Newsletter LI 2023
December 17-23
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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.
2 December 2009 (INES 2) Cruas, FRA
2 December 1949 (INES 4 | NAMS 3,8) Nuclear factory Hanford, USA
5 December 1965 (Broken Arrow) Douglas A-4E Skyhawk, USA
6 December 1972 (INES 3 | NAMS 1,6) Nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
7 December 1975 (INES 3) NPP Greifswald, GDR
8 December 1955 (INES 3) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR
10 December 1994 (INES 2 Class.?) NPP Pickering, ON, CAN
12 December 1952 (INES 5) NPP Chalk River, Ontario, CAN
16 December 1987 (INES 1) NPP Biblis A, GER
21 December 1972 (INES ? Class.?) Pawling, NY, USA
27 December 2009 (INES 1) NPP Fessenheim, FRA
27 December 1999 (INES 2) NPP Blayais, FRA
30 December 1958 (INES 4) Los Alamos, NM, USA
31 December 1978 (INES 4) NPP Beloyarsk, USSR, Rus
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We are looking for current information. If you can help, please send a message to: nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de
23. December
Energy transition | Climate neutral Churches
Photovoltaic offensive brings green energy to church roofs in Baden
Not only politics, but also the church is actively pursuing plans for climate neutrality. Photovoltaic systems will soon be installed on the roofs of church buildings in Baden.
The Evangelical Regional Church in Baden has ambitious goals for a sustainable future. It is planning a comprehensive photovoltaics offensive in 2024. The long-term goal is to be completely climate neutral by 2040. For this purpose, the regional church has entered into a partnership with a specially founded operating company and the energy company KSE. Together, photovoltaic systems will be installed and operated on the roofs of church buildings. Church communities can lease their roofs in order to reduce the financial and organizational burden.
The new monument protection guidelines in Baden-Württemberg make it easier to install solar systems. The heritage issues are put aside. There are similar projects in the Württemberg regional church and on the Catholic side. Church buildings, administrative buildings, daycare centers and community centers are the focus. The new possibilities open up an expanded perspective for the sustainable use of energy in historic buildings...
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Great Britain | EDF | Hinkley Point
Nuclear power: The Chinese can also do the maths
After costs explode, China Partner is withdrawing from the construction of Hinkley Point C in Great Britain. France's EDF group is facing mega losses. A lesson about the market and power.
News on the subject of cheap nuclear power. The Chinese group China Nuclear Power Group (CNG) is withdrawing from financing the British nuclear power plant construction site Hinkley Point C, as the Bloomberg news agency reports. The French partner, the highly loss-making state-owned company EDF, could be stuck with the construction costs currently estimated at 32,7 billion pounds (37,9 billion euros).
The Financial Times writes that costs are likely to continue to rise. The government in London has signaled to EDF that it does not intend to step into the breach for the time being. EDF has to solve the problem alone. However, there is talk of talks between the governments in London and Paris...
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Chilean Constitution
"They wanted to privatize everything except the air"
Right-wing constitutional draft failed in referendum in Chile. A conversation with Nancy Larenas
Nancy Larenas is chairwoman of the German section of the Communist Party of Chile
A clear majority of Chileans rejected the right-wing draft constitution on Sunday. Are you relieved?
Nancy Larenas: Naturally! We are very relieved and have worked hard, our comrades have taken to the streets all over Chile and explained why the draft constitution must be rejected - with success!
In May this year, the ultra-right party Los Republicanos won 22 of the 51 seats in the Constitutional Convention. Many of the central points of the now rejected draft came directly from the pen of the ultra-right. What was your criticism of the draft?
With the draft constitution, the right has tried to deepen neoliberalism even further and abolish many rights that the people have fought for: including the right to abortion, the right to housing, the right to access the health system and many more. In addition to water, they also wanted to privatize public spaces such as squares and beaches. So the floor. They seem to want to privatize everything except the air we breathe. It was an attempt to deepen the 1980 constitution of the dictator Pinochet...
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CO2 emissions | CCS | 1,5 degrees
Negative emissions
Blue Carbon: Carbon in paradise
Seagrass beds off the Bahamas store significant amounts of CO2, a new study finds. Without removing CO2 from the atmosphere, the 1,5 degree target can no longer be achieved. Both natural and technical approaches have advantages and disadvantages.
The promising name Blue Carbon hides coastal ecosystems. More precisely: the CO2 that mangroves, sea grasses and salt marshes draw from the atmosphere and store.
The ecosystems are classified as so-called nature-based solutions, i.e. natural climate protection solutions. Like forests and moors, they should help reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere in the future and thus mitigate climate change.
[...] In contrast to forests or moors, their storage potential is also low and there is little experience with the management of seagrass meadows, for example.
Relying too much on “natural solutions” is dangerous
One advantage of technological variants such as direct air capture – i.e. the extraction of CO2 from the ambient air using technical-chemical processes – is their large and long-term absorption potential. The carbon that will then be stored in geological reservoirs will, in theory, be safe there for hundreds of thousands of years.
