Newsletter XLVII 2023

19. to 25. November

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The PDF file "Nuclear Power Accidents" contains a number of other incidents from various areas of the nuclear industry. Some of the incidents were never published through official channels, so this information could only be made available to the public in a roundabout way. The list of incidents in the PDF file is therefore not 100 % identical with "INES and the disturbances in nuclear facilities", but represents an addition...

4 November 2004 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Balakovo, RUS

11 November 1983 (INES 3) Nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR

16 November 2001 (INES ? Class.?) High Flux Reactor, Petten, NLD

19 November 2003 (INES 2 Class.?) Nuclear factory La Hague, FRA

19 November 1975 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Gundremmingen, GER

20 November 1959 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

22 November 2002 (INES 2) NPP Tihange, BEL

28 November 2007 (INES 2) NPP Asco, ESP

29 November 1970 (INES 3 | NAMS 2,5) Nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR

29 November 1955 (INES 4) Research reactor EBR-I, NTRS Idaho, USA

30 November 1975 (INES 5) NPP Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad, USSR

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We are looking for current information. If you can help, please send a message to: nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de

25. November

Turkey | Rosatom | Akkuyu

Turkey before entering the nuclear age

The first Turkish nuclear power plant is expected to go online soon. We asked Özgür Gürbüz, co-founder of the Turkish environmental protection organization Ekosfer, how the Turkish public perceives the entry into the nuclear age. Interview: Horst Hamm

Mr. Gürbüz, the first of four reactors at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant site on the Turkish Mediterranean coast is scheduled to go into operation in 2024. What does the Turkish public say about this project?

It has been 23 years since the attempt to build a nuclear power plant was announced by the former energy minister. The project has been delayed, but we are now in the final stages and the first reactor is scheduled to be operational in 2024, as you said. The vast majority of media in Turkey is controlled by the ruling AKP party, so there is no real debate about it. In the last 23 years, the government has never had a debate with the anti-nuclear movement.

The opposition parties criticize the Akkuyu project primarily because of the expensive electricity, but they do not take a clear position against nuclear energy. However, if you look at public opinion polls, there is a clear rejection of nuclear power. In the reports from the research organization Konda on climate change, only 5 percent of the population said they would prefer electricity from nuclear power plants. Another survey by the same company found that only 19 percent of people see nuclear power as a solution to energy dependence, while 71 percent support solar power and 64 percent support wind power. Comparable surveys have been carried out for years: in 2011, the market research institute IPSOS found that 71 percent of people in Turkey are against nuclear energy. There would be no nuclear power plant in Turkey if the government had listened to the people.

Rosatom receives 12,35 dollar cents per kilowatt hour for half of the electricity generated in Akkuyu, and the other half is paid at market prices. Isn't nuclear power far too expensive for Turkey?

But! Nuclear power is incredibly expensive. In the solar and wind energy tenders, the winning companies offered between 2 and 3 cents per kWh and even less. The guaranteed purchase price for Akkuyu is 12,35 dollar cents per kWh for 15 years. Nuclear power is 4 to 5 times more expensive than solar or wind energy in Turkey. Even if we add battery storage, nuclear power will still be more expensive. Nuclear power is dangerous and makes Turkey dependent on other countries...

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Last Generation | criminal | disobedience

Is the Last Generation criminal?:

A question of democracy

The Munich regional court has confirmed the suspicion that the Last Generation is a criminal organization. But the argument is not convincing.

In May, house searches of last generation activists took place nationwide. Computers were taken, the donation account was confiscated, as was the original homepage. The basis was investigations against those affected for membership in or support of a “criminal organization”. The Munich district court had approved the raids in advance. The Munich I Regional Court has now confirmed this: There is an initial suspicion that the Last Generation is a criminal organization.

The regional court has two central arguments for this: On the one hand, the commission of criminal offenses - especially road blockades - is one of the purposes of the last generation. In addition, there is a “significant danger” to public safety because the last generation is questioning democracy: “What is crucial is that social discourse is violated through illegitimate means by a group trying to - if necessary morally aggrandize - over the rule of law “To ensure order and democratic processes,” was the central statement of the Munich court decision.

[...] It may be difficult for lawyers to understand, but civil disobedience is not anti-democratic, it is seen as a necessary corrective within democracy.

There may be other reasons why the Last Generation poses a “significant” threat to public safety (such as their threat to paralyze entire cities and disrupt public order “to the maximum”). The arguments of the Munich I Regional Court, on the other hand, are not convincing.

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Climate change | 1,5 degrees | COP28

“We should talk less about climate protection and more about future viability”

Climate protection can be a benefit for Germany and its industry, says climate researcher Mojib Latif. But he also explains what the climate conference in Dubai will not solve.

Professor Latif, this year we are experiencing extreme drought and heat in Brazil with what feels like temperatures over 58 degrees. In Spain, due to the drought, tankers may soon have to bring drinking water to Catalonia. Climate change seems to be becoming more and more tangible. Is it still realistic to limit warming to 1,5 degrees by the end of the century, as agreed in the Paris climate protection agreement?

Mojib Latif: The 1,5 degrees cannot be achieved at all. I was already of this opinion in 2015 when the Paris climate agreement was negotiated. At the time, I was surprised that 1,5 degrees was included as a target in the protocol. It couldn't be done then and especially not now. In October of this year we were already over 1,5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times, and for the whole of 2023 we will already have an increase of 1,2 degrees...

24. November

Climate movement | Greta Thunberg | COP28

Luisa Neubauer on the climate movement:

“We are in a culture war”

Climate activist Luisa Neubauer about the UN climate conference, Greta Thunberg and the question of why climate policy in Germany is so tough.

wochentaz: Ms. Neubauer, what exactly do you expect from the COP, the UN climate conference, which begins next week?

Luisa Neubauer: The COP will not be the place where we organize world peace. The COP has it difficult enough, and in the current situation I would describe it as a friendly miracle if we come out of it somewhat collected as a climate movement and as an ecological civil society. And if we manage to bring the end of the fossil era a little closer and, in the best case scenario, we can look at each other more clearly in the eyes of the world than we are currently doing.

[...] Do you see the loss of climate morality that Thunberg stood for?

I would differentiate between a media society that, in my opinion, has slight attachment issues with Greta and a civil society that confidently stands up for its own morals.

What does 'Attachment Issues' mean by Thunberg?

I don't want to justify at all that Jewish suffering was not mentioned by Greta. But Greta is also a projection surface for a media world that has long sought in her what no human being can be. And now this media world is amazed that Greta is not what she never wanted to be. I don't see this dynamic as my problem...

