Newsletter XXI 2023

The discounter has the solution to quickly save energy for every household: a balcony power station in an assembly set. Can that calm the waves in the traffic light?

The minor who belongs to my house community finds me distancing. I state this: it is true. After all, you can't always ask before you need a quick hug. This was also the case for the man who, unnoticed, joined the Chancellor's convoy in Frankfurt this week and hugged Olaf Scholz "surprisingly warmly" after disembarking at the airport, according to government circles.

The incident is surprising in several respects. First: someone wants to hug Olaf Scholz. Second: Olaf Scholz is actually still recognized, although he prefers to make himself invisible when governing. Third: Typically German would have been a warm handshake between men or this pat on the back, suggesting a hug. But who knows today what is typically German?

A young Syrian recently told me that what is typically German for him is that the trains are never on time. He wants to save up for a car now...

Energy transition | expansion wind solar | Electricity production

Global energy transition:

Where does green electricity work?

Solar and wind expansion is a painfully slow project? Does not have to be. A new data set shows the countries in which the electricity transition will succeed.

It's the beginning of the end of the fossil age, the analysts write. In 2023, the world is at a historic turning point. The amount of greenhouse gases that are produced for the production of electricity could fall permanently from this year. We're at the top, now it's probably going down.

This assessment comes from think tank Ember's Global Electricity Review, which compiles electricity generation data from more than 200 countries and territories annually. The data provide a deep insight into where the energy transition in electricity production is succeeding - and where it is not. Because how steep the fall of the coal-gas curve, at the peak of which we are, will also determine how worthwhile our future will be.

The taz evaluated the data from the Global Electricity Review and analyzed them according to countries in which a lot has happened in recent years. In which countries has it been possible to expand solar or wind power? Where is there not only continuous growth, but a big leap? Vietnam, Denmark, Kenya, Portugal and Chile, for example, show under very different conditions that change is possible ...

FDP | BILD-Zeitung | heating law

The whole truth about the heating law - and how the FDP lies to you

What if I tell you that Habeck's draft heating law was already praised by the FDP in March as "open to technology", and FDP leader Lindner had already decided it as "pragmatic" and agreed to it before the summer break? That everything had already been clarified and decided and the FDP was satisfied? You would rightly ask yourself why, two months later, a typically mendacious BILD campaign and FDP politicians suddenly described it as an "atomic bomb for our country", suddenly complained about a lack of "technology openness" and spoke of 100 questions? Why is the – unchanged – law being blocked by the FDP two months later? And who is lying to whom here? ...

Heat pump | collect data | heat transition

Heat transition: why useful energy is so important

End consumers expect the heating to ensure that they do not freeze in winter and that they can bear the costs. Why does the idea of a heat register trigger so much anxiety?

Just because the current approach to useful energy comes from Berlin, does it have to be bad now? Both individual federal states and several municipalities are already further along and nobody has bothered about it.

[...]

Without much excitement, Baden-Württemberg has already taken action in heat planning and has obliged its large district towns and urban districts to draw up heat planning by the end of this year.

Fast municipalities have even already completed their concepts. Hesse, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein have at least passed the relevant laws. North Rhine-Westphalia is still in the process of preparing a corresponding law...

Fossil Lobby | FDP | climate change deniers

Have climate change deniers taken power in the FDP parliamentary group?

It was foreseeable that the Building Energy Act could become inharmonious. Such an important law with far-reaching consequences for the economy and real estate causes heated discussions and disputes in a lively democracy, that is in the nature of things. You could also say: This is a feature, not a bug. However, the many abrupt changes in direction by the FDP and their untruths could be a sign of a dangerous, conspiracy-believing development within their parliamentary group:

In the last few days there has been some head-shaking and irritation with regard to your government work: an important law to reduce climate emissions in the building sector, which had already been approved in the coalition committee and adopted by the cabinet, was suddenly stopped after all. A law that FDP leader Lindner already praised in April as being “open to technology”. Apparently there are still crucial questions that need to be clarified. So crucial that the law has to be postponed until after the summer break. Although it was just said that the FDP wanted to discuss it in parliament, that too was prevented. The detailed chronology can be found here ...

