Newsletter II 2024
January 7th to 13th
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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.
1 January 1977 (INES 5) NPP Beloyarsk, USSR
2 January 1958 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR
3 January 1961 (INES 4 | NAMS 2,9) SL-1, NRTS Idaho Falls, USA
4 January 1986 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Sequoyah, USA
5 January 1976 (INES 3) NPP Jaslovské Bohunice, SVK
6 January 2016 (North Korea's 4th nuclear weapons test) Punggye-ri, PRK
6 January 1981 (INES 3) Nuclear factory La Hague, FRA
13 January 1977 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Gundremmingen, GER
17 January 1966 (Broken Arrow) B-52 Palomares, E.S.P
18 January 2012 (INES 2) NPP Cattenom, FRA
20 January 1965 (INES 4 | NAMS 3,7) Nuclear factory LLNL, Livermore, USA
21 January 2002 (INES 2) NPP Flamanville, FRA
21 January 1969 (INES 5 | NAMS 1,6) VAKL Lucens, CHE
21 January 1968 (Broken Arrow) B-52 Thule Airport, Greenland, DNK
24 January 1961 (Broken Arrow) B-52 Goldsboro, NC, USA
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We are looking for current information. If you can help, please send a message to: nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de
13. January
Right-wing extremists | inhuman | unconstitutional
Rights use language to cover up inhumane content
Right-wing extremism researcher Heike Radvan sees the language used by right-wing actors at a meeting in Potsdam as a means of concealing content. "One of the centrally used words 'remigration', which at first glance might seem like a technical term, is a programmatic expression of racist and nationalistic - anything but new - extreme right-wing ideology," Radvan told the German Press Agency on Saturday.
The strategy of linguistic concealment has a long tradition in the extreme right. The well-known linguist and literary scholar Victor Klemperer - Holocaust survivor - had already analyzed this approach during the Nazi regime...
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Farmers protests | Bureaucracy | Road tax
Before the final rally at farmers' protests
FDP boss Lindner offers farmers relief
Berlin · Despite the massive protests, the government does not want to make any further concessions to the farmers: the planned, gradual dismantling of agricultural diesel aid remains. Before his appearance on Monday at the central rally in Berlin, Finance Minister Lindner is promising farmers other relief.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has promised an increased reduction in bureaucratic burdens for farmers in Germany. “The current discussions about agriculture are not just about public money and subsidies. There is also growing frustration among farmers about more and more requirements and other interventions in their operational processes,” Lindner told our editorial team. “That’s why we have to look at how economic success can be improved overall through less regulation,” said the FDP chairman before his appearance at the central farmers’ demonstration in Berlin next Monday. “If subsidies are reduced, then expensive bureaucracy should also be reduced step by step. That would only be fair,” said Lindner.
The farmers' protests were triggered by cuts in aid for farmers, for which Lindner shares responsibility. However, the minister apparently does not want to offer farmers a withdrawal of the savings on agricultural diesel on Monday. The government had already reversed most of its planned cuts: agricultural and forestry vehicles will continue to be exempt from vehicle tax. In addition, agricultural diesel subsidies should only be abolished gradually and not all at once by 2026...
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Remigration | Globalists | anti-democratic
Terms sound harmless at first
What right-wing extremists mean by “remigration” and “globalists”.
Right-wing radicals use fighting terms that come in pseudo-scientific garb. However, they have nothing to do with science, but rather with the aim of verbally smuggling anti-democratic ideas into the mainstream.
When people talk about “globalists” and “remigration” in right-wing circles, like-minded people and extremism experts immediately know what is meant. To outsiders who are not familiar with the vocabulary of the scene, these terms may initially sound harmless, perhaps even scientific. Behind "globalism" lies the conspiracy narrative - often with anti-Semitic tinges - that a global elite is allegedly working in secret to destroy national and cultural identities.
In the right-wing extremist context, "remigration" means that a large number of people of foreign origin should leave the country - possibly under duress...
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Consequence | climate-damaging Subsidies
Consequences of the farmers' protests:
Sweet poison subsidy
Farmers must open up to more environmental protection. Otherwise they will lose much more subsidies than those for agricultural diesel, which hardly save farms.