[...] Humanity must not only finally begin to rapidly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, but also drive forward the expansion of negative emissions at a record pace. Both are a race against time. A race against climate change.
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Agriculture | Transformation | Diesel | Pawn catcher
“Support climate transformation”
The Federal Environment Agency welcomes the removal of agricultural diesel subsidies - and suggests relief for farmers elsewhere
From the perspective of the Federal Environment Agency, it is right that the federal government wants to abolish subsidies for agricultural diesel. However, President Messner recommends other relief measures. And he is pushing for the abolition of the “diesel privilege”.
The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has welcomed the planned removal of agricultural diesel subsidies and suggested relief for farmers elsewhere. “We must no longer encourage things in the wrong direction,” said UBA President Dirk Messner to the editorial network Germany (RND). “It is therefore right to abolish the agricultural diesel subsidy.” Fossil energy use should not be favored, warned the head of the authority.
Instead, Messner recommended financial support for farmers in climate transformation...
22. December
North Korea | IAEA | Yongbyon
North Korea probably starts up second nuclear reactor
Another reactor appears to have been put into operation in the controversial Yongbyon nuclear complex in North Korea. Experts speculate that the plutonium obtained will be used to build new tactical nuclear weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna was very concerned. The leak of warm water from the light water reactor (LWR) at the Yongbyon nuclear complex in North Korea is an indication that the reactor has reached critical status, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement. By "critical state" it is meant that the nuclear chain reaction is now self-sustaining.
However, the nuclear agency's experts can largely only monitor developments in North Korea with the help of satellite images. The communist leadership in Pyongyang expelled all IAEA inspectors from the country in 2009...
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Energy transition | Brown coal | Solar plant | Jänschwalde
Opencast mining operations end after 50 years - now comes solar
With the end of operations for the brown coal opencast mine in Jänschwalde, the energy company Leag is pushing ahead with the construction of a solar system on the former opencast mining areas.
[...] The energy company Leag is planning a conversion towards renewable energies. The phase-out of electricity generation from brown coal is legally agreed in 2038. Because of its high carbon dioxide emissions, lignite is more harmful to the climate than other energy sources.
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Japan | Arms industry | Arms exports
Missiles for Ukraine
Japan is increasingly turning its back on the pacifism of the post-war period: business in the arms industry should be boosted.
TOKYO taz | Japan is easing its arms export restrictions to indirectly help Ukraine get urgently needed Patriot missiles. The cabinet decided on Friday to allow the delivery of weapon systems manufactured under license to the licensors' countries. First, the USA should receive Japanese Patriot anti-missiles. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is thus fulfilling a request from US President Joe Biden.
The missiles are manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries under license from Lockheed Martin and RTX. The government is also considering authorizing the export of 155-millimeter artillery shells produced under license from BAE Systems to Great Britain, according to the Financial Times. There is a current shortage of these bullets in Ukraine...
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Ukraine | Soldiers | Conscription
Kyiv wants to recruit more soldiers:
Buschmann: Don't force Ukrainians to the front
Ukraine needs more soldiers. Justice Minister Buschmann does not want to force Ukrainians living here to do military service. The Union has come up with a drastic proposal on the subject.
Ukraine's problems in mobilizing soldiers to repel the Russian invasion will have no practical consequences for Ukrainians living in Germany, according to Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann.
It will not be the case that we now force people into conscription or military service against their will.
Marco Buschmann, Federal Minister of Justice
[...] Kiesewetter wants to cut citizens' benefits for Ukrainians who are able to serve
The CDU defense politician Roderich Kiesewetter said on Deutschlandfunk on Friday morning that if able-bodied men withdrew support from their homeland, that could not be condoned. He suggested promoting the possibility that these men could be deployed in homeland security in Ukraine if they did not want to go to the front.
It would be very helpful if there was a government agreement that would allow these young men or older men to return without having to go to the front if they don't want to. And secondly, that we are simply reducing the citizen's allowance for men capable of military service.
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Securing trade in the Red Sea
According to the Pentagon, more than 20 countries are taking part in the new military alliance
In order to protect cargo ships in the Red Sea from attacks by the Houthi militias, the USA announced the military alliance “Operation Prosperity Guardian”. Germany is also considering taking part.
According to the US, several countries have already joined the international military coalition to secure maritime trade in the Red Sea. “More than 20 nations have now agreed to participate in the coalition,” said US Department of Defense spokesman Pat Ryder.
After increased attacks on international merchant ships by the Iran-backed Houthi militias, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced at the beginning of the week the formation of a coalition to protect shipping in the Red Sea under the name "Operation Prosperity Guardian." given. The US-led coalition already includes Bahrain, France, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway and the Seychelles. Greece and Australia also want to join the alliance. Spain says it only wants to take part in an EU or NATO mission. According to a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, the federal government is also considering participating in the coalition...
21. December
Great Britain | EDF | Electricity price | Hinkley Point | Electricity production costs
Hinkley Point C: Electricity from a new British nuclear power plant costs over 15 cents per kilowatt hour
The construction of the new British nuclear power plant Hinkley Point C is delayed and will be significantly more expensive than planned for the French nuclear company EDF. But not only are the construction costs for the two new nuclear power plants with a total of around 3.280 MW rising sharply, British electricity customers are now also threatened with significant cost increases for the nuclear power generated on their electricity bills, said the International Economic Forum for Renewable Energies (IWR) in Münster .