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Health | Limits | Pollutants

Health risk in Europe

250.000 people died from fine dust in 2021

Pollutants in the air make you sick and can even kill you. In a new report, Europe's Environment Agency shows how many deaths could be avoided.

Bad air remains a major health risk: More than 250.000 people died in European Union countries in 2021 due to high levels of fine dust. The European Environment Agency EEA announced this at the EU’s “Clean Air Forum” in Rotterdam.

The problem is: According to the EEA, the greatest health risk posed by environmental conditions arises because the recommended limit values ​​of the World Health Organization (WHO) are not adhered to.

“The effects of air pollution on our health are still too high,” says EEA Director Leena Ylä-Mononen. According to estimates, particulate matter causes the greatest health burden through heart disease, followed by strokes, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer and asthma...

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Austria | Russia | Gas imports

Where Russian gas is still in demand

Russian gas imports in Austria are increasing in percentage terms. The semi-state energy company OMV is doing a bit of drilling itself. Is there now also a threat of fracking?

There was great excitement when activists from the “Last Generation” managed to “paralyze” the city of Vienna on Monday morning. Closing things down is certainly a bit of an exaggeration, but at least there were ten kilometers of traffic jams on the A2 access road.

Anger became visible, rising to the point of despair. Drivers attacked the protesters - and large sections of politics saw the action as a gift from heaven. Finally the edge was clearly visible again; And so there was a lot of criticism from the right against “climate chaotic people,” including the well-known call for tougher punishments.

[...] As of November 24, 2023, the Republic of Austria has been financing the Russian war machine for 639 days by continuing to buy its gas from the Kremlin. The geopolitical impotence joins the environmental political one.

There is this strange feeling in Austria that somehow everything will be okay. This is a bold bet, to say the least. There is no scientific evidence for this. According to the UN, the world is heading towards a warming of 3 degrees Celsius. Then things will probably get uncomfortable in Austria too.

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Climate policy | Fridays for Future | 1,5 degrees

Is the traffic light climate policy now broken?

The traffic light used Corona money for climate protection. That should be unconstitutional. Now 60 billion are missing for the climate. Is the traffic light climate policy now at an end?

In addition, Fridays for Future is divided because of the Middle East conflict. Is there now not enough pressure from below for more efficient climate policy?

The “Emissions Gap Report 2023” from the UN environmental program Unep has just shown that the demands and reality of climate protection are far apart. Globally, we are miles away from achieving the Paris 1,5 degree climate target. From January to September 2023, the global average was warmer than 86 degrees on pre-industrial times on 1,5 days.

The UN Environmental Program (UNEP) has calculated that the air on the planet's surface has already warmed by 1.2 degrees. This warming also includes the air above the oceans. Temperatures on land are about twice as high. That's why it's already over two degrees warmer in Germany than it was 150 years ago...

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Green party conference | Traffic light coalition | Neoliberalism

The Green Party: Two years of hypocrisy in government

Across Europe, green government parties are becoming supporters of authoritarian liberalism. Strongest in Germany. Why is that? A guest comment.

The federal party conference of the Greens is currently taking place in Karlsruhe. After almost two years of the traffic light coalition, it is time to take stock of the Greens' policies in this coalition. From the perspective of the emancipatory left, this can simply be described as catastrophic.

[...] The social democratic lawyer H. Heller was one of the first to coin the term authoritarian liberalism as early as 1934:

"As soon as the economy is discussed, the authoritarian state completely renounces its authority, and its supposedly conservative spokesmen only know the slogan: Freedom of the economy from the state." and large farmers, but rather an authoritarian dismantling of social policy."

That is precisely the policy of the traffic light coalition today with the active participation of the Greens.

In view of this scenario, the green Cloppenburg district association had already asked the party leadership to leave the traffic light coalition in the spring. Too many “red lines” have been crossed. We will be curious to see whether this will be debated at the Karlsruhe party conference.

23. November

Fossil | Profits | Tax polluters

Fossil multinationals

Profits above all

A new study shows that the oil and gas companies could have paid for the climate damage they caused and still made high profits. Apparently their voluntary climate commitments cannot be relied upon.

The latest warning signal came this week: The world is currently on a path to three degrees of warming, according to the UN environmental program Unep. According to the Paris Climate Agreement, it should only be 1,5 degrees if possible, otherwise tipping elements in the climate will be triggered.

It is therefore foreseeable that the damage and losses due to the climate crisis will increase significantly in the next few years and large amounts of money will be needed to overcome them. A new study shows where they could come from: the profits of oil and gas multinationals.

[...] developing countries also discussed the participation of the fossil fuel industries. The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, called for a XNUMX percent tax on the profits of oil and gas companies, the proceeds of which should be paid into the planned fund.

Schleussner thinks such demands are correct. "After last year's super profits, some of these companies are backtracking on their climate commitments, showing that we cannot rely on their commitment - especially not at the pace we need."

The climate scientist calls on governments to intervene. They should “tax polluters to make them pay for the losses and damages they cause.” In addition, a firm commitment to phasing out fossil fuels must be decided at the climate summit in Dubai in order to keep the 1,5 degree target within reach.

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EU Parliament | Pesticides | Lobbying

EU says goodbye to pesticide targets – expert outraged: “Our research results don’t count”

After re-approving glyphosate for ten more years, the EU has now turned against a general reduction in pesticides by 2030. Environmentalists speak of a “black day”.

Brussels – The EU Parliament overturned a law to reduce chemical pesticides in Europe on Wednesday (November 22nd). It was a narrow majority that voted against it - 299 voted against, 207 for, and 121 members abstained. But this means that the EU's plans to reduce the use of pesticides by half by 2030 have failed. Parliament also rejected further negotiations. Agricultural associations welcomed the decision.

EU overturns pesticide law - two weeks after glyphosate decision

It was a “black day” for nature and for farmers in Europe, said parliamentary rapporteur Sarah Wiener (Greens) after the vote. The majority of MPs put the profits of large agricultural companies above health and the environment...

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Climate conference | Fake News | Disinformation

Claudia Kemfert on climate policy:

"That should not have happened"

Claudia Kemfert does not want representatives of fossil energy to be present at the climate conference in Dubai. The economist denounces the urgent need for reform.

taz: Ms. Kemfert, the UN climate conference, COP28, is about to begin in Dubai. This year's chairman is Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, who is also the Minister of Industry of the United Arab Emirates and head of the state oil company Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Doesn't that undermine the entire event?

Claudia Kemmert: Clearly, this personality damages the credibility of the UN Climate Change Conference because there is a conflict of interest. That shouldn't have been allowed. Al-Jaber says openly that the future lies not in renewables, but in emission-free energies. He wants to continue using fossil energy sources, and the CO2 will apparently be miraculously stored somewhere. That won't be possible.