Most farmers in Germany are knights of agricultural subsidies. On average, they receive around 50 percent of their income from the state. If anyone dares to take away even part of these benefits, they will go to the barricades. Just like these days. The angry farmers also have themselves to blame for the fact that their industry is currently completely losing the energy tax discount on agricultural diesel. Because they have ignored legitimate calls for reform of this climate-damaging subsidy for decades. Until, in view of the acute need for austerity as a result of the Constitutional Court ruling on the debt brake, there was no reform but rather a radical deletion. This can also happen with much more important agricultural subsidies than the fuel tax subsidy.
As early as 2008, the Federal Environment Agency criticized the partial tax refund for agricultural diesel. It was already clear back then: the cheaper the fossil fuel, the less incentive agriculture and the agricultural technology industry have to reduce diesel consumption...
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Truth | Communication | Fake
Fascization through fake news
The Spanish journalist and media scientist Ignacio Ramonet on “right-wing strategies to seize power”
Trump, Johnson, Orban, Meloni, Wilders, Milei, Duterte, etc.: the right is on the rise or already in power around the world. The Spanish journalist and media scientist Ignacio Ramonet sees the main reason for this development in the “decline of reason and the accompanying irrationalism,” as he explained in his lecture on the topic of “right-wing strategies to seize power,” which opened the program of this year’s RLK.
The Attac co-founder and former editor-in-chief of Le Monde Diplomatique describes dealing with the truth as central to the “neo-fascist dimension of our time”: “Today many conspiracy network activists believe that a truth repeated a thousand times is probably a lie.” This represents “a Copernican revolution in the history of communication”...
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Yemen | US military | Tomahawk
Conflict in the Red Sea
US attacks Houthi targets in Yemen again
There has been a new attack in Yemen following air strikes by the USA and Great Britain on Houthi rebel positions. According to the US military, this was a radar system. Houthi media spoke of a series of attacks.
The USA again attacked a position of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen during the night. The US military said the target of the attack was a Houthi radar system.
"This attack was carried out by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk missiles. It was a follow-up operation on a specific military target associated with the January 12 attacks. This is intended to deter the Houthi movement "To attack maritime vessels, including merchant vessels," according to the US Central Command...
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13 January 1977 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Gundremmingen, GER
Due to the unclear situation, this incident was not assigned an INES level!
'Gar Nothing' provides detailed information
January 13, 1977 - The entire reactor of the Gundremmingen A nuclear power plant is destroyed in an accident. The weather is damp and cold. Freezing rain and hoarfrost caused the insulators on two high-voltage lines to break. Short circuits occur. An automatic quick shutdown is then initiated.
However, several parts of the system are not functioning properly. Due to incorrect control, too much water is forced into the reactor for emergency cooling.
According to various sources, between 200 m³ and 400 m³ of radioactive cooling water (approx. 280 degrees Celsius) enter the reactor building through pressure relief valves.
After about ten minutes the water is about three meters high and the temperature has risen to around 80 degrees Celsius. It should be taken into account here that this is cooling water that had recently flown around fuel rods with porous casings in the containment. Therefore, this water contains the entire range of radioactive isotopes that were created there during operation...
Wikipedia
Nuclear power plant Gundremmingen
... Initially it was said that the reactor would be able to go back into operation in a few weeks. After the incident, the operators expected Unit A to be put back into operation quickly...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
... But then the TÜV discovered cracks in the pipes of the cooling circuit and demanded that parts of the reactor be replaced. This was too expensive for the companies, which is why they decided in 1980 to shut down Gundremmingen A forever...
12. January
Climate Crisis | cause | Responsibility
Sociologist on climate crisis:
“Act according to the polluter pays principle”
The biggest causes of the climate crisis are also those who have the money to combat it, according to sociologist Sighard Neckel.
taz: Mr. Neckel, when did the super-rich actually come into the attention of climate activists?
Sighard Neckel: This depends on the available data. In the last decade, a special variant of inequality research has emerged, called climate inequality research. In detailed studies, it has shown how different the share of different income classes in climate damage is.
People have been chanting against the coal companies at the demonstrations for a long time - why are we now focusing on social classes instead of specific economic fields?
