Newsletter XXXIX 2023
24. to 30. September
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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 came to the public in a roundabout way...
Excerpt for this month:
September 1, 1982 (INES 5) Chernobyl, USSR
September 3, 2017 (6. Atomic Bomb Test) Punggye-ri, PRK
September 5, 2008 (INES ? Class.?) Ascó, ESP
September 9, 2016 (5. Atomic Bomb Test) Punggye-ri, PRK
September 11, 1979 (INES 4 NAMS 3,4) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
September 11, 1957 (INES 5 NAMS 2,3) nuclear factory Rocky Flats, USA
September 13, 1987 (INES 5) Goiânia, BRA
September 18, 1980 (Rocket fuel explosion) Damascus, USA
September 22, 1980 (INES 3 NAMS 1,6) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
September 23, 1983 (INES 4) nuclear center Constituentes, ARG
September 24, 1977 (INES 3) Davis Besse, USA
September 26, 2013 (INES 2) Institute for Energy Petten, NLD
September 26, 1973 (INES 4 NAMS 2) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
September 29, 1957 (INES 6 NAMS 7,3) nuclear factory Mayak, USSR
September 30, 1999 (INES 4) nuclear factory Tokaimura, JPN
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We are looking for current information. If you can help, please send a message to: nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de
30 September
Climate movement | Extinction rebellion | form of protest
Climate activists test new strategy because: “People don’t listen to us anymore”
The climate movement is struggling for listeners. In front of a Deutsche Bank branch in Berlin you can see what could be coming: increasing disinterest.
What is particularly surprising is how upset the Deutsche Bank employees are. When you talk to them, they react poorly to the action of the climate activists out there on the street; one employee even quickly expels the reporter from the branch's premises when asked a second time. You don't want to talk, he says. Shortly afterwards, however, the same employee storms onto the street and insults the climate activists: “You'd better go to China and get upset there,” he snaps. You would like to give him the opportunity to explain his frustration, but no: “I don’t talk to anyone.”
Saturday morning, Friedrichstrasse in front of the “Quartier Zukunft”. Here, Deutsche Bank advertises that it operates “one of the first green bank branches”, a marketplace of the future. The group Extinction Rebellion has announced a satirical performance in front of the district. And it's satirical. Activists in suits posing as bank employees rave about a short-term future, offering passers-by to invest “in the destruction of the rainforest.” In the end there is a marriage between a bank ATM that dispenses bloody (and oily) bills and the fossil fuel industry, personified by a man with an oil can on his head...
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Denmark | offshore | power generation
Offshore wind farms: How Denmark became Germany's energy supplier
After the end of cheap gas from Russia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is relying on energy production at sea. The Baltic Sea is to become a gigantic wind power plant.
The aim is to produce cheap electricity and later also hydrogen. The Danes were the first to set off. Nysted Havmøllepark, just 30 kilometers from the Mecklenburg coast, was the first large offshore park in the world. It is now 20 years old and has therefore reached its projected lifespan.
Gift to planet earth
It all started in 1998. At that time, the Danish Energy and Environment Minister Svend Auken pathetically announced that the Kingdom of Denmark would build huge wind farms at sea as a gift to the planet. After a few smaller test fields, the south coast of the islands of Lolland and Falster was finally chosen to build the world's first large offshore wind farm. The numbers were impressive: 72 wind turbines, each over 100 meters high, just 10 kilometers from the Danish coast.
Resistance on the coast
Many residents of the nearby coastal towns of Gedser and Nysted asked themselves at the time: Why in our untouched coastal landscape, in the middle of one of the most important bird migration areas in Europe? Resistance also came from local summer home owners and even farms...
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Species extinction | El Niño | Amazon
Amazon region: Over 100 dead river dolphins discovered
Manaus (dpa) - Over 100 dead freshwater dolphins have been discovered in the Brazilian Amazon. The dead animals were found in Lake Tefé over the past week, the Mamirauá research institute announced on Friday.
The exact cause of death still needs to be determined. However, it can be assumed that it is related to the current heat and drought in the region. Water temperatures of over 39 degrees were recently measured in the lake.
The Amazon region is currently suffering from high temperatures and a severe drought. Many rivers in the region carry significantly less water than the average of previous years. The normal dry season is currently being intensified by the climate phenomenon El Niño...
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battery technology | Power storage | perovskite
Researchers develop electric car battery with three times the lifespan at a lower price
In order to increase the lifespan of batteries for electric vehicles, the Argonne National Laboratory in the USA has developed battery systems that can withstand the physical stresses of frequent charging and discharging much better. In addition, the new batteries should have less impact on the environment.
Tongchao Liu from Argonne National Laboratory in the US has developed batteries for electric vehicles that last longer and can be charged more frequently. Until now, researchers have not agreed on exactly what causes batteries to fail.
Using a diagnostic system, the assistant chemist has now discovered that most defects in lithium batteries occur at the cathode, where the current flows from the battery. With each charging cycle, internal parts of the electrode expand and contract again.
Tongchao Liu has therefore developed a new cathode structure made of perovskite that triples the lifespan of the batteries and reduces manufacturing costs by 25 percent. Perovskite is also used in newer developments in the field of solar cells.
In addition, the new technology eliminates the use of cobalt, which is problematic for both the environment and humans...
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Energy transition | Electricity prices | green power
Green and cheap: three companies that are shaking up the electricity market
Green electricity is the key to the success of the energy transition. But there are currently too few of them and they are too expensive. Or not? Three companies that prove the opposite.
Berlin – The energy transition in Germany depends largely on the expansion of capacities for renewable electricity. Solar and wind are the main sources of green electricity, but hydropower and biomass also play a role. The federal government's hope: By expanding the generation options for renewable electricity, it will become cheaper - and thus convince even the last doubters to switch to electric cars, heat pumps and solar systems.
But currently electricity is expensive, much more expensive than natural gas or oil. Consumers currently pay around 30 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity, around half of which comes from renewable sources. Gas, on the other hand, costs 9 cents per kWh, heating oil around 12 cents. So a lot still has to happen for the plan to work. Or?
Combine green electricity tariffs with smart meters
In fact, more and more companies are advertising electricity tariffs that are far below the prices for fossil fuels. They also promise that the electricity they purchase comes exclusively from renewable sources, i.e. it is 100 percent green electricity...
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September 30, 1999 (INES 4) nuclear factory Tokaimura, JPN
Workers at the Tokaimura uranium processing plant tried to save time and put too much uranium in a preparation tank (16,6 kg instead of 2,3 kg). Two people died and 1.200 were injured. (Cost approx. US$63 million)
Wikipedia
Tokaimura nuclear accident in 1999
... To speed up the process and thus save money, that day the plant workers filled the precipitation vessel with 16,6 kg of uranium instead of the permitted 2,4 kg - a sixfold excess. The critical mass, which in this case was 5 kg, was significantly exceeded, resulting in an explosive accumulation of fission neutrons. This inevitably led to an uncontrollable chain reaction, which the workers perceived as a "blue flash" (Cherenkov light) accompanied by a loud bang. The workers who were involved in the work processes at that time had not been informed or only partially informed about the dangers of the criticality.
