Newsletter XVIII 2023

April 23-29

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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

29. April

climate debate | FDP | CDU

Igniting and doubting climate protection: Union and FDP pour oil on the fire

The Union and FDP are fueling the already heated climate debate - with proposals that are out of the question for climate protection or come too late. A column by Rainer Grießhammer.

The climate continues to heat up. If you follow the gloomy forecasts of the IPCC, a world conflagration is imminent. Everyone knows that. The citizens, the politicians, the companies, the Federal Constitutional Court. For a few months, however, a rift has been going through society. The traffic light is dark red and light green at the same time, openly breaking the climate protection law. Society stands between desperate glues and doubters clinging to the fossil past...

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Climate protection | Heating | Climate targets

Not in my boiler room

(Almost) everyone is in favor of climate protection. For the ban of old types of heating only a few. Our columnist thinks that even such unpopular measures make sense.

Due to the occasion, here is a list of a few bans, some of which have been enforced by politicians in Germany after heated discussions: Since 1957, it has not been possible to drive faster than 50 km/h in built-up areas. In 1972, a speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour was introduced on country roads. Previously, anyone could drive as fast as the car and driving skills allowed. The speed limit was also decreed because the citizens were regularly wrong in their self-assessment and wrapped their cars around trees: In 1970, the number of road deaths in the Federal Republic was more than 21, around seven times as high as today and that for a quarter registered cars. At that time there was still no public outcry against the speed limit on country roads. This did not follow until 000, when the government under Chancellor Willy Brandt tried to introduce a 1973 km/h speed limit on motorways in view of the oil crisis and the many fatalities. The ADAC, on the other hand, mobilized with the slogan »Free travel for free citizens«. The saying has aged rather poorly, but can still be found in the party program of the AFD. Nothing has come of the speeding ban for Autobahns. To this day, no government has dared to do it again...

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China | Renewables | Gobi Desert | Tengger Desert Solar Park

China puts huge wind and solar power plant into operation

China aims to become carbon neutral by 2060. A new wind and solar power plant in the Gobi desert should contribute to this.

Clean electricity for China: A combined solar and wind power plant in the Gobi desert has gone online. It is the first in a series of solar and wind power projects in China.

The facility is located in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, in the Tengger Desert on the southern edge of the Gobi. The installed capacity is 1 gigawatt, reports the English-language daily China Daily citing the operator, the energy company China Energy Investment (China Energy). It should deliver 1.800 gigawatt hours of electrical energy per year, which should be enough to supply 1,5 million households.

The power plant is to supply electricity to the central Chinese province of Hunan. An ultra-high-voltage line was built especially for this purpose. It is the first of its kind, writes China Daily. More are to follow to transport cleanly generated electricity from the Gobi desert and other dry regions to the densely populated provinces in the east ...

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Climate Crisis | 1,5 degree | Coal exit

Lignite phase-out in the east districts

The 1,5 degree target calls for the exit from coal before 2030

A new mark on the coal exit is setting a new study by the Fossil Exit Research Group. According to this, lignite mining and power generation in the Lausitz mining area must be severely curtailed before 2030 if Germany wants to meet its emissions budget for the 1,5-degree limit.

How is the coal phase-out going? The question becomes more intriguing with each passing day.

[...]

In 2022, around 49 million tons of lignite were already being mined in Lusatia - if this continued, the 1,5-degree-compatible budget would have been used up in four years. At the end of 2026, there would be a mathematical end to coal.

[...]

Neubauer also criticized the notoriously pro-coal policies of the state governments of Brandenburg and Saxony. "If you make people more afraid of wind turbines than of the climate crisis for years and decades, it shouldn't come as a surprise that people are not enthusiastic about climate protection," she said.

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Climate change | Nature Conservation | Species extinction

"Tackling climate change and species extinction at the same time"

Biodiversity loss and climate change are two current crises - and they are often viewed separately by science and society. They condition and reinforce each other. Researchers call for a rethink.

Humans have modified around 75 percent of the land surface and 66 percent of the ocean areas of the earth over the course of history. Among other things, this has led to the fact that 80 percent of naturally occurring mammals and 50 percent of plants are now lost and more species are threatened with extinction than at any time in human history.

In addition to the intensive use and destruction of natural ecosystems by agriculture, fisheries and industry, man-made climate change is increasingly triggering the loss of biodiversity.

[...]

Protected areas should not be understood as isolated life rafts for biodiversity. Rather, they would need to be part of a global network of land and sea that connects areas of semi-natural wilderness for the species to move from one to the other.

[...]

Indigenous societies should also be included in global protection management. Pörtner considers this to be extremely important. "Indigenous groups must be granted their traditional rights of sustainable use. They are much more adept at this than our Western civilizations. You can learn from them." ...

28. April

highway expansion | Wissing | Krisher

Dispute over highway expansion: no agreement in sight

The FDP and the Greens continue to argue about whether motorways should be expanded at an accelerated rate. A deadline from Federal Transport Minister Wissing will probably pass on Friday in NRW.

To build or not to build - this question has been asked for months when it comes to motorways. Are additional routes to be built and existing motorways to be expanded? Or should the focus rather be on renovating dilapidated bridges and ensuring their preservation? Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing and his FDP want the first, the Greens and NRW Transport Minister Oliver Krischer the second.

[...]

Krischer renewed this attitude on Friday in an interview with WDR. In NRW there is a "huge problem with the motorway bridges", which is why the renovation has "absolute priority". "What use is a freeway expansion that I will have in a few years if a ten or eight-lane freeway then ends in front of a broken bridge?"...