[...] But society is now increasingly viewing climate protection as a threat.

That's not new. For over 40 years, fake news has been used to convince us of the myth that climate protection is a threat. The real threat is the ever-growing climate crisis! This interest-driven manipulation of the public effectively stops real climate protection. This makes it all the more important to accept climate protection as a communal and democratic task and to act accordingly. Instead of polarizing, aggressive disinformation campaigns, we need scientific facts and clear information to bring calm back into the debate...

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Salzgitter | Konrad shaft | Nuclear waste dump

Longer construction time

Nuclear waste storage in Salzgitter will probably cost more

Low- and medium-level radioactive waste will soon be stored in the Konrad shaft. But after a delay in the schedule, the project becomes significantly more expensive.

New calculations for the controversial nuclear waste repository in Salzgitter assume a significant increase in prices. The Federal Company for Final Storage (BGE) expects that an additional 2,64 billion euros will be needed until completion, as BGE confirmed to SPIEGEL. The German Press Agency had previously reported this, citing company circles.

According to BGE, around 2022 billion euros had already flowed into the construction phase by the end of 2,83. Together with the current estimate, total costs are now expected to be around 5,5 billion euros. The company, based in Peine, had previously calculated estimated total costs of 4,6 billion euros...

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Africa | Crude oil | Biodiversity | Total Energy | Uganda

Ugandan petroleum project:

A pipeline across biodiversity

With a pipeline through its country, Uganda finally wants to benefit from the oil revival in Africa. A story of profits leaving the country. And from damage that remains.

[...] Here, in some of the most species-rich natural areas in East Africa, a gigantic oil project is to be built. Anyone who doubts, who questions the benefits and environmental compatibility, which many do, should be more careful what they say, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni makes it clear: "Keep your hands off my oil," the authoritarian ruler warns the environmental activists.

The message gets through. The beginning of construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, the EACOP, is not only spreading noise and dirt in the country, but also a climate of fear.

The tube will stretch 1445 kilometers through the East African landscape, all the way to Tanzania on the Indian Ocean. With its starting point in Hoima on Lake Albert, it misses the forest of Budongo, where the Reynolds conduct research, by a few kilometers. Not far away, the French energy giant TotalEnergies is planning its Tilenga project. Together with the Chinese company CNOOC's Kingfisher project, which is being built further south, TotalEnergies will extract the raw material from the earth, which will then travel to the coast...

22. November

Climate protection | Fake News | Disinformation

Disinformation against climate protection:

Time to take action against climate lies!

The fossil lobby has been spreading its lies since the 70s, then offline, now on the Internet. Platform operators should now take responsibility.

There is a broad consensus among the population that climate change is an existential threat to us and that we must take regulations and measures to combat it. But this support is being deliberately undermined. On the one hand, there is the oil and gas lobby, which has been organizing since the 1970s - ever since it became aware of its contribution to climate change. They work worldwide together with right-wing extremist parties, white supremacists, Reich citizens and lateral thinkers to undermine climate protection.

They are supported by hostile state actors such as the Kremlin or the Chinese government. In addition, there are websites that make a lot of money on the Internet with sensational anti-climate protection content because outrage generates high click rates and thus advertising revenue.

They all reinforce the right-wing populist narrative that climate protection is a ploy by the so-called global elites to deprive the population of their rights and prosperity. This creates fear...

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Solar systems | Call for tender | oversubscribed

Significantly overstated: Results of the tender for solar systems on buildings and noise barriers are available

Bonn - The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has published the tender awards for solar systems on buildings and noise barriers (solar systems of the second segment) as of October 1, 2023. Demand remains high. The development this year is also correct in view of the current development of the PV market in Germany.

The interest in the tender for PV systems in the second segment was also significantly higher in the BNetzA's most recent tender than the actual tender volume of 191 megawatts (MW). 184 bids with a volume of 373 MW were submitted, meaning the tender round was significantly oversubscribed...

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Kennedy

Cleared for firing

Exactly 60 years ago today - at 12:30 p.m. local time in Dallas/Texas - the 35th President of the USA was shot. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was pronounced dead around 13 p.m. Why did he have to die?

By the spring of 1963, John F. Kennedy had accumulated an impressive record of sins in the eyes of his increasingly bitter opponents in the CIA, the Pentagon, and the Cuban exile community. He had allowed the Bay of Pigs invasion to end in debacle. He had solved the Cuban Missile Crisis behind the backs of his military and intelligence services through a secret exchange of notes with Khrushchev. He had similarly discreetly begun to come to an understanding with Fidel Castro, the revolutionary enemy on his own coast, and thus finally sabotaged the reconquest plans of the militant communist hunters and the right-wing Cuban exiles in his country.

He had replaced some of the saber-rattling representatives on the General Staff with more moderate generals, fired the main men responsible for the Bay of Pigs adventure - Allen Dulles and Richard Bisell -, placed greater controls on the conduct of covert operations, ordered a cut in the CIA budget and the top agents William Harvey was recalled, who continued to carry out militant actions against Cuba even after Operation Mongoose was stopped. He had also antagonized the racist whites in the southern states when he used the National Guard to ensure that James Meredith, the first black student, was enrolled at the University of Mississippi and to imprison the right-wing extremist General Edwin Walker, who led the protests against it let take...

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Nuclear economy | SMR | Exploding costs

Future of nuclear energy: Why it doesn't work without subsidies

Nuclear energy is still seen by some as a hope for a clean energy supply. But it turns out that it cannot be operated economically. Two examples.

Germany has said goodbye to nuclear energy – for now. Because if parts of the federal FDP had their way, the nuclear phase-out would probably be reversed.

Even if the Liberals managed to force the restart of seven shutdown reactors, they would face huge problems - the taxpayer would be asked to pay in the long run. Because when it comes to nuclear power, state-owned companies all over the world are now on their own.

In the case of Europe's nuclear ambitions, it is not just the question of where the fuel will come from if Russia and Niger fail as suppliers. There is also the problem that the necessary personnel are either retired or employed in other areas and the relevant training has been largely scaled back...

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Castor | Jülich | Ahaus

Resistance to Castor transports to Ahaus is growing

In Ahaus on Tuesday evening, around 100 people demonstrated against the second test transport of fuel elements from Jülich to the interim storage facility in Ahaus.

An illuminated parade with 20 tractors drives through Ahaus. At the same time, around 150 opponents of nuclear power gathered on site. The demonstrators brought their guitars and "nuclear power - no thanks" flags. Some of these flags are 30 years old. A woman printed small yellow flags and prepared them with rapeseed oil to protect them from the rain.