The nuclear chain reaction released gamma and neutron radiation over a period of 20 hours...
The number of people who received increased doses of radiation is given as 35 to 63. Three workers were exposed to particularly high levels of radioactivity of up to 17 sieverts. Around 300.000 residents were asked not to leave their homes. This accident is officially rated INES 4, but by some scientists INES level 5.
Two workers died as a result of the increased radiation ...
Nuclear power accidents by country#Japan
AtomkraftwerkePlag
The worst nuclear accident in Japan to date occurred on September 30, 1999 at the Tokaimura fuel element factory in Japan. Two workers, who had not been informed by the operator JCO about the dangers of highly enriched uranium, had filled a uranium solution into a tank with steel buckets and by hand in too large a quantity and used "spoon-like devices" to mix it. In order to save time during production, the operator changed a procedural regulation without the knowledge of the nuclear regulator and the work processes were shortened...
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...
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 wherever in the world, all have the same problem: with every processing step More and more extremely toxic and highly radioactive waste is being produced...
29 September
Dear friends,
Times are not easy right now, worries and suffering have become everyday companions, in the news around the world as well as for many people here personally. The traffic light gives free rein to the destruction of the climate, the removal of participation rights for environmental associations and the erosion of asylum and human rights. The racists from the AfD and CDU are becoming louder and stronger. Some people find it difficult to take action or people are too busy ensuring their own supplies: now demonstrate for more climate protection, human rights and safe handling of nuclear waste? Familiarize yourself with complex topics? Do you even want to set something up yourself?
SOS Mediteranee's Right Livelihood Award yesterday came at exactly the right time after Merz's racist agitation! We must not let ourselves be downplayed, the sea rescuers in the Mediterranean defy all odds, because every life counts, just like the basic arithmetic of every woman in Ghana, every lead poisoning prevented in Kenya, every square meter of the environment in Cambodia. These people and the recognition of the alternative Nobel Prize are encouraging. More information about the award winners:
https://rightlivelihood.org/what-we-do/the-right-livelihood-award/
Our friend and anti-nuclear and climate protection activist Vladimir Sliviak has also already received the award - because every gram of CO2 and every nuclear waste container counts! Let's get active together, we have already achieved a lot and we will achieve even more! We call for the following dates and activities:
01. October: Forest walk "Sterki remains" in Oberhausen - against the expansion of the A3 - this is exactly the route over which the 152 Castoren should travel from Jülich to Ahaus. We stand in solidarity with the forest protectors and look forward to joint activities.
https://esreicht-ob.de/waldspaziergang-sterkibleibt-so-1-10-1200/
07. October: Nuclear waste conference in Göttingen. You want to become active (again) - the non-party forum is about professional exchange and planning of political interference. Specifically, the focus will be on, among other things, the “endless” interim storage facilities, the Castor transports from Jülich to Ahaus and the expansion of the Gronau uranium enrichment plant. https://www.atommuellkonferenz.de/
11. October: Reading with Horst Hamm from his book "The Uncanny Element" in the "next door" (next to the Cinema Warendorfer Str. Münster)
https://sofa-ms.de/
15. October: Castor action day between Jülich and Ahaus for the safest possible storage of the West Castors in Jülich and against the senseless transfer of nuclear waste. There will be vigils and rallies in Jülich and Ahaus, and more are being planned at Rhine bridges.
Let's go - in solidarity for a better world!
Solidarity greetings
Sofa Munster
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Neukölln | Neo-Nazis | Right-wing extremists | State Security
Neukölln Investigative Committee:
Neo-Nazis vividly described
Although an investigation is underway against him, a police officer in the Neukölln investigative committee is answering the questions. And surprises with some of the answers.
Berlin taz | The interrogation of police officer Norbert M. on Friday in the House of Representatives committee of inquiry into the Neukölln complex was eagerly awaited. How often will the witness invoke the right to refuse to testify?
The day before it became known that an investigation had been opened against M. He is suspected of passing on official secrets relating to the investigations into the right-wing Neukölln milieu.
[...] M. answered almost all questions, including those that could affect the investigation pending against him. He was asked whether he could rule out that data had been passed on to third parties. “I didn’t do it and didn’t notice,” was the answer.
From 2007 to 2016, M. was a member of the right-wing extremism investigation group (EG Rex), and from 2017 to 2021 its successor organization, the right-wing extremism operational group (OG Rex).
[...] The task of the OG Rex was limited to maintaining contact with the victims of right-wing violence. According to M., the state security agency was of the opinion that “we were more of a nuisance during the observations.” At this time, the Neukölln investigation was conducted by EG Resin, part of the State Security Agency.
From 2015, M. held a management position at EG Rex. Only three officers were still working there at the time. One of them was the officer Stefan K. Jener K., who, while heavily drunk, beat an Afghan asylum seeker until he was hospitalized while off duty together with right-wing fans of 2017. FC Union in April 1 and was legally convicted for this in March 2023.
Sick note sent
Stefan K. was actually supposed to be heard in the investigative committee on Friday. But the police officer had sent a sick note before the meeting...
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prosperity | economics | Right-wing extremism
Economists warn of right-wing extremism:
Right-wing extremism eats up wealth
Economic concerns strengthen the ultra-right - but the ultra-right also damage the economy. The result: a poisonous mixture for the economy.
A diagnosis that is by no means wrong, but a bit too simple, goes like this: If the economy is in a tailspin, uncertainty eats into the lives of many people. If the middle class fears decline, right-wing extremism is growing. Less common, but just as true, is that if right-wing extremism grows, then the economy will also go downhill.
Two studies make this very clear: Hard right-wing extremist worldviews are spreading more and more in the middle of society, according to a current study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. While a few years ago 2 to 3 percent of the population were affected by authoritarian and ethno-nationalist views, today the figure is around 8 percent. And 20 percent are assigned to a gray area that supports at least parts of the “hard right” worldview.
[...] right-wing extremism and polarization are poison for the economy. In the next few years, the boomer generation will retire, and medicine will increase life expectancy. In order to keep the ratio of working to pensioner cohorts stable, Europe would need 2050 billion inhabitants by 1,2. This is completely impossible, but every government today needs a sensible migration strategy. But this is made impossible by a xenophobic atmosphere...
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Solar systems | Solar expansion
Record: IWR expects more than one million new solar systems in Germany in 2023
Münster - The ongoing photovoltaic boom is leading to record growth in Germany this year. The federal government's expansion target of 9.000 MW as an interim target for the whole of 2023 has already been exceeded after eight months.
