stage, according to a paper by the Austrian environmental organization, which is available to the taz. At the time of the sale, it had long been clear that the reactor would not be technically ready for use by then.
Intertwined Companies
According to Global 2000, the electricity is said to have gone to the German electricity company Leag, according to informants. This means that the amounts of electricity not generated are at the center of a delicate deal: Leag is owned in equal parts by the Czech lignite oligarch Daniel Křetínský and its EPH holding company and its financial partner PPF Investments. But this EPH also owns a third of the nuclear power plant operator Slovenské elektrárne.
As the Austrian environmental organization further reports, Leag made enormous profits with the cheaply purchased electricity when the stock exchange prices then rose sharply. Conversely, Slovenské elektrárne obviously had to buy the electricity that was sold cheaply but never generated at a high price in order to meet the delivery obligations it had entered into. Since the company's private owners refused to pay for the losses, "the Slovakian taxpayers would probably have to foot the bill in the end," according to Global 2000. The Slovakian state also has a one-third stake in the company. Neither Leag nor Slovenské elektrárne answered inquiries from the taz about this incident...
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Great Britain | pollution water | sewage sea
Britain's sewage treatment plants dump massive amounts of sewage into the sea
Lumps of feces when bathing, closed beaches: Last summer, obvious water pollution on the British coasts caused outrage. According to the opposition, there were more than 2022 such incidents in 140.000.
In Great Britain, sewage treatment plants discharge massive amounts of untreated sewage into the sea.
In 2022, around a million hours of untreated sewage flowed into the sea off British coasts, the opposition Labor Party said, citing data from the Environment Agency. There have been 141 incidents - that's one every 777 minutes and 3 seconds. Pretty much all coastal communities in England and Wales have been affected...
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"Aerogel" from Osnabrück
The new super insulating material
A German start-up is developing a material from the renewable raw material lignin that could revolutionize energy-efficient building renovation. The effect is twice as good as with a conventional insulating material. The team is currently working on lowering the production price.
If you want to live climate-friendly and spend as little as possible on heating, your house or apartment must be equipped with good thermal insulation. There is no way around this, because otherwise heating with renewable energies would be too inefficient and expensive in the long run.
[...]
A new type of high-performance insulating material, which is currently being developed to market maturity by a development team in Osnabrück and Hamburg, could trigger a revolution here. It is an "aerogel", an extremely light material consisting almost entirely of microscopic air pores, which transports heat very poorly and therefore minimizes the loss to the building's surroundings.
The effect is about twice as good as that of a conventional insulating material. Accordingly, the insulation layer only has to be half as thick to meet the same standard.
Another advantage: the new airgel is made from a renewable plant raw material, namely lignin. This occurs in large quantities as a waste product, among other things, in the manufacture of paper ...
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07 April 1989 (Broken Arrow) Submarine K-278 sank south of Bear Island
The nuclear reactor and two nuclear torpedoes are still on board and rusting away.
Wikipedia
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-278_Komsomolez
The K-278 Komsomolets was a Soviet one nuclear submarine. It entered service in 1984 and sank on April 7, 1989. The sinking claimed the lives of 42 crew members...
The fate of the Komsomolets
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-278_Komsomolez#Das_Schicksal_der_Komsomolez
On April 7, 1989, a fire broke out in the stern of the Komsomolets. The boat was at a depth of 150 to 380 meters when a valve on a high-pressure air line connecting the boat's main ballast tanks ruptured and leaking oil (probably from the hydraulic valve) caught fire on a hot surface. Sealing off the compartments could not stop the spread of the fire as the fire spread through the boat's cable ducts. As a direct result, the automatic emergency shutdown of the reactor was initiated to prevent overloading. This caused the drive to fail. The lack of power led to system failures throughout the boat, including the failure of most safety systems. The boat managed to surface after 50 minutes, but the rupture in the compressed air system further fueled the fire. Most of the crew left the boat. After a few hours the hull broke and the boat sank. The commander and four other crew members who remained on board tried to save themselves with the emergency capsule. However, this was partially flooded and filled with toxic gases - only one of them survived the ascent to the surface. Although the crew had radioed for help, and rescue planes were already on site at the emergency exit from the boat to drop life rafts, but there were not enough for the 69 men. Of the 42 crew members, XNUMX died during and after the accident, most of them from hypothermia in the cold water because they had not managed to put on their life suits before the emergency exit.
[...]
At the time of the sinking, the boat carried two nuclear-tipped and eight conventional torpedoes. Two investigations were launched, one by the USSR government and the other later by an independent body. Both could not fully clarify the exact circumstances that led to the loss of the boat; the second investigation, however, saw the course of events as being due to design defects in the boat. The poor level of training of the crew was also criticized. Norway later explained that the boat could have been reached by air or sea two hours before the sinking, but was notified too late.