Most of the demonstrators come from Ahaus, many older people are there, but also young people and children. They all want to prevent not just test but actual transports of highly radioactive cargo from traveling from the research reactor in Jülich to Ahaus, 170 km away. “We are afraid that we will become a final storage facility here,” says an older woman. She demonstrated against the interim fuel storage facility in Ahaus 30 years ago. “Why can’t the nuclear waste stay in Jülich?” asks a farmer. “We don’t want to become Germany’s nuclear waste toilet.”

[...] Staying in Jülich would be another option. The ruling parties in North Rhine-Westphalia, the CDU and the Greens, spoke out in favor of this in their coalition agreement in 2022.

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 22 November 2002 (INES 2) NPP Tihange, BEL

 AtomkraftwerkePlag

Tihange (Belgium)

The most dangerous incident, classified as INES level 2, occurred in 2002: due to a valve being opened accidentally, the pressure in the primary circuit of the Tihange nuclear power plant dropped and cooling water evaporated. If the safety systems hadn't responded, a meltdown could have resulted.
 

Wikipedia

Tihange Nuclear Power Plant

On November 22, 2002, an accident occurred in Unit 2 (INES 2). The reactor - at that time shut down and no longer critical - was still producing decay heat, which, as in power operation, was dissipated by circulating coolant in the primary circuit. During a test, a safety valve in the pressure holder was opened by mistake, causing the pressure in the primary circuit to drop very quickly from 155 bar to 85 bar. The high pressure in the primary circuit during operation means that the water does not boil, but remains liquid, even at high temperatures. If the pressure drops, the boiling temperature of the water also drops. Then the decay heat of the fuel elements can no longer be removed and there is a risk of a core meltdown. In this specific case, due to the rapid drop in pressure, several safety systems were activated, which pumped water into the primary circuit and thus further cooled the fuel elements. The pressure relief valve that was opened by mistake was closed again after three minutes.

Nuclear power accidents by country#Belgium

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

21. November

Temperatures | 1,5 degrees | Copernicus

Global temperature 2 degrees higher than in pre-industrial times for the first time

On November 17th the two degree limit was exceeded for the first time. This is the result of data from the EU climate change service Copernicus. Experts speak of an “alarming regularity.”

For the first time since records began, the global average daily temperature was more than 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The EU climate change service Copernicus confirmed on Tuesday upon request that, according to preliminary data, the temperature on November 17th exceeded the average for the period from 1850 to 1900 for that day by 2,06 degrees.

Compared to the period from 1991 to 2020, the temperature for the day was 1,17 degrees higher. At the same time, Copernicus emphasized: "It is important to make it clear that this does not represent a violation of the Paris Agreement, but rather underlines our proximity to the internationally agreed limit values."

At the 2015 World Climate Conference in Paris, countries around the world agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees, and if possible even to 1,5 degrees. This is about longer-term values ​​and not individual days, months or years. The background to the decision is the fatal consequences of global warming such as increasingly frequent and severe storms, droughts, floods and forest fires. The past few months have brought a series of temperature records; experts believe that 2023 is likely to be the warmest year since records began. As of the end of October, according to Copernicus, the average temperature was 1,43 degrees above the pre-industrial average...

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Migrants | Cancer | Incitement of the people

Maaßen compares “foreigners with a foreign culture” to cancer – experts are horrified

With his latest border crossing, Hans-Georg Maaßen seems to confirm his critics. His language is reminiscent of Nazi diction.

Berlin – Probably no personality in the CDU is more controversial than the former head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) Hans-Heorg Maaßen. The lawyer has been attracting attention for years with statements that suggest a proximity to right-wing radical ideas and actors - and that have left the public astonished that Maaßen was able to head a security agency like the BfV from 2012 to 2018.

[...] On November 11th, the former head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution published an article in the right-wing Weltwoche, the weekly magazine of the Swiss publisher Roger Köppel. In it he metaphorically equates an “uncontrolled, millions of foreigners settling in from culturally alien regions” with cancer.

Maaßen's next scandal: the presence of “culturally alien foreigners” as a cause of cancer

The reason for the article was the migration summit between the federal government and the prime minister at the beginning of November, which focused on the topic of irregular migration. In his article, Maaßen criticized the resolutions of this summit, which would not make any contribution to combating the “migration catastrophe”. Instead, he called for “chemotherapy for Germany”...

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Plastic waste | Environmental conference | Petroleum states

Resource expert on plastic agreements: “The fronts have become clear”

Henning Wilts from the Wuppertal Institute still sees opportunities for a UN agreement. What Brussels decides on packaging is more important for Europe anyway.

taz: Mr. Wilts, did the negotiations in Nairobi fail?

Henning Wilts: No, you can't say that yet. The draft contract, the so-called Zero Draft, was discussed in Nairobi. It was a kind of wish list that contained everything that the very different actors had in mind regarding the topic of plastic. There was no idea where we wanted to go with this agreement. It was therefore clear that the states could not agree on concrete measures.

Rather?

At least the fronts have become clear: There are countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran and India that see the waste problem as an issue for waste management. Others, including the EU, want to address the entire life cycle of plastic products, including bans and limits on production quantities.

Why do individual states manage to stop this process?

The issue of plastic waste was discussed for the first time at the UN level. In terms of procedures, we are roughly where we were in the climate negotiations before Paris; the principle of unanimity still prevails. One state or a small group of states can hinder the entire process. The negotiations will continue behind the scenes over the next six months, and a lot can still happen. I don't think there's any need to give up on the schedule to get a UN agreement in place by mid-2025...

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Israel | Ultra-right | Nuclear bomb | Death penalty | Palestine

Israel's ultra-right at war From the atomic bomb to the death penalty

Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu's right-wing extremist coalition partners are particularly notable these days for their radical rhetoric. His war cabinet gives the prime minister some breathing room. But he needs the ultra-right.

Itamar Ben-Gvir is in favor of imposing the death penalty against Palestinian extremists. "If we pass the death penalty law for terrorists, Hamas will have something to lose. If we pass the death penalty law for terrorists, it will help..."

Members of the Hamas hostages interrupt Ben-Gvir. They see the lives of the hostages in danger if Israel expands the rules on the death penalty. So far it has only been possible in the case of crimes against humanity or in times of war.

[...] Ben-Gvir's party colleague Amichai Elijahu - the minister for cultural heritage - also caused a stir. In a radio interview he was asked whether a nuclear bomb should be dropped on the Gaza Strip.

“Yes, that would be a possibility,” Elijahu said. "We should look at what scares and deters them. Because threatening to kill them is not enough. They are not afraid of death."