In order to achieve the expansion target of 80 percent share of renewable energies in the electricity sector by 2030, the federal government wants to increase solar output to 215 GW (215.000 MW). For 2023, the International Economic Forum for Renewable Energies (IWR) in Münster alone expects an increase in solar capacity of around 13.000 MW (13 GW). This is well above planning.
Additional solar capacity of 9.200 MW from January to August 2023 – all-time high from 2012 already exceeded
As of the end of August 2023, over 700.000 solar systems with an output of 9.200 MW have already gone into operation in Germany...
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Renewables | Power generation | Investments
Renewable energies cover more than half of electricity consumption
Wind and solar supplied five percent more electricity than in the previous year. Photovoltaic systems in particular are making an increasingly larger contribution to electricity supply.
Renewable energies from wind and sun covered more than half of Germany's electricity consumption in the first three quarters of this year. Exactly, it was around 52 percent - an increase of almost five percentage points compared to the same period last year, as preliminary calculations by the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg and the Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry (BDEW) show.
The expansion of renewable energies plays a central role for the federal government in achieving climate goals and becoming more independent of fossil raw materials...
In purely mathematical terms, we could be at 100% renewable energy within 10 years, and with a little good will even sooner. Nevertheless, huge sums of money are still being invested in nuclear power. The power of MIC and the Nuclear lobby is unrestricted, not only in atomic bomb countries such as America, China, France, Great Britain, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and Russia, but also in Germany and...
See: Dreaming about nuclear fusion
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France | OECD | Nuclear lobby | MIC
Industry groups and governments are committed to supporting new nuclear energy
Nuclear industry representatives in OECD countries and representatives of the governments of 20 countries have issued communiqués pledging to work together to expand nuclear energy capacity, following the first Roadmaps to New Nuclear Conference organized by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and organized by the French government.
On the industry side, the Canadian Nuclear Association, Candu Owners Group Inc, Gifen, Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Korea Atomic Industrial Forum, Nuclear Energy Institute, nucleareurope, Nuclear Industry Association and World Nuclear Association issued a communiqué saying: " We recognize that we are at a critical juncture in climate and energy security and nuclear energy has an essential role to play. The urgency and scale of the challenge before us is real and the speed and scale the answer must correspond to this task."
"Building on cooperation in April in Sapporo, Japan, during the G7 Meeting of Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers and the Economic Forum, we stand ready to work with policymakers to ensure leadership in nuclear energy in OECD countries "To rebuild and work with other like-minded nations to achieve their climate and energy security goals."...
Translation with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
"The tail wags the dog" - 20 nuclear states and the concentrated power of the weapons and nuclear industry are setting the tone and want to "make the rest of the world happy" with nuclear power. Nothing new so far, the usual suspects have been trying this since the 1950s. But now you can see the fear in their eyes, in a few years they can shove their ambitions along with their glossy brochures into the oven, then no one in this world will want to buy their poison-producing nuclear steam engines anymore. Today, renewable energies are on the threshold and the nuclear nightmare of an all-controlling and overpowering nuclear industry is finally over.
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September 29, 1957 (INES 6 | NAMS 7,3) nuclear factory Mayak, USSR
About 1 million TBq of radioactivity was released. At the Majak Scientific-Production Association spent fuel storage facility, heat exchangers in the nitrate storage tank failed, causing a severe chemical explosion. (Cost approx. US$1733 million)
Wikipedia
Also known as the Mayak Accident. The reprocessing plant there stored its waste products in large tanks. The radioactive decay of the substances generates heat, which is why these tanks have to be constantly cooled. After the cooling lines of one of these 1956 m³ tanks leaked in the course of 250 and the cooling was therefore switched off, the contents of this tank began to dry out. Triggered by a spark from an internal measuring device, the nitrate salts contained exploded and released large amounts of radioactive substances. Since the contaminated cloud remained close to the ground, the pollution in the area around the Russian Kyshtym was almost double the amount of the Chernobyl accident. Since the contamination was limited to the Urals, measuring devices did not sound the alarm in Europe (see Chernobyl accident), which meant that the accident could be kept secret from the global public for 30 years. (INES level 6)
Nuclear power accidents by country#Russia
AtomkraftwerkePlag
In 1957, the first major accident occurred in the use of atomic energy, which is comparable in its dimensions to the catastrophes in Fukushima and Chernobyl, but only became known to the world public in 1989.
The Mayak nuclear complex, 15 kilometers east of the city of Kyshtym in Chelyabinsk Oblast on the eastern side of the southern Urals, was an important part of Stalin's 1945 plans to rapidly produce weapons-grade plutonium and close the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons deficit. In 1948 the first reactor was switched on, in 1949 the first atomic bomb was detonated and Stalin had caught up with the USA.
235 radioactive accidents occurred in Mayak with serious consequences for the environment...
Youtube
Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium
All uranium and plutonium factories produce radioactive nuclear waste: Uranium processing, enrichment and reprocessing plants, whether in Hanford, La Hague, Sellafield, Mayak, Tokaimura or wherever in the world, all have the same problem: with every processing step More and more extremely toxic and highly radioactive waste is being produced...
28 September
Campaign for nuclear fusion. Energy generation from fusion in 20 years at the earliest.
Energy generation of the future:
Dreaming about nuclear fusion
In the Bundestag's research committee, experts express themselves positively about nuclear fusion. But the problems are numerous.
BERLIN taz | Germany has a good chance in the race for nuclear fusion as the energy source of the future, but there is a long way to go. This view was represented on Wednesday by eight scientific experts in a hearing in the Bundestag's research committee, which had been requested by the Union parliamentary group. For the most part, a functioning fusion reactor to generate energy was not expected for 20 years at the earliest.
[...] It was striking that FDP Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger had launched an image campaign the day before about the “future energies” of green hydrogen and fusion. However, there are no comparable campaigns for increased research into solar and wind energy, on the rapid spread of which the federal government's climate goals depend.
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Climate Protection Act | speed limit | CO2 budget
Illegal: The truth about the Federal Republic's CO2 budget
Energy and climate – compact: The federal government does not want to adhere to the climate protection law. Therefore, the Bundestag should change it. Why this amounts to a crime. A comment.
As already reported, the federal government is using the law quite creatively. The Climate Protection Act actually stipulates that the government presents an immediate climate protection program for the transport sector. In 2022, it once again significantly exceeded its legally stipulated emission quantity.
The law was tightened a little in the summer of 2021, shortly before the last federal election, in order to comply with a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court. But today's Chancellor, who launched both the original law and the amendments together with the Union under Angela Merkel, apparently no longer feels bound by this.
The Karlsruhe judges reprimanded the legislature in March 2021 because postponing climate protection into the future would unduly restrict the young generation's freedoms. (Telepolis had berichtet.)