“The costs for the electricity generated from the new British nuclear power plant Hinkley Point C will be well over 15 cents/kWh at the planned start and thus far above the market electricity price,” said IWR boss Dr. Norbert Allnoch in Münster. This is according to the data from the British CFD register...
See also: Guaranteed price
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Iran | Hamas | enrichment | Frodo and Natanz, uranium enrichment facilities in Iran
The massacre of October 7th and the Iranian regime's strategy against Israel
October 7th and Iranian politics
On his website, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei outlines a strategy for how the pro-Iranian militias, which he describes as "international resistance cores," should bring Israel to its knees.
The Iranian regime openly welcomed the Hamas massacre on October 7th. In an initial reaction, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that Iran knew nothing about the attack, but he kissed the hands of these heroes. President Ebrahim Raisi praised Hamas' actions as innovative. Both statements characterize the system of this dictatorship in their own way.
[...] When Iranian officials claim that they knew nothing about October 7th, then that is a protective claim. What's more: the Hamas documents, which the Mossad allegedly considered to be simulation games, were read completely differently in Iran, namely as an implementation of the strategy that Nasrallah and Soleimani had already announced in 2019 and that Khamenei is currently spreading again.
[...] Nor should we forget the fact that during this entire period the centrifuges at Natanz and Fordow have been spinning incessantly, continuing to increase the amount of enriched uranium, which now exceeds the amount authorized by the JCPOA by more than 15 times.
Iran also denied entry to some International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in October. In view of the dangerous development, the Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, spoke for the first time that Iran could become a second North Korea. The inspectors were first expelled there and then the development of the atomic bomb began.
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Armament | Subsidies | Fighter plane | FCAS
Up to 2 trillion euros: costs for the fighter aircraft of the future are threatening to explode
Germany and France are developing a new fighter aircraft, the Future Combat Air System (FCAS). The costs are estimated at 100 billion euros. But a Greenpeace study shows: They could grow to up to 2 trillion euros
Heads are spinning again in Berlin. The traffic light continues to try to hold together its difficult-to-reach budget agreement. The fact that it wanted to cut off almost a billion in subsidies for farmers has led to such great discontent, anger and honking and angry tractor demonstrations, that the traffic light is reconsidering its plans. This is not easy, and it takes time to find replacements for the 440 million euros that were canceled for agricultural diesel and the 480 million euros in vehicle tax exemptions that were canceled - as I said, almost a billion in total.
However, the picture is put into perspective somewhat when you consider that the federal government could spend 1.000 or even 2.000 times as much money on an armaments project. Which is perhaps also due to the fact that it downplays the true scope of the costs for the “Future Combat Air System” and sets it far too low. A new study by Greenpeace, which was exclusively available on Friday, calculated the costs for the “Future Combat Air System” armament project over the life cycle of the aircraft, drones and cloud systems it contains, including maintenance costs. It comes to an amount that is not only ten times higher than previous estimates, but is so large that it is difficult to even imagine: the air force system of the future could cost one or even two trillion euros by 2070...
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CO2 price | Climate money | consumer advice centre
Consumer advice center wants 139 euros back for everyone
The calls for a climate bonus are getting louder. The Federal Association of Consumer Organizations has now calculated what it believes the state already owes citizens as a result of the higher CO2 prices.
"We don't want to wait any longer, climate money now!" This is what it says on the WWF website, but also at Arbeiterwohlfahrt, IG Bau and others. The associations have launched a joint protest campaign. Addressee: the federal government. The Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (VZBV) also insists on a bonus that rewards climate-conscious behavior. Such an idea can be found in the traffic light coalition agreement.
"It's annoying that it's taking so long. We demand that the government does everything it can to ensure that climate money comes as quickly as possible," said Thomas Engelke from VZBV. After all, consumers have been paying a surcharge on gas, oil and gasoline since 2021 due to the CO2 price, which is expected to continue to rise in the coming year, and are not receiving sufficient relief for this...
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21 December 1972 (INES ? Class.?) Pawling, NY, USA
1 injured in glove box explosion, an unknown amount of plutonium was released...
(Cost approx. US$3 million)
Explosion '72 stoked fears about Nuclear Lake
In December 1972, a chemical explosion at a United Nuclear Corp. building resulted in at Nuclear Lake in Pawling resulted in an unknown amount of radioactive plutonium dust being spread throughout the building and into the surrounding woods and shoreline.
