Newsletter XXXII 2023
August 6th to 12th
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Nuclear Power Accidents
This PDF file contains a list of known incidents from the various areas of the civil and military nuclear industry. Some of this information only reached the public in a roundabout way. As new information emerges, this list will be updated...
Excerpt for this month:
August 1, 1983 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Pickering, CAN
August 2, 1992 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Pickering, CAN
August 4, 2005 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Indian Point, USA
August 6, 1945 (1. US dropping atomic bomb) Hiroshima, USA
August 9, 2009 (INES 1 Class.?) NPP Gravelines, FRA
August 9, 2004 (INES 1 Class.?) NPP Mihama, JPN
August 9, 1945 (2. US dropping atomic bomb) Nagasaki, USA
August 10, 1985 (INES 5) Submarine K-31/K-431, USSR
August 12, 2001 (INES 2) NPP Phillipsburg, DEU
August 12, 2000, Submarine K-141_Kursk, RUS
August 18, 2015 (INES 2) NPP Blayais, FRA
August 19, 2008 (INES 1) NPP Santa Maria de Garona, ESP
August 21, 2007 (INES 2) NPP Beznau, CHE
August 21, 1945 (INES 4) T Undlicher Unfall in Los Alamos, USA
August 25, 2008 (INES 3) IRE Fleurus, BEL
August 29, 1949 (1. USSR atomic bomb test) Semipalatinsk, KAZ
August 30, 2003, Submarine K-159, RUS
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We are looking for current information. If you can help, please send a message to: nukleare-welt@reaktorpleite.de
12. August
Niger supplies Uranium for France and keeps the Nuclear waste
Military coup in Niger: Uranium mining and environmental destruction as deeper reasons?
For years, France's nuclear power plants were powered by uranium from Niger. The environmental and health damage in the country is enormous. What follows from this politically?
The military coup in Niger further destabilized the Sahel region in Africa. The military used force to overthrow the democratically elected government of President Bazoum. However, large parts of the population support this.
[...] The reports and analyzes of these days are mostly limited to the fact that the uranium supply of the French nuclear power plants is not endangered. This is a bold claim by the French nuclear industry, since about 25 percent of the uranium used in France's nuclear power plants comes from Niger.
On the other hand, there are currently no reports on the major environmental damage and the years of protests by the population. They play a central role in understanding the dislike of the population in Niger.
[...] For example, in the town of Arlit, with 200.000 inhabitants near the French uranium mines, the death rate is twice as high as in the rest of the country Niger.
Im Nuclear Free Future Award Uranium Atlas numerous other facts of the environmental destruction of Niger and other regions of the world through uranium mining are shown...
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Wind energy | German Federal Network Agency | network charges
Proposal of the Federal Network Agency
Lower electricity prices for wind power regions?
Most of the wind energy comes from the north. But the northern federal states do not benefit from cheaper electricity prices. The President of the Federal Network Agency wants to change that. His suggestion: lower network charges for these regions.
The Federal Network Agency has spoken out in favor of reforming electricity prices with lower fees for regions with a lot of wind power. The authority's president, Klaus Müller, told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" that there was a draft law in the Bundestag that would authorize the network agency to introduce fair network charges. "Once the law is passed, we will make a proposal for the reform."
So far, regions that rely particularly on wind power have been particularly heavily burdened financially. Federal states in the north - with a comparatively high production of renewable energies - currently see themselves at a disadvantage because they pay higher costs than in southern Germany due to the necessary grid expansion. "I don't meet any energy ministers in the federal states who still approve of this historically grown system," said Müller. Finally, regions in southern Germany are also affected, where many wind turbines are set up and connected to the grid...
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Protest | Last Generation | Climate protection
Luisa Neubauer: "Change doesn't come faster if you take more radical measures"
Five years ago, Greta Thunberg started Fridays for Future. Since then, the climate movement has achieved a lot. But the blockages of the last generation cause frustration for many people. In an interview with watson, Luisa Neubauer explains why Fridays for Future are needed now.
[...] Due to the road blockades of the last generation, many are already annoyed when they only hear the word climate protection. Is climate policy suffering as a result?