But the verdict does not seem to have brought any real insight to those in power. A year later, Olaf Scholz, who had since become Chancellor, compared climate activists who demanded that he abide by the law to Nazis. Meanwhile, the consequences that the Berlin traffic light is drawing from its failure to protect the climate is breathtaking.
Not only does it refuse to apply the law - Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) are primarily responsible for this - but it also wants to further weaken the already inadequate climate protection law. On Friday last week, a corresponding cabinet draft was discussed in the Bundestag in its first reading...
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Climate change | 1,5 degrees | extreme weather
Extreme weather congress in Hamburg
Scientists: Climate change will continue largely unchecked
Weather and climate experts have warned that the Earth is facing massive changes. At the start of the 13th Extreme Weather Congress in Hamburg, scientists declared that climate change would largely go unchecked. They see the Paris Framework Agreement as “effectively failed”.
According to the findings of weather and climate experts, the earth is facing massive, unavoidable changes. Climate change will largely occur unchecked, scientists said at the start of the 13th Extreme Weather Congress on Wednesday in Hamburg. The organizers announced that reminders for decisive climate protection and adaptation to changing climate conditions are the focus of the conference, which runs until Friday.
[...] Jochem Marotzke, director at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, explained: “We have to accept that the 1,5 degree limit will be exceeded.” It will only take enormous effort It will be possible to keep warming below the 2 degree limit. “We are currently on the way to a 3-degree world by the end of the century.”...
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Greenhouse gas emissions | Transport transition | Transport policy
EU in car fever: 15.000 km of rails gone, but 30.000 km of new motorways
The road network continues to proliferate, railway tracks are disappearing, and this has been the case for 30 years. A study shows the extent: Germany invests incorrectly, other countries surprise. What experts demand.
Transport remains the only sector in the EU that has not only not reduced its greenhouse gas emissions, but has actually continuously increased them over the last three decades. Transport-related emissions increased by 1995 percent between 2019 and 15.
A key reason for this is a failed transport policy in almost all EU countries, while the climate crisis is worsening. A new study by the Wuppertal Institute and the T3 Transportation Think Tank, commissioned by Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe, shows that since 1995, an average of 66 percent more has been invested in the expansion and renovation of motorways than in rail transport in Europe is: 1,5 trillion euros for road infrastructure, but only 930 billion euros for rail.
This one-sided funding coincides with a 60 percent increase in the length of Europe's motorways since 1995 (more than 30.000 kilometers), while European railway routes have shrunk by 6,5 percent, or 15.650 kilometers (km). The biggest absolute losses were in Germany, Poland and Italy...
27 September
Investigations against a Police officers for passing on information to right-wing extremists
Possibly in the right-wing milieu
Berlin police officer is said to have revealed official secrets
The operational group Rex in Berlin is supposed to investigate, among other things, a series of arson attacks in Neukölln. The authorities are now investigating an officer in the unit: he is said to have passed on official secrets to the right-wing milieu.
In Berlin, the public prosecutor's office is investigating a police officer who is accused of revealing official secrets from investigations into the right-wing milieu. As the police and public prosecutor's office announced, the officer, as a member of the so-called operational group Rex (OG Rex), is said to have passed on secret information to a contact person. He couldn't rule out the possibility that this information would be passed on to other people...
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Climate protection | Climate policy | Climate lawsuit
European Court of Human Rights:
Gen Z vs. 32 states
They want to force Europe to do more climate protection: six young people are filing the largest climate lawsuit in the world. How do you prove that governments are endangering the future?
[...] On one side of the hall are six young people from Portugal. They are children, teenagers, some now young adults. Mariana Duarte Agostinho, the youngest, is just eleven years old. By the time she's 65, the world could be 2,5 degrees hotter. When she is 88 years old, the year 2100 will be reached. The year by which global warming should have been limited to a maximum of 1,5 degrees. And in which, according to current forecasts, the mark of four degrees above pre-industrial levels may be exceeded. They fight for climate protection. And that's why we sued 32 countries in geographical Europe.
On the other side of the hall are the representatives of 31 of these countries. There are more than 80 lawyers. The lawsuit is aimed at all EU member states, as well as Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, Great Britain and Russia, which, however, is not represented. These countries are also fighting: against this high European court declaring the lawsuit admissible. And gives nation states legally binding guidelines for their climate policy...
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Floods again in central Greece
It must seem like déjà vu to people: the region was only flooded by storm “Daniel” in September. Now deep “Elias” is on the way.
They are actually still struggling with the consequences of the floods at the beginning of September, but now the residents of central Greece have to clear away the mud and debris again. Evacuations were also necessary.
The storms again caused flooding, power outages and closed roads in parts of Greece on Wednesday. Deep “Elias” brought heavy rain on the island of Euboea, among other places. There, the rain washed so much red mud into the sea near the northwestern town of Limni that the bay glowed red, as pictures in the Greek media showed...
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Glyphosate | Monsanto | Pesticide
Study was missing from the approval application:
Bayer reported for glyphosate
According to environmental groups, the chemical company has not submitted critical studies to the authorities about the health risks of the pesticide. Bayer sees it differently.
BERLIN taz | Environmentalists have denounced the chemical company Bayer for failing to provide evidence of health risks from glyphosate in its application for re-approval of the pesticide. The Global 2000 and Pesticide Action Network associations suspect the manufacturer consortium led by Bayer of having “improperly withheld or incorrectly presented unfavorable results and data from manufacturer studies” in the approval application in order to “deceive” the authorities.
[...] The poison kills almost all non-genetically modified plants and thus also food for birds and insects. That's why environmentalists see it as a threat to biodiversity.
The EU pesticide regulation requires that manufacturers submit all studies on potentially harmful effects in their application for approval, the environmental organizations explained. "But Bayer's current application for approval is missing the majority of published studies that indicate damaging effects on the nervous system (neurotoxicity) caused by glyphosate." This includes a study that found an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders in children their mothers were exposed to glyphosate during pregnancy or they themselves were exposed to glyphosate in the first year of life...
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Inequality | stability | wealth
"We cannot allow extreme wealth to ruin our shared future."
Millionaires, politicians and economists have called on G20 countries to tackle rampant inequality by working together to raise taxes on the world's rich.
Around 300 millionaires, including heiress Abigail Disney, politicians like Bernie Sanders, former heads of state and government, political representatives and economists like Thomas Piketty have jointly made an appeal to the heads of state and government of the G-20 countries, who recently met in... met New Delhi.
Their assessment is grim: "The accumulation of extreme wealth by the world's richest people has become an economic, environmental and human rights catastrophe that threatens political stability in countries around the world. Such high levels of inequality virtually undermine strength of all of our global systems and must therefore be addressed directly...