[...] Following the incident, authorized activities at the complex were halted and a $3 million effort was undertaken to clean the area of plutonium, removing truckloads of contaminated soil. In 1975, the disused site was officially released for unrestricted use by the federal government...
https://eu.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2014/08/12/dateline-nuclear-lake/13976085/
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.4.0367/full/
Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
20. December
Lingen fuel element factory | Framatome | Rosatom
Russian company Rosatom is to invest in the Lingen nuclear factory
The public display of the application documents for the expansion of the Lingen fuel element factory will begin in January
After the shutdown of the last nuclear power plants and the end of the Würgassen interim storage facility, which was also fought for by citizen movements, the anti-nuclear movement is now targeting the nuclear plants that are still in operation. Their focus is primarily on the fuel element forge in Lingen, Lower Saxony, which, like the uranium enrichment plant in Gronau, Westphalia, is excluded from the nuclear phase-out.
Fuel elements for nuclear power plants have been manufactured in Lingen since 1979. The factory is currently operated by the company “Advanced Nuclear Fuels” (ANF), a subsidiary of the French group Framatome, which belongs to the state-dominated electricity giant Électricité de France (EdF). The Lingen factory supplies nuclear power plants in the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland with fresh uranium fuel.
There could even be an expansion of the facility in the near future. Framatome has agreed on a joint venture with TWEL, a subsidiary of the Russian state nuclear company Rosatom. The factory, which has recently been underutilized, will also produce fuel rods for Russian-designed reactors in the future. A corresponding application has been submitted to the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment as the nuclear licensing authority since spring...
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Netanyahu deliberately let the Hamas terrorists have their way
Recent revelations confirm that Netanyahu used Hamas as a guarantee that there would never be two states.
The New York Times revealed on December 17 that both the Israeli and US governments knew since 2018 in which assets Hamas had invested hundreds of millions of dollars. Nevertheless, neither Israel nor the United States have imposed sanctions on these Hamas companies and assets. Sanctions were imposed just last year after Hamas-linked individuals violated existing US sanctions.
[...] In March 2019, Netanyahu said to his Likud colleagues at a meeting of his center-right Likud party:
“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state must support Hamas and the transfer of money to Hamas […] This is part of our strategy to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.” ...
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United States | Flooding | Climate migration
USA: Millions are fleeing the consequences of climate change
More people in the United States are leaving their homes because of the increasing risk of flooding, a new study shows. Even cities like Miami and Washington are affected.
Due to climate change, more and more people are having to give up their places of residence. Last year there were more internally displaced people worldwide due to weather-related disasters than as a result of violence or conflict.
When you think of climate change, you might first think of desertification in Nigeria, which means that many farmers have to flee to the next larger city. Or the floods in Pakistan, in which many people lost their homes.
A new study now shows that more and more people in the USA are fleeing for fear of floods. Entire city centers are emptying, according to results published in the journal Nature Communications...
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Israel | Armaments | Military-industrial complex
Gaza as a showroom
The Israeli defense company Elbit Systems supplies the world with drones and surveillance technology
Occupation is part of the marketing concept at the Israeli company Elbit Systems. The central selling point with which the company promotes its weapon systems is that the technology is “battle-tested.” Tested on Palestinians. In Gaza, the company's weapons such as the "Iron Sting" are already being used in the so-called "pre-operational phase." Military attacks on Palestinians are a kind of test run for Elbit Systems. The population of Gaza trapped in the siege was forced to become part of a large experimental laboratory for the latest developments in the defense industry. The weapons are deadly even at this stage of development.
The concept has proven successful for Elbit: In the current ranking of the Stockholm peace research institute SIPRI, Elbit Systems rose from 29th to 24th place among the world's largest defense companies. With sales of $5,5 billion, Elbit Systems is now Israel's largest private defense company. The company makes 20 percent of its sales by providing military equipment for the occupiers. 85 percent of the Israeli military's drones and more than 80 percent of the Israeli land forces' equipment come from Elbit Systems. With every new attack on Palestinians, the arms company essentially has a showroom for its own products. With weapons, ammunition and equipment, it provides the essential equipment for the Israeli army's attack on Gaza...
19. December
Farmers and Glueing Activists block traffic
Highways blocked: Are farmers threatened with the same penalties as climate activists?
Farmers blocked traffic with their tractors on several highways in North Rhine-Westphalia on Monday. There were long traffic jams - similar to those experienced by the climate activists. However, there is a crucial difference, say lawyers.
Drivers had to accept up to two hours delays on North Rhine-Westphalia's motorways on Monday: protesting farmers had blocked lanes and driveways with their tractors in the middle of rush hour traffic, thus causing significant traffic jams. The motorways on the Lower Rhine were particularly affected by the actions. The largest was on the A57 towards Cologne: 76 tractors jammed traffic there. Farmers also sometimes blocked both lanes on the A40 and A61.
According to the police, mostly farmers' personal details were recorded. On the A560 near Hennef, where around 70 tractors had stopped traffic, the officers filed a complaint against unknown persons...
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CO2 price | Climate money | Wealth
Greens are putting pressure on:
Climate money should be on the agenda
Green politicians are quickly calling for compensation for the rising CO₂ price. This should be part of the budget negotiations.
BERLIN taz | In view of the increasing burdens on citizens, calls within the Greens for the rapid introduction of climate money are becoming louder. “The Greens must make climate money the subject of the current budget negotiations,” said Green MEP Rasmus Andresen to the taz. The budget politician demands that his party colleagues in the Bundestag make their approval of projects such as tax relief conditional on climate money coming during this legislative period. The traffic light leaders only recently found a solution to the budget crisis that was triggered by the Federal Constitutional Court's budget ruling more than a month ago.