Luisa Neubauer: I understand that people are angry about the climate ignorance of large parts of the government. And I find it very worrying that people, young and old alike, are so desperate that all they can do is glue themselves to the streets. I think there is a misunderstanding about how change happens and how to accelerate it. Political change does not come categorically faster by resorting to more radical measures.
Rather?
Rapid change comes from becoming even more strategic. And that's why the big task is to stay strategic - especially when times get tough. It's not always more effective if you hit it harder. It can also be more effective when something comes very quietly and unexpectedly from unexpected corners.
Do you have an example of this?
If you are campaigning for a speed limit, it is more effective when in doubt to find a group of FDP voters who can be persuaded and stand up for it than another road blockade. There are moments when disruptive disobedience can be totally effective. But so far we have no reason to assume that it is categorically more effective. And we have to keep in mind that certain actions can, in the worst case, also deter people and political decision-makers....
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August 12, 2001 (INES 2) Phillipsburg, DEU
A deviation from the prescribed boron concentration was reported to the authorities. In addition, the liquid level had not reached the value stipulated in the start-up operating instructions and was only implemented with a delay. Subsequent investigations revealed that significant deviations from the commissioning requirements and violations of the relevant instructions have probably been common for several years. (Costs ?)
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Philippsburg (Baden-Wuerttemberg)
Philippsburg II was started up in August 2001 with a defective emergency cooling system. Although the defect was discovered two weeks later, the reactor continued to operate unlawfully. It was later determined that the emergency cooling system had not been sufficiently filled for years. It should be added that the operator did not report this incident from 2001 to the supervisory authority. In November 2001, the Stuttgart Ministry of the Environment reported that contaminated water had leaked out of Philippsburg I due to a defect in a fitting for company drainage...
Wikipedia
Philippsburg nuclear power plant
At the Philippsburg nuclear power plant, the operating team failed to see that the emergency cooling system did not meet the requirements of the operating manual when block 2 was started up. The emergency cooling system was sufficient to cool the cold and uncritical reactor. After restarting the reactor, the emergency cooling system was upgraded to the extent required by the limit values. However, the incident mentioned below occurred. The coolant, which is buffered in the flood tanks (emergency cooling system) of the nuclear power plant, fell below the permissible boron concentration. Three of the four existing containers were affected. As a result of these events, the power plant manager and two board members of the operator EnBW lost their jobs...
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August 12, 2000, Submarine K-141_Kursk, RUS
Wikipedia
The Kursk (Russian: Курск), K-141, was a 1990/1991 built, cruise missile-equipped Russian nuclear submarine of Project 949A (NATO code Oscar II class).
When it sank in the Barents Sea in 2000 as a result of an explosion presumably caused by a technical defect, the Russian military initially claimed that the Kursk had been rammed by a US submarine. The Russian Navy did not have a special rescue submarine that had rescue locks or robotic arms compatible with the Kursk, but only diving capsules. The hesitant Russian information policy, the initially unsuccessful rescue attempts by the poorly equipped Russian Navy to open the exit hatch with the help of Norwegian divers, and the skepticism of Russian naval officers as to whether it was still possible to open the allegedly damaged exit hatch, led to a serious delay and to the very late acceptance of foreign offers of help...
11. August
Nuclear waste | Interim storage | Gorleben | Summer slump
Landshut district administrator wants central nuclear waste interim storage facility
The German nuclear power plants are shut down. But what will happen to the nuclear waste produced is unclear. Landshut District Administrator Peter Dreier (FW) is now calling for a central interim storage facility in Gorleben in Lower Saxony.
According to the will of the Landshut District Administrator Peter Dreier (free voters), there should be only one interim storage facility for radioactive nuclear waste in the Federal Republic in the future. For this purpose, the 16 interim storage facilities distributed all over Germany could be dissolved. This would also affect the Bella interim storage facility at the two shut down nuclear power plants Isar 1 and 2 near Landshut....
10. August
Wild mushrooms from southern Germany still radioactive 37 years after Chernobyl
Edible mushrooms growing wild in southern Germany can still be contaminated with radioactive cesium 37 years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) announced that the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) reported that increased values were measured primarily in southern Bavaria and in the Bavarian Forest. Read here which fungi are affected.