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6. April
war | Climate change | Chomsky | Capitalism
Noam Chomsky: Wild Capitalism
From climate change to bank failures to war
Excerpt from an interview David Barsamian recently did with Noam Chomsky on AlternativeRadio.org.
David Barsamian: On March 20, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest report. The new IPCC assessment by top scientists warned that we have no more time to waste in tackling the climate crisis. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: "The rise in temperature over the past half century is the highest in 2000 years. Carbon dioxide levels are at their highest for at least two million years. The climate time bomb is ticking.” At the COP 27 he said: “We are on a highway to climate hell and we still have our foot on the accelerator. It is the crucial problem of our time. It is the central challenge of our century.” My question to you is this: One would think that survival would be a rousing issue, but why isn't there a greater sense of urgency to address this issue in a substantive way?
Noam Chomsky: It was a very strong statement from Guterres. I think she could be even stronger. It is not only the crucial question of this century, but of human history. We are now, he says, at a point where it will be decided whether human experimentation will continue on Earth in any recognizable form. The report was clear and concise. We have reached a point where irreversible processes are set in motion. It doesn't mean that everyone will die tomorrow, but we will pass tipping points where nothing can be done, where catastrophe is the only option.
Yes, it is a matter of survival for any form of organized human society. Already there are many signs of extreme danger and threats, so far almost exclusively in countries that played the least role in causing the disaster. It is often and rightly said that rich countries caused the disaster and poor countries are its victims, but in reality it is a little more nuanced. It's the rich in the rich countries who caused the disaster and everyone else, including the poor in the rich countries, is facing the problems...
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Nuclear Regulator Japan | data manipulation | Tsuruga NPP
Data incorrect again
Japan's nuclear regulator stops safety assessment of a nuclear reactor again because of data manipulation
Japan's nuclear regulatory agency has again halted the safety assessment of the Tsuruga power plant's nuclear reactor because the operating company had once again submitted incorrect documents.
It is not the first time that the documents submitted by the operator are full of errors and data manipulation.
Nuclear reactor 2 is to be connected to the grid again
The nuclear regulatory agency considered forcing the operator to withdraw its safety clearance application, but decided to issue another suspension.
The Tsuruga nuclear power plant consists of two blocks, with reactor No. 1 being scrapped. Japan Atomic Power submitted the application for nuclear reactor 2015 safety review in 2...
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Arctic | Permafrost | Nuclear waste
Toxic waste from thawing permafrost?
Diesel, heavy metals, industrial waste - there is a lot of toxic waste in the Arctic, often simply on or in the permafrost. But due to global warming, this is thawing. Researchers warn of dangers to nature.
According to experts, the risk of large-scale environmental damage is increasing significantly as a result of the thawing of permafrost beneath industrial plants in the Arctic. In the arctic regions, toxic waste has been deposited in small dumps in or on the previously permanently frozen ground for decades, explained the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in Bremerhaven.
[...]
Diesel, heavy metals, radioactive waste
The spectrum of substances ranges from diesel fuel to highly hazardous heavy metals and radioactive waste. In the Arctic as a whole there are a large number of decommissioned and active oil and gas production facilities and mines. According to the AWI experts, these include local landfills with toxic sludge, lakes full of accumulated industrial waste water or heaps of rubble from mining operations.
[...]
clear away the rubbish
As a consequence, Langer can imagine that people will also clear away the rubbish again. "Of course, the optimal thing would be that we clear away the garbage that we have left in the Arctic for a very long time, or transport it out of the Arctic. At least at the locations where we know that there will be problems with it Thawing." However, this requires a better overview of where and how much and what has been disposed of in recent years.
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Photovoltaics | Wind energy | anti-nuclear movement
Nuclear power? No thanks!
Germany is finally switching off the last nuclear power plants. A huge success for the movement, which will continue to fight for a nuclear-free world
On April 15, the last three German nuclear power plants (AKW) finally go offline. A great achievement for the anti-nuclear movement, which for decades has pointed out the dangers of high-risk technology. And that despite massive resistance from politicians, corporations and the police. It is not without reason that the large demonstrations were also called battles.
The protesters never just waged a pure preventive struggle, but pointed out alternatives in energy production and in common togetherness at an early stage. The first windmill, community energy, the first photovoltaic systems and efforts to use energy more sparingly go back to this movement. Much of what was ridiculed at the time or dismissed as a niche has developed into a stable pillar of the energy transition. That too is a success of the anti-nuclear movement...
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Glyphosate | DUH | foodwatch
German environmental aid and foodwatch initiate legal proceedings against the approval of five pesticides
The German Environmental Aid (DUH) and foodwatch are taking legal action against the approval of pesticide products for the first time. To this end, the DUH has submitted objections to the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety against the approval of several pesticides, including those containing glyphosate.