“Fridays for Future” in particular now focuses on those who are the decision-makers in the climate crisis. Those who invest billions in oil, gas and coal do not want to fulfill customer wishes, but rather make as much money as possible. Last year, a Guardian investigative team researched that oil companies Exxon, Total, Shell and BP are pouring billions into new platforms, pipelines, terminals and drilling rigs, despite the climate crisis...
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Fundamental Rights | well-fortified democracy | Party ban
Alternatives to the AfD party ban
How realistic is a forfeiture of basic rights for Höcke and Co.?
Initiating a party ban on the AfD is controversial. But it would not be the only instrument against enemies of the constitution provided for in the Basic Law. The BVerfG could also deny individuals the exercise of fundamental rights.
Deporting German citizens who are not “German” enough to Africa – that sounds absurd. But the possibility that such plans will be put into action is certainly real, as a well-received Correctiv research warns. There the Austrian right-wing extremist Martin Sellner is said to have presented such a “secret plan” under the euphemism of “remigration”. AfD politicians are also said to have been there: a state parliamentary group leader, a member of the Bundestag and a personal advisor to Alice Weidel.
The research fuels the discussion about a possible AfD party ban, which has been going on for weeks anyway. A second instrument of "defensive democracy" has received less attention so far: the forfeiture of fundamental rights in accordance with Article 18 of the Basic Law (GG)...
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Fascists | Expulsion | Violence
Historian: the fascist ideology behind the secret AfD meeting
A conspiratorial AfD meeting in the Hotel Landhaus Adlon on Lehnitzsee near Potsdam, at which identitarians, neo-Nazis, AfD politicians and their allies from the business world forge a secret “master plan” that would involve the expulsion of millions of people from Germany - not a plot a television series or a political thriller, but reality in January 2024.
[...] The Nazis had forged the “Madagascar Plan” in 1940, but it proved impossible to implement - too complicated. In 1942, at the so-called “Wannsee Conference,” they finally planned the annihilation of European Jewry.
The differences from the Nazis' Madagascar plan
Now - as with any historical comparison that is not an equation - there are several significant differences: the AfD is not (yet) in power at the national level, and there is no talk of industrialized mass murder like the Nazis committed against European Jews and Jews committed crimes - but these restrictions are anything but comforting. The “Correctiv” research has once again shown, hopefully this time to a broader public, that it is shortly after twelve o’clock – and fascists have long been among us, even in the so-called “middle of society”, who are pursuing very concrete, brutal expulsion plans...
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Future | Climate activists | Farmers protests
Better to protest for climate protection
Many people deny the legitimacy of the protests by climate activists, but they support the farmers' protests. It should be exactly the other way around.
"When people block roads to mobilize politicians to trade against climate change, then there is great outrage and rejection. When farmers block roads to protest against the reduction of climate-damaging subsidies, then politicians give in." This post of mine on X sparked more opposition than I have experienced in years.
And I would go one step further: In terms of their goal, the protests by climate activists are urgently necessary, legitimate, overdue, in the interests of society and to protect future generations. In their entirety - from Fridays for Future to Last Generation - they are the most influential and important socio-political initiative in recent years. Farmers' protests against this are equally legitimate in a democracy, but their goals largely run counter to those of society and future generations...
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Great Britain | EPR | Sizewell | Moorside
Nuclear power in Great Britain:
Radiant “craziness”
The government has presented plans for new nuclear power plants. The opposition is behind it. Activists are stunned.
LONDON taz | The British government has presented its new nuclear plan. Accordingly, she wants to build another nuclear power plant. By 2050, new reactors are expected to produce 24 gigawatts of power to equip the British energy supply against Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin and to meet CO2 targets. The service life of four of the five existing nuclear power plants is also to be extended.
There was no resistance from the Labor opposition. A Labor spokesman said the party was not only behind the expansion but would have done more: "The Conservatives have not opened a single new reactor in the last 14 years, despite the last Labor government approving ten sites for them."
British opponents of nuclear power, on the other hand, no longer understand the world. Chris Wilson from the group Together Against Sizewell C (TASC) spoke of madness. Shortly before Christmas, his group lost a legal dispute against the Sizewell C nuclear power plant planned for the eastern English coast in Suffolk. “The government is talking about energy security, but there is no uranium in Great Britain to operate the plants,” Wilson noted in an interview with the taz. In addition, there is still a lack of private investment in the project...