27 May 1956 - US atomic bomb tests on Eniwetok and Bikini, USA

Wikipedia

Operation Redwing

Operation Redwing was the thirteenth series of American nuclear weapons tests conducted between May 4 and July 21, 1956 conducted in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. Total were 17 nuclear weapons tested above ground. The operation was conducted to test powerful thermonuclear nuclear weapons that could not be tested at the Nevada Test Site.

26. May

Armaments | nuclear weapon | Franz Josef Strauss

Operation Upshot-Knothole: When the US detonated the first nuclear artillery

In May 1953, the United States began testing nuclear artillery under the name Operation Upshot-Knothol. 70 years ago, nuclear fission was still considered a beacon of hope.

The then Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer, declared at a press conference on April 5, 1957 that tactical nuclear weapons were "nothing more than the further development of artillery". Later, that seemed to me to be the most outrageous trivialization of the atomic bomb and the nuclear age in which we lived.

At that time, Franz Josef Strauss was still Federal Minister for Special Tasks. His desire for German access to nuclear weapons was soon hotly debated. In 1955 he became head of the Ministry for Atomic Affairs, which was created especially for him. Wikipedia draws our attention to the fact that it is the predecessor of the current Ministry of Education and Research. Strauss came from the nuclear sector to the Ministry of Defense in 1956...

blocking resistance | Last Generation | Climate movement

Strategy of Last Generation:

Fight for the cause differently

The crackdowns on the last generation are overdone. But instead of blocking roads, the activists should campaign for majorities.

Yes, the crackdown on the Last Generation is grossly overblown. This climate movement is not a criminal organization in the criminal sense, because its road blockades do not significantly endanger public safety. Nevertheless, climate protectionists should fight differently for their cause in the future.

Carla Rochel, spokeswoman for the last generation, said it herself on Deutschlandfunk: She thinks it's "crazy that we're only talking about the form of protest here again" - and not about the climate crisis. This is precisely why the group should no longer block roads. This kind of protest is a throw-through for those who don't want climate protection. With the anger that the blockades create in many people, they can distract from the debate that we really need to have ...

Climate change | Last Generation | police raid

TV professor sees "red line" crossed

Harald Lesch shows solidarity with the last generation: "You are not a mafia"

Harald Lesch, one of Germany's best-known admonishers against climate change, shows solidarity with the last generation. With the raids on the climate activists, a "red line" was crossed, says the "Terra X" moderator - even if the forms of protest are controversial.

The astrophysicist and science journalist Harald Lesch sees a "red line" crossed with the raids on the climate movement Last Generation. That's what Lesch said in conversation with an activist at a rally on Marienplatz in Munich...

Climate targets | heat | Spahn

Dispute over heating law

Longer nuclear power plant run times instead of heating law: researchers disagree with Jens Spahn

Instead of the planned heating law, up to 20 million tons of CO2 could be saved annually by continuing to operate nuclear power plants. This is how the former Health Minister Jens Spahn argued in a talk show on Bavarian Radio. Research coordinator Felix Matthes finds Spahn's argument misleading: All the fossil energy systems installed make it significantly more difficult to achieve the climate goals. The expert emphasizes that it makes sense to change course now.

The shutdown of the last three nuclear power plants in Germany has meant that more coal is burned and Germany emits 15 to 20 million tons more CO2 per year, said Jens Spahn at the BR Sunday round table.

[...]

A link that Felix Matthes, research coordinator for energy and climate policy at the Öko-Institut, believes is partly misleading and partly wrong. It is wrong because there are no real savings because of emissions trading: "The European emissions trading system is based on the fact that anyone who wants to emit a tonne of CO2 must surrender a certificate. The number of these certificates is limited, that is, the good ones The news is that there can never be more issuance than there are allowances. The bad news is that the allowances that are issued are used."

A certificate that the nuclear power plant does not need can instead be used by a steel works or a refinery, the researcher continues...

26 May 1971 (INES 4 - ? Class.?!) Kurchatov Institute Moscow, USSR

Natural and man-made radiation exposure of humans in Germany - 2.7.2.2 Accidents in nuclear facilities

... On May 26, 1971, a criticality accident occurred at the SF-3 facility at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow during tests to determine the number of fuel rods made of highly enriched U-235 to achieve a critical configuration due to a mechanical failure of the test configuration in which two experimenters received radiation doses of 60 and 20 Sv and died after five and 15 days, respectively. Two other people survived with doses of 7 to 8 Sv.