Climate money is intended to distribute the costs of the ecological restructuring of the economy and society in a more socially equitable manner. The demand for this is becoming more topical in Germany because the federal government is increasing the CO2 price more in the coming years than it originally planned. This is part of their solution to the budget crisis. On January 1, 2024, the CO2 price will rise from 30 euros to 45 euros, and a year later to 55 euros.
[...] The Green Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt has now brought alternative financing into play. She is pushing for the rapid introduction of climate money and is calling for it to start in 2024. “There is a source of financing that we have not yet approached, and that is the extremely rich with the super assets and the super incomes,” she told the dpa news agency. A wealth levy or a reformed wealth tax is conceivable. Of the 40 million households in Germany, 4.300 are among the super-rich. “This 0,01 percent of the population should make their contribution to the country, especially in times of crisis,” she demanded.
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Photovoltaics | Subsidies | Solar industry
New subsidy for the solar industry: Habeck declares war on China's solar dumping
German solar system manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with China. And this despite the fact that their products have clear advantages.
Berlin - The megawatt hours fed into the grid increased by 2022 percent between March 2023 and March 20, 16 percent more systems were found on German roofs and the installed capacity is increasing. The German photovoltaics industry is growing – at least at first glance. However, competition with Chinese and US providers is fierce. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to strengthen German manufacturers of solar panels in competition.
[...] “In addition to China, the USA is also trying to attract solar factory investors to their countries with the Inflation Reduction Act and India with high subsidies,” says Körnig when asked. Due to the still small production volumes, the production costs for solar cells and modules produced in Germany are higher than the production costs of Asian solar giga factories...
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Glyphosate | Monsanto | Pesticides
Test for pollutants
Toxins discovered in Christmas trees
Across Germany, BUND has had Christmas trees from hardware stores, street sales and directly from the producer tested for pesticide residues. The result: Two thirds of the trees were contaminated.
The results are alarming: 15 different pesticide active ingredients were detected in laboratory samples of Nordmann firs. These include two active ingredients that are not even approved in the European Union. Two other active ingredients are not approved for Christmas tree cultivation in the EU. Such trees shouldn't actually be sold, says Corinna Hölzel from BUND. The environmental organization commissioned a laboratory to carry out the investigation. The authorities must now investigate this illegal practice.
[...] The illegally used substances in particular are questionable for both the environment and people. The highly controversial pesticide glyphosate, which is suspected of causing cancer and whose approval was extended by the EU just a few weeks ago, was also detected in five Christmas trees this year.
Chemical-synthetic pesticides are a major problem for biodiversity. They enter the soil, air and water, killing and damaging beneficial insects. Six of the substances found are highly toxic to bees, birds and aquatic organisms...
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Nuclear waste repository Schacht Konrad: Government is sticking to plans
Despite strong resistance, the controversial Konrad nuclear waste repository in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, can continue to be built for the time being. Environment Minister Christian Meyer (Greens) announced this today.
His ministry temporarily rejected the applications from environmental associations to withdraw, revoke and stop construction of the planning approval decision and the demand to stop further construction work. Meyer explains this with a legal review of the decision from 2002. He justifies the rejection by saying that "there are very high hurdles associated with revoking an approval that has already been granted."
Associations see no safety for nuclear waste barrels
The environmental associations Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) and Nature Conservation Association Germany (NABU) submitted the application in May 2021. They called on the state to revoke the planning approval decision from 2002. Their reasoning: Schacht Konrad does not correspond to the current state of science and technology. Important aspects such as the long-term safety of the shaft and retrieval were not taken into account in the planning approval decision...
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Compensation | Monsanto | PCB
US court sentences Monsanto to a million-dollar fine for PCBs in schools
Products containing the chemical group PCB were used in a US school center. Now the chemical company has to pay high compensation to former students and parents.
A US jury has sentenced Bayer subsidiary Monsanto to pay $857 million to former students and parent representatives at a school northeast of Seattle. A jury in Washington state found the company liable for selling products containing PCBs that were used at the Sky Valley Education Center in the city of Monroe. Monsanto is now expected to pay $73 million in compensatory damages and an additional $784 million in punitive damages to seven plaintiffs.
The former students and parents had alleged that PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) group of chemicals manufactured by Monsanto had caused them health problems. Monsanto had produced PCBs until 1977...
18. December
Indian reactor reaches first criticality
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) said the controlled, self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction began in Unit 17 of Kakrapar in the early hours of December 4. The Indian government has also confirmed that it has completed land acquisition for the construction of two 700 MWe reactors in Chutka.
The plant, also referred to as Unit 4 of the Kakrapar Atomic Power Project (KAPP 4), is a 700 MWe pressurized water reactor designed and built in India, the second in a series of sixteen units, of which the first - Unit 3 of the Kakrapar Project - was commissioned earlier this year.