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To attacks on Vessels became Houthis Yemen attacked
USA and Great Britain attack Houthi positions
The USA and Great Britain have attacked Houthi positions in Yemen with the help of other allies. This is a “direct response” to the attacks on ships in the Red Sea, said US President Biden. The militia threatened retaliation.
In response to Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, the US and Britain have attacked Iranian-backed militia positions in Yemen. The group's targets were "successfully" bombed, the White House said in a written statement from US President Joe Biden. Attacks on ships in the Red Sea “will not be tolerated.”
[...] The Houthis announced retaliation. "America and Britain will have to be prepared to pay a heavy price," a representative of the group said, according to Houthi television channel Al Massirah. Yemen was "under a massive aggressive attack from American and British ships, submarines and warplanes," he was quoted as saying. The station reported attacks on the cities of Sanaa, Hodeida and Saada...
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Drinking water | water consumption | Consumer Goods
Understanding Water Footprint: A Guide to Sustainable Lifestyles
We use large amounts of water every day - often unnoticed. Our consumption therefore has a greater impact than is often assumed.
In Germany, each person uses an average of 130 liters of water per day for drinking, washing, cleaning and cooking. In addition, however, there is a much higher amount of water contained in consumer goods.
Hidden water consumption: A critical look at our consumer goods
According to the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), this amounts to 7200 liters per person per day and 219 billion cubic meters per year for the whole of Germany. In times of increasingly scarce drinking water resources worldwide, it seems advisable to take a closer look at hidden water consumption
Global water resources and our consumption
However, it is not just the amount of water that is important, but where this water comes from. According to the UBA, only 14 percent of the water contained in consumer goods comes from Germany itself, but 86 percent comes from abroad...
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When voting changes something...
For two weeks (end of December 2023 to beginning of January 2024), Google News pushed articles from "Junge Freiheit", "Bild" and others onto me almost every day, even though I had opted out of these news sources years ago.
So I consistently deselected each and every one of these articles with "Hide all messages from ...." and when that still had no effect after around 50 attempts, I also added these messages in a second step with a thumbs down "Less such messages " marked. When the year 2024 turned one week old, the spook came to an end and since then the “For me” section on Google News has been relatively free of right-wing propaganda again...
11. January
Hatred of the Greens
Why are Habeck and Baerbock always to blame?
Of the past 42 years, the CDU has been in the Chancellery for 32 years. But in Germany, anger over high energy and living costs, tight budgets, crime and migration is mostly expressed by the party that has so far been unable to provide either chancellor or chancellor: the Greens. Where does the rejection come from? Where is it particularly strong? The Greens are not innocent of their image as supposedly wealthy moralizers, says social scientist Silke Borgstedt in ntv's "Climate Laboratory". Added to this is the perceived change from the uncomfortable eco-party to the hip lifestyle party. This leaves part of the population behind, as does the desire for new models of prosperity, explains the managing director of the Sinus Institute: It has a particularly threatening effect on people in traditional environments. Because the middle class feels increasingly "devalued" and is developing a new and dangerous unwillingness to compromise out of frustration: "Democracy is always when what I want happens," warns Silke Borgstedt.
ntv.de: Why do so many people feel rejection of the Greens?
Silke Borgstedt: There have always been people who are closer or further away from a party. There have always been beer tent speeches in which people shouted and fired shots with a certain aversion towards other parties. But with the Greens it is actually a different dimension.
This is no longer just political rejection, but hatred?
In part. But it's not a particularly large group, just a very loud one. And because of its volume, this “peak of hate” is transmitted to areas where fundamental aversions exist, but if so, then more in terms of content.
Like the nuclear power plant shutdown?
Yes. "I'm for nuclear power, that's why I'm not voting for the Greens, but for another party." This criticism of the content is emotionalized by the loud minority and a common enemy image is created...
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Ban | Anti-Semitism | well-fortified democracy
Party ban procedure:
Can the AfD be banned?
A cumbersome instrument with extremely strict criteria, but also a sharp sword for defending democracy: What speaks for and against initiating a ban against the AfD - also for current reasons.
The year 2024 could be the year of the AfD. Elections will take place in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg in September, and the polls are already predicting great success for the party. But the year 2024 could also be the year in which a question needs to be answered that is currently trickling into the public debate: Should the AfD be banned? Would that even be legally possible? Would it make political sense to initiate such a procedure?