In the interview, the minister also rejected any humanitarian aid for the people of the Gaza Strip. He called the Palestinians “monsters from Gaza.” They should go “to Ireland or the desert.”

[...] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu often ignores the statements of his right-wing extremist coalition partners. But the matter of the atomic bomb was too much for him. Netanyahu excluded Elijahu from cabinet meetings for the time being...

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Jews | Anti-Semitism | Identity | Palestine

Understanding Jewish Identity: A Guide Away from Prejudices

Who is Jewish and who is not? And what does this question have to do with the current war in Israel? Why you shouldn't think in stereotypes. An essay. (Part 1 | Part 2 and conclusion)

It does many Jews a disservice when all political or religious opposition is diagnosed as anti-Semitic

In the mid-80s, the "Us for Us" group had formed in the East Berlin Jewish community - people of my generation with one or two, sometimes three or four Jewish grandparents who became interested in their roots.

Our favorite joke: In the past, when three Jews met, they would argue about the Messiah. If they meet today, they argue about Jewish identity. We were all atheistic, but raised with kibbutz-like ideas. We didn't have a religious identity; a racial or euphemistically ethnic identity was out of the question after the Nazi madness.

Why did we still feel somehow distantly related? Some said this is purely cultural and biographical. Mischpoche, contradicted the others self-deprecatingly. So we argued, and if we didn't die, we're still arguing today.

[...] Instead of reviving the medieval aberration of anti-Semitism, it is important to generally abandon the fetishism of exclusion and take note of the real interests of the opposing side. This includes breaking down stubborn misunderstandings. For example, the misunderstood meaning of the Jews as a people chosen by God. It could also be translated as valued or special people.

This is not about favoring Jews over others, but rather the opposite: with the revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai, Abraham accepted a great moral obligation. Namely, to be an intermediary for all people between God and creation. Will Israel, which places so much value on being a Jewish state, live up to this obligation with the inferno it is now causing in Gaza? Certainly not.

We are chosen to suffer, my mother (the Jewish father) had said. But no, Mame, no God, no state and no military alliance has the right to make any community suffer. But yes, we are all damned on this small, wonderful earth – damned to get along. And that serves us right.

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Castor | Jülich | Ahaus

Dear people,

The Castor madness between Jülich and Ahaus is entering the next round. This Tuesday evening, November 21.11st, the third test castor is scheduled to start again in Jülich at around 22 p.m. with lots of blue lights. Then it goes across the western Ruhr area to Ahaus. Arrive around 2 a.m.

There is growing protest against this, to which we cordially invite you:

Ahaus: A demonstration with a tractor parade starts at 18 p.m. at the Legdener Strasse/Schumacher-Ring roundabout (Tobit roundabout). We are very pleased that farmers are once again mobilizing in solidarity.

Jülich: At 20 p.m. a vigil starts in front of the main gate of the Jülich Research Center until the departure of the Castor convoy. Support the local action alliance!

Route: There are also many opportunities to protest along the way. In Jülich the Castor first takes the B56 to the A44. The blue sparkling convoy can be clearly seen on the highways. Spontaneous vigils at the motorway entrances or within sight of the motorways are a strong sign that there are also protests along the route. Because: This time the NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs is taking part as nuclear regulator!

And: All route observations are very welcome!

We demand that the state and federal governments immediately cancel this senseless and dangerous Castor spectacle with 300 highly radioactive fuel elements in the 000 Castor containers and instead begin the construction of a new interim storage facility in Jülich, which has been repeatedly politically delayed.

And we demand that the green NRW Economics Minister Neubaur finally faces the open discussion in Jülich and Ahaus and does not entrench herself in Düsseldorf. Responsibility has its price.

Further information and contacts: www.westcastor.org, www.bi-ahaus.de, www.ausgestrahlt.de, www.sofa-ms.de

Oh yes: Unfortunately, it is very possible that on Wednesday morning (November 22.11nd) the Urenco will try again to send a new uranium suit via Hamm, Münster, Steinfurt and Ochtrup to the uranium enrichment plant in Gronau in the slipstream of the Probecastor. So please keep your eyes open here and report any observations.

The hot nuclear autumn has begun in North Rhine-Westphalia - let's stop this radioactive madness together!

Nuclear-free climate greetings
Action alliance Münsterland against nuclear facilities, SOFA (Immediate nuclear phase-out) Münster

www.sofa-ms.de, www.urantransport.de

20. November

Argentina | Privatization | Share price

Argentine stocks in demand

Election winner Milei immediately announces privatizations

Argentina's new President Milei seems to want to take action immediately after the elections. He directly announces the privatization of state property. He doesn't want to stop at companies or broadcasting. Shares of Argentine companies react to the announcement.

The day after his election victory, the future Argentine president announced the privatization of state-owned companies and public broadcasting. “Everything that can be in the hands of the private sector will be in the hands of the private sector,” the ultra-liberal politician said on the radio. Among other things, Milei wants to privatize the state energy company YPF, public television and radio and the official news agency Télam. "If we don't make rapid progress with structural changes, we'll be heading straight for the worst crisis in our history," Milei had already laid out his political route.

[...] "The first announcements of Milei's policy will delight markets, with aggressive fiscal consolidation and the removal of foreign exchange and capital controls being the biggest priorities," said portfolio manager at Swiss asset manager Vontobel, Thierry Larose. In fact, the financial markets reacted positively to the election result. The shares of Argentine companies on the New York Stock Exchange have now risen by 23 percent, government bonds by 6 percent...

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France | Food | PFAS

Paris warns against privately kept eggs due to PFAS contamination

According to health authorities, the soil around Paris is excessively contaminated with so-called eternal chemicals. Privately kept eggs could be harmful to health, but other foods are also affected.

In the greater Paris area, health authorities advise against eating eggs from private farms due to excessive contamination of the soil with per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds (PFAS). The health authority ARS in Paris said that eating fruit and vegetables from your own garden and gardening itself could pose a health risk for people in the region. The warning particularly concerns children and pregnant and breastfeeding women. Eggs from professional farming that are supplied to retailers are therefore not affected because chickens there are exposed to less contaminated soil.

In 23 of 25 private chicken coops examined, the eggs showed increased contamination with the so-called eternal chemicals. From this it can be deduced that the soil in urban areas is generally contaminated with PFAS, without this being attributable to a specific source, the authorities explained. The pollution is often the legacy of decades of deposits of materials that decompose over time and release pollutants. In the vicinity of waste incineration plants, the pollution was not significantly different than outside the plants...