[...] Progress in Chutka
Separately, State Minister Jitendra Singh has confirmed that the land for the two 700 MWe PHWRs to be built in Chutka has been acquired and transferred to the NPCIL...
Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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CO2 emissions | Compensation | Lufthansa
Compensation after airport blockade
Last generation makes Lufthansa “offer”
Because protesters brought airports to a standstill, Lufthansa is demanding compensation from Last Generation. The climate activists now declare that they are ready to pay – under a condition worth billions.
Members of the Last Generation group made an “offer” to Lufthansa following claims for damages due to protest actions. The climate activists announced on Monday that they were prepared to pay the requested 740 euros in damages. In return, Lufthansa would have to pay the annual social costs of CO000 emissions. According to the activists, this is around six billion euros per year...
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Spain | Nature reserve | water consumption
Nature reserve in Spain
Green list removes Doñana Park
The Spanish nature reserve is drying up due to irrigation of berry plantations. The environmental organization IUCN is now withdrawing its support.
MADRID taz | The Spanish Doñana National Park is no longer on the Green List. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has removed the wetland from its catalog of well-managed nature reserves. Doñana is the first protected landscape to experience this. A total of 77 areas in 60 countries are on the list, which has existed since 2012. Doñana had been there since 2015.
Founded in 1948, the IUCN's mission is to “… protect nature and ensure that all use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.” Ten of its 150.000 volunteer scientists worldwide have been studying Doñana's condition for the past two years. “According to the assessment, the area does not currently meet the IUCN Green List standard,” says James Hardcastle from the organization. Doñana only meets 17 of the 50 criteria on the Green List.
Doñana's exclusion from the list became apparent. The wetland has increasingly dried out in recent years. On the one hand because of the decrease in rainfall, but above all because of the high water consumption in the surrounding fields for strawberries and other “red fruits”...
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European Union | Packaging | Single-use plastic
EU environment ministers agree on a law against packaging waste
By 2040, significantly less packaging will end up in the trash in the EU. That's why single-use plastic packaging should be banned - including small bags for ketchup.
The EU environment ministers have agreed on a law for less packaging waste. As the AFP news agency reports, single-use plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables is to be banned. The same should apply to small bags for sugar or ketchup in restaurants. All member states should also set up deposit systems for disposable and plastic bottles according to certain criteria.
According to the information, at least 2040 percent less packaging will end up in the trash by 15. This should also be achieved by ensuring that packaging should generally be recyclable in the future. From 2035, packaging waste should be collected and sorted separately in all EU countries. The packaging industry should also comply with mandatory reusable quotas in the future.
[...] On average, there is around 190 kilograms of packaging waste per person in the EU every year. According to experts, without additional measures, the number could rise to more than 2030 kilograms by 200.
The planned law is now entering negotiations with the European Parliament.
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Supporters of the AfD cheer right-wing extremists Acts of violence
Study: When Nazi terrorists kill, the AfD becomes stronger
In Pirna, Saxony, the candidate from the right-wing extremist AfD won the office of mayor. The rise of fascism continues to advance. A new study shows a possible factor for the AfD's success: right-wing extremist terrorist attacks.
A study by Miku Matsunaga and Werner Krause published in 2023 questions the widespread assumption that right-wing extremist terror deters people from voting for parties like the AfD. They note: When neo-Nazis carry out terrorist attacks and murder people in Germany, the opposite happens: the right-wing extremist AfD actually gains popularity as a result. No wonder that right-wing extremist terror and murders are cheered on in the circles around this party that threatens democracy. How long do we have to wait before examining the party ban?
AfD voters think violence is good?
The researchers analyzed weekly data from 2013 to 2019 to examine the evolution of support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in relation to far-right violence. The results show that there is a moderate but statistically significant increase in AfD support following right-wing extremist attacks. This observation is particularly noteworthy because it contradicts the common assumption that citizens turn away from organizations or ideologies associated with violence...
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Nature Conservation | EU Parliament | Renaturalisation
How can Europe restore its nature?
At the beginning of 2024, the European Parliament will finally vote on the “Nature Restoration Act”. The internationally unique and hotly debated regulation aims to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity in Europe. An international team of scientists led by the University of Duisburg-Essen has examined how promising this law is.
The Nature Restoration Law (NRL) requires EU member states to take effective restoration measures by 2030: by 2030 on at least 20 percent of land and marine areas and by 2050 in all ecosystems in need of restoration . Key points concern the rewetting of drained bogs and the recovery of pollinator populations. The NRL has already overcome several hurdles in the EU Parliament: Most recently, it was approved by the Environment Committee of the EU Parliament after delegations from the Parliament and the Council negotiated the final text. The European Parliament's vote on the NRL is now scheduled for early 2024...
17. December
Climate conference | Renewables | Fossil
What the climate compromise means for world politics
Was the Dubai climate conference a breakthrough or not? That's probably the wrong question. Above all, COP28 showed that the geopolitics cards are being reshuffled. And that is an opportunity.
Opinions differ as to whether the climate conference in Dubai was a success or not. Some say that we have finally managed to put the obvious into words: the world has to move away from coal, oil and gas, renewable energies are getting better and cheaper. The final document also calls for haste, which is urgently needed.