A party ban procedure, as it has become anchored in political memory, is a cumbersome instrument tied to extremely strict conditions. In 2003, applications to ban the NPD from all three authorized bodies - the federal government, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat - failed miserably because the party was riddled with too many informants. A second application for a ban against the NPD was also rejected by the Federal Constitutional Court in 2017...
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Japan | Earthquake | Shika NPP
After a strong earthquake in Japan:
An echo of Fukushima
Another earthquake and tsunami hit a Japanese nuclear power plant hard. The events are fueling new security doubts.
TOKYO taz | Contrary to initial information, the western Japanese Shika nuclear power plant suffered some damage from the strong earthquake and tsunami on New Year's Day. Japan's nuclear regulator is now having the effects examined and has asked the operator Hokuriku Electric (Hokuden) to carry out a deeper investigation.
The earthquake, with a maximum magnitude of 7 on the national scale, put such strain on parts of the nuclear facility with two reactors that the design limit was exceeded. The basement of Unit 1 was shaken with 957 Galileo units (Gal), the reactor was built for a maximum of 918 Gal. The unit of measurement indicates the acceleration. The nuclear facility is only 70 kilometers as the crow flies from the epicenter of the quake. Both units of the nuclear plant have been out of operation since the Fukushima disaster in March 2011.
The disaster once again demonstrated the vulnerability of nuclear power plants in Japan to earthquakes and raised new doubts about restarting...
Nuclear Engineering International (NEI) writes about the earthquake and the effects on the Shika nuclear power plant:
Oil leak reported at Japan's Shika NPP following earthquake
[...] The company told a press conference that approximately 3.500 litres of oil had leaked, rendering a portion of the external power supply system inoperable. The total oil leakage amounted some 19.800 litres including some 100 litres from a transformer at unit 2...
Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Three different statements in two sentences. So how much oil leaked, when and where? The nuclear industry's information policy is pure disinformation and, as always, leaves much to be desired.
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Electricity prices | power exchange | cents/kWh | Wholesale
IWR: Wholesale electricity prices fall to lowest level since May 2023 in December 2021
Münster - Wholesale electricity prices in Germany fell significantly over the course of 2023, and the downward trend accelerated at the end of 2023. This emerges from an evaluation of market data from the EPEX spot electricity exchange by the International Economic Forum for Renewable Energies (IWR).
From mid to late 2021, electricity prices in Germany literally exploded at times. But the most important disruptive factors, such as the massive failure of French nuclear power plants and the almost simultaneous exorbitantly high gas prices following the failure of the Russian pipeline gas, appear to have been eliminated. The shutdown of the last three nuclear power plants in 2023 led neither to rising electricity prices nor to higher coal-fired power generation in Germany.
Wholesale electricity prices will fall in 2023 despite the nuclear phase-out
In December 2023, the wholesale price on the spot market fell on average to 6,9 cents/kWh of electricity, a decrease of 24 percent compared to the previous month of November (9,1 cents/kWh), the IWR in Münster announced. Compared to the same month of December 2022 (25,2 cents/kWh), the decline is almost 73 percent...
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Accusation of genocide: Israel before the International Court of Justice
The US government sees the allegations as unfounded. Initiated by Sevim Dagdelen and Ilhan Oma, 400 MPs from 28 countries are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Today South Africa argued before the International Court of Justice that Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip were genocidal in nature (complaint). To do this, South Africa does not have to prove the accusation, but only make it plausible in order to obtain an interim injunction to respect the protection of civilians. A conviction is not expected and would probably take years. But even an interim injunction would put pressure not only on Israel, but also on supporting states such as the USA and Germany, which have so far only criticized but not called for a ceasefire.
Tomorrow the Israeli government will defend itself by sending former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak as an additional judge, amid protests from right-wing extremist ministers...
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Subsidies | Farmers | agricultural industry
Agricultural subsidies: who really benefits?
In the East, investors from outside the industry are buying large areas of land. Smaller businesses suffer. Why the distribution of area bonuses is unfair.
The reduction in the tax rebate for agricultural diesel should only take effect from March and then only gradually. This was the decision made by the federal government after German farmers up and down the country had been blocking the roads in long columns of tractors since the beginning of the week out of anger over the loss of subsidies.