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research reactor | Garching | highly enriched

Research reactor near Garching is converted

The neutron source is scheduled to be operational again with low-enriched uranium by 2024.

The Munich research reactor (FRM II) near Garching can be converted and operated with low-enriched uranium in the future. The decision announced on Friday afternoon by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs was preceded by research by the Technical University (TU) Munich, according to which the neutron source can be operated with a fuel with an enrichment of less than 20 percent of fissile uranium 235, according to a press release from the ministry. In a next step, the approval process for the new fuel will be initiated ...

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Chemical industry | Glyphosate

Farewell at Bayer Annual General Meeting

The maker of the Monsanto deal is leaving

After seven years as CEO and 35 years at Bayer, Werner Baumann is stepping down in a month. His successor Bill Anderson introduced himself to the shareholders at the virtual general meeting. It started with criticism.

[...]

Almost everyone has reasons to be disappointed. Longtime shareholders have lost a lot of money. In the meantime, the share price had almost halved after Baumann had pushed through the takeover of the controversial US agricultural chemicals group Monsanto. At the last Annual General Meeting in 2019, the shareholders therefore refused to discharge him: a process that is unique in German economic history.

The outgoing CEO still can't see a flaw in the Monsanto purchase. "Unfortunately, product liability cases are part of everyday economic life in the USA," he admitted in his speech. He doesn't say why he didn't recognize the risks of the wave of glyphosate lawsuits, which cost Bayer, as Monsanto's legal successor, a double-digit billion sum. On the contrary - even when asked, he remains almost defiant: From a strategic point of view, the Monsanto acquisition was the right step, the risks were carefully examined at the time, and that the controversial weed killer is harmless and not carcinogenic, Baumann sees confirmed in numerous studies. .

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Korea | Nuclear weapons

In the conflict with North Korea, Seoul also wants its own nuclear weapons

In the face of threats from North Korea, Seoul is considering its own nuclear weapons. During his US visit, President Yoon was slowed down by Joe Biden. But the discussion is not over yet.

[...]

But one taboo remains: the United States does not want to station nuclear weapons in South Korea or deliver them to the country. Yoon also promised in Washington that his country would no longer strive to build its own bomb.

It was Yoon himself who recently brought up nuclear armaments in his country. The former Attorney General, who took office less than a year ago, spoke out in favor of the nuclear option for the first time in January. Should the threat from the north continue to increase, either the US would have to station nuclear weapons in South Korea – or the country would have to build them itself. "Given our scientific and technological capabilities," Yoon said, South Korea could produce its own nuclear weapons "quite quickly"...

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Gas imports | heating costs | Heat pump fact sheet (pdf)

Heat pump soon cheaper than gas heating? – Association: This would reduce heating costs

Many shy away from the heat pump, but it can also save the German economy, claims the European Heat Pump Association. Here are his arguments.

The heat pumps: For some, they have become a nightmare because the amendment to the existing building energy law would mean high investment costs for the owner when replacing the heating system.

But it depends on the perspective, says the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) and claims that the device could even save Europe. Combating energy poverty, reducing gas imports and bills, promoting jobs, health and gross domestic product (GDP): According to the association and the European Climate Foundation (ECF), all of this is possible with a rapid introduction of heat pumps in Europe. They refer to the study by the economic consulting firm Cambridge Econometrics ...

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Storage | offshore | marine batteries

Start-up Ocean Grazer: Energy storage on the seabed

The start-up Ocean Grazer wants to sink energy storage devices into the seabed for offshore wind farms. The energy is to be made available by hydropower.

The Dutch start-up "Ocean Grazer" wants to bring environmentally friendly energy storage to the market that can be installed directly in the vicinity of offshore wind farms. The storage tanks are to be placed on the seabed and work with dam technology. The company presented its work in the start-up section of the Hannover Messe 2023.

Energy storage at the power generators

According to Ocean Grazer, the so-called self-developed sea batteries (more precisely ocean batteries; "Ocean Battery") could both ensure better regulation at peak loads on site and feed in electricity in times of low wind. They are to be integrated into existing or yet to be built offshore wind farms ...

27. April

Groundwater | Drought despite the rain | Water scarcity

"It should rain for a year"

In March it rained more than it had in years - why is there still a threat of drought?

2022 was very sunny, hot and dry: it rained a lot in March and April. Is the groundwater level rising again? Hydrologist Fred Hattermann sees little reason for optimism.

Potsdam. According to calculations by the German Weather Service (DWD), March 2023 was the wettest March since 2001. With more than 90 liters of precipitation per square meter, there was almost 60 percent more precipitation than the average for the reference period 1961 to 1990. According to this, the average rainfall target in March is 56,5 .XNUMX liters per square meter. From a statistical point of view, meteorologists are already posting April as having a lot of precipitation.

Does this mean that the issue of water shortages, which many regions in Germany suffered from in recent summers, is no longer an issue? "You shouldn't let the current rainfall fool you," says Fred Hattermann, head of research on hydroclimatic risks at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). "Unfortunately, the all-clear can't be given for a long time."

Only upper soil layers moist

The hydrologist explains that it is too short-sighted to draw conclusions about the groundwater level from large amounts of precipitation. “The soil is well moistened in the upper layers. But the groundwater level, which is many meters below the surface of the earth, is not even at the level of last year in many regions.” East Germany is particularly affected, but also regions in southern and western Germany. “We have a rainfall deficit of one year. So it would have to rain for a year." ...