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Consulting firm | Pharma industry | Profits
Disguised risk of addiction
McKinsey will pay $230 million in opioid pill dispute
The pharmaceutical industry is said to have received help from McKinsey when selling addictive opioids. The consulting firm rejects the allegations, but has now agreed to an expensive settlement again.
The consulting firm McKinsey has agreed to a further payment of millions in the dispute over opioid painkillers. This emerges from court documents quoted by the AFP news agency. Accordingly, McKinsey wants to pay $230 million to American authorities to avert a civil lawsuit. A judge still has to approve the settlement.
US districts, municipalities, schools, indigenous tribal communities and parents of children in detention had filed thousands of lawsuits against McKinsey. They accuse the consultants of having developed strategies together with pharmaceutical companies to aggressively market opioid painkillers. According to court documents, the companies wanted to “maximize opioid revenue.”
[...] Purdue, which belongs to the billionaire Sackler family, is the manufacturer of the opioid Oxycontin, which has been particularly widespread in the USA since the XNUMXs. Critics accuse the company of deliberately concealing the risk of addiction and promoting mass prescription. Purdue has now filed for bankruptcy after numerous lawsuits...
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Federal Minister of Transport Wissing initiates successful Support program for homeowner
Funding program for photovoltaics has already been exhausted: applications are no longer possible
You couldn't even apply for a grant of up to 10.200 euros for a day to charge your electric car with solar power. The money is gone.
Despite technical problems on the internet portal, the “solar power for electric cars” funding program was completely exhausted within less than 24 hours. The 300 million euros provided by the Federal Ministry of Transport are gone, according to the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), which is responsible for distribution. The funding program 442 provides grants of a maximum of 10.200 euros for the purchase and connection of a charging station, a photovoltaic system and a solar power storage system. "A total of around 33.000 applications were approved - despite technical delays," KfW told dpa.
Only owners of residential buildings who already own an electric car are eligible to apply...
26 September
Funding | solar power | E-car
New funding for electric cars:
Politics for those who already have
E-car owners should receive state money if they fill up with their own solar power. This unilaterally supports homeowners.
As if there weren't already enough funding opportunities for electromobility. The purchase of battery-powered vehicles has been subsidized for years, electric cars are temporarily exempt from vehicle tax, there has been good money for wall charging stations (“wallboxes”) for charging at home – and the public charging infrastructure is often also highly subsidized.
Another subsidy program for electric car clients started on Tuesday. There is up to 10.200 euros in tax money for electric car owners who put a solar power system on the roof of their house and put a power storage unit in the basement. KfW grant 442 is the name of the new cornucopia for transport transformation...
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Habeck | Energy prices | Electricity tax
Industry association wants lower electricity tax instead of industrial electricity price
Robert Habeck sees good opportunities for an industrial electricity price. From the BDI's point of view, it would be better to reduce the electricity tax - that would also help private individuals.
Despite resistance within the traffic light government, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) continues to push for downwardly subsidized electricity prices for energy-intensive industry. The chances of this happening in the end are 50 percent, said Habeck at a BDI congress in Berlin. It would have looked worse. The existence of the energy-intensive industry is at stake because of the currently very high electricity prices. “The production slumps are there.” They are dramatic, around 20 percent in the past few months.
In view of the weakening economy and high energy prices, the industry once again called for a reduction in electricity taxes and network fees. Overall, this is initially more important than an industrial electricity price, said the head of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Siegfried Russwurm, on ARD. “This works for everyone – for every company, but also for private consumers.”...
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Traffic light coalition | Arithmetic artist Lindner | money laundering
Fight against money laundering
Millions in anti-money laundering projects stopped
Finance Minister Lindner promised that the new Federal Financial Crimes Office should be a “milestone” in the fight against money laundering. Now, according tocontrast information, a key digital project worth several hundred million euros has been canceled.
A program should have detected suspicious financial transactions in the future - with the help of artificial intelligence. Now it's apparently not even being developed. According to research by the ARD political magazine Contrasts, the central project to combat money laundering worth several hundred million euros has fallen victim to austerity pressure.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which reports to the Federal Ministry of Finance, launched the call for tenders for the planned program in 2021 via the “Bundal Information Technology Center” (ITZ Bund). It is entitled “Renewal of the FIU information network”. According to documents available to contrast, the ITZ Bund stopped the proceedings on September 1st. The reason given is: "Budget funds for the project were subsequently lost."...
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traffic light coalition | Justice | Climate money
Climate money for social justice:
Social ignorance
The climate money is intended to distribute the costs of the transformation more fairly. The fact that Robert Habeck is now also putting on the brakes is fatal.
The traffic light government is putting the promised climate money on hold - and that is a big mistake. Because it undermines trust that the restructuring of the country, which is necessary to achieve the climate goals, will be carried out in a socially just manner. In this way, the traffic light mobilizes the defense against this necessary transformation.
The activists from Fridays for Future have quite rightly pushed the demand for the rapid introduction of climate money to the forefront. In contrast to the federal government, it is clear to them that there will be no acceptance of climate policy projects without immediately effective social cushioning.
Before the federal election, the Greens, but also the SPD and FDP, had promised financial compensation for higher costs for fuel and fossil thermal energy. In the coalition agreement they announced a “social compensation mechanism” that they call climate money. The idea: Citizens receive a fixed amount to compensate for the higher prices. And the fact that they are increasing is politically desired. Because a special Co2 price has to be paid for fuel and fossil heating energy.
The federal government will increase this price from 1 to 30 euros on January 40st, and in a second step to 50 euros from 2025. The federal government expects almost 11 billion euros in revenue in 2024. Industry experts expect an increase of four cents per liter of fuel due to a CO2 price of 40 euros. A number of other prices will rise because goods have to be transported...
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Right-wing spin, hatred and agitation: East German conditions prevail in Bavaria
In Bavaria, alongside the CSU, the Free Voters and the AfD are gaining strength. At the same time, the Greens are being attacked more and more often. A radicalization that is unusual for West German conditions is taking place in the Free State, comments Markus Decker.
A few days ago someone took action in Neu-Ulm. A 44-year-old man – apparently drunk and belonging to the “lateral thinker” scene – threw a stone at Katharina Schulze and Ludwig Hartmann, the Green top candidates in the Bavarian state elections.
The attack is just the tip of the iceberg. At a rally with the Green Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir in Hart am Chiemsee, stones were not thrown, but were offered to be thrown in public at a stand. Not to mention the daily verbal attacks. Bavaria's Greens have long been afraid of conducting their election campaign the way they used to - unprotected...
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September 26, 2013 (INES 2) Institute for Energy Petten, NLD
Three out of six control rods showed defects, the research reactor had to be shut down for 5 months. (Costs ?)