The DUH announces that it will sue if the contradictions are not remedied. The aim of the initially five model proceedings is to stop the sale of selected products with particularly toxic and environmentally harmful active ingredients.
So far, the federal government has prevented German environmental organizations from judicially reviewing the approval of pesticides to protect chemical companies. As early as November last year, the DUH had the European Court of Justice clarify that environmental organizations in Germany can take action against all type and product approvals with harmful environmental effects based on the Aarhus Convention. The ban on such lawsuits contained in the current Environmental Legal Remedy Act is simply contrary to EU law and is void with immediate effect ...
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energy company | Greenwashing | Deutsche Umwelthilfe
DUH is suing Total Energies
Judgment on consumer deception with supposed climate neutrality
Berlin - The Düsseldorf Regional Court has upheld a lawsuit brought by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) against Total Energies because of the alleged "climate neutrality" of their "CO2-compensated heating oil".
The verdict is the first in the legal proceedings of the DUH against misleading advertising promises, in which it is claimed on the basis of implausible climate protection projects that products are "climate neutral", according to the German Environmental Aid.
“Total Energies was only able to so brazenly deceive consumers because the state and federal governments do not really protect consumers. Dear Ministers Lemke and Gorißen: That's not going to work with climate protection if you allow consumers to be persuaded that an oil heating system can be operated in a climate-neutral manner with a 40-euro indulgence payment to an oil company per year," said DUH Federal Managing Director Resch.
The energy company Total Energies is now no longer allowed to advertise its heating oil as "CO2-compensated" ...
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Gronau uranium enrichment plant | Energy transition | Easter March
Easter marches call for peace and energy transition
Bonn (dpa / lnw) - In North Rhine-Westphalia, a total of several thousand people are expected to attend peace demonstrations on Easter. The central theme is the Ukraine war. In North Rhine-Westphalia, at least 16 events are planned between Bielefeld and Düren, according to an overview by the Peace Cooperation Network in Bonn.
[...]
On Good Friday, the Münsterland Action Alliance took to the streets at the uranium enrichment plant in Gronau. Around 150 participants are expected at noon for the traditional protest action. The demand is "energy transition and peace instead of uranium waste and war" ...
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06 April 1993 (INES 4 | NAMS 4,8) Nuclear factory Tomsk 7, USSR
Wikipedia
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerntechnische_Anlage_Tomsk
On April 6, 1993, an explosion in the reprocessing plant, which was primarily used for the production of weapons-grade plutonium, released large quantities of primarily short-lived radioactive substances...
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Nuclear power accidents by country#Russia
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AtomkraftwerkePlag
https://atomkraftwerkeplag.fandom.com/de/wiki/Sewersk/Tomsk-7,_ehemalige_Sowjetunion_1993
On April 6, 1993, overpressure occurred in a tank containing a solution of 8.773 kg of uranium and 310 g of plutonium, which then exploded. "Radioactive particles thrown into the atmosphere contaminated an area of over 120 square kilometers. Numerous villages had to be evacuated, they are permanently uninhabitable. People in the region are still suffering from the consequences today. Many show the same symptoms as the victims of Chernobyl and Mayak: Cancer, blood diseases, genetic damage." ...
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5. April
Italy | Uranium ammunition | Damage to health
Damage to health from depleted uranium: "Avalanche has begun"
Britain's decision to send depleted uranium-made shells to Ukraine has caused a stir. The use of similar munitions during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia has been the subject of several studies into the health risks posed by the toxic material.
In Italy alone, 400 military personnel died and another 8000 became seriously ill after exposure to depleted uranium during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Demonstrating the link between the toxic material and the rise in cancer is not easy. The use of depleted uranium is not prohibited by any international agreement, and Italy is not the only European country where the debate over the use of such weapons is still ongoing.
Although numerous studies have been conducted on the subject, controversy over the effects of exposure to depleted uranium remains, with the Italian Ministry of Defense denying any responsibility.
Angelo Fiore Tartaglia knows a lot about it. The Italian lawyer has been defending military personnel exposed to and suffering from depleted uranium for 20 years. He has set an unprecedented record by winning over 300 lawsuits proving the link between the use of depleted uranium and a range of diseases...
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Fuel assemblies | Sanctions | Russian uranium
After visiting Kiev
Habeck wants to sanction importers of Russian uranium
The import of numerous Russian raw materials and products is already sanctioned, but not uranium. Economics Minister Habeck now wants to change that. The conversion for countries with nuclear power may be big, but reasonable, he thinks.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck wants to advocate sanctions against countries that purchase uranium from Russia despite the war in Ukraine. During his talks on this topic in Ukraine, the main topic was "the delivery of uranium for nuclear fuel rods to Europe from Russia," said the Vice Chancellor on the way back from his two-day visit to Kiev.