Others say that, firstly, it is too late and secondly, the wording of the final document contains too many loopholes and fig leaves. From a reference to “low-carbon” fuels to the explicit mention of technologies like “carbon capture and storage,” whose efficiency is a far cry from scales that can help the world in its current, urgent emergency.
Both sides are right...
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Support program | Transport transition | Electric car | Purchase premium
End of the environmental bonus for electric cars
Bizarre funding program
In the spirit of the ecological transport transition, it was always nonsense to promote electric cars. The end of the environmental bonus is the opportunity for a readjustment.
Tight state finances can also have a positive effect. This is when they give you the impetus to pause and question whether expenditure makes sense. In this respect, the end of the purchase bonus for electric cars offers the opportunity to readjust the political incentives to promote a transport transition.
Because the concept of the so-called environmental bonus was anything but successful. In doing so, the federal government promoted a development that the former pioneers of electromobility never had in mind. Originally, no one thought of three-ton trucks rolling through cities on battery power. Nobody imagined that the proportion of SUVs among new electric cars could - as happened - exceed the 40 percent mark...
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Great Britain | EDF | Hinkley Point | CGN
Nuclear power in Great Britain: expensive withdrawal from the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant
The construction of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Great Britain is delayed: a Chinese investor does not want to cover any further costs.
A new setback for the European nuclear industry: The Chinese nuclear company China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) has stopped further investments in the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant under construction in Great Britain. The reason is severe cost overruns in the project, in which the Chinese are junior partners of the French electricity company EDF. Since the British government has signaled that it will not provide financing, this is likely to make the situation of the heavily indebted EDF even more difficult. The group was fully nationalized again because of the sharp increase in debt last year, which amounts to around 65 billion euros.
[...] EDF plays a key role in the UK's energy policy, which relies on nuclear power alongside renewable energy for the climate transition. Plans to build new reactors there had been in place since the mid-2000s, but the government was unsuccessful in finding domestic investors. It was only when London guaranteed an electricity feed-in tariff that was well above the market price that EDF and CGN were ready to start building the French EPR type nuclear power plant. In addition to Hinkley Point, a second project, Sizewell C, is also planned. Without the new nuclear power plants, Great Britain's nuclear power capacity will decline sharply over the next ten years due to the impending decommissioning of old reactors...
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State authority | Right-wing extremists in the security authorities
Balance sheet on the Hannibal network
Waiting for “Day X”
The right-wing extremist group Nordkreuz and the Hannibal network – a review after six years of research.
This text first appeared in the anthology “State power. “How right-wing radical networks infiltrate the security authorities”, edited by Heike Kleffner & Matthias Meisner, Herder Verlag.
The end of one of the biggest right-wing extremist scandals in the German security apparatus could be a four-page penalty order. It was issued by the Ludwigslust district court in spring 2023. The recipient was a man who, together with others, was said to have created enemy lists, provided body bags and hoarded tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition.
According to the district court, this man must pay 50 daily rates of 100 euros each - a fine that is so low that he can even continue to own weapons.
[...] The network in which men and a few women arm themselves and prepare for “Day X” extends from the Bundeswehr and police to secret services and other authorities.
It was initiated by André S. alias “Hannibal”, at the time a soldier in the Special Forces Command (KSK) of the Bundeswehr, an elite unit. That's why we talk about the Hannibal network...
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Refugees | Asylum | Extreme right
The main thing is against migration
It was confusing, hectic, almost feverish: “Limiting irregular migration” has been on the agenda at practically every interior minister conference since the 2024s, but there has never been as much activity as this autumn. Ahead of the EU elections in XNUMX, right-wing extremists in many countries, including Germany, are stronger than they have been for a long time. At the same time, the number of arrivals of asylum seekers remains high. And although the empirical evidence does not support this, many believe that only isolation can prevent further drift to the right. The motto is “flatten the curve” in asylum numbers.
Negotiations for the new Common European Asylum System (CEAS), which has been discussed since 2012, are currently underway in Brussels. The reform package should be passed before the end of the legislative period in February in order to reduce the number of refugees. The fact that arrivals will be interned more often and for longer periods of time in the future is intended to have a deterrent effect, and faster deportations will do the rest. But many people in this country do not want to rely on the EU alone to prevent migration. And so a real competition broke out between the parties in Germany as to how best to keep refugees and migrants away. The most recent highlights, from the weeks since October 10th alone:
The FDP wants to use “financial blocking” to prevent refugees from supporting their families in their country of origin with parts of their social benefits via bank transfer. The deputy CDU parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn calls for irregular migration to be stopped with “physical force” if necessary...
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Current news+
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Climate change | CO2 price | COP28 | Climate money | OPEC
Steps towards climate change, unsettled OPEC and loving politics
Calendar week 50: The traffic light is taking an important first step in reducing fossil subsidies, says Aysel Osmanoglu, board member of GLS Bank and member of the editorial board of Klimareporter°. But she misses the social security provided by the promised climate money.