Wikipedia
As part of the EURATOM Treaty, the Netherlands and the then EURATOM Commission concluded the contract in 1961 to establish the European Research Center, which opened in Petten in 1962. It took over the high-flux reactor for materials research that had gone into operation the year before and is now used primarily for the production of medical isotopes...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
In 2020, the Rutte government had a nuclear-friendly study carried out by the consulting firm Enco, which was founded in 1994 by former members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This came to the conclusion that nuclear power represents a cost-effective energy source for the goal of CO2 reduction and recommended extending the life of the existing nuclear power plant and building new ones. Three to ten new power plants were under discussion...
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September 26, 1973 (INES 4 | NAMS 2) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
5,4 TBq of radioactivity was released. An exothermic reaction between accumulated zirconium and a solvent occurred in a tank at the processing plant, exposing 35 workers to increased levels of radiation. (Cost approx. US$990 million)
Slowly but surely, all the relevant information on disruptions in the nuclear industry from Wikipedia away!
Wikipedia
Sellafield (formerly Windscale)
The complex was made famous by a catastrophic fire in 1957 and by frequent nuclear incidents, which is one of the reasons why it was renamed Sellafield. Up until the mid-1980s, large quantities of the nuclear waste generated in day-to-day operations were discharged in liquid form via a pipeline into the Irish Sea.
Radiological releases
Between 1950 and 2000 there were 21 serious off-site incidents or accidents involving radiological releases that warranted classification on the International Nuclear Event Scale, one at Level 5, five at Level 4 and fifteen at Level 3. In addition, there were in intentional releases of plutonium and irradiated uranium oxide particles into the atmosphere known for extended periods in the 1950s and 1960s...
Translated with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), United Kingdom
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...
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 wherever in the world, all have the same problem: with every processing step More and more extremely toxic and highly radioactive waste is being produced...
25 September
Climate protection | Climate Crisis | activism
ZDF meteorologist about weather and climate
“The compulsion will definitely come: when we no longer have water or food”
Özden Terli is known as a weather presenter on ZDF. The meteorologist repeatedly highlights the climate crisis as the cause of many weather phenomena. Not everyone likes that. Terli continues anyway: Climate protection is a “human task that will last for generations”.
[...] They often share the posts of activists. In your view, is the final path through activism?
I believe that if things don't move forward and we see that politicians are still so inactive, emissions continue to rise and we don't see any real climate protection, then yes. Then activists – paired with lawyers and NGOs – must enforce climate protection.
Forcing sounds drastic.
You know, the compulsion will definitely come. Namely when we no longer have water or food. I am sure that those who are slowing down climate protection would get hung up on the word coercion, but would not address the actual issue, instead creating distraction and uncertainty. This is something this clientele has been doing for years and people fall for. Tragic...
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California | Lawsuit | Fossil
Environmental costs of fossil fuels
Lawsuit against “lies from Big Oil”
The US state of California is suing oil and gas companies and wants them to share in the costs of climate change. According to the lawsuit, they have been running a disinformation campaign for 50 years to cover up the impact of fossil fuels on the climate.
[...] California has suffered from a mega-drought over the past three years, which caused the groundwater level to drop sharply and further fueled forest fires. This year, months of flooding followed, and a tropical storm brought record rainfall.
The California government has now resorted to a drastic measure to free up funds for the costs of the climate crisis and better adaptation: it filed a lawsuit against oil and gas companies because they have significantly contributed to climate change and have misled the public about the risks. The outcome of these and similar lawsuits could make legal history.
The state sued five oil multinationals, namely Exxon, Shell, BP, Conoco Phillips and Chevron, as well as the industry association American Petroleum Institute. The aim is to set up a fund with possible fines from companies that covers the costs of environmental disasters if they are proven to occur or are exacerbated by the consequences of climate change, such as forest fires or floods.
[...] A verdict at the Higher Regional Court in Hamm is currently eagerly awaited. This is about the lawsuit brought by a Peruvian mountain farmer against the energy company RWE. The accusation: Because of its enormous CO2 emissions, RWE is complicit in the melting of glaciers in the Andes, which is threatening his place of residence.
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Electromobility | Subsidy | antisocial
Federal government starts funding program for solar power for electric cars
The Ministry of Transport is launching a new solar subsidy program for charging electric cars. The consumer advice center criticizes the funding as anti-social.
A new funding program for solar power for charging electric cars starts in Germany this Tuesday. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) said that there was already enormous interest in the funding pot, which contains 500 million euros. “We already receive hundreds of inquiries about this every day. So we are exactly right with the approach of promoting a package consisting of a photovoltaic system, battery storage and charging station,” said Wissing. This means that the solar power you generate can be optimally used to charge electric cars and thus contribute to climate protection.
[...] The Federal Association of Consumer Organizations criticized the program as anti-social: "Only owners of owner-occupied residential buildings will benefit from the new funding program - i.e. exactly those who tend to earn more and have already benefited from other subsidies, for example from the e-car purchase bonus "The funding is anything but social," said consumer advocate Gregor Kolbe to the dpa news agency...
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Climate protection | Energy transition | Green Deal
The Von der Leyen disaster: Why we need a rapid climate protection offensive in the EU
Global catastrophes are increasing, China is overtaking us industrially. Why the EU policy on the energy transition is far too weak. And what exactly needs to happen now.
Last week there were three major events at EU level that dealt with central elements of EU climate policy: the decisions in the EU Parliament on the EU directive for the expansion of renewable energies RED III and the internal electricity market directive. In addition, the Green Deal, which played an important role in the government speech by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
All decisions and political declarations of intent are still far away from what effective climate protection would require in view of the increasingly serious disasters: the end of all emissions by 2030, combined with the expansion of strong carbon sinks.
The climate disasters have reached a new level of horror this summer, but there is no adequate tightening of climate policy in response...
24 September
PFAS | Eternity chemicals | Chemical industry
The chemistry is no longer right
More and more chemicals are being produced worldwide. Some harm people and nature. The World Chemicals Conference ICCM5 in Bonn wants to find ways to deal better with chemicals. Also with regard to climate change.
Humans are surrounded by chemicals. They make life easier, but they also cause a lot of problems because their effects can sometimes be very harmful. For the UN Environment Program, dealing with chemicals and waste is the third major environmental crisis after climate change and biodiversity loss. The fifth International Chemicals Conference (ICCM5) in Bonn is now discussing how to handle chemicals safely.
What is the 5th International Chemicals Conference about?
The fifth International Chemicals Conference will take place in Bonn from September 25th to 29th and will be chaired by Germany. According to the Federal Environment Ministry, the aim of the meeting is to “strengthen awareness and responsibilities for safe chemical management and to agree on a global framework for sustainable management in the chemicals sector as a whole”. A global framework is important because in most countries there are no legally binding rules on how chemicals should be handled.
The ICCM5 is a conference of the parties, similar to climate conferences. A new set of rules for the concrete implementation of chemical and waste management is now to be adopted in Bonn. A final declaration is also planned, “in which governments, business and civil society acknowledge their shared responsibility to reduce the negative effects of the use of chemicals,” as the Federal Environment Ministry says. However, this declaration is not binding under international law...