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Climate policy | Minister of transport | Temperature rise

Analysis of transport climate policy

Minister of Transport is heading for a three-degree world

If all other sectors and all countries followed the climate policy of Transport Minister Wissing as an example, the earth would warm up by 3,1 degrees by the end of the century. That shows a new study by the New Climate Institute. A three degree warmer world means a six degree warmer Germany.

A 3,1 degree warmer world. The climate policy of the German Ministry of Transport is heading towards this. This is the result of a short study commissioned by the German Environmental Aid (DUH) and commissioned by the New Climate Institute.

But what does that mean? The German Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) can hardly be held solely responsible for the global climate course.

The study states: "If all sectors and countries were to delay their emission reductions like the German transport sector, a global temperature increase of three degrees Celsius would be expected."

This may seem a bit constructed at first glance, but it makes perfect sense. The scientific foundation of the study is the CO2 budget, i.e. the amount of CO2 emissions that the world can still afford in order not to exceed a certain temperature level ...

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Shell | oil production | renovation

Nigeria: Shell goes, oil spill stays

After 60 years of oil production, Shell leaves Nigeria with great environmental damage and thousands of open environmental lawsuits.

Two years ago, Shell announced that it would end onshore oil production in Nigeria after more than 60 years. The oil multinational has been drilling for oil at the mouth of the Niger since 1958. The Anglo-Dutch company leaves one of the most polluted areas in the world in the Niger Delta and thousands of open environmental lawsuits.

The Niger Delta is about the size of Switzerland and consists largely of water veins, islands and mangrove forest. What could be one of the largest ecological niches in the world has become an environmental disaster due to oil production. Corruption, theft, sabotage and outdated facilities cause oil pipelines to leak constantly, with crude oil leaking into the water.

[...]

Shell could certainly afford to clean up the damage in the Niger Delta. In 2022, the Nigerian oil fields brought the company $30 billion in profit. In 2017, UNEP estimated the cost of remediation at $XNUMX billion in the first five years...

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climate change | Worldview | Heat pump fact sheet (pdf)

The heat pump as a worldview

Bourgeois, liberal and right-wing populist parties are putting the brakes on climate change. And make the citizens afraid of new things and false promises.

[...]

Heat pumps can now change people's political preferences. Because since the green-led Federal Ministry of Economics has been trying to really implement the energy transition, with mistakes and stumbling blocks, but still, technological change is increasingly becoming fodder for identity-political debates.

Wind turbine, solar panel, green hydrogen, gray hydrogen, gas heating, combustion engine, e-fuels, nuclear fusion: the more the spontaneous aversion to this sequence of terms increases, the more likely it is that the Greens will vote. Instead, the more enthusiasm grows, the more likely it is that you will lean towards the CDU, CSU, FDP and also the AfD.

[...]

But there is an even more perfidious way of pursuing anti-climate policy: by making slowing things down in government your own program. The FDP is practicing this to perfection and is also supported by the Bild newspaper. No sooner had the Liberals approved the end of the gas heating system after much back and forth in the last coalition committee than they backed down again and demanded improvements and longer transition periods. So the liberals are delaying change. However, in order not to appear too openly like destructors, they hide behind supposed "technology openness". This word once stood for modernity and openness. With the active help of the FDP, however, it is now signaling that you don't need to change anything in your boiler room or under the hood anytime soon, because at some point new solutions will come up that will allow you to continue as you are. Combustion engines could continue to be driven with e-fuels. And then the hydrogen heaters heated up in the basement. But the truth is that these technologies are either far too late or just plain surreal...

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CO2 emissions | Fossil fuels | Ammonia

Green steel also works with ammonia

Ammonia enables direct reduction of iron ore without a detour via hydrogen

Ammonia instead of hydrogen: Ammonia could also be used in the future to make steel production more climate-friendly. This gas reduces iron ore to iron just as efficiently and quickly as hydrogen – without first having to split it, as experiments in the test facilities have now shown. The advantage: Ammonia can also be produced using renewable energies and does not release any CO2. However, it is easier and more energy-efficient to transport than hydrogen.

The steel industry is one of the largest CO2 emitters worldwide - it is responsible for around seven percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The main reason for this, in addition to the high energy consumption, is the reducing agent used in the blast furnace: Fossil fuels such as coke, coal or methane are required to reduce the oxidized iron ore to metallic iron - and enormous amounts of CO2 are released in the process.

[...]

Testing direct reduction with ammonia

But there is an alternative: ammonia (NH3). This gas is not only an important chemical raw material and intermediate carrier for hydrogen transport - it can also be used for the direct reduction of iron ore, as Yan Ma from the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research in Düsseldorf and his colleagues have found. "We asked ourselves whether it would be possible to use ammonia for direct reduction without first splitting the ammonia back into hydrogen and nitrogen," explains Ma. "Avoiding this split would reduce costs by around 18 percent." ...

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Resistance | Last Generation | civil disobedience

Civil obedience, not disobedience, is our problem

The "last generation" is in the pillory, wrongly so. Rule-breaking and resistance are the flywheel of historical progress. Why media and politics only celebrate disobedience in the past tense.

The peaceful sit-ins by the climate protest group "Last Generation" have repeatedly been criticized in the media, some of them heavily. They are accused of terrorizing society, acting illegally, arbitrarily disrupting car traffic and hitting the wrong people, obstructing rescue workers, dividing the population, while the actions have no effect on politics but alienate citizens from climate protection would.

[...]

Modern history simply cannot be understood without breaking the law and resistance. From the peasant uprisings at the end of the Middle Ages to the recalcitrant workers' movements, especially in the 19th century, which resisted with illegal strikes, company occupations and acts of sabotage, to Mahatma Gandhi's and Martin Luther King's marches, in which instructions were disregarded, rules broken and laws violated was violated, the wide and often bloody bow is enough.