25. May

Heating | Bavaria | Energy policy

energy policy:

Why the CSU scored an own goal with the accusation of "heating espionage".

Bayern stink against Berlin, that's nothing new. But if the CSU general secretary now accuses the Greens of state spying, then he should first have a look at his own laws.

[...]

The latest highlight of the dispute and at the same time the best illustrative material: a draft law by Habeck and Federal Construction Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) that was made public on Wednesday. This stipulates that municipalities will in future collect heating data for every building in Germany. With their help, plans will be drawn up as to how the heating transition can be implemented in the coming years, according to the federal government's view - or there is a risk of "heating espionage", according to the CSU. The CSU runs it itself, if you even want to use that word...

Climate protection | Save energy | Energy Efficiency Act

When will industry finally stop wasting energy?

Survey shows that Germans expect more energy savings from industry in particular. The potential there is enormous and saving would pay off. Then why is nothing happening?

A large majority of Germans see saving energy as an important step towards climate protection and want industry in particular to do more. This was the result of a representative opinion survey carried out on behalf of the Munich Environmental Institute. Three quarters of those surveyed in May were certain that too much energy was still being wasted in Germany...

Japan | lawsuit dismissed | NPP Onagawa

Reboot in February 2024

Local residents fail in court with lawsuit against restart of Onagawa nuclear power plant

The Sendai District Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by residents of the Onagawa nuclear power plant who wanted to prevent the plant operated by Tohoku Electric Power from restarting.

The plaintiffs argued that the evacuation plans were flawed. The court disagreed and argued that these defects are not relevant because it cannot be assumed that a serious accident will occur...

25 May 2009 - 2nd North Korean nuclear bomb test - Punggye-ri, PRK

Wikipedia

North Korean nuclear weapons program

Underground, 10-20 kilotons (kT) - On May 25, 2009, the second nuclear weapon test was conducted in North Korea. According to Russian information, the explosive device had an explosive force of 20 kilotons. In addition to the nuclear weapons test, several short-range missiles were fired...

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punggye-ri_(Testgelände)

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

Atomwaffen A - Z

https://www.atomwaffena-z.info/glossar/n/n-texte/artikel/e1ade835dd8c4151ecdd9a3e88be0ffd/nordkorea.html

... To date, North Korea has carried out six nuclear tests: in 2006, 2009, 2013, twice in 2016 and most recently in September 2017. On January 6, 2016, North Korea claimed that the country had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb for the first time. On May 22, 2018, North Korea closed its nuclear test site at Punggye-ri...

24. May

Netherlands | PFAS | Drinking water

Contaminated drinking water: Netherlands hold 3M liable

3M has discharged chemical waste into the Scheldt. After penalties from the Belgian government, the Netherlands now also want to prosecute 3M.

The Netherlands hold the US company 3M liable for damage allegedly caused by a Belgian chemical plant in Zwijndrecht near Antwerp. There, 3M discharged chemical waste into the river Schelde, some of which continues to flow into the Netherlands, where the Schelde flows into the Hollands Diep.

[...]

PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in Germany this group of thousands of chemicals is also called PFC (per- and polyfluorinated chemicals). They are nicknamed forever chemicals because they are hardly degradable due to their water, grease and dirt-repellent, fire-retardant, extremely stable and therefore very resistant properties.

They accumulate in the blood and in the organs of humans and are suspected of weakening the immune system and causing cancer. They primarily damage the liver and thyroid. PFCs are used in lubricants, in many coated pans and in etching processes in chip production...

Last Generation | search | civil disobedience

Echoes of Last Gen crackdown:

"When will there be a raid on Lindner?"

In the network, reactions to the searches of the last generations are divided. The police union supports the move.

BERLIN taz | After the nationwide searches of last generation activists on Wednesday morning, the first political decision-makers are reacting. Left deputy leader Lorenz Gösta Beutin described the raid as “completely excessive” in a statement. The Last Generation relies on “peaceful civil disobedience to draw attention to the climate catastrophe and the failure of the federal government.” The left-wing politician asks himself: “When will the raid take place on Messrs. Lindner and Wissing and on all those who are ignoring the 2021 ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court by slowing down on climate protection?”...