[...] Large investors with gigantic areas also include the pharmaceutical company Merkle, Remondis founder Rethmann, heating technology manufacturer Martin Viessman, furniture manufacturer Steinhoff, the large industrialist Silvius Dornier and the owners of the logistics company Fiege. Depending on the federal state, the holdings have a total of between 230.000 hectares and almost 300.000 hectares "under the plow".
Typically, the money used to buy up the holdings comes from completely different sources than agriculture.
The largest companies receive the most subsidies
Regardless of whether they are insurance, energy, real estate companies or furniture stores, anyone who owns arable land and has it cultivated also receives area bonuses - often in the millions. According to an overview of the structures of large agricultural holding companies in Germany, DAH Holding, headquartered in Oranienburg, Brandenburg, is the largest German corporate group with over 36 agricultural subsidiaries...
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Protection of the Constitution | Right-wing extremism | Anti-Semitism | Responsibility
BfV President Haldenwang “Silent majority must wake up”
In the Contrasts interview, President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Haldenwang calls on the “silent majority” of society to stand up for democracy. The dangers posed by right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism have not yet been sufficiently recognized.
The President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Thomas Haldenwang, sees democracy in Germany as more threatened than is perceived by the middle of society. This is shown by an indifference “towards the strengthening of certain parties”.
[...] security authorities could only take limited action against the threats to democracy. He therefore wishes "that the middle of society, the silent majority in this country, will wake up and finally take a clear position against extremism in Germany."
“Shame for Germany”
According to the BfV President, anti-Semitism has reached a new dimension in both quantity and quality. “It is a disgrace, it is shameful how openly anti-Semitism is now shown in the country from which the Holocaust began,” Haldenwang told Contrasts.
In the entire year of 2022, 2.600 anti-Semitic crimes were registered in Germany, 82 percent of which were committed by right-wing extremists. In the past three months, since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, significantly more than 1.200 anti-Semitic crimes have been recorded in Germany...
10. January
Expulsion | Right-wing extremists | Deportation
Secret meeting in Brandenburg:
These are the AfD's ethnic networkers
A secret network of AfD representatives, wealthy donors and well-known right-wing extremists discussed the expulsion of millions of people from Germany. Who was there?
The AfD is already pursuing a tough policy when it comes to migration and deportation. But behind the scenes, right-wing extremist networks are apparently working together with leading AfD representatives to become even more radical. It's about ethnic thinking and a major breach of taboos: millions of people, including German citizens, are to be deliberately driven out of the country in order to create an ethnically and culturally pure society...
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Sofas | financial crisis | Soffin
The federal government refuses to give banks a billion-dollar gift
For more than a year, the federal government and German financial institutions have been fighting over old funds from the bank levy. The federal government now wants to keep the money.
Just a few months ago, Christian Lindner and Robert Habeck saw everything completely differently. The question was what should happen with the 2,3 billion euros that German banks paid into a national bank rescue pot called RSF after the global financial crisis of 2008. They will no longer be needed in the future because the well-filled European resolution fund SRF now exists. The Federal Finance Minister internally advocated giving the money back to the banks - and the Green Federal Economics Minister agreed after his FDP cabinet colleague assured him that the institutes wanted to use the gift as a basis for loans for the climate-friendly conversion of industry, residential buildings and transport.
Nothing happened for a long time, but since this week a draft bill for a law that will regulate the future of the 2,3 billion has been circulating in Berlin. And lo and behold: Suddenly everything is completely different.
[...] Now the funds flow into the Soffin. “To partially repay the FMS’s deficit, the RSF’s old funds will be transferred to it,” the draft bill says. "This will significantly reduce the future financing costs for the federal and state governments and the RSF's old funds will be put to new, constitutionally permissible use." The anti-banking association Finanzwende, which had campaigned strongly for the payment to Soffin, called the decision a “success for citizens”. The banks thus paid back at least part of the damage they caused in the financial crisis. A report commissioned by the federal government itself also came to the conclusion that the banks have no claim to the funds...
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United States | power outages | Storm
Severe storms in the USA
811.000 households and businesses without electricity – at least three dead
Violent winter storms hit parts of the USA: several people died, buildings collapsed and hundreds of thousands of households were cut off from power.