Most rule-breaking provoked brutal counter-reactions that aggravated the situation and spread hopelessness. But that never lasted...

26. April

Climate protection | Merzthutjanix | Back to the Future

"The world will not end tomorrow": Merz finds climate protection overrated in politics

Politicians take climate protection too seriously, according to CDU leader Friedrich Merz. It's not like "the world will end tomorrow," said the 67-year-old in an interview with the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit". He expressed harsh criticism of the FPD, the SPD and the Greens.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz sees an overestimation of climate protection in the political debate. "For a long time now, the topic of climate protection has not been ranked in the eyes of the population where it is seen in politics," Merz told the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit". He expressly does not share the argument that the time is running out in which measures could still have the necessary success. "It's not like the world is going to end tomorrow. If we set the right course over the next ten years, we'll be on the right track," he added.

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France | Framatome | Rosatom

Russian uranium debate

"France indirectly promotes Russia's strategy"

Uranium from Russia is not yet part of the EU sanctions packages. Germany would like to change that, France is slowing down. Because such trade restrictions would hit an entire branch of industry badly.

[...]

Yves Marignac is an expert on nuclear energy at the think tank négaWatt, which is critical of nuclear power. He explains this information gap to ARD by saying that the nuclear industry refuses to release figures:

There is a law of silence on the part of the government and the nuclear industry. France is always claimed not to be dependent on Russia, but asking for numbers doesn't give us the information we need to gauge the extent of the dependency.

[...]

The EDF power plant division Framatome has established a joint venture with Rosatom, with a 25 percent Russian stake. In Germany, in Lingen, Lower Saxony, of all places, the two companies want to produce fuel rods for Russian-type reactors - if the federal government should give the go-ahead after all.

The publisher of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, Mycle Schneider, points out that there are 19 Russian-design reactors in the European Union that are operated with such fuel elements. In addition, there would theoretically be 15 reactors in the Ukraine that are operated with such fuel elements. This is the result of a market analysis...

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Fake News | allegations | Heat pump

Wrong premise

Heat pumps also work without underfloor heating

Oil and gas heaters offer well-known technology. Heat pumps, on the other hand, are new territory for many house and apartment owners. False claims fuel their suspicion about new heating technologies.

The federal government relies on new technologies such as the heat pump for heating. This is intended to protect the climate and reduce dependence on energy imports. Critics now counter the plans of Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) on Twitter and Facebook, saying that most old buildings would first have to have underfloor heating in order to operate the heat pumps. Is it true that heat pumps do not harmonize with radiators?

evaluation

Heat pumps heat houses or apartments even without special heating coils in the floor, as experts unanimously assure. Old buildings do not necessarily have to be extensively converted if they are to be fitted with modern heating ...

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Greenhouse gas | global warming | sea ​​temperature

The oceans are warming up faster and faster

Energy and climate – compact: The global warming is uneven, as a new study shows. A large proportion of the sun's energy is absorbed by the oceans. Why is this becoming a problem?

Greenhouse gases such as water vapour, carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane ensure that the thermal energy that the sun rains down on the earth day after day, hour after hour, is then converted into kinetic energy and evaporation and then radiated again, does not return unhindered to space can disappear.

[...]

After all, warmer water also means that less CO2 is absorbed from the air. So far, the oceans absorb around a quarter of the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities. But with increasing warming, this will decrease, so that more CO2 will remain in the atmosphere permanently, i.e. for several millennia.

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Climate neutral | fossil heating | Efficiency | Heat pump

No more oil and gas heating: three points you should know about the EU heating directives

The federal government wants to switch gently to heating with renewable energies. The EU prefers a radical ban. The new directive could render the German law irrelevant.

Frankfurt – Climate-neutral heating has long been a much-debated topic. The German federal government recently passed a law that from 2024 should increasingly use renewable energies for heating. A new EU directive is now intended to make this law void and at the same time mean the long-term end of oil and gas heating systems. The Europe-wide regulation would mean a significantly faster and more radical change of heating system for consumers.

[...]

After the end of fossil fuels, consumers are left with alternatives such as heat pumps, which can achieve an efficiency of up to 500 percent.

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Chernobyl anniversary | military use | uranium factories

Demand for the Chernobyl anniversary: ​​After the nuclear power stations, stop the uranium factories now!

On the occasion of the 37th anniversary of the nuclear catastrophe in Chernobyl (Ukraine, April 26.4.1986, 2023/XNUMX), the German Federal Association of Citizens' Initiatives for Environmental Protection (Bbu) called for a comprehensive phasing out of any use of nuclear energy. In addition, the German federal government should emphatically advocate the decommissioning of nuclear power plants in other countries and against plans to build new nuclear power plants, for example in the Netherlands.

“The decommissioning of the last three nuclear power plants, Lingen 2, Neckarwestheim 2 and Isar 2, was long overdue. But as long as For example, in Gronau and Lingen uranium is being prepared for international nuclear power plants, the phase-out of nuclear power is not yet complete,” criticizes Bbu board member Udo Buchholz.

Civil and military uses of nuclear energy are closely related

The Bbu emphasizes that the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl and its lasting consequences must not be forgotten. “The Chernobyl nuclear power plant in particular drastically illustrated that nuclear power plants are ultimately unmanageable and that, in times of war, they can be destroyed in an unforeseen and unpredictable manner. In addition, the so-called civilian use of nuclear energy is actually closely related to the military use of nuclear energy," emphasizes Buchholz ...