Greenwashing | Shell | Environmental pollution

"We're doing something!": Small greenwashing ABC using Shell as an example

Do little, talk a lot – this is what the climate commitment of many companies looks like. "Flip" took Shell apart as an example.

What to do if you earn your money with pollution but urgently need a green image? Climate goals are set and communicated as widely and often as possible. How green they actually are takes a back seat.

An example of this type of climate communication is Shell. As a fossil fuel producer, the oil and gas company admittedly finds it difficult to sell its products as climate-friendly. But he does this according to all the rules of the art...

Photovoltaic | solar production

Lorraine instead of China

Giga race to the sun

Europe is finally trying to catch up with solar production. Giga factories are to be built in France, Italy and Germany. However, investors also refer to the good funding conditions in the USA.

Up until a good ten years ago, European companies dominated the world market for solar cells and modules, above all companies from Germany. Then came the crash. Today around 95 or 80 percent of these products are manufactured in China and other Asian countries.
Advertising

But Europe is apparently about to make a comeback. A large photovoltaic factory is to be built in France by 2025. In the final phase, it will produce modules with a total of five gigawatts of nominal output per year, which will theoretically cover the energy needs of one million households.

And Germany could also become an important production location again - if politicians sufficiently encourage the settlement ...

24 May 1958 (INES ? Class.?!) NRU ChalkRiver, CAN

A fuel rod caught fire, contaminating half the facility.

Nuclear Power Accidents.pdf

The power of the nuclear lobby. Just as there was no INES classification at that time, this accident is simply not mentioned in the German Wikipedia to this day.

Wikipedia en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalk_River_Laboratories#1958_NRU_incident

The 1958 accident resulted in a fuel rupture and fire in the reactor building of the National Research Universal Reactor (NRU). Some fuel rods were overheated. [...] The fire was extinguished by scientists and maintenance personnel in protective clothing who ran through the hole in the containment with buckets of wet sand, throwing the sand down the moment they passed the smoking entrance.

... The Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, an anti-nuclear organization, however, points out that some clean-up workers who were part of the military contingent in the NRU reactor building unsuccessfully applied for a military disability pension due to poor health. Chalk River Laboratories remains an AECL facility to this day and is used both as a research facility (in collaboration with the NRC) and as a manufacturing facility (on behalf of the AECL) in support of other Canadian electric utilities...

Translated with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

23. May

Belgium | Greenpeace | Tihange | Purpose

Doel 4 and Tihange 3:

Greenpeace Luxembourg opposes nuclear power plant lifetime extension

LUXEMBOURG/BELGIUM - Deficiencies in safety standards, worst-case scenarios left out: Greenpeace Luxembourg accuses the Belgian authorities of not providing enough information in their documents about the planned life extensions of two reactors.

Belgium plans to extend the lifetime of the Doel 4 and Tihange 3 nuclear reactors by ten years. Instead of 2025, when both reach the maximum service life of 40 years, the end would not be until 2035. Greenpeace Luxembourg had therefore commissioned two independent experts from Germany and Austria to carry out a technical analysis of the documents published by the Belgian authorities as part of the public consultation on the extension of the lifespan. The results were presented on Monday. "The investigation shows gaps in several areas, be it in the initiation and the process of the project, the disposal of nuclear waste, possible alternatives or the dangers of natural events," explains Greenpeace in a press release.

[...] "The documents submitted are not complete," concludes Roger Spautz, nuclear expert at Greenpeace Luxembourg, "the most important risks have been left out." In order to ensure that the population and politicians are sufficiently informed, the official documents lack a list of deficits in comparison to the current safety requirements as well as information about which retrofits would be technically possible but perhaps should not be carried out for economic reasons. In light of the consultation carried out by the Ministry of the Environment, Greenpeace is submitting a formal objection to the extension of the term.

France | EDF | Nationalisation

France completes nationalization of power company EDF

The complete renationalization of the electricity company EDF is intended to ensure the desired expansion of nuclear power. What is France up to?

France has completed the process of completely nationalizing the electricity company EDF. The simplified public takeover offer had been successfully completed, the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Paris announced on Tuesday. This makes it possible to “implement the program to build six new nuclear power plants under the best conditions,” said Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire to broadcaster RTL. This strengthens France's energy policy independence. "We can take back control of our electricity generation."...