Habeck said he was asked by Ukrainian interlocutors why the purchase of Russian uranium was still not sanctioned. "And I don't think there's a good answer to that." At some point, however, this has to happen, "even if it means a change for the countries that still equip nuclear power plants with Russian uranium. But that seems reasonable to me, so I will work for it"...
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Peace Ukraine | Ceasefire | Easter March
Easter Marches: Armistice and Peace for Ukraine
IPPNW calls for increased international efforts to resolve conflicts underlying the war.
The medical peace organization IPPNW is calling for nationwide demonstrations on the Easter weekend. On the occasion of the Easter marches, the doctors are calling on the federal government to do more for a ceasefire and peace in Ukraine. Only through international diplomatic efforts can a war of attrition lasting years or an escalation to the point of nuclear war be prevented.
"In order to work out solutions for an end to the war, all underlying conflicts must be considered from the point of view of the logic of peace. These include the interstate and territorial conflict over Ukraine's sovereignty. But the dispute over fossil resources and the rivalry between the nuclear powers USA, China and Russia as well as the question of the different security interests in Europe also play a decisive role," emphasizes IPPNW Chairwoman Dr. medical Angelica Claussen...
Easter marches with IPPNW participation
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Water storage | Climate change | Dryness
Germany lost 15,2 billion tons of water
Climate change and extreme weather conditions have depleted water storage over the past 20 years
Negative balance: Germany has lost around 20 billion tons of water from its natural water reservoirs in the last 15,2 years - this corresponds to 760 million tons of water annually, as analyzes have shown. This loss of water, groundwater and soil occurs because less water has been added through inflow and precipitation than has been lost through evaporation and runoff since 2002. The balance of German water resources has therefore been negative, especially since 2015.
Climate change is also leaving its mark on Germany: average temperatures are rising, winters are becoming milder and hot days and dry periods are increasing in summer. This has been particularly pronounced since the hot summer of 2018, which also ushered in a historically unprecedented period of drought across Europe. This also had an effect on soil moisture and water bodies: They have not yet been able to compensate for their water deficit even after the rainy year 2021 ...
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05 April 1968 (INES 5 | NAMS 5) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR
There were about 5600 TBq released radioactivity. A technician died as a result of exposure to radiation.
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AtomkraftwerkePlag
In 1957, the first major accident occurred in the use of atomic energy, which is comparable in its dimensions to the catastrophes in Fukushima and Chernobyl, but only became known to the world public in 1989.
The Mayak nuclear complex, 15 kilometers east of the city of Kyshtym in Chelyabinsk Oblast on the eastern side of the southern Urals, was an important part of Stalin's 1945 plans to rapidly produce weapons-grade plutonium and close the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons deficit. In 1948 the first reactor was switched on, in 1949 the first atomic bomb was detonated and Stalin had caught up with the USA.
235 radioactive accidents with serious consequences for the environment occurred in Mayak ...
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There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:
Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites
During reprocessing, the inventory of spent fuel elements can be separated from one another in a complex chemical process (PUREX). Separated uranium and plutonium can then be reused. As far as the theory...
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Youtube
Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium
All uranium and plutonium factories produce radioactive nuclear waste: uranium processing, enrichment and reprocessing plants, whether in Hanford, La Hague, Sellafield, Mayak, Tokaimura or anywhere in the world, all have the same problem: With every processing step More and more extremely toxic and highly radioactive waste is being produced ...
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4. April
Lingen fuel element factory | Rosatom | Framatome | Advanced Nuclear Fuels
Hesitant farewell to Russian atoms
In the future, the Czech Republic will no longer use nuclear fuel elements from Russia, while Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria will continue to use them. A subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Rosatom wants to produce fuel rods for Eastern Europe in Lower Saxony in the future.
[...]
How strong Russia's market power in the field of nuclear fuels still is is illustrated by current news about the fuel element factory in Lingen im Emsland, which belongs to a subsidiary of the French nuclear company Framatome, Advanced Nuclear Fuels (ANF).
In the future, ANF also wants to produce fuel rods there for Russian nuclear reactors of older design in Eastern Europe together with the Rosatom subsidiary TWEL. To this end, both companies have set up a joint venture in France.
So far, Lingen has mainly produced for nuclear power plants in western countries. Rosatom has the monopoly on the hexagonal fuel rods used in the legacy reactors...
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China | renewable | floating solar panels
China: In the solar fast lane
Energy and climate – compact: More solar and wind power plants are connected to the grid in China than anywhere else in the world.
According to the Bloomberg news agency, one of five solar panels connected to the grid last year was installed on a Chinese roof.
A considerable 51 gigawatts (GW) of capacity was added last year with the countless small systems. Roughly estimated, they can be used in China to generate as much electricity as in five to seven large nuclear power plants or in around ten modern coal-fired power plants...