Salzgitter, Berlin. Edible mushrooms growing wild in southern Germany can still be contaminated with radioactive cesium 37 years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) announced on Thursday that the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) responded to an epd request. These regions of Germany were particularly affected by the radioactive fallout from the reactor accident in 1986. A small proportion of the radiation is due to the above-ground nuclear weapons tests of the 1950s and 1960s...
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Climate catastrophe | melting glacier in Peru | RWE Group
corporations in court
Floods, heavy rain and heat records. Who should pay for the damage? A growing number of plaintiffs are demanding that corporations share in the costs of the climate catastrophe - also in Germany.
The shock is still deep today: more than 180 people died and many became homeless when huge masses of water destroyed houses, roads and life around the Ahr Valley a good two years ago. A study commissioned by the federal government estimates the total damage caused by the flood disaster on the Ahr and other locations at around 40 billion euros.
Most of the reconstruction aid comes from the state or insurance companies - the rest has to be borne by the flood victims themselves. But what about large industrial companies, which are among the largest emitters of climate-damaging greenhouse gases?
[...] A lawsuit is currently being heard at the Higher Regional Court in Hamm: against the energy company RWE. It's not about the flood in the Ahr valley, but about the Palcacocha glacial lake in Peru - the home of Saul Lliuya. The mountain guide filed a lawsuit against the Essen energy company in 2015. RWE is supposed to contribute to the costs of climate change in this region, because the lake has continued to swell due to the melting ice of the glacier.
fear of flooding
Saul Lliuya fears that one day his house and the region will be flooded because of this. A study of the glacier's melting is believed to be key evidence in the case. It also comes from the institute of the climate scientist Otto. She concludes that "any additional meltwater in this lake is attributable to climate change."
The mountain guide Lliuya is represented in court by the lawyer Roda Verheyen from Hamburg. Their goal: RWE should contribute to the costs of a protective dam...
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August 10, 1985 (INES 5) Submarine K-431, USSR
Wikipedia
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo-Klasse#K-31
In the Chazhma Bay near Vladivostok, a serious accident occurred while refueling the nuclear-powered submarine K-314. Improper handling caused a spontaneous chain reaction when the reactor cover was replaced. The cooling water suddenly evaporated and the reactor core was thrown onto the pier by the explosion. 29 people received high doses of radiation, another 10 people died from a fatal dose of neutrons. The radioactive cloud did not reach Vladivostok, 55 kilometers away, but other victims of this accident (longer-term cancer) cannot be ruled out in nearby locations. (INES level 5) ...
9. August
Ahaus | Jülich | Gronau | Garching
Dear people,
On Sunday, about 40 people in front of the Gronau UAA called for nuclear disarmament and the decommissioning of the UAA on the occasion of Hiroshima Day. Unfortunately, exactly the opposite is happening in Gronau at the moment: Urenco wants to present the plans for new buildings and more centrifuges tomorrow, Thursday, August 10.8, at 18 p.m. in the Gronau building committee. Probably it is also about the now envisaged prompt commissioning of the uranium oxide storage hall for almost 60 000 t uranium oxide as nuclear waste - a new nuclear waste storage facility for NRW! The invitation talks about "global developments" and "changed strategic framework conditions" - so the management is opening the big barrel.
Next week it continues on Sunday, August 20, at 14 p.m. in Ahaus - with the protest rally of the BI "No nuclear waste in Ahaus" in front of the Mahner in the pedestrian zone. The aim is to prevent the concrete preparations now underway for the transport of the 152 Westcastors from Jülich to Ahaus and then the castors from Garching/Munich to Ahaus.
For this purpose, the BI also invites to a planning meeting on the 20th immediately before the rally at 12 o'clock in the BI office, Bahnhofstr. 27, in Ahaus. The aim is to get off the starting block quickly between Jülich and Ahaus.
Therefore, the next NRW state conference of the anti-nuclear unis will also take place in Ahaus on September 16 from 13 to 18 pm: Evangelisches Gemeindehaus, Wüllener Str. 16. Of course, interested groups from the area around NRW are also invited! The agenda is still to be determined - we would be very happy if Würgassen in particular were also represented as a planned nuclear waste site on the eastern state border. Nuclear (waste) policy in NRW does not only take place in the Rhineland and in the Münsterland.