Jülich | Nuclear waste | Interim storage

Nuclear waste transports from Jülich to Ahaus possible from 2024

The disposal company for nuclear plants assumes that the nuclear waste from the interim storage facility in Jülich will be transported to Ahaus from spring 2024. The approval required for this is expected shortly.

The relocation of the 152 Castor barrels with highly radioactive fuel element balls from the shut down Jülich experimental reactor to Ahaus is the option that can be implemented most quickly, said a spokesman for the nuclear waste disposal company (JEN).

This is also confirmed by three federal ministries in a report to the budget committee of the Bundestag: "According to those involved, there are currently many reasons for considering the Ahaus option against the background of the immediate evacuation ordered under nuclear law and in the sense of an economical use of funds as a preferable option compared to the new building option to classify." ...

Photovoltaics | dryness drought | plant protection

Agri-photovoltaic systems protect crops from drought

Agri-photovoltaics can mitigate the effects of periods of drought on the production of plant-based food: shading, which often reduces crop yields when there is sufficient water, can even increase yields during droughts.

This is the result of a study by the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. The effect can be particularly important for regions where there is simultaneous strong population growth and severe periods of drought, such as in India or Africa. But longer dry periods must also be expected in Europe in the future. From the scientists' perspective, however, there is still a significant need for research - especially on the question of which plants are best suited for the different systems...

22. May

Heat | greenhouse earth | collaps

danger of global warming

Two billion people are at risk of heat collapse

Temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius make you ill and are sometimes life-threatening. A research team has now calculated the global extent of increasing heat waves and shows where people are particularly at risk.

Heat wave – that sounds like children licking ice cream and an overcrowded outdoor pool. But that's just one, the nice side of a summer that has more than 30 degrees Celsius to offer for days. The other is more tragic: full emergency services, emergency medical services and funeral services.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), around 4500 people died in Germany last year due to heat. Across Europe there was even excess mortality of more than 2022 people between June and August 100.000...

Truth | right-wing police | Opinion free

Lecturer at police college loses teaching post after tweet about "brown dirt"

After a tweet, she lost her part-time job as a university lecturer: Bahar Aslan, who taught “intercultural skills” at the police college in Gelsenkirchen, will probably no longer do this in the future. The reason is an article in which the lecturer criticizes the "brown dirt within the security authorities".

A lecturer at the police university in Gelsenkirchen lost her planned teaching position at the university after a tweet. An existing teaching position had expired, but another assignment was planned for the coming semester, said a spokesman for the NRW Ministry of the Interior on Monday, referring to the management of the university. This was stopped by the university management.

The university confirmed this on request: "From the point of view of the university management, the lecturer is unsuitable due to her current statements to give both the prospective police officers and the future administrative civil servants an unprejudiced and well-founded view of democracy, tolerance and neutrality convey." ...

Climate protection | Democracy | heat transition | fear mongers

Germany is lagging behind when it comes to climate protection

Climate researcher Latif on the heating dispute: "The fears are only used"

The climate researcher Mojib Latif criticizes the debates about the building energy law. The senior professor at the Institute for Oceanography at the University of Kiel considers them primarily motivated by party politics. And he warns: Germany is already too slow when it comes to climate protection.

Mr. Latif, Germany is arguing about the way in which heating should be used in the future. How do you perceive the dispute?

First of all: I am not an expert on energy or heat pumps.

But?

From my point of view, some politicians are trying to use the story of the now ousted State Secretary Patrick Graichen to undermine the entire heat transition. From which parties are involved in these trials, you can also see who cares about climate protection and who doesn't. That was already the case in the debate about stopping the registration of cars with combustion engines from 2035. It was about e-fuels.

What do you think of these debates?

They hinder climate protection and damage democracy. Many people have the impression that in the end it's not about the issue, it's about party politics. But with such an important topic, everyone should pull together...

Recycling | Plastic waste | waste incineration

Away from "Ex and Hopp"

Global pollution from plastic waste can be reduced by 2040 percent by 80, according to a new report by the UN environment program UNEP. This should be possible with reusable, recycling and better product design. Environmental groups warn against expanding waste incineration.

Modern life is unthinkable without plastic, but the pollution of the planet with plastic waste has reached dramatic proportions - from the gigantic plastic eddies on the world's oceans to littered streets in many metropolises in the Global South to microplastics found in the Arctic snow.