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Japan | Armament | North Korea

Fear of North Korea: Japan reaches for the atomic bomb

A turning point in the Pacific: the Ukraine war and the North Korean missile tests allow Japan to arm itself. The nuclear taboo is slowly falling.

When Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida presented the country's new security strategy at the end of last year, he cautiously spoke of a "turning point". In many places, however, Japan's upcoming massive armament was commented on as a "pacific turning point". Confronted by China and North Korea, Japan sees itself forced to drastically change its armaments and defense policy. Japan doubles the defense budget, stocks up ammunition and buys offensive weapons for the first time. For example, the Type 12 anti-ship missiles developed in-house are to be further developed in such a way that they can hit targets at a distance of 200 m instead of 1500 m – not only at sea but also on land.

In addition, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced at the end of February that his country had ordered 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States. Their range is more than 1700 km. With these ranges, both weapon systems could reach any target in North Korea...

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26 April 1986 (INES 7 | NAMS 8) NPP Chernobyl, USSR

There were about 5,2 million TBq released by radioactive radiation.

Nuclear Power Accidents.pdf

Wikipedia

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

A super meltdown (INES level 7) in block 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Ukraine resulted in a core meltdown and subsequent explosions. Large amounts of radioactivity were released when the reactor core was exposed and burned, and the immediate surroundings were heavily contaminated; in addition, there were numerous direct radiation victims among the auxiliary workers. The super meltdown was verified by radioactivity measurements and fallout in Sweden and other European countries. A large-scale restricted area was set up and the area evacuated...

AtomkraftwerkePlag

https://atomkraftwerkeplag.fandom.com/de/wiki/Tschernobyl_(Ukraine)

On April 26, 1986, the INES level 4 catastrophic accident occurred in Chernobyl reactor 7, during which, after a core meltdown and hydrogen explosions, large amounts of radioactive substances leaked into the environment and the atmosphere ...

25. April

Climate protection | breaking laws | Glueing Activists

It's getting hotter

New heat and drought records in Europe, economic losses are threatening - and in Germany the government is arguing about climate protection as if it were all still a long way off. Some are wondering: is it really the "climate stickers" that are breaking the law?

Global glaciers are melting three times faster than climate researchers predicted 20 years ago. Temperatures have also reached new highs in Europe.

The summer of 2022 was the hottest since weather records began in 1870. This was reported a few days ago by the EU's Copernicus climate monitoring service.

[...]

What do I care about yesterday's law?

And in Germany? The traffic light is arguing, the young activists are stuck, the citizens are despairing of the heat transition miscommunicated by Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Habeck.

The Federal Government's expert council reprimands the government for doing too little to protect the climate. The FDP Transport Minister is torpedoing the turnaround in transport and the Federal Chancellor is anything but the climate chancellor announced during the election campaign...

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Solar power plant | Deutsche Bahn

DB feeds solar power directly into the traction power grid

For the first time, a solar power plant was built that feeds the sun's energy directly into the railway network without any detours. It is another step for Deutsche Bahn to want to run entirely on green electricity by 2038.

Enerparc has built a 40 hectare solar park for Deutsche Bahn (DB) in Wasbek in Schleswig-Holstein. According to the planners' forecasts, the system with its 41 megawatts of power will supply around 38 gigawatts of clean solar power every year. But instead of feeding it into the normal power grid, the direct current from the solar park is converted into alternating current at 16,7 Hertz in the substation in nearby Neumünster.

Solar energy in the traction power grid is increasing

There is a very special reason for this. Because that is the alternating current frequency in the traction current network. The new ground-mounted system in Wasbeck can feed solar energy directly into DB's traction current network via this substation...

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France | cooling water | Drinking water

Drought: Big problems for nuclear power plants

France: Even in spring, the drinking water supply is no longer guaranteed everywhere in the country. This poses particular difficulties for the nuclear park.

The winter drought in France is about to escalate into a spring drought, particularly in the south. In what was actually a rainy winter, it hadn't rained anywhere in the country for 32 days.

In the department of Pyrénées-Orientales, an old tradition has therefore been unearthed again after 150 years: farmers in the south-east of the country, in Perpignan, prayed again that it would finally rain properly. The situation there is particularly dramatic, as shown by new forest fires that raged in April due to a "historic" drought.

Even in the spring, many communities lack drinking water. Ten days ago, for example, residents of Bouleternère, one of the emblematic villages of the Têt Valley, and three neighboring villages were warned not to drink the water that still flows from the taps.

[...] Last spring, a nuclear power plant had to be shut down for the first time in May in order to prevent the Gironde in the southwest of the country on the Atlantic from heating up even more. In addition to the massive corrosion in the crack reactors, which is causing the shutdown of many nuclear reactors, the lack of cooling water for the nuclear power plants is now becoming more and more of a problem...

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Energy transition | Renewables | warmth

Wind and solar power becomes heat

Municipalities are increasingly asking themselves how they can make their citizens independent of fossil energy imports as quickly as possible. With power-to-heat, power generation can be linked to on-site heat consumption.

In recent years, power generation has become increasingly regional and greener, but the heating and cooling sector still has to wake up from its fossil slumber. Today, this accounts for around 50 percent of final energy consumption in Germany, the share of renewable energy sources was only 2021 percent in 16,2.

[...]

The combination of power-to-heat and local heating networks is also the solution to another problem. The electricity sector has been showing an increasing share of renewable energies for years. In the German electricity mix, it was 2022 percent in 50,5 and is to be massively expanded in the coming years. However, due to the increasing proportion of renewable electricity, wind turbines in particular have to be shut down again and again. The electricity generated can often not be consumed at the same time or transported quickly enough via the grid. In 2020, around six billion kilowatt hours of green electricity were lost in this way - and thus around one percent of the total electricity consumption in Germany. Making this generated energy usable is one of the advantages of power-to-heat systems...