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Climate protection | fossil | traffic building | Emissions trading
FDP urges action with CO₂
According to the will of the FDP, a new emissions trading system for transport and buildings is to start as early as next year. But the instrument has weaknesses: the transformation of buildings and transport requires more than high CO2 prices.
[...]
Traffic and buildings are considered the problem children when it comes to climate protection because too many fossil fuels are still being used here. Unsurprisingly, both sectors have breached their climate target over the past two years.
In order for the sectors to get on course, the FDP now wants to prioritize emissions trading. Since 2021 there has been a fixed CO2 price in both areas in Germany. Companies that circulate petrol, diesel, natural gas or heating oil have to purchase CO2 certificates for this – at a price set by law.
A certificate entitles you to emit one tonne of CO2 and currently costs 30 euros. Far too little to signal to market participants and consumers that they should avoid fossil fuels.
Therefore, according to the will of the FDP, the national CO2 price should be transferred to real emissions trading as early as next year. The price for CO2 should be formed freely according to supply and demand and thus give market participants an incentive to reduce emissions ...
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Emissions | Chemical Substitute Substances | Ozone | CFC
New record high for "ozone killers"
Emissions of five ozone-depleting substances reach new highs
Banned, but not stopped: The emissions of five ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) reached new highs in 2020, measurements reveal. Although these CFCs can no longer be contained in products under the Montreal Protocol, their concentration has increased rapidly since 2010. The destructive effect on the ozone layer is still small, but these CFCs heat up the climate: Their greenhouse effect corresponds to that of all CO2 emissions in Switzerland.
The production and release of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) has been banned worldwide since the Montreal Protocol of 1987. Since 2010 this has also applied to the release of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). These chlorine-containing chemicals set off a chain reaction in the stratosphere that destroys the protective ozone layer. But despite the ban, more and more "ozone killers" have been released in recent years, including the banned trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) and new chlorofluorocarbons...
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3. April
Fuel assemblies | Rosatom | Framatome | Westinghouse
The Czech Republic and Slovakia want nuclear independence from Russia
The Czech Republic and Slovakia insist on compliance with EU sanctions, including for nuclear power. The two prime ministers emphasized this after a joint meeting.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia also want to free themselves from their dependence on Russia when it comes to nuclear power. The two prime ministers emphasized this after a joint cabinet meeting on Monday in Trenčín, Slovakia. Slovakia's Prime Minister Eduard Heger said that ways are being sought to get nuclear fuel from "non-Russian sources" as quickly as possible. Russian uranium is not yet on the EU sanctions list because it is needed by nuclear countries like France.
[...]
The Czech energy company CEZ announced just last week that the Dukovany nuclear power plant will be operated with fuel rods from American production from next year. So far, the kiln had received its fuel from the Russian state-owned company Rosatom. The US company Westinghouse will also supply the Temelin nuclear plant together with the French company Framatom ...
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United States | Climate catastrophe | extreme weather
That's why the USA is the front runner when it comes to severe weather catastrophes
New York · Tornadoes have again claimed lives in parts of the United States - this is just the latest of the many severe weather disasters that hit the United States each year. What's the reason?
The US is the punching ball of the world when it comes to severe weather. Two oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, protruding peninsulas like Florida, colliding storm fronts and the jet stream all combine to create a foul concoction that produces massive weather excesses like the recent deadly series of tornadoes in the South and Midwest of the USA promotes, as experts say ...
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Nuclear power? No thanks! | Wyhl | military-industrial complex
"That's it" - Germany and nuclear power
On April 15, the last three German nuclear power plants go offline. This also ends an era of enormous socio-political importance, in which all forms of civic resistance were rehearsed.
[...]
But in the anti-nuclear movement, broad sections of the population came together for the first time. The logo «Nuclear power? No thank you!" with a laughing red sun became the most well-known sticker of a whole generation.
"The controversy over nuclear energy was the biggest public controversy in the history of the Federal Republic to date," says environmental historian Joachim Radkau, author of the standard work "Rise and Crisis of the German Nuclear Industry" (1983).
The planned construction of a nuclear reactor in Wyhl, Baden, in the mid-70s got both left-wing Freiburg students and conservative vintners and farmers on their feet. There were also close ties to the French anti-nuclear movement that had emerged years earlier. "In France, the military-industrial complex was just too strong," says Radkau. "There, demonstrations were beaten down much more brutally than here." ...
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Nuclear phase-out | FDP | Nuclear lobby | Energy policy
FDP wants to continue using nuclear power plants
In view of the energy policy situation, the end of nuclear power plants is a strategic mistake, says the FDP general secretary. The last nuclear power plants go offline on April 15th.