However, a far-reaching solution to the problem is possible. According to a new report by the UN environment program Unep in Nairobi, plastic pollution could be reduced by 2040 percent by 80 using existing technologies.

However, the prerequisite would be far-reaching political and market-economy changes that lead away from the ex-and-hopp principle and towards a circular economy.

The United Nations wants to tackle the problem, and the new report provides an important basis for doing so. An intergovernmental body was set up last year to draft an international plastics agreement by 2024. The second round of negotiations by this body will begin in Paris in a week's time...

Radioactivity | manganese nodules

Manganese nodules are radioactive

Radioactivity in metal-rich deep-sea nodules significantly exceeds radiation protection limits

Not healthy: The mining of manganese nodules from the deep sea is not only ecologically questionable - it would also be harmful to health. Because the metal-containing nodules are radioactive and exceed radiation protection limits by a hundred to a thousand times, as measurements reveal. The manganese nodules also release the radioactive gas radon. The causes are natural radioactive isotopes such as thorium-230 and radium-226 that are enriched in the metallic layers.

[...] Now measurements reveal that the mining of manganese nodules would not only have serious ecological consequences for the deep sea, but would also be harmful to human health. For her study, Jessica Volz from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) examined manganese nodules that were obtained during two expeditions in the Clarion-Clipperton zone in 2015 and 2019...

6 January 1981 (INES 3) Nuclear factory La Hague, FRA

In La Hague there was a catastrophic fire in a waste storage facility with graphite elements and uranium metal, workers were exposed to increased radiation.

Nuclear Power Accidents.pdf

AtomkraftwerkePlag

La Hague (France)

A study published by the European Parliament in 2001 lists events from 1989 to 2011 that were reported by the operator. Eight accidents were described in more detail ...

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2001/303110/DG-4-JOIN_ET(2001)303110_EN.pdf

Graphite elements had been burning in a waste silo for 24 hours. The maximum level of measured air contamination, 700 Bq/m3, was reached 10 hours after the fire started. The released activity is mainly due to caesium-137 and -134 (137Cs and 134Cs) and is between 740 GBq and 1.850 GBq, i.e. 10 times the annual limit value. The annual limit for the entire La Hague site is 74 GBq for cesium-137.

Strontium-90 (90Sr) was detected in stormwater and the allowable surface contamination limit was reached 6 km from the site. A worker received the annual permissible dose of 50 mSv in one day. An off-site health impact study has not been conducted...

Translated with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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...

A number of accidents and releases of radioactivity are in the Wikipedia can no longer be found or are only briefly mentioned in a single sentence. Apparently, slowly but surely, all important information about accidents in the nuclear industry is being removed from Wikipedia!

Wikipedia

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiederaufarbeitungsanlage_La_Hague#Betriebsstörungen,_Unfälle

In 1981 there was a fire disaster in a waste storage facility for graphite elements and uranium metal...

Youtube

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

Reprocessing plants turn a few tons of nuclear waste into many tons of nuclear waste

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 ...

22 May 1968 (Broken Arrow) USS Scorpion sank sw. of the Azores, USA

Wikipedia

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Scorpion_(SSN-589)

The USS Scorpion (identification: SSN-589) was a Skipjack-class nuclear submarine of the United States Navy. She was commissioned in 1960 and sank in 1968 as the second nuclear-powered submarine of the American Navy in the North Atlantic under circumstances that are still not fully understood. It is believed that a torpedo detonated inside the submarine. 99 sailors lost their lives...

consequences for the environment

The wreck of the Scorpion is very dangerous for the area, since in addition to the reactor there were also two Mark 45 ASTOR torpedoes with nuclear warheads on board. The US Navy regularly tests local water, sediment and fish for plutonium contamination. According to the naval reports, the results have so far indicated no radiation or other pollution. This shows that the reactor is still tight.

21. May

Right rich fossil | Hypocrites

eyes closed and down

Jens Spahn puts the human rights convention up for discussion, the FDP is sabotaging its own coalition, the SPD is hesitating. But Germany needs speed, not isolation – otherwise things will soon go downhill.

From what Jens Spahn recently said on a talk show, you can already vaguely see what the Union's actual strategy is with regard to the climate crisis: doing nothing and sealing off.