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Nuclear phase-out | Electricity price | Import export electricity | fear mongers

AfD, CDU and FDP continue to fight for nuclear power plants

Is Germany a wrong-way driver in terms of energy policy or particularly climate-friendly? After the end of nuclear power in the country, more energy has to be imported to avoid bottlenecks.

It was week one after the three remaining nuclear power plants were shut down - and the fears previously expressed were confirmed: the share of nuclear power in the German electricity mix fell from five percent to zero percent within a day - and Germany had to use other countries to help the country to keep going.

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“With the shutdown of the modern, safe and clean nuclear power plants, the traffic lights are stepping on the gas pedal even more on their energy policy ghost ride. The fact that we now need more nuclear power from France in addition to more coal-fired power plants shows the whole idiocy of the traffic light botch,” Holm railed. So this week the Union and the FDP could prove how serious they are about their newfound love for nuclear power if the AfD politician poured oil on the federal political fire in the nuclear debate.

24. April

Renewables | Wind energy | Power Supply

Wind energy in the North Sea is said to be booming

Wind energy from the North Sea should make a significant contribution to Europe's power supply in the future. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and representatives of other North Sea countries signed a declaration on Monday in Ostend, Belgium, according to which the expansion of wind farms off the coast is to be promoted and the North Sea is to be made into Europe's green power plant. "With the North Sea, we have the energy powerhouse practically on our doorstep," said Chancellor Scholz - and warned to hurry: "Get to work." The North Sea will soon be an important place for energy production.

In concrete terms, the nine countries - in addition to Germany and Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg and Great Britain - want to build offshore wind turbines with an output of 2030 gigawatts by 120. At least 2050 gigawatts are to be generated in the North Sea by 300. Of this, 300 million households could be supplied with energy, said Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. At the same time, the production of green hydrogen is to be expanded ...

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energy market | Electricity price falls

Energie Steiermark will reduce electricity prices by 20,1 percent from July

This should bring customers up to 600 euros in savings a year, according to the energy supplier, which has been fully owned by the state of Styria since February

Energie Steiermark lowers its electricity prices for more than 330.000 customers by 1 percent as of July 20,1st. The Styrian energy supplier announced this in a broadcast on Monday. The total annual savings for household customers of Energie Steiermark is up to 600 euros per year. The tariffs for farmers and commercial customers will also be reduced. The aim is to "pass on the advantages of a favorable market environment," say board members Christian Purrer and Martin Graf, according to the broadcast. A 34 percent cut in gas prices had already been announced in mid-March...

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Ukraine war | Peace | Proxy war

Close your eyes and come in: Germany at war

The Ukraine war is routinely portrayed as a confrontation between authoritarianism and democracy. Wolfgang Streeck explains what is actually at stake: the reorganization of the global system of states.

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Those able to closely read the public pronouncements of the ruling coalition of the willing can discern traces of behind-the-scenes debates about how best to persuade the better uninitiated to embrace what is upon them could come, not to get in the way.

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However, in order to persuade the simpler little people of Western Europe not to worry too much and stick with the flag, effective "narratives" must be devised to convince them that love of peace is either treason or a mental illness. At the same time, they must learn to believe that, contrary to what the defeatists say to undermine Western morale, nuclear war poses no threat: either the Russian madman won't end up being mad enough to escape from his own madness flinch, or the damage will remain local: towards a country whose population is ready, as its president assures every evening on all channels, not only for their fatherland but also, with von der Leyen, for "the European family". die, which will take them in when the time comes and they are still alive, with all expenses reimbursed.

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PFAS | poison for eternity | Fertility

PFAS: Everlasting chemicals can render women infertile

Women trying to conceive should be wary of PFAS, a study of more than 300 women found.

Infertility affects more people than previously thought, WHO recently found.

According to the WHO, every sixth person of reproductive age is affected. Infertility is defined as a failed attempt by healthy people to conceive a child within one year.

Women trying to conceive should avoid the PFAS class of chemicals, a new study suggests. The "eternal chemicals" can reduce female fertility by up to 40 percent

The fertility of Western people is steadily declining

That environmental chemicals affect fertility is not new. Reproductive medicine specialist Shanna Swan, for example, warns that environmental chemicals can affect the growing child in the womb in such a way that it is later less fertile. She presented her findings two years ago in the book «Count Down».

Swan, who has worked for several sperm banks, particularly laments the steadily declining sperm quality of western men...

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Armaments | Sipri | Military spending

consequence of the Russian war of aggression

Military spending in Europe at its highest since the Cold War

The increase is rapid: Europe's states spent significantly more on weapons in 2022. Experts see a direct consequence of the Russian attack on Ukraine - and deliver a gloomy prognosis.

With its war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia has upset the European order - and triggered a significant increase in spending on arms purchases. In its most recent analysis, the Stockholm peace research institute Sipri also draws historical comparisons. Military spending in Europe was higher last year than it has been since the Cold War.

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According to Sipri, European countries spent 13 percent more on weapons, adjusted for inflation, than in the year before, in the year that Russia began aggressive war against Ukraine. This is the highest increase in 30 years. Compared to 2013, the military expenditures of the European states even increased by 38 percent...

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green power | Heat climate-neutral | photothermia

Produce electricity and heat from solar energy

Two in one: When is a PVT system worthwhile?