Shortly before Germany finally phased out nuclear power, the FDP spoke out in favor of the continued operation of nuclear power plants, contrary to the plans of the SPD and the Greens. The nuclear power off is "a strategic mistake in a still tense energy policy situation," said FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai on Monday the news portal t-online.
As a result, Germany "regrettably misses the opportunity to ensure more climate protection and lower energy prices without much effort". From the point of view of the FDP, the extension of the term remains "reasonable", said the FDP politician ...
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Fossil Lobby | Climate protection prevented | Gulf Stream
Hooray, we're collapsing the ocean circulation!
Study shows we are literally making Earth history. The world's oceans - and thus us - are threatened with collapse. But in Germany, lobbies, politicians and journalists are happy to have prevented climate protection. A comment.
While global greenhouse gases continue to rise every year, investments are being made in new fossil projects around the world, LNG terminals are being built in Germany and the inadequate climate protection law is being further curtailed, in the USA the Biden government approves the highly controversial Willow oil drilling in northern Alaska ( an enormous 95 billion liters of crude oil are stored there. The Texan oil company ConocoPhillips must first freeze the ground again for exploration, which has been softened by its own greenhouse gases. Irony of the climate crisis!), the oil, gas and coal companies are making record profits drive in, the big gas lobby meeting in Vienna is shielded from protests by the police with pepper spray and squadrons of dogs, and climate disasters are increasingly devastating entire regions, especially in poorer countries, costing many lives and costing us more and more, the editorial offices received the next shocking news from the Science.
In the media of the rich industrialized countries, such horror reports (we will come to the concrete content of the most recent ones in a moment) with regard to exceeding the very dangerous tipping points - at which an uncontrollable, self-reinforcing overheating of the earth is set in motion - are reported briefly as habit, only to then switch to more important topics. This was the case again this time.
So while the well-known shrug of the shoulders is dismissed at the red alert message, in Germany, for weeks and months, verve and journalistic commitment have been used to raise the mood against any steps to do anything more for climate protection. In this way, the heat transition, the transport transition and the Berlin climate decision were successfully stopped or put on the back burner ...
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03 April 1960 (INES 4) WTR-2 reactor Waltz Mill, USA
WTR-2 reactor meltdown accident at Westinghouse's Waltz Mill site.
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This reactor accident and some other releases of man-made radioactivity are not or no longer in the German Wikipedia a DAK Bungalow.
Wikipedia - en
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westinghouse_TR-2#1960_accident
On Sunday evening, April 3, 1960, a partial meltdown occurred in the reactor. A fuel element melted and released the radioactive gaseous fission products krypton and xenon. The overheating and subsequent damage to the fuel assembly was said to have been caused by a local lack of adequate coolant flow. The accident was rated 4 on the international scale for nuclear events, an accident with local consequences ...
Translated with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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2. April
North Korea | Uranium enrichment | Yongbyon
Increased activity at nuclear facility in North Korea
According to experts, satellite images indicate that the country may want to obtain even more weapons-grade material for atomic bombs.
As the site specializing in North Korea "38 North" of the Stimson Center in the USA explained, the satellite images were taken between March 3rd and 17th. The government in Pyongyang may want to obtain even more weapons-grade material for atomic bombs in the foreseeable future.
On the one hand, the five-megawatt reactor Yongbyon is still in operation. On the other hand, there are indications that construction work on an experimental light water reactor is about to be completed. Also, new construction work had started around the uranium enrichment plant...
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Lingen fuel element factory | Rosatom | Framatome
Dear friends,
The signs had been clearly on the wall for a long time - but we had to keep putting pressure on for months until the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment finally confirmed to the media what was so obvious: The Kremlin group Rosatom has in France with the French nuclear company Framatome - one Subsidiary of the state EdF - a joint venture for the production of "Russian" fuel elements founded in Lingen - what a deal!
Four months ago, Lower Saxony's Environment Minister Meyer (Greens) welcomed Framatome's application for nuclear eastward expansion in Lingen - now he told dpa (see Süddeutsche Zeitung) that "business with Putin should be ended." The joint venture is "fatal in view of Putin's brutal energy war against Europe". And Gerrit Niehaus, head of the nuclear safety department at the BMUV, added to the AP (see Washington Post) that the nuclear supervisory authority will "go as far as legally possible" when examining the application. Have Hannover and Berlin finally woken up or is the sudden criticism more for the stands before the Framatome-Rosatom deal is waved through?
Here are the media links:
https://taz.de/Brennelementfabrik-in-Lingen/!5921645/
We say it again very clearly: This irresponsible nuclear deal must be stopped - the Lingen fuel element factory and the uranium enrichment in Gronau must finally be shut down - no nuclear entry by the Kremlin in Emsland!