Many thanks to the BI in Ahaus for the invitations!
Nuclear-free climate greetings
SOFA (Immediate nuclear phase-out) Münster
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Nuclear waste | Konrad shaft | Würgassen
Interim storage facility in Würgassen: nuclear waste can probably roll
The Federal Waste Management Commission supports the interim storage facility in NRW. It is intended to receive the waste that will later end up in the Konrad repository.
GOETTINGEN taz | Environmentalists in the Weserbergland reacted with horror when the Federal Waste Management Commission (ESK) published its recommendation for the construction of a large interim storage facility for nuclear waste in Würgassen on Wednesday. The panel of experts comes to the conclusion "that a logistics center is required for optimized delivery to the Konrad repository". The ESK considers the Würgassen location to be “plausible”.
[...] It is not clear whether the repository will even go into operation
It is also completely unclear whether the Konrad repository will go into operation at all. Because the environmental organizations BUND and Nabu have applied for the revocation of the building permit. The criticism: Konrad does not correspond to the state of the art in science and technology, it is an old mine and there was no comparative selection process. In a study commissioned by Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, TÜV recently questioned whether an upstream logistics center is actually needed. The state government in Hanover also positioned itself against the plans...
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Turkey | open-cast mining | Brown coal
Deforestation of Akbelen Forest in Turkey:
"Go, listen"
In Turkey, a large forest is to give way to lignite mining. The residents resist. Now there was a special meeting in Parliament.
ISTANBUL taz | For the first time in the history of the Turkish Republic, the Turkish parliament met for a special session during the summer break on Tuesday to debate an environmental conflict. At the request of the opposition social-democratic CHP, the parliamentary speaker appointed by the AKP had to convene the session to debate the deforestation of a large forest area under which lignite is to be mined.
Several buses full of activists, especially villagers from the affected region, who have been fighting against lignite mining for years, drove to Ankara and then besieged the parliamentary group meetings of the various parties before there was a debate in plenary.
"Go over there and listen," the chairman of the CHP, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, called out to the representatives of the government factions in parliament, who, as expected, acted stubborn...
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Hydrogen | Subsidies | Gas power plants
Is the federal government investing billions in new fossil gas power plants?
Energy and climate - compact: Ministry of Economic Affairs wants to have power plants built for dark doldrums. Green hydrogen in focus, fossil gas power plants are also allowed.
[...] In addition to power plants that can be operated immediately with hydrogen, gas-fired power plants that have to be converted to hydrogen fuel by 2035 at the latest, so-called H2-ready power plants, are also to be funded. Capacities of up to 15 GW are planned here, starting with 10 GW between 2024 and 2026. These can be both new and existing power plants. However, the "power plant strategy" from the BMWK does not meet with undivided approval. The Association of German Engineers (VDI) complains that green hydrogen or its derivatives are not available in sufficient quantities...
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August 9, 2009 (INES 1 Class.?) Gravelines, FRA
The fuel assembly system failed to properly eject the spent fuel rods from the Gravelines nuclear plant, resulting in the fuel rods becoming stuck and the reactor shutting down. (Cost approx. US$2 million)
Wikipedia
Slowly but surely, all the relevant information about disruptions in the nuclear industry is coming from the German Wikipedia away!
Nuclear Power Plant_Gravelines
Nuclear power accidents by country#France
In August 2009, during the annual refueling in Reactor 1, a fuel assembly caught on the upper handling structure, halting operations and prompting the evacuation and isolation of the reactor building...
Translated with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
AtomkraftwerkePlag
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August 9, 2004 (INES 1 Class.?) Mihama, JPN
A steam explosion in block 3 of the Mihama nuclear power station killed 5 workers and injured 6 others. (Cost approx. US$11 million)
Wikipedia en
Mihama_Nuclear_Power_Plant#2004_accident
On August 9, 2004, an accident occurred in a building housing the turbines of the Mihama 3 reactor. Five workers died and six others were injured when hot water and steam escaped from a ruptured pipe. The accident, which was provisionally classified as INES level 0, was described as the worst accident (to date) at a Japanese nuclear power plant...