Photothermics (PVT) can be used to generate both green electricity and climate-neutral heat. The modules can also be used to operate heat pumps at comparatively low cost. However, the technology is still in its infancy.

What should come from the roof: electricity or hot water? Many builders and owners are faced with this question. The answer is increasingly: both. Many choose to have both photovoltaic and solar thermal systems installed. An alternative are modules that combine both technologies ...

23. April

Japan | Term extension 70 years | tritium water

Japan's nuclear blunder

The government in Tokyo declares nuclear power a state obligation. The problems remain unsolved. After all, the G7 deny this path their blessing, write the political scientist Lila Okamura and her colleague Achim Brunnengräber.

Japan wanted approval from the G7 to dump radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which crashed in 2011, into the sea. At their meeting in mid-April 2023 in Sapporo, Japan, the seven industrialized countries withheld their blessing for this project.

The Japanese government not only wanted to prevent geopolitical tensions, it also wanted – albeit indirectly – recognition on the international stage for the extension of the operating life of the Japanese nuclear power plants (NPP) and the planned new construction projects.

Japan therefore regularly declares that everything is under control in Fukushima Prefecture. This claim is and remains false. The problems that Japan will have to deal with for decades to come are too blatant and obvious...

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France | Resistance | Climate Crisis | Autobahn

Thousands demonstrate against highway construction

Soapbox race against the climate crisis: In southern France, thousands reject the construction project on the A69 between Toulouse and Castres. They call for the "immediate stop" of construction work on the 53-kilometer A69.

Thousands of people protested yesterday in south-west France against the planned construction of a new motorway. According to the organizers, 69 people demonstrated on Saturday on the route of the planned A8200 between Toulouse and Castres. According to the prefecture, there were 4500 participants.

The demonstrators, who reject the construction project in view of the climate crisis, held up banners with inscriptions such as "Less energy, fewer cars, less tar" and were on the road with various self-made soapboxes and other vehicles.

The organizers of the rally in the Tarn department, including Extinction Rebellion and other environmental groups, had previously called for the "immediate stop" of construction work on the 53-kilometer A69 in a press conference. The section is expected to cut the travel time between Toulouse and Castres by 20 minutes. The journey currently takes about an hour...

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Climate change | temperature record | sea ​​level rise

Climate change: Here the flood, there the drought

Study shows sea levels are rising faster and faster. Greenhouse gases are increasing. How drought and floods threaten world food supplies.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) presented a climate balance for 2022 on Friday. The organization, one of the oldest departments of the UN, brings together the national weather services from all over the world.

The WMO notes that the past eight years have been the warmest on record, despite the fact that the tropical Pacific region has experienced La Niña conditions for the past three years, which tend to have a cooling effect have the global mean temperature.

With its warm counterpart, El Niño, on the horizon, 2024 could set new temperature records...

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Current news+

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Climate protection | Climate killer war | Limits of growth

Faulty SPD, self-deception at 1,5 degrees and war as a climate destroyer

Climate protection will only exist if social and ecological goals form a unit from the start, instead of just adding the social aspect as compensation, says Michael Müller, SPD pioneer and member of the editorial board of Klimareporter°. He wonders where the climate movement was at the Easter marches.

Klimareporter°: Mr. Müller, the federal government now has it in black and white with the report of the Climate Expert Council: Your climate policy is inadequate. The demand to make measures that are due, such as replacing the heating system, socially just, is certainly correct - but why is the SPD siding with the FDP and against the Greens?

Michael Müller: What is supposed to be new about the statement by the Council of Experts on Climate Issues that climate protection is inadequate? But where were the ladies and gentlemen of the Council in the past, especially in the 1990s, when there were hopeful approaches that were destroyed by resistance from business associations, especially representatives from the chemical industry?

And where was your voice in the fateful decision to split climate protection between three ministries instead of – which would have been right – to make and strengthen the Ministry of the Environment into the Ministry of Sustainability, with veto rights in the cabinet against climate-damaging bills and laws?

In addition, we need to talk in general and even among climate experts about proposed recommendations, which are often shaped by an eco-neoliberal mindset.

Yes, the SPD often stands in its own way. However, what the Greens represent in terms of individualistic radicalism is unfortunately anything but convincing and identity-forming, especially from a social point of view. What the social and ecological design of the transformation should look like remains insufficient. It is often the perspective of a small clientele, but not of society.

There will only be climate protection if the social and ecological goals are pursued in an integrated manner and form a unit from the start, i.e. the social aspect is not added as a compensatory factor. I have my doubts as to whether, for example, the responsible house management in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection thinks so. Neoliberalism has also left deep scars there.

It is all the more wrong when the SPD allies itself with the FDP on these issues, which primarily adheres to neoliberalism. Rather, it should show independently what a socio-ecological reform strategy should look like that is based on what is necessary and not on party tactics.

After the expert council assessed the German CO2 balance for 2022 so critically, shouldn't we honestly bury the climate target for 2030?

The problem is that we are already at 418 ppm CO2 in the troposphere and it is increasing at 2,2 points per year. It is self-deception when we talk about the 1,5-degree limit, which will in fact already be reached this year with 420 ppm, even if this is only measured later due to the adaptation effect of the climate system.

In short: claims like "we are on the 1,5 degree path" or "climate neutral" are frames that are good for bad advertising, but not for evaluating the major issues facing humanity. Politicians justify themselves with what appears to be only possible, but protecting the climate is about what is necessary.

It is true that Germany alone cannot overcome the climate crisis, but the guiding principle should be that we can and must show in our society how restructuring is possible. And that's overdue.