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Italy | Mafia | Judgments

Italian mafia trial:

Names like something out of a Hollywood movie

338 defendants, 50 key witnesses and the public prosecutor demanded several hundred years in prison. One of the biggest mafia trials of all time is coming to an end.

LAMEZIA TERME dpa | In Italy's largest mafia trial in decades, a court in the southern region of Calabria handed down prison sentences of hundreds of years on Monday. The highest sentences were given to two bosses of the criminal organization 'Ndrangheta, who each had to go to prison for 30 years.

A former member of the ruling party Forza Italia was also sentenced: the conservative politician Giancarlo Pittelli has to be behind bars for eleven years because he was in the service of the mafia. Several ex-police officers and other corrupt officials are also sent to prison.

Since the beginning of 2021, more than 300 suspected members or helpers of the mafia have had to answer for the spectacular trial in the city of Lamezia Terme. The prosecution demanded a total of more than 4.700 years in prison. The court, presided over by Judge Brigida Cavasino, largely followed this.

The reading of the verdicts lasted several hours. The allegations ranged from murder and membership in a criminal organization to drug trafficking and money laundering to corruption in government construction contracts - practically the full program...

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Plastic waste | Environmental conference | Petroleum states

Discussions to prevent plastic waste worldwide end inconclusively

Around 170 countries have negotiated an agreement in Kenya to reduce plastic waste. According to associations, they made little progress because of resistance from the oil states.

According to participants, the third round of negotiations for a globally binding agreement to curb plastic waste ended without any significant progress. The representatives of the around 170 UN member states had “stood still” in the seven-day talks, said WWF Germany. An official announcement from the UN environmental program Unep, which organized the conference, is still pending.

According to information from negotiating circles, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and a small number of other oil-producing states prevented progress in the negotiations with a large number of new proposals. As a result, the text of the contract has grown enormously and the processing of the individual points has been slowed down considerably. A total of five rounds of negotiations are planned.

“The braking maneuvers and resistance from oil-producing states such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran cost a lot of time and brought the negotiations almost to a complete standstill,” said WWF representative Florian Titze. So little was achieved at the meeting that it was “hardly worth it”. A mandate could therefore neither be given for further political work on the text between the negotiating rounds, nor for technical working groups on the scientific basis of the agreement. Both would be urgently needed to ensure the schedule, said Titze...

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Finland | Olkiluoto | shut down

Error in the turbine plant

New Finnish nuclear power plant Olkiluoto 3 shut down

Helsinki - The new Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant in Finland shut down automatically last night due to a fault in the turbine plant. As the operator Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) announced, the nuclear power plant with a gross output of 1.720 MW unexpectedly went offline on Sunday, November 19.11.2023th, 19 at 10:XNUMX p.m. Coal and gas power plants had to step in and start up as backup power plants to secure Finland's electricity supply.

According to previous investigations, the cause is an "incorrect temperature measurement in the generator's cooling system." After the repairs, inspections and tests will first be carried out in the nuclear power plant...

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Rassismus | Semitism | Xenophobic

In the accusation of racism, the idea of ​​race survives

Today everyone knows what anti-Semitism means and is often willing to use the word. Our author asks: Does everyone know what Semitism means? An essay. (Part 1 | Part 2)

Hamas's medieval pogrom against peacefully celebrating, mostly pro-Palestinian Israelis and the hostilities against Jews spreading like sound waves in many countries have sparked a debate about anti-Semitism that raises more questions than it answers.

If all the global protests and appeals against xenophobia and hatred have only made radicalism worse here and there since then, if prevention programs have been just as unsuccessful as state anti-Semitism commissioners or harsh court sentences, we are obviously on the wrong path. Therefore a consideration, tentative, uncertain, like everything at the moment...

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Climate protection | Greenhouse gas | Weather extremes

Climate protection: sobering results

New records for greenhouse gas levels, climate protection plans insufficient

Bad news: Two weeks before the global climate summit there are several sobering results. Global greenhouse gas levels are higher than they have been in three million years - and the trend continues to rise, as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports. But there is hardly any movement in climate protection: The UN Climate Secretariat reports that the National Self-Commitments (NDC) submitted so far are just enough to reduce CO2 emissions by five percent by 2030 compared to 2019 - in the best case scenario.

Continuing stagnation: The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 not only decided to limit global warming to a maximum of two degrees, even better 1,5 degrees, compared to pre-industrial values. Since then, all contracting states have had to submit national commitments (NDCs) to the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCC), in which they state when, how much and how they want to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. But so far these reduction plans have been far below what would be necessary to achieve global climate protection goals.

[...] “Despite decades of warnings from the scientific community, thousands of pages of reports and dozens of climate conferences, we are still moving in the wrong direction,” says WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas. “This also means more weather extremes such as heat and heavy rain, more ice melting and sea level rise and warmer and acidifying oceans. Socioeconomic and environmental costs will explode.”

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20 November 1959 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

A chemical explosion released 15 grams of plutonium-239. (Costs ?)

Nuclear Power Accidents
 

Slowly but surely, all relevant information on disruptions in the nuclear industry is being removed from Wikipedia away!

In the Wikipedia article "Oak Ridge National Laboratory" this INES 4 accident is not even mentioned anymore.

Wikipedia

List of accidents in nuclear facilities

There was a chemical explosion at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory radiological chemical plant in Tennessee during the decontamination of the work facilities. A total of 15 grams of plutonium-239 was released. This caused significant contamination of the building, the adjacent streets and the facades of adjacent buildings during the explosion. The explosion is believed to have been caused by contact of nitric acid with phenolic decontamination fluids. A technician forgot to clean an evaporator with water to clear it of decontamination fluids. Areas that could not be decontaminated were marked with a conspicuous warning color or set in concrete...

19. November

Africa | Plastic waste | Single-use plastic

Environmental pollution in the Global South

Africa is drowning in plastic

In African countries, people die in floods of plastic when it rains. Many are calling for a global ban on plastic. The United Nations wants to act.

Every time the rainy season sets in, the plastic waste in the ditches becomes a deadly trap. This was also the case last Tuesday, when a storm broke out over the roofs of the Ugandan capital Kampala in the middle of the night.

[...] More and more people are dying in the plastic floods

This problem exists in many parts of Africa, which is why the UN Environment Agency (Unep) wants to agree a global agreement on plastic pollution. The third of five rounds of negotiations took place in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in mid-November...

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United States | China | CO2 emissions

China's energy policy is tipping - in the right direction

The best news this week was once again almost overlooked: China's CO₂ emissions are expected to fall as early as 2024. And that's not all, as Xi Jinping's visit to the US showed.