Nuclear power accidents by country#Japan
Translated with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
AtomkraftwerkePlag
In August 2004, at Mihama-3, a condensate line in the non-nuclear secondary circuit broke longitudinally and circumferentially. The escaping hot water turned to steam and scalded workers; five died and six others were injured. The cause was corrosion and sloppiness: the wall thickness of the line had thinned from an initial 10 mm to around 1,5 mm, and the line is said not to have been checked since the reactor was commissioned. The vulnerability had been known a year earlier...
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August 9, 1945 (2st atomic bomb dropped by the USA) Nagasaki, USA
On August 06th and 09th, 1945, the USA has atomic bombs Japan ignited.
Wikipedia
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The atomic bomb explosions killed around 100.000 people immediately - almost exclusively civilians and forced laborers abducted by the Japanese army.
August 9, 1983- Dropping the 2nd atomic bomb - plutonium bomb 'Fat man'- on Nagasaki! (Explosive power 22.000 tons of TNT)
By the end of 1945, another 130.000 people had died from consequential damage. In the years that followed, many more...
YouTube
Story in the first:
Nagasaki - Why did the second bomb fall?
On August 6th and 9th, 1945, the only two atomic bombs in the history of war detonated in the Pacific War over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since then, the thesis has been held worldwide that this weapon also ended the Second World War. However, international historians complain in this documentation by Klaus Scherer that this claim was always wrong. In truth, the attacks only destroyed Japan's major cities Nos. 67 and 68, they say. The entry of the Soviet Union into the Pacific War on August 8, 1945 and the breach of the valid neutrality pact would have contributed much more to Japan's capitulation than the atomic bomb.
8. August
Niger | uranium orano | Islamists
Terror, uranium and migration - why the West is so interested in Niger
The fact that Russia could benefit from the coup gives the matter geopolitical weight. But even without Moscow's influence, Niger is central to many things in the Sahel
Niamey – Hardly anyone in Europe would find the cities of Arlit and Agadez on a map. And the places made up of mainly low mud houses are not exactly what one would understand as huge population centers, even by the standards of the 25-million-inhabitant state of Niger. And yet both are perhaps more important for Europe than some capitals. Arlit is the place where around 25 percent of the nuclear power that flowed from sockets in the EU originated last year. The city is home to a large uranium mine previously run by French group Orano (which until recently was better known as Areva). Agadez, in turn, is one of the most important stopovers on the migratory routes from the south of the continent via Libya, Tunisia and Algeria to Europe. And not only that: It is also one of the most important bases of the US military in the region, which, with around 1.000 soldiers, is waging its drone war against Islamists in the Sahel zone from there...
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renovation | Wismut | uranium contaminated sites
Almost 128 million euros for the remediation of uranium contaminated sites
Last year, the state-owned Wismut GmbH spent a further 127,7 million euros (2021: 125,2 million) on the remediation of contaminated sites from uranium mining in Saxony and Thuringia. This means that the costs for the federal government since 1991 have totaled around 7 billion euros, the company announced on Tuesday in Chemnitz. In 2022, problems in the supply chains, the energy crisis and inflation would have made work more difficult. Nevertheless, it was possible to fulfill the planned program in the most important points. This included securing the last mine workings close to the surface in Schlema-Alberoda and completing the rehabilitation of tailings pile 310 in Aue-Bad Schlema.
"At all locations, the core renovation is in the final phase or has already been completed," said Wismut. The most lengthy major project is the rehabilitation of the Culmitzsch tailings facility in East Thuringia, which was once used for uranium processing. According to the current status, the work there will last until 2028...
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pacifism | war | militarism
"Pacifism is not a crime": That's what the protest in front of the Ukrainian embassy is about
Ukrainian Yurii Sheliazhenko faces charges of refusing to die on either side. But what alternatives are there to the military fight against the occupation?
Pacifist organizations from many countries are currently calling on the Ukrainian government to drop the charges against the head of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, Yurii Sheliazhenko. On August 3, 2023, members of Ukraine's internal intelligence service searched the social scientist's home and confiscated computers and phones. Sheliazhenko was also told that he would be charged with justifying Russian aggression.
[...] "Yurii Sheliazhenko is currently awaiting preventive action. We don't know if it's a prison sentence, bail or maybe 24-hour house arrest with electronic ankle bracelets. But we do know for sure that pacifists are unite in the face of danger, because pacifists all over the world live by a common idea - that war and militarism must be fought. We must fight with all our might and prevent the start of World War III."