Spahn explained to Markus Lanz that we now have to think about "whether the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights still work". Spahn wants to let fewer refugees to Europe and therefore nonchalantly put human rights up for discussion. To a certain extent, he introduced this ethical dam breach with an anticipated victim pose: "I'll say something now that will bring a thousand shitstorms again."

The poor. But at least he doesn't have to travel across the Mediterranean in a rubber dinghy...

Blackout | Electricity price | Disinformation

Bullshit with blackouts, fossil kingdoms and the Plurv keyboard

Klimareporter°: Ms. Kemfert, even after State Secretary Graichen retired, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck is still under pressure. The building energy law with its aim of no longer installing any new natural gas and oil heating systems from the end of the year is also highly controversial. Wouldn't it be better to withdraw the law and try again?

Claudia Kemmert: No, that would be fundamentally wrong. Improvements are certainly useful and necessary. Above all, better communication would be highly recommended. However, the personal details of Graichen should be seen independently of the law.

It should also not be forgotten that the building minister shares responsibility here and that the process is well advanced. The longer the delay and holding up, the greater the uncertainty and the greater the panic among the population, who, misjudging the situation, are buying even more oil and gas heating systems.

Just because it was never properly explained – or at least the explanations from the ministries no longer get through what exactly is intended and what it means in concrete terms – the heat transition is going crazy.

The Greens' political opponents are well-versed, but the Greens apparently aren't...

Climate change | Heat | Floods

Heat and floods will determine our destiny

The number of catastrophes is increasing in such a way that journalists can hardly keep up with developments. And the temperatures keep rising. What to do now. A comment.

In a new study, authors from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) express their fear that the Paris target of 1,5 degrees of global warming will be exceeded within the next five years.

That would be warmer than it has been in the past 450.000 years. This is not only due to man-made climate change, but also to the natural weather phenomenon El Niño.

This development will have far-reaching consequences for our health, our food, global water management, animals and the entire environment. The UN estimates that several hundred million climate refugees will be wandering around our planet in the next few decades...

21 May 1946 (INES 4) fatal accident in Los Alamos, USA

Wikipedia

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

During the Nuclear weapons factory in Los Alamos Canadian physicist Louis Slotin carried out tests on the criticality of plutonium in the presence of several scientists. The experimental setup consisted of a subcritical plutonium core (the same one involved in the 6 accident, hereinafter referred to as the "Demon Core") weighing about 1945 kg, and two hemispheres made of beryllium, which served as neutron reflectors and the core could enclose.

[...] Slotin was able to lift off the upper hemispherical shell and thus reduce the reactivity again. However, he was exposed to a lethal energy dose of about 10 Gray from the accident, with the seven observers receiving up to 1,7 Gray. Slotin died of radiation sickness on May 30...

List of accidents in nuclear facilities


Current news+	Background knowledge

Current news+

Biodiversity | Species extinction | Biodiversity

World Biodiversity Day: Will the plan to restore Europe's biodiversity fail?

Ariel Brunner from BirdLife Europe warns in an interview: Opponents of the EU renaturation law could prevent the plans with "scaremongering, disinformation up to outright lies": "If we fail in the fight for the renaturation law, it is as good as over with the promise to implement the World Convention on Nature"

Since 2001, May 22nd has been celebrated as International Day of Biological Diversity. It commemorates May 22, 1992, when the text of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was officially adopted. In December last year, its 196 member states decided on the new world convention on nature in Montreal, Canada. The core of the "Kunming-Montreal Agreement on Biodiversity" is to stop the extinction of species and the destruction of ecosystems by 2030 and to put nature back on a path of recovery. In an interview on World Biodiversity Day, Ariel Brunner describes the ecological and political challenges involved in implementing the agreement. Brunner is responsible for Europe and Central Asia at BirdLife International, the global umbrella organization for bird and nature conservation organizations.

Mr. Brunner – where do we stand half a year after the historic Kunming-Montreal Agreement for global nature conservation was passed in terms of implementation in Europe?

Ariel Bruner: We are currently experiencing a very serious attempt in Europe to fill this agreement with life. With its proposal for a renaturation law, the European Commission has launched a very good and comprehensive initiative that would translate many core elements of the Kunming-Montreal Agreement into legally binding specifications for the renaturation of ecosystems in all member states. If the law were to become a reality, we would be setting a really good example for the rest of the world.