Therefore, come to the demo at the fuel element factory in Lingen (Am Seitenkanal 15) on April 13 at 1 p.m. At 12.30 p.m. there is a shuttle bus from the train station in Lingen - please register for the shuttle in advance
Demo call and all information:
https://atomstadt-lingen.de/2023/03/19/15-4-2023-demo-in-lingen/
After the rally in front of the fuel element factory, the demonstration goes to the nuclear power plant - where we want to celebrate the last day of the RWE monster together.
Two more pieces of information about Lingen and Gronau:
1. The Russian nuclear carrier Mikhail Dudin has been waiting in front of the port of Rotterdam since yesterday afternoon - this indicates a new uranium transport Russia-Lingen and/or in the other direction - possibly tomorrow morning. An onward journey to Dunkerque is not excluded. Framatome is totally dependent on Russia.
2. And on Good Friday, April 7th, there is another Easter march in Gronau - the start is at 13 p.m. at the train station, followed by a foot demonstration to the uranium enrichment plant. Rally there and then take the shuttle back to the train station - against uranium enrichment, the supply of high-risk nuclear power plants worldwide and nuclear armament!
Call and all information:
And one last, but very important point: the softening of the climate protection goals through the traffic light that has now been decided is devastating. The Greens and SPD caved in to the FDP - that's absolutely irresponsible. Lützerath, LNG, extended service life, no speed limit, now even new autobahns - none of this has anything to do with climate protection. The future is being gambled away here - that's extremely bitter!
That's why on April 15th we will explicitly take to the streets for effective climate protection - we only have one planet!
Nuclear-free climate greetings
Sofa (immediate phase-out of nuclear power) Münster, action alliance Münsterland against nuclear plants
www.sofa-ms.de, www.urantransport.de
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Russia | News agency | PutIn criticism
"It is our duty": Russian news agency openly criticizes Putin's decree
The Russian state news agency Ria Novosti has now published a critical report on the Ukraine war. Putin should not keep his word.
Moscow/Frankfurt – Extensive research into possible mistakes made by the state is a matter of course in Germany, but by no means in Russia. According to Reporters Without Borders, the country ranks 150th out of 180 in terms of freedom of the press and freedom of expression. In particular, criticism related to the Ukraine conflict is severely punished - as shown by the case of a single father who has to go to a prison camp because of his daughter's drawing critical of the war.
It is all the more remarkable that the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti - which emerged from the former Soviet information office - has now published critical research. The report deals with the lack of state compensation for wounded Russian soldiers on ...
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Terra X | forest fuel wood | Romania
The wood lie: How primeval forests end up in the oven
The insatiable demand for wood, biopellets and agricultural raw materials is destroying the last natural forests on earth. The solutions are within reach.
If wood products are "sustainable," why do we continue to cut down what little biodiverse virgin forest we have left to make them? One reason: Our demand is blind - we currently have no way of knowing where our wood actually comes from.
That means you can get rich stealing wood from protected areas and selling it as pellets to unsuspecting consumers. Our research has shown that under the current conditions, buying wood is likely to fund corruption, crime and environmental degradation, even in the heart of Europe...
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Food | Greenhouse gas emissions
From the field to the bin
Too much food ends up in the trash instead of on the table: This is not only a problem from an ethical point of view, but also for the climate. How that could be changed
Containers or "dumpster diving", i.e. garbage diving - that's what it's called when discarded food is taken from supermarket garbage containers. This is forbidden in Germany. In 2019, two students were warned for "collectively committed theft".
A study published in the journal Nature Food shows how serious the problem of food waste is not only from an ethical point of view, but also for the climate. According to this, half of the global greenhouse gas emissions from food production are due to waste and losses alone, a total of 9,3 billion tons of CO₂ equivalents. That's roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of the US and European Union combined...
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Climate catastrophe | Domino Effect
Crisis, catastrophe, collapse - hope?
"Now don't let the collapsologists drive you crazy, the end of the world won't come any time soon," said a friend who recently wrote a lengthy article about the precarious situation in the Amazon. When I told him about the book "How Everything Can Fall Together," he was obviously worried that I might overreact and start hoarding vast amounts of tin cans or becoming politically resigned.
When reading the book, which was published in France in 2015 and has now been translated by Lou Marin (1), it quickly becomes clear that the two authors Pablo Servigne and Rahaël Stevens are not spreading irreversible pessimism, but are concerned with a realistic assessment of the situation in order to act with foresight can. Rather, they collate the knowledge of possible collapses based on sound evidence...
| Current news+ | Background knowledge |
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Current news+
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United States | Massacre | Dehumanization
Wars and School Massacres: The Cancer of Dehumanization
Next school bloodbath in the US. At the same time, nuclear weapons will be delivered to Belarus and uranium ammunition to Ukraine. From wars abroad to massacres at home, dehumanization makes so many hideous things possible!