7. August
Ukrainian pacifist charged with “interfering with mobilization”
The lawyer Yuri Scheljaschenko is said to have spread pro-Russian propaganda. He rejects this and is suing Section 436 of the Criminal Code.
[...] On August 3 of this year, the lawyer's living quarters were searched and a computer and a mobile phone were confiscated. Now the domestic secret service SBU has invited him to several interrogations. This was preceded by a court order of July 5, according to which the pacifist "spread anti-Ukrainian information". He publicly called for resistance to the mobilization via Telegram.
He also asked state bodies to lift the ban on leaving the country for men between the ages of 18 and 60. This could disrupt mobilization and thus affect the country's defense capability.
[...] Chelyashenko denies the accusation that he is acting in Russia's interests and that he is playing down Russian aggression. In a Facebook post on Sunday, he explained that working in Kyiv is currently difficult for him "due to airstrikes from Russia's criminal war against Ukraine".
He is not the only one in Ukraine publicly calling for peace. Greek Catholic priest Roman Kurach delivered a pacifist sermon at Uzhgorod Cathedral on Sunday. “We ask God for a miracle. We ask him to reconcile these two great peoples – Ukraine and Russia.” He hopes that one day the two peoples “go to heaven together, embrace and glorify the Lord forever and ever for many and good years.” Ukrainian journalist Daria Sipigina said she was “shocked by this sermon” on Facebook. "You can't say that Ukraine and Russia are brother peoples."
6. August
Agriculture | Nature Conservation | Mercosur
Mercosur: Farmers' association and the Conservation Union call for a stop
The Bavarian Farmers' Association and the Bund Naturschutz are calling for the negotiations with South America on the Mercosur Agreement, the largest free trade zone in the world, to be broken off. Serious deficiencies in animal welfare, environmental and consumer protection stand in the way of him.
[...] It cannot be possible to set the bar very high domestically and at the same time set it very low for everything that is imported, said the BBV President: "This is not a fair policy towards domestic farmers and also against them consumers."
The chairman of the Bund Naturschutz in Bayern, Richard Mergner, expressed a similar view. The influence of the South American agricultural industry, which makes billions in profits from beef and soy and at much lower standards, is still great. Deforestation, population displacement, use of pesticides, antibiotics and hormones...
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August 6, 1945 (1st atomic bomb dropped by the USA) Hiroshima, USA
On August 06th and 09th, 1945, the USA has atomic bombs Japan ignited.
Wikipedia
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The atomic bomb explosions killed around 100.000 people immediately - almost exclusively civilians and forced laborers abducted by the Japanese army.
August 6, 1945 - Dropping of the 1st atomic bomb - uranium bomb 'Little Boy' - on Hiroshima! (Explosive power 12.500 tons of TNT)
August 9, 1983- Dropping the 2nd atomic bomb - plutonium bomb 'Fat man'- on Nagasaki! (Explosive power 22.000 tons of TNT)
By the end of 1945, another 130.000 people had died from consequential damage. In the years that followed, many more...
| Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
Current news+
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Hiroshima | nuclear weapon | Hibakusha
Hiroshima: "The asphalt will burn. Chaos will reign."
The trauma: Japan after the airdrop of "Little Boy". The atomic bomb and the catastrophe on film: How to deal with an ultra-horror civilization break? Unlike with political phrases.
The atomic bomb occupies an even more important place in Japanese cinema than in US cinema – for obvious reasons. Like other carriers of culture, the cinema acts as a central medium for processing the incomprehensible of the experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their consequences. At the same time, early reactions to this experience were hardly possible in Japan because the country suffered from massive military censorship until 1952.
More so than in the US, where the focus is on military logic and the relationship between individuals and state institutions, Japanese films attempt to think deeply about the suffering and consequences of Hiroshima from the start.
The Children of Hiroshima: "Hibakusha cinema"
The focus is on a teacher who returns to Hiroshima on vacation four years after the war. She meets an orphan boy who accompanies her and, unlike her, embodies innocence and the future.
Restrained and undramatic, the film shows the overwhelming destruction of the city, but even more so the physical and emotional consequences for the survivors, the "hibakusha".