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Italy | Earthquake | Vulkan
Endless earthquake at Italy's super volcano - expert warns of huge explosion
Fears of an explosion at the Phlegraean Fields supervolcano near Naples are growing: the earth is currently shaking several times an hour.
The Phlegraean Fields supervolcano on the western outskirts of the metropolis of Naples in Italy appears to be increasing its activity. Within 24 hours, the Earth shook around 21 times from Thursday (September 50) to Friday.
A total of 2435 earthquakes have already been registered in the “Campi Flegrei” this year; in 2017 there were only 120 shocks. Most of the time, the seismographs record small, barely noticeable tremors, but there are also shocks that startle people awake from their sleep with a loud noise. Sometimes plaster falls off the wall.
Super volcano active: the streets of Naples smell like rotten eggs
The smell of rotten eggs wafts through the suburbs of Naples - it's volcanic sulfur vapor creeping out of the cracks in the earth...
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Shift to the right in green
Jana Frielinghaus on the required “realistic” migration policy
Robert Habeck has prescribed more pragmatism for his party in dealing with deportations. Otherwise, the situation could no longer be expected of the municipalities, he said at the weekend. Above all, however, one should not leave the field to the right-wing populists. Recently, it seems that the Greens AfD and Co. also want to wrest the issue away from them by fulfilling their demands...
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Archaeologist about colonial concentration camps:
“Half of the internees died”
From 1905 to 1907, Shark Island in Namibia housed the most notorious concentration camp in German Southwest Africa. Katja Lembke researched it.
taz: Katja Lembke, you talk about the “first German concentration camp” on Shark Island. You have to explain that.
Katja Lembke: When we hear the word “concentration camp,” we naturally first think of the Nazi era. In fact, there were already concentration camps before that. The name does not come from me, but from the then Reich Chancellor von Bülow, who had the camps set up after he had withdrawn the extermination order that General Lothar von Trotha had issued against the Herero and Nama. That is an important point. The intention of these camps was initially different than that of the Nazi era. They were not intended for destruction in the first place.
If it wasn't about annihilation, then what was it?
First of all, it copied a system that the British had already used in South Africa. The population was gathered together to “protect” them, but also to control them. It must be realized that this policy of extermination that Lothar von Trotha had previously pursued resulted in people being driven into the desert without food or drink. Tens of thousands died, and those who survived were often reduced to mere skeletons - we can also see this in the photos from this time. In the collection camps, missionaries were first supposed to ensure that these people were nursed again. Of course, also because they were needed as cheap labor - for example for railway construction...
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Climate Protection Act | Electricity price brake | Subsidies
Gutted climate law, subsidized brakes and British rollback
Calendar week 38: If the individual departments are no longer obliged to save greenhouse gases, there is a risk that the overall climate targets will be missed, says Claudia Kemfert, energy economist and member of the editorial board of Klimareporter°. An energy price brake would also send the wrong signals.
Climate Reporter°: Ms. Kemfert, the Bundestag discussed the reform of the Climate Protection Act for the first time on Friday. In the future, individual ministries will no longer be responsible for ensuring that the requirements are adhered to in their area, but rather the federal government as a whole. Can't it matter to the climate who saves emissions - the main thing is that Germany meets its climate target?
Claudia Kemmert: Without the sector targets, the overall climate targets risk being missed. Individual ministers are responsible for reducing emissions in their respective areas. Otherwise, the fulfillment of climate goals will be at risk.
The climate target set – a 65 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 – is not ambitious enough to achieve the 1,5 degree target. The emissions budget is continually shrinking. With the weakening of the law, the ambition gap threatens to widen just as much as the implementation gap.
The climate targets are clearly being missed, particularly in the building and transport sectors. In the building sector, the Heating Act at least attempts to prevent the gap from widening any further. There is hardly any ambition in the transport sector...
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China | Auto industry | E-car
Electric cars: missed the future?
Chinese manufacturers are expanding the global passenger car market. The German auto industry is falling behind in the world's largest domestic market. What's going on there?
The EU Commission has as reported, fear of a glut of Chinese electric cars. For good reason? In any case, local manufacturers have problems keeping up with the competition from the Far East.
However, the main reason does not seem to be as suggested, for example, by the group leader of the European People's Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, state subsidies - which are also often distributed in this country - but above all cheaper production. According to a market analysis by the Swiss bank UBS, which is published in Hong Kong South China Morning Post reports, the Chinese number one, BYD, has “overwhelming cost advantages” over its international competitors...
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September 24, 1977 (INES 3) Davis Besse, USA
A pressure relief valve opened in the primary circuit and steam escaped. (Cost approx. US$26,8 million)
Wikipedia
Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents
On September 24, 1977, a pressure relief valve in the primary circuit opened, causing steam to escape. The control room staff were unable to bring the situation under control for a long time. There was a risk that the severe loss of coolant could have exposed the core of the reactor and overheated it. Before this happened, the valve could be closed again. A few years later, the accident was assigned Category 3 on the International Nuclear Event Rating Scale...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Of the three originally planned units, each with 906 MW net output, which the Toledo Edison Company had ordered from Babcock & Wilcox in 1968 and 1973, only Davis-Besse-1 was realized; the other two units were rejected in 1980...
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Current news+
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“Populist, verbally radical, ethnic” – and no end in sight
The language philosopher and political scientist Paul Sailer-Wlasits on verbal radicalism, hate speech and war, populism and the consequences of artificial intelligence.
There is a debate in Germany about how to deal with the AfD's recent successes. Former Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble even warned the CDU against a “competition of verbal radicalism”. You already wrote the book “Verbal Radicalism” in 2012? What should we understand by that?
Paul Sailer-Wlasits: Verbal radicalisms act like explosive devices in political language and in the language of politics. As a sudden disruptive entry into the discourse, they disrupt and undermine it. Before the language takes a rhetorical turn and develops its performative effect, verbal radicalism has already been determined in terms of its thrust: as the intention of a linguistic misuse, a verbal deviation, a very conscious transgression of the horizon of meaning. Verbal radicalism and hate language are often used interchangeably, but there are differences. My thesis is that when it comes to linguistic transgressions, verbal radicalism tends to correspond to a “language ethics of the negative.” On the other hand, I see hate speech as the “facticity of negative linguistic morality”. An example: “Strengthening Fortress Germany” is a verbally radical phrase that shows which thought patterns of exclusion and which political stance the person using this diffuse slogan tends to adopt. Hate language, on the other hand, is, for example, a statement like: “Asylum seekers always have the newest, most expensive smartphones”, a derogatory, stereotyping statement that is directed against specific groups of people, ethnic groups or social minorities, uses linguistic violence and attacks people’s dignity.