"Chief Drake said it was too early to speak about a possible motive for the shooting, but he confirmed the attack was targeted. Authorities are reviewing papers and have been in contact with the gunman's father . . . ."
Yes, they will find out.
The latest mass shooting: Six dead, including three nine-year-old children, at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. The alleged gunman, 28 years old - a former Covenant School student - burst into the school on March 27 carrying (bless America) two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun. He/She, apparently transgender, was eventually shot dead by the police.
We come to more news ...
I'm sorry, what? Let's stick with this madness for a moment, okay? This is not a reality TV show. And the "motive" of the murderess? Shouldn't that matter? Will close analysis enable authorities to stop the next similarly motivated human before they open fire?
I am deeply afraid that it is not even about that. Mass murder is just part of the great American shrug. We're a unique nation, the greatest democracy and the greatest hope in the world, and the bloody murders... well, nobody's perfect. And finally, it's not guns that kill people, it's people - especially when they're mentally ill - that kill people.
But in the face of this latest horror — according to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 130 mass shootings (defined as at least four people killed or injured) in the United States so far this year — all I can do is expand the outrage.
We should take it beyond Covenant School, beyond Nashville, beyond offensive weapons and beyond politics.
In the US social structure, in the global social structure, there is an ingrained connection to Hell. Gun control, no matter how sensible, will not overcome it. Mass murder springs from an unexamined, untreated dark spot in the collective human consciousness. It can be summed up in one word: dehumanization.
This is not simply the psychological weakness of a loner: the denial of full or any humanity - any spiritual value - to others who are made a target. It is a phenomenon embedded in the social norm. we have enemies We need them. we kill them
We're going to war!
The attacker wore camouflage pants, a black vest and a red baseball cap on her back, and walked through rooms and hallways with her gun drawn.
Liquidate the enemy in your own country
The killer, whatever her specific "motive", was playing war. She had dehumanized the residents of Covenant School in her mind and heart. It's the game that the nations of the world - particularly the "USA! USA!" - compete against each other on a regular basis.
mass shootings? There are everywhere. If we (the good guys, with guns) are at war, then we have no choice. When non-combatants - let's say a bunch of nine-year-old kids - die, they magically become collateral damage.
The phenomenon of war is glorified collectively. Its horrifying consequences are either justified or ignored unless the enemy is to blame...
| Current news+ | Background knowledge |
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Background knowledge
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The map of the nuclear world
Killing people when there is war is welcome and desirable...
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The internal search for
brought the following results, among others:
February 3, 2023 - War is Peace, Peace is War
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October 22, 2022 - Chomsky on Iraq War: Why the US is getting away with violating international law
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June 3, 2022 - It is better to accept massacres than to protect people
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YouTube
Keyword search: school massacre
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Schulmassaker
Videos:
WDR current - 2:48
After the killing spree: are there now stricter gun laws?
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ZDFheute News - 5:31
Texas School Massacre: Will the US Change Its Gun Laws Now?
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ZDF logo! - 7:34
Why the US won't change its gun laws
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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: school massacre
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Schulmassaker
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Wikipedia
School shooting
A rampage at a school (also school shooting or colloquially school massacre) is an armed attack with the intent to kill people related to a school or other educational institution. The exact definition of the phenomenon is controversial in social science and criminological research...
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Massacre
A massacre (from French massacre; derived from Old French maçacre, butchery, slaughterhouse ') is a mass murder under particularly cruel circumstances, a slaughter or bloodbath, often in connection with motives such as hatred or revenge. In sociology, this is understood to mean "mostly collective action aimed at the annihilation of non-combatants" (civilians or disarmed soldiers) ...
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Mass murder
In criminal science, mass murder refers to the murder of a large number of people in a short period of time in one or a few connected places...
Use outside of criminology
Outside of criminology, politically motivated mass killings were regularly referred to as mass murder, such as the Great Terror under Stalin, or the massacre of around half a million communists in Indonesia in 1965-1966.
Individual acts of murder during a genocide were also often referred to as mass murder. With regard to the Holocaust and Porajmos in its entirety and dimensions, the term mass extermination was coined,[7] by analogy historians later named the industrialized Nazi killing sites extermination camps.
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AtomkraftwerkePlag
Uranium ammunition
Depleted uranium weapons
Uranium ammunition (also called uranium weapons or uranium projectiles) are weapons that contain depleted uranium (DU). Due to the high density of uranium, such weapons have a high penetration power and are therefore used against tanks, for example. In addition, when the target hits the target, intense heat is generated, which can set fuel and ammunition from tanks on fire.
Depleted uranium is a waste product from the production of fuel for nuclear power plants. It is composed of 99,8% uranium-238 and 0,2% uranium-235 and may also contain traces of plutonium-239. Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4,468 billion years...
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Newsletter XIII 2023 - March 26th to April 1st
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