There were rather mixed reviews for the Chinese-American top meeting between Joe Biden and China's head of state Xi Jinping, which took place in the USA this week. Xi Jinping declared that the Earth is "big enough to accommodate both countries," which, at least in translation, is as obvious as it is trivial. According to informed observers, Xi was signaling that he sees China as a superpower with global influence.

The most important declaration, however, was announced before the visit began: On Tuesday, before Xi arrived in the USA, both countries published a concerted declaration about their future cooperation on climate protection. China did not promise to end its expansion of coal-fired power generation or even to phase out coal. However, both countries declared that they would "make efforts to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030." In addition, both countries committed to “significant absolute emission reductions in the area of ​​electricity generation”...

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France | Environmentalist | Ecoterrorists

French environmentalists are not eco-terrorists

The government in France suffered several defeats in court

In June, France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin issued a decree dissolving the environmental protection organization "Soulèvements de la Terre" (Uprisings of the Earth). Now the Council of State, France's highest administrative court, has overturned the ban on the organization. According to the verdict, the environmentalists cannot be accused of “provocation or calls for violence against people.” The dissolution is not a necessary and proportionate measure.

[...] "Soulèvements de la Terre" and the other associations that filed the lawsuits said they were satisfied with the verdicts. This would "halt the disinformation campaigns that have been promoting megabasins as a means of reducing water extraction for years," they noted in a joint statement...

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Glyphosate | Chemical industry | Monsanto

Bayer sentenced to $1,5 billion in damages

Tens of thousands of cases are still open in the USA - now Bayer has suffered another defeat in a glyphosate trial. The company is combative.

A jury in Jefferson City, Missouri, has ordered Bayer subsidiary Monsanto to pay more than $1,5 billion in damages to three plaintiffs. The plaintiffs attribute their cancer to years of using the controversial weedkiller glyphosate. The Leverkusen chemical and pharmaceutical company announced that it would appeal the verdict.

[...] Friday's verdict is now the fourth legal setback for Bayer within a month; just two weeks ago, a 57-year-old in California was awarded a total of $332 million. Before that, however, a whole series of judgments were in favor of the group.

Bayer acquired the glyphosate manufacturer Monsanto in 2018 for $63 billion. Around 113.000 of the 160.000 cases brought by alleged victims have been completed so far. The group has set aside provisions for this amounting to $16 billion.

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Weapons exports | Ready for war | Social gimmicks

We pray to the might of the guns

A reply letter to a reader who wants the positive.

A few weeks ago, at the beginning of November, a reader complained about my texts: “Where is the positive in you, Mr. Luik?”

Yes, where is the positive? Difficult in these times, when everything is slipping, the country is being made “ready for war”, when fellow citizens, they are Muslims, are being authoritarianly called on by the Minister of Economics Habeck to take action after the terrible attacks on October 7th, this incredible attack by Hamas on Israel to distance themselves from anti-Semitism - otherwise they could lose their residence status in this country. So make a profession of faith, but subito, otherwise the state's tolerance will be over very quickly!

As a German, do I have to distance myself from Germany when right-wing radical Germans burn down asylum seekers' homes? Will I lose my citizenship if I don't do this? Is this the new “reason of state”? A word that is now used more and more often by those in power, a word that goes back to Machiavelli and puts the state above everything. According to this, any means is permitted to acquire and maintain political power. Independent of law and morality. A word that has no place in a democracy, but nothing at all. “L'État, c'est moi!”...

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19 November 2003 (INES 2 Class.?) Nuclear factory La Hague, FRA

X workers were contaminated with plutonium during cleaning work. (Costs ?)

Nuclear Power Accidents
 

Wikipedia

La Hague reprocessing plant

The highly active substances treated in this reprocessing plant constantly release explosive hydrogen, which threatens the tightness of the building when it reacts with oxygen. To avoid an explosion, the air in the building is freed from hydrogen by continuous circulation. For 3,5 hours, this circulation only worked in normal operation, both reserve air lines were not operational due to defects or maintenance work. (Source: ASN)

Greenpeace, under the supervision of a chartered engineer, found that a four-mile long pipe was flushing 400 cubic meters of radioactive sewage per day into the Alderney Strait via Herqueville. This operation is legal, since only the dumping of barrels with nuclear waste in the sea is prohibited, but direct discharge is not ...

La Hague site

Nuclear power accidents by country#France

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

AtomkraftwerkePlag

La Hague (France)

World's largest reprocessing plant

There have been a number of incidents in La Hague since it went into operation.

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

There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites

During reprocessing, the inventory of spent fuel elements can be separated from one another in a complex chemical process (PUREX). Separated uranium and plutonium can then be reused. As far as the theory...

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19 November 1975 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Gundremmingen, GER

2 workers died. Due to the "unclear situation", no INES level was assigned to this incident!

Wikipedia

Nuclear power plant Gundremmingen

In November 1975 there was an accident in which people died in a nuclear power plant for the first time in the Federal Republic of Germany (Spiegel). Two locksmiths, Otto Huber, 34, and Josef Ziegelmüller, 46, had removed the cover of a valve on the primary water purification circuit of Block A on November 19, 1975 at 10:42 a.m. in order to replace a faulty stuffing box. The reactor was previously shut down and depressurized around six o'clock. The workers had isolated the line containing the defective valve from the system with two shut-off valves upstream and downstream. The valve cover popped off unexpectedly when loosened. Unnoticed, there was pressurized water in this part of the pipe with a pressure of 65 bar and approx. 265 °C, which partially evaporated when the cover broke off and suddenly scalded the two workers. While Huber died immediately, Ziegelmüller tried to run to the passenger lock, but also collapsed in pain shortly beforehand. A short time later, Ziegelmüller was taken by helicopter to a special burn clinic in Ludwigshafen and died one day later...
 

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Gundremmingen A (Bavaria)

In 1975, two master locksmiths died during a repair due to severe scalding from escaping radioactive steam...
 

'Gar Nix' provides further information

Current news+

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United States | SMR | Nuscale

Spectacular setback for the development of small nuclear reactors in the USA

The dead horse

In the United States, the development of small nuclear reactors has suffered a spectacular setback.

On November 8th, the US-based Nuscale Power Corp. announced that it was canceling its so-called Carbon Free Power Project. The plan was to build a nuclear power plant consisting of six modules with an output of 77 megawatts each in a research center near Idaho Falls. This total of 462 megawatts was intended to supply energy to municipal utilities in Arizona, Idaho, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. It was a showcase project for small nuclear reactors, known as Small Modular Reactors (SMR). This new technology is not only strongly supported by the US government, it has enthusiastic supporters in politics and the media around the world. However, these are mostly the same circles that have already celebrated previous nuclear technology.