As of tomorrow, Monday, the "Last Generation" climate group wants to largely blockade the capital. With their biggest actions so far, the pressure on the federal government should be increased. The aim is to convene a social council that will draw up a catalog of measures to end the use of fossil fuels by 2030. Are utopians at work here who are also using the wrong means, or should we all take part in the blockade actions?

Any protest against the inadequate climate policy cannot avoid three statements:

First, climate protection, as it would be necessary, needs broad social support if it is to be implemented in a democracy. Therefore, he must be socially just and "taken along".

Secondly, the forms of action of the "last generation" primarily affect social groups that are socially weaker and often have few individual alternatives.

Thirdly, protest is not yet a conversion concept. The "positive negation", as it was called in the student movement, is missing.

It is good that these actions make it clear that the existence of mankind is at stake today. It is fatal - although probably not intended - that the social consequences of the actions tend to distract from the topic instead of promoting the willingness to come up with a consistent climate protection strategy together.

At its core is adhering to the ecological limits of growth. We have to get away from the high consumption and the demands on nature, but if the climate protests are to have a positive effect, that can only be done together.

The anti-nuclear movement is still needed, says Wolfgang Ehmke, a nuclear opponent from the very beginning. Because the nuclear plants in Gronau and Lingen continue to run despite the nuclear phase-out, and the highly radioactive nuclear waste in the halls at the nuclear power plant sites may have to stay there for 100 years. What do you think the nuclear movement should do?

I don't understand why the closure of Gronau and Lingen isn't in the coalition agreement, mainly because of the possibilities for military abuse, especially in Gronau.

The anti-nuclear movement is still needed, also because demands are being made for the construction of new EPR and SMR reactors, most recently by Markus Söder, the Bavarian Prime Minister.

The EPR reactors are very expensive, as the examples in China, Finland, France and Great Britain show. When I look at the European construction measures, they are at least 3,5 to eight times more expensive than planned. And they have a construction period of at least ten years.

That is why such a nonsensical new building does not help with climate protection. The next 20 years are the key years for the reduction of greenhouse gases, in which they could not be available at all. The assertion that nuclear power is "climate neutral" is also false, because only operation in the narrower sense is evaluated.

In addition, the EPR in China also revealed serious technical problems, which then led to a delay in the construction work in France. At the same time, it is claimed that renewables are not stable enough, for example during dark doldrums.

In order to meet the growing demand for climate-friendly electricity for mobility, the supporters believe that new nuclear power plants are necessary - which other countries have already stated as a goal. In fact, however, it is often military goals that are being pursued.

Because of the new SMR reactors, which - like nuclear energy in general - are being promoted primarily for military reasons, we also need an anti-nuclear movement. With digitalization, new nuclear military concepts in small formats are possible, in which, for example, drones can direct mini-nukes to targets.

This is less about civil use, which is being worked on at Terrapower, for example. A perverse development.

And what was your surprise of the week?

That the environmental movement, Fridays for Future or the last generation were hardly present at the Easter marches of the peace movement, actually not at all. To paraphrase Willy Brandt, everything is nothing without peace.

In view of the Ukraine war, this is truer than ever. War is one of the biggest destroyers of the climate, it wastes resources and prevents what is necessary from being done.

There should have been a massive participation in the peace demonstrations, especially young people, because war destroys their future above all. Climate and war threaten to become one of the greatest dangers in the future.

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Current news+	Background knowledge

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Background knowledge

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The map of the nuclear world

How much CO2 can the climate, and how much ignorance can the earth endure?

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The internal search for

Climate protection | Climate killer war | Limits of growth

brought the following results, among others:

October 31, 2022 - Do not fear progress and technology, fear capitalism

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September 24, 2022 - Fridays for Future demands: "100 billion euro special fund for climate protection!"

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

YouTube

Keyword search: climate protection, limits to growth

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Klimaschutz, Grenzen des Wachstums

Videos:

Scobel-7:08

The limits of growth have been reached. Finally!

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THE STANDARD - 9:08

Why steady growth sooner or later leads to collapse

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Harald Lesch - 15:06

Limits to growth in digital globalization

Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...

This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic

Ecosia

This search engine is planting trees!

Keyword search: climate protection, limits to growth

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Klimaschutz, Grenzen des Wachstums

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Federal Agency for Civic Education

50 years "Limits to Growth"

The 1972 report to the Club of Rome is a milestone in the analysis of unlimited economic growth. Growth-critical approaches are based on it, but also alternatives to GDP as the most important economic indicator.

2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the "Limits to Growth" study. The report commissioned by the Club of Rome in 1972 is a milestone in the analysis of the future economic, demographic, technical and ecological consequences of the existing world economic system. In western industrialized countries in particular, the critical examination of the development model of continuous economic growth that prevailed at the time in both market and planned economy systems made a significant contribution to a broad social discussion about the far-reaching implications of a global economy programmed for growth under the framework conditions of a planet with finite natural resources ...

Wikipedia

The limits of growth

The limits of growth. The Limits to Growth. A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind is a 1972 study of the future of the world economy. It was created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and funded by the Volkswagen Foundation with one million DM. She was commissioned by the Club of Rome. The starting point of the study was to show that the current individual local actions all have global effects, which, however, do not correspond to the time horizon and scope of action of the individual.

The report was put up for discussion at two international conferences in early 1972 (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, March 2, 1972; St. Gallen Symposium, 3rd International Management Talks) and published in book form. To date, this book has sold over 30 million copies in 30 languages...

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Newsletter XVI 2023 - April 16th to 22th

Newspaper article 2023

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