Across much of the United States, a winter storm has left around 811.000 homes and businesses without power. According to poweroutage.us, the hardest hit areas are New York and Pennsylvania, each with around 182.000 power outages, and New Jersey with over 127.000 outages.
[...] Extreme cold waves have paralyzed large parts of the USA in recent winters. In February 2021, millions of people in Texas and other US states were without electricity, water or heating for days. In December 2022, extreme cold caused widespread outages in electricity and natural gas networks across much of the East.
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Decarbonization | Wolfgangsee Ferries | Methanol
Maersk and Goldwind sign green methanol contract for 12 ships
Copenhagen, Denmark – The major logistics group A.P. Moller-Maersk aims to achieve net-zero emissions across its business by 2040 with new technologies, new ships and green fuels.
On the way there, A.P: Moeller-Maersk recently concluded the shipping industry's first large, long-term purchase agreement for an annual volume of 500.000 tons of green methanol with the Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Goldwind. AP Moeller Maersk wants to use the methanol to operate the company's first 12 large methanol-capable ships ordered.
The conclusion of the agreement facilitates Maersk's first steps towards its net-zero emissions target and, according to the company, supports expectations of a competitive green methanol market by 2030...
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AfD | Neo-Nazis | Identitarians
New rights
Secret plan against Germany
Nobody should know about this meeting: high-ranking AfD politicians, neo-Nazis and financially strong entrepreneurs met in a hotel near Potsdam in November. They planned nothing less than the expulsion of millions of people from Germany.
Two dozen people gradually enter the brightly lit dining room of a country hotel near Potsdam. Some are members of the AfD, and a leading figure in the Identitarian Movement is there. Some are fraternities, middle class and middle class people, lawyers, politicians, entrepreneurs and doctors. Two CDU members are also there, members of the Union of Values.
[...] Sellner takes the floor. He explains the concept in the course of the lecture as follows: There are three target groups of migration who should leave Germany. Or, as he says, “to reverse the settlement of foreigners.” He lists who he means: asylum seekers, foreigners with the right to remain - and “unassimilated citizens”. In his view, the latter are the biggest “problem”. In other words: Sellner divides the people into those who should live unmolested in Germany and those to whom this basic right should not apply.
Basically, the thought games on this day all boil down to one thing: people should be able to be pushed out of Germany if they supposedly have the wrong skin color or origin - and, from the point of view of people like Sellner, are not sufficiently "assimilated". Even if they are German citizens.
That would be an attack on the Basic Law - on citizenship and on the principle of equality...
9. January
Spain declares environmental emergency because of plastic beads on beaches
The Atlantic has been washing plastic beads onto the Spanish coast since mid-December. Environmentalists are trying to remove the beads and warn of contamination.
The authorities in northwestern Spain have declared an environmental emergency because of plastic particles washed up on the Atlantic coast. The public prosecutor's office is investigating and looking for the cause because the beads, which are just a few millimeters in size, could contain environmentally harmful toxins. According to the Galician regional government, they came from a container that fell overboard the Liberian freighter Toconao about 80 kilometers off the Portuguese coast of Viana do Castelo. The container is said to have contained 25 tons of pellets packed in bags. The beads are the starting material for the production of plastic parts.
It is important to determine whether the transport company and the shipping company “have taken the right precautionary measures,” said Spanish Environment Minister Teresa Ribera. Plastic in oceans and ecosystems is one of humanity's biggest problems...
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Greenwashing | Climate neutral | Certificates
The billion-dollar business of climate neutrality:
MDR research by “FAKT” for Das Erste shows the network behind the sale of CO2 certificates
With the help of extensive sustainability programs, companies want to be climate neutral sooner or later. If you can't do this on your own, purchased CO2 certificates from climate protection projects can help. However, current MDR research shows that the calculation often doesn't add up. “FAKT” reporters traveled to Peru on the trail of a global billion-dollar business.
The film “FACT Research – Climate Neutral? Because of that” is available from today at 18 p.m. in the ARD media library and can be seen on January 9th at 20:45 p.m. on Das Erste.