Klimareporter°: Ms. Osmanoglu, the traffic light coalition has reached an agreement in the budget dispute. Savings are to be made in some corners, for example the subsidy for network fees should be eliminated and climate-damaging subsidies will also be reduced.
On the other hand, there should be more income, for example through a higher CO2 price. Are these the right measures to plug the budget hole?
Aysel Osmanoglu: A lot of things are being criticized now, depending on your point of view. I would like to emphasize that the Minister of Economic Affairs has advocated some groundbreaking measures that will strengthen the business location and advance transformation. They were not deleted.
However, the details of many individual measures that have been announced are still unclear. The bureaucratic language – “exceeding order” instead of “emergency” – doesn’t make it any better.
The reduction of fossil fuel subsidies is overdue and the coalition is taking a first step in the right direction. GLS Bank has been committed to this with many companies for a long time. The higher CO2 price is also right so that companies have incentives for transformation. The climate money promised in the coalition agreement, which could socially cushion higher prices and rising network fees, is missing.
I would like to emphasize that there would have been further opportunities for higher government revenue - for example by withdrawing tax relief for high-earning people.
The climate summit in Dubai ended on Wednesday. For the first time, states are called upon to move away from fossil fuels in the final declaration. However, the wording remains very vague. Still a success for climate protection?
We can only face the climate crisis together, through dialogue. Even if spaces like the climate conference are difficult, we don't know of a better instrument. The Dubai final document is a confession that fossil fuels have no future.
Yes, there are still loopholes and a clear exit would have been even better. Nevertheless: eight years ago, the IPCC's forecast for global warming by the end of the century was still up to 4,7 degrees Celsius. The researchers are now warning of 2,4 to three degrees – assuming climate protection measures are taken. That's not enough, but it's an improvement.
By the way, I was delighted to receive the letter from the OPEC states. The fact that they have called on each other not to make compromises at the expense of fossil fuels shows that things are getting tight for them. That gives me courage.
What is largely missing from the Dubai Declaration are convincing financial commitments for poorer states. So was the summit a small success for climate protection, but a failure for climate justice?
We all have a responsibility to shape the transformation in a climate-friendly way - this was colorfully and audibly reminded by demonstrators in front of the congress center in Dubai and activists elsewhere.
It is important that COP 28 launched the Fund to Support the Global South. The money that countries like Germany pay in will of course not be enough to pay for the climate damage - if it is even affordable.
Politicians are still hesitating, but more and more court rulings are forcing companies and states to live up to their responsibilities after 150 years of fossil fuel economy.
And what was your surprise of the week?
That Donald Tusk is the new Polish Prime Minister and our neighboring country has a new government with him. He had a memorable election campaign with a heart as his symbol. In his government statement he spoke about solidarity, unity, community and love.
That impressed me. He said: "I know the word love often evokes ridicule in public discourse." But he couldn't imagine politics without love.
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Background knowledge
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The map of the nuclear world
Climate change is in full swing, but we can influence the effects...
The “Internal Search”
with the search terms
Climate change | CO2 price | Climate money | OPEC
brought the following results, among others:
December 16, 2023 - Dubai's assessment "The oil states are getting nervous"
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July 31, 2023 - European emissions trading - Germany takes in almost four billion euros
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May 3, 2021 - The CO2 price of 100 euros is within reach
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February 4, 2021 - Study: Nuclear power is not sustainable and does not help in climate change
The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!
Keyword = climate change
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Klimawandel
Wikipedia
Climate change, also climate change, climate change or climate change, is a worldwide change in the climate on Earth or Earth-like planets or moons that have an atmosphere. The cooling or warming associated with climate change can occur over different periods of time. An important distinguishing feature is between those weather patterns that occur within the framework of a climatic condition or a climatic zone, and climate change itself, which increases or decreases the probability of certain weather conditions occurring...
Global warming – colloquially also “climate change” or “global warming” – refers to the current increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. This is man-made climate change, which is a result of net greenhouse gas emissions that have arisen since the beginning of industrialization through the use of fossil energy resources and unsustainable forestry and agriculture. Greenhouse gas emissions increase the retention capacity for infrared thermal radiation in the troposphere, thereby increasing the natural greenhouse effect. The most important greenhouse gas in current global warming is carbon dioxide (CO2), and there are others such as: B. methane and nitrous oxide. The average CO2 concentration in the earth's atmosphere measured by the Mauna Loa measuring station rose from originally around 280 ppm before the start of industrialization to now over 410 ppm...
Scientific consensus on climate change
There is a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is primarily caused by human activities. This scientific consensus on climate change, which has existed since at least the early 1990s, is supported by various studies of scientists' positions and by position statements from scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the reviews of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It says that more and more observations demonstrate the reality of global warming and that the warming observed over the last 50 years is largely due to human activity...
YouTube
Keyword = climate change
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Klimawandel
ProSieben newstime - December 13, 2023 - 1:41
Climate change has fully arrived: Germany is struggling with enormous water loss
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Terra X History - October 17, 2019 - 16:37 p.m
7 facts about man-made climate change
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Quarks - January 15, 2022 - 45:04
Climate change: what else helps now
Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...
This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic
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