The conservative parties are running a campaign based on disinformation and lies

Ariel Brunner, Director of BirdLife Europe and Central Asia

The draft regulation envisages ecologically restoring, i.e. renaturing, damaged ecosystems on 2030 percent of the area of the European Union by 20. But the project is far from dry. How do you experience that in Brussels?

There is extreme resistance from the lobbies for the intensive forms of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, which are very aggressively and openly trying to bring down the law. Unfortunately, for some time they have also received support from the conservative parties in the European Parliament, above all from the EPP group headed by CSU politician Manfred Weber.

The EPP group, which includes Germany's CDU and CSU, threatened earlier this month to block the renaturation law and the also planned regulation to reduce the use of pesticides. The argument is that both are too much of a burden for farmers...

They not only wrote a resolution against it, they are running a real anti-nature campaign and are not afraid to resort to methods that we are more familiar with from Donald Trump. I have to put it so harshly: the conservative parties are running a campaign based on disinformation and lies.

These are harsh allegations. How do you prove that?

For example, it has been claimed that the Restoration Act aims to destroy centuries-old villages in order to restore wetlands. Nobody ever suggested that, it would never happen. They rely on flat lies and scaremongering. It is claimed that renaturation would lead to skyrocketing food prices and exacerbate the hunger crisis. Yet we know that agriculture can only survive and food security can only be maintained if we stop the destruction of nature and relieve the burden on soil and water.

We urgently need Germany as a strong voice.
The federal government must speak loud and clear in favor of the law.

Has the EU Commission withstood the pressure so far?

For the moment yes. There were very clear statements in this direction from EU Environment Commissioner Virgenius Sinkevicius and Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans. They try to uphold facts and science in the debate, but they are under extreme pressure from some governments and political groups. The whole thing is a very toxic campaign, which is largely spearheaded by Mr. Weber.


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The map of the nuclear world

The machinations of those accelerating species extinction are manifold...

The internal search for

Biodiversity | Species extinction | Biodiversity

brought the following results, among others:

April 29, 2023 - "Tackling climate change and species extinction at the same time"

December 19, 2022 - Summit agrees on nature conservation agreement

September 21, 2022 - "Survival aid for the earth": Scholz announces billions for global nature conservation

YouTube

Keyword search: species extinction

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Videos:

BR24 from December 14, 2022 - 6:40 am

World Conference on Nature wants to stop species extinction

Terra X plus from 30 November 2022 - 8: 19

How we can stop the sixth mass extinction

NDR extra 3 from May 26, 2022 - 4:23

Species extinction: Man has no place for nature

Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...

This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic

Ecosia

This search engine is planting trees!

Keyword search: species extinction

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

Wikipedia

Aussterben

Extinction (technically also extinction) refers to the end of an evolutionary lineage as a result of the death of all descendants. The term extinction can refer to both a population and a species. As long as populations of the same species continue to exist elsewhere, it is a local extinction. A biological species becomes extinct when the last individual of the species dies. As a result, their genetic information is lost and biodiversity is reduced.

The distinction between the terms species extinction and mass extinction is unclear. Species extinction primarily refers to the human-caused disappearance of species through environmental degradation or extinction in the present. Mass extinction (also faunal change), on the other hand, describes a strikingly large, distant disappearance of species over the course of a few thousand to several hundred thousand years without anthropogenic influence ...

WWF

Species extinction

Around a million species could disappear within the next few decades if the state of our ecosystems continues to deteriorate.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) makes bad statements about the animal and plant species in the International Red List: Of the 147.500 species recorded, almost 41.500 are in threat categories (as of July 2022), which is more species than ever before. Alongside the climate crisis, species extinction is considered the greatest threat to our planet and our own lives.

Today we are in the greatest extinction of species since the end of the dinosaur age 65 million years ago. A quarter of mammal species, one in eight bird species, more than 30 percent of sharks and rays and 40 percent of amphibian species are threatened. Species extinction is a natural process, but today it is significantly accelerated under human influence. We're sawing off the branch we're sitting on. Food, medicine, raw materials, clean water and air are just some of the important things that nature provides us with. It's high time to act...

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