Is verbal radicalism really as dangerous as Mr Schäuble claims? Normally, language is considered a peaceful means of communication compared to physical violence.
Paul Sailer-Wlasits: Verbal radicalism is extremely dangerous in political discourse, especially because of its preparatory function. Especially during crises and at critical social turning points, the latent hatred in a society can be awakened by leading political figures using language. The discourse can be directed, sharpened or completely revalued and manipulated. Verbal radicalism is capable of causing the greatest possible damage to discursive interaction in a society. Whether in Berlin, in Washington or in Moscow, the mechanisms of political speech are unfortunately the same.
In your treatise “Lies, Hatred, War” you analyze the connections between hate speech and wars. What do you see as the connection?
Paul Sailer-Wlasits: Hate speech, lies and wars are millennium phenomena. As enemies of humanism, they wandered through all epochs of human history in a variety of guises and disguises. Although hate speech and lies did not always lead directly to military violence, lies and hatred were always involved as verbal accomplices in all wars. As our recent history has shown in the most horrific way, hateful linguistic derangements do not always remain within the dimension of the text. When hate speech reaches its peak, the archaic breaks out of the language. Then the boundaries of the discourse space can be broken through to the dimension in which the deed exceeds the word. Then the vulgarity of violence and war triumphs over cultural coexistence.
Following Wolfgang Schäuble's warning, other well-known politicians have also warned against the “temptations of populists”. How does populist rhetoric affect people and undermine their intellectual independence?
Paul Sailer-Wlasits: Yes, populists use this kind of speech all the time; I call it the “verbal radicalism of the gentle word”. An example we remember: the verbal defense of Christianity during the European refugee crisis. From the identity populist side, all immigration was initially recoded as a threat from outside. Christianity was then linguistically positioned against these constructed threat scenarios by being synonymized with the vague term “Occident” and misused to derive xenophobic arguments. Populists then spoke apparently positively about the “defense of the West”. This is “soft verbal radicalism” that continues to exclude people. “Healthy schools” is also gentle verbal radicalism, linguistically close to the so-called “healthy national body”. One must beware of such historical oblivion.
Why do we have to distinguish between democratic rhetoric and populist language?
Paul Sailer-Wlasits: There are no shades of gray in populism, but primarily only black and white, only friend and enemy. Therefore, “good” populism does not exist. Because populism is never based on conviction, but always on persuasion. This is precisely why the distinction between popular and populist is more necessary today than ever. The distinction between popular and populist can be made if you look at political rhetoric. If, for example, instead of the substantive, democratic-integrative argument, the focus is only on image and prestige potential, ie an empty political language, the boundary from popular to populist has been crossed. If the rhetorical effect of exaggerations and strings of declarative phrases is abused to convey exclusion in terms of content, any democratic debate threatens to be dominated by populism and ultimately destroyed.
I don't fully understand it. Could you clarify the distinction between popular and populist with an example?
Paul Sailer-Wlasits: The easiest and most obvious way to distinguish between popular and populist statements is using political slogans, ie using compact short formulas. Just think of the popular political classics of the German-speaking world: there is, for example, “Dare for more democracy!” by Willy Brandt – the slogan, by the way, was written by Günter Grass – or the Austrian counterpart “Walk part of the way together” by Bruno Kreisky. At the beginning of the refugee crisis, Angela Merkel's "We can do it!" also had high popularity ratings, was integrative, exuded confidence and mobilized the forces of society as a whole - even if the sentence later eroded in the difficult political reality. Populist election slogans, on the other hand, are, for example, “Courage for Germany” or “Courage for the homeland” or “Get your country back” or “More courage for our Viennese blood”, the latter of which was actually promoted in Austria’s capital about a decade ago! The visible text is read and heard, but the underlying, exclusionary, negative, corrosive subtext is understood and retained or, as the campaign copywriters put it bluntly and revealing their intention, it is “captured”.
| Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
Background knowledge
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The map of the nuclear world
“Language is a weapon, keep it sharp!”
Kurt Tucholsky
The internal search for
brought the following results, among others:
June 4, 2023 - Politics with poison, agitation and propaganda
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April 1, 2023 - Wars and school massacres: The cancer of dehumanization
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YouTube
populism
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Populismus
phoenix - August 26, 2020 - 1:46
Politics in two minutes: populism
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NDR - extra 3 - September 20, 2021 - 4:11
AfD: The populists' mishap election campaign
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BR24 - Possoch clarifies - August 3, 2023 - 29:47
Populists in power: yes, and?!
Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...
This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic
The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!
populism
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Populismus
Federal Agency for Civic Education
Populism is on everyone's lips: there are populists, right-wing populists, left-wing populists and in the political battle people accuse each other of populism. But there are also politicians and parties who describe themselves as populists. So what is populism?
Populism can be defined as a particular political logic. At the heart of it is the idea that power belongs to the people and that politics should be an expression of the people's will. Populism idealizes the people and builds hostility towards the elite. Here the leader acts as the voice of the people. Populism tells the story of the people betrayed by the elite: through the leader, the people realize that they are being oppressed by the corrupt elite and go on the path of their liberation, at the end of which, populism promises, power will be returned to the people .
The populist moment and democracy
But populism is not a category of “either, or.” Rather, politicians can be more or less populist, and they can also become populist. This explains why sometimes you experience a “populist moment” like now. In this situation, populist logic comes to the fore. One observes that more so-called populist parties are appearing and established politicians are becoming more populist. This happens when democracy falls into crisis and citizens' trust in political institutions weakens. Therefore, populism is always a symptom. But populism is an ambivalent phenomenon. It has a democratic core: the principle of popular sovereignty. In relation to this, populism can certainly provide positive democratic impulses when it comes to demanding, politicizing and mobilizing more control of representatives by citizens, more transparency or more opportunities for participation. But it also has an undemocratic side: populism often advocates simple solutions that ignore complex connections. Reality is presented in a truncated way, with the argument that anything else would serve the elites to deceive the people. Through extreme simplification, black and white painting and thinking in terms of opposites, populism can polarize the political debate to such an extent that the necessary exchange of opinions within a democracy is no longer possible. This means that the democratic debate loses the plurality of its voices. Depending on how strong the populist logic is, the negative or positive effects of populism can set the tone...
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Wikipedia
Social scientists assign several attributes to the term populism (from the Latin populus 'people'). What is characteristic is a choice of topics and rhetoric that is linked to political intentions and is aimed at popular sentiment. On the one hand, it is about creating certain moods, and on the other hand, it is about exploiting and reinforcing existing moods for one's own political purposes. Populism often manifests itself in a specific political style and serves as a strategy for acquiring power. In order to gain sovereignty in public discourse, populism specifically uses social digital media. Only occasionally does it appear in research as a component of individual ideologies...
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Newsletter XXXVIII 2023 - September 17th to 23th
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