It is the quiet and at first glance banal scenes that have the strongest effect here: when she sees a silver-beaming airplane in the sky, the main character Takako pauses for a moment, while the boy looks enthusiastically at the sky.
This is a heartbreaking reminiscence of the "Enola Gay", which the residents of Hiroshima looked at with similar amazement in the cloudless sky on the morning of August 6, 1945: It was extremely unusual that American aircraft did not appear in large bomber formations, but individually.
Hideo Sekigawa's remarkable Hiroshima (1953) is a documentary that focuses more on the realistic portrayal of events and their aftermath.
Hiroshima focuses on the suffering of the victims and the long-term health consequences of radioactive contamination and shows something that has not really been understood in the West to this day: the bomb does not appear in Japan as a consequence of the war and as a consequence of one's own actions or moral guilt. Unlike war and death, it is something that no one had any control over, something that could not be helped. Like an act of God.
Who are the crazies?
The director Akira Kurosawa is most likely to resist this attitude of resignation to fate: After a rather cautious approach in Report of a Living Being (1953), he tells the story of an individual in A Life in Fear.
The elderly patriarch, played by Toshiro Mifune, is said to have been declared insane by his family because they fear his "delusional fears" will ruin him. He wants to trade his foundry factory for a farm in Brazil. Behind the mask of the grumpy, angry old man, Mifune's character is driven by fear.
The theme is clear: "Are we, who can remain undeterred in a crazy world, the crazy ones?" asks one character. The young son-in-law mockingly describes the nuclear destruction and, as a representative of the youth, cannot understand the experience:
"Father, if you are so scared, why don't you move to another planet?"
Twice more Kurosawa returned directly to this life theme: For example In Dreams and Rhapsody in August.
Decades later, Shohei Imamura's award-winning Black Rain (1989) ties in with Kurosawa's approach.
The film tells the story of a family who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima but are confronted with the health and social consequences of radiation...
| Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
Background knowledge
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The map of the nuclear world
Alamogordo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Amchitka, Bikini, Eniwetok, Emu-Field, Kiribati, Lop Nor, Montebello, Reggane, In-Ekker, Fangataufa, Muroroa, Novaya Zemlya, Semipalatinks, Tozkoye...
The internal search for
Hiroshima | nuclear weapon | nuclear ban
brought the following results, among others:
July 22, 2023 - Noam Chomsky on the most dangerous point in human history
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August 1, 2022 - Withdraw nuclear weapons from Europe!
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January 22, 2022 - Four nuclear-armed states are ready for war - this treaty could stop them
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February 12, 2021 - Federal government must revise criticism of nuclear weapons ban treaty
YouTube
Hiroshima
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Hiroshima
Videos:
The mirror -16:12
75 years of Hiroshima: when the sun fell from the sky
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ARTE - July 4, 2023 - 1:36:57
The Bomb - the most destructive weapon ever invented
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Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...
This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic
The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!
Nuclear weapons possession ban
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Atomwaffen Besitz Verbot
The nuclear chain
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on the center of the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Of the 350.000 residents, around 140.000 died by the end of the year. The “Hibakusha” survivors suffered long-term effects of radioactive radiation, such as significantly increased cancer rates...
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An exhibition of the IPPNW
The exhibition shows the health and environmental consequences of the "nuclear chain": from uranium mining to uranium enrichment, civil nuclear accidents, nuclear weapons tests, military nuclear accidents, nuclear bombings to nuclear waste and depleted uranium ammunition. It is dedicated to those whose lives have been impacted by the nuclear industry: the indigenous peoples whose homes have been turned into nuclear deserts by uranium mining, the "downwinders" of more than 2.000 nuclear weapons tests, the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attacks, and the people who are affected by radioactive fallout from civil and military nuclear disasters. They would all have a better life if the uranium had been left in the ground...
Wikipedia
Chronological non-exhaustive list of nuclear weapons tests. The table contains only salient points in the history of the detonation of an atomic bomb for test purposes. In addition to nuclear explosions in the true sense, countless tests have been carried out with nuclear weapons that intentionally or unintentionally did not explode...
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Newsletter XXXI 2023 - July 30th to August 5th
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