Of almost 20 companies working on implementing SMR concepts in the USA, Nuscale is so far the only company whose reactor design has been approved by the nuclear regulator. So the Idaho pilot seemed to have a head start on all the others. Construction should begin in 2026, the first reactor should go online in 2029, and the other five modules should follow a year later - an “extremely optimistic” plan, according to economist David Schlissel. The original cost was $5,3 billion, and the US Department of Energy had promised $1,4 billion in funding. Financing should be secured by ensuring that there are enough (large) customers who would permanently purchase the electricity generated at a fixed price of 5,8 cents per kilowatt hour.

What followed was what usually happens in the nuclear industry. They had once again miscalculated. At the beginning of the year, Nuscale estimated the cost of the project at $9,3 billion. Therefore, the fixed price per kilowatt hour must be increased to 8,9 cents - and that is the wholesale price, not the price for end consumers. Under these conditions, the purchase of 80 percent of the electricity generated would have to be secured.

So things are not going as smoothly with the brave new nuclear world as its propagandists imagined.

According to the company, this was not possible. "If you're on a dead horse, you get off," said CEO John Hopkins; there weren't enough customers. Investors have also been lost: the stock has fallen from twelve to just around two dollars in the past eleven months.

Internationally, emergency braking will also have consequences. Nuscale claims to have built a network of potential customers in a variety of countries. Poland and Romania had declared their intention to purchase SMRs from Nuscale. It is currently not known whether they have already asked the EU Commission about subsidies.

So things are not going as smoothly with the brave new nuclear world as its propagandists imagined. The financial miscalculations are just the tip of the iceberg. In a long paragraph, Nuscale lists the problems and risks that the Carbon Free Power Project had to contend with: the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences, the shortage of skilled workers, competition in the industry, failures of international partners (for example in Italy and Germany), compliance with their obligations, cybersecurity breaches, problems finding suitable insurers, new government requirements, legal disputes, etc.

The long list also has a distraction function. Nuscale wants to give the impression that the product itself is not problematic. In fact, with its SMR model, the company avoids adventurous designs that other start-ups use to promote themselves, such as molten salt as a coolant, the use of nuclear waste as fuel, and the like. Instead, Nuscale prefers the well-known technology of pressurized water reactors with two coolant circuits and low-enriched uranium (LEU) as fuel. The innovation is to integrate the reactor pressure vessel and steam generator in one module, eliminating the need for large pumps and pipes in the primary circuit. In addition, up to twelve such SMRs should be able to be operated in one and the same reactor building. As a result, Nuscale promised cost savings, which of course only existed on paper.

A central point is the degree of enrichment of the fuel. All other SMR concepts being developed in the USA, similar to research reactors, require uranium with a 20 percent enrichment of the fissile fraction (HALEU). The US Department of Energy has declared its consent - a little-noticed but momentous break with the previous practice of only approving LEU in order to make proliferation more difficult. It is entirely possible that this turn of events has caused Nuscale to lose its previous competitive advantage.

This setback is unlikely to change the determination of many governments to continue pursuing their lofty SMR plans. However, it has not exactly increased the willingness of investors to invest in the supposedly sustainable technology.

Background knowledge

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The map of the nuclear world

Whether large or small reactors, nuclear energy is too expensive and too dangerous...

The “Internal Search”

with the search terms

United States | SMR | Nuscale

brought the following results, among others:
 

June 13, 2023 - Dream of cheap mini-reactors evaporates in Idaho

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April 15, 2023 - State of the nuclear industry "Plans do not produce electricity"

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June 7, 2022 - Nuclear power: Small reactors exacerbate the disposal problem

The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!

Search word = SMR costs

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=SMR%20Kosten
 

Wikipedia

Small Modular Reactor

Small Modular Reactors (SMR) are modular nuclear fission reactors that are smaller than conventional reactors and can therefore be prefabricated in a factory and then transported to an assembly site. They are intended to enable less effort on site, greater risk containment efficiency and greater safety of the core materials used. SMRs have also been proposed to circumvent financing problems affecting conventional nuclear reactors with larger power (e.g. EPR, VVER) and several times higher investment costs...

BASE/Eco-Institute (2021)

On March 10, 2021, the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) presented a comprehensive report that considers 136 different historical and current reactors or SMR concepts, 31 of which are particularly detailed. The report prepared by the Öko-Institut on behalf of BASE provides an assessment of possible areas of application, the issue of final storage, safety issues and the risk of proliferation.

The results of the report include:

• In order to generate the same electrical power worldwide as with conventional nuclear power plants, the construction of many thousands to tens of thousands of SMR systems would be necessary.
• Compared to nuclear power plants with high output, individual SMRs could potentially achieve safety advantages because they have a lower radioactive inventory per reactor.
• However, the high number of reactors required to produce the same amount of electrical power increases the overall risk many times over.
• Contrary to what some manufacturers state, it must be assumed that in the event of a serious accident, the radioactive contamination will extend well beyond the site of the facility.
• Due to the low electrical output, the construction costs for SMR are relatively higher than for large nuclear power plants. A production cost calculation taking into account scale, mass and learning effects from the nuclear industry suggests that an average of 3.000 SMRs would have to be produced before starting SMR production would be worthwhile.
• In the event of a re-entry into nuclear energy, long-term operational, safety and accident risks would have to be accepted. Extensive interim storage and fuel transport would still be necessary. In any case, a repository would still be necessary.
• The use of existing uranium reserves through partitioning and transmutation (P&T) concepts is only applicable to spent fuel rods. However, 40 percent of them have already been reprocessed in Germany. The resulting vitrified waste would not be amenable to P&T processes.
• Although certain transuranic elements such as plutonium could be reduced in quantity, the amount of waste for other long-lived radioactive fission products would increase, e.g. T. even by up to 75 percent (cesium-135) compared to the amount to be stored without P&T.
• Finally, there would remain the danger that the plutonium that had to be separated in the P&T process would be more easily accessible for weapon production.

The critical overall assessment states: None of the technologies discussed is currently or foreseeably available on the market. At the same time, they are being touted with promises similar to those made for reactors in the 1950s and 1960s.

YouTube

Keyword = Nuscale SMR Idaho

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Nuscale+SMR+Idaho
 

Countless videos on the topic Nuscale SMR Idaho, but hardly anything about the end of this project. The nuclear lobby probably needs some time to turn this defeat into a victory...

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Terra X Lesch & Co - June 2, 2021 - 18:37 p.m

Bill Gates' big mistake: mini nuclear power plants
 

Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...

This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic

Back to:

Newsletter XLVI 2023 - November 12th to 18rd

Newspaper article 2023

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