The green forest thickets of the South American rainforest are intended to help in the fight against climate change - e.g. B. by selling CO2 certificates to companies that supposedly become climate neutral. But as it turns out, the modern indulgence trade is a major deception. This is what the “FAKT” reporting team around Carmen Salas and Knud Vetten found out during their research in Peru and Europe. It follows the trail of a global billion-dollar business and comes across a network of placement agencies, project management companies, certification companies and other profiteers. Large European corporations and German companies that believe their products are climate neutral are also entangled...
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Nuclear waste | Interim storage | war | Terror
Long-term above-ground storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste – Waste Management Commission recommends guidelines
What happens next with the long-term above-ground storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste now that it is clear that a final repository for this radiant nuclear legacy will not be available for many decades? The above-ground interim storage previously planned for 40 years could now last for over 100 years. Environmental associations are calling for the extended interim storage to be critically examined and not only to examine the risks of an “above-ground life extension” but also to include terrorism and war risks in security considerations. At the same time, they call for expanded citizen participation. The responsible authorities are currently preparing to obtain the necessary new permits for the interim storage facilities in Gorleben and Ahaus. The Bundestag will also have to take a position on this, as required by the Atomic Energy Act. In addition, new permits are pending for the camps in Brunsbüttel and Lubmin, and possibly also in Jülich. After the environmental association BUND last drew attention to “current problems and dangers” in June 2023, the supposedly independent Waste Management Commission (ESK), the federal government’s advisory body on nuclear waste, recommended “Guidelines for the dry interim storage of irradiated fuel elements” at its 109th meeting and heat-generating radioactive waste in containers”. There is no mention of terror and war and the dangers associated with them. There is also a need for action because the Federal Republic has to submit a new “National Waste Management Program” (NaPro) due to EU requirements. To this end, the Federal Environment Ministry must put something on the table in 2024 with public participation and show how Germany wants to ensure the continued handling of the nuclear waste legacy in the next few decades...
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Great Britain | EDF | lifetime extension
EDF Energy plans to extend the life of four British nuclear power plants
French energy group plans to invest a further £2026 billion in its British nuclear power fleet by 1,3
EDF plans to extend the life of four nuclear power plants in the UK and increase investment in its UK nuclear fleet.
The French energy group, which operates eight British nuclear power plants, said it would decide by the end of the year whether to extend the life of four advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) plants - Torness, Heysham 1 and 2 and Hartlepool. This would require regulatory approval.
[...] EDF announced it would invest a further £2024 billion in its entire UK nuclear fleet, employing 2026 people, between 1,3 and 5.000, bringing total investment since 2009 to almost £9 billion. The company plans to hire more than 1.000 people at its UK nuclear power plants this year.
Mark Hartley, managing director of EDF nuclear power plant operations, said: "Our aim is to maintain the output of the four AGR power plants for as long as possible and to extend Sizewell B for a further 20 years until 2055." ...
Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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SMR | Uranium fuel | HALEU
Nuclear energy: How Great Britain wants to force Russia out of the nuclear fuel market
Great Britain relies on small, modular reactors for nuclear energy. Investments are also being made in new fuels - in order to force Russia out of the market.
Britain's nuclear power plants are old and most are scheduled to be shut down by 2028. Nevertheless, people in London see no reason to forego nuclear energy. On the contrary: small, modular reactors should go into operation in around 10 years.
The role of modular reactors in Britain's energy policy
After the experience with the cost explosion at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, modular reactors are the great hope. They could be made in factories, British officials told Bloomberg. And with them, power plants could be built faster and cheaper.
Great Britain is actively preparing to operate the new reactors. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has announced it will invest £300 million in the production of specialist fuels.
HALEU: A turning point in nuclear energy development
This is the nuclear fuel "High-assay low-enriched uranium" (HALEU), which is required for most modern reactors...
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Climate change | 1,5 degrees | Copernicus
2023 warmest year in 100.000 years:
Just below the 1,5 degree threshold
Last year there were extreme temperatures again. Experts fear that 2024 could be even warmer – and the Paris climate target could be broken.
According to the EU climate change service Copernicus, last year remained just below the 1,5 degree threshold. The global temperature was 1,48 degrees higher than the average for the years 1850 to 1900, as Copernicus announced on Tuesday in the “Global Climate Highlights 2023” report.
“It is likely that temperatures in 2023 will be warmer than in the past 100.000 years,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Climate researchers can indirectly reconstruct the historical climate from tree rings or air bubbles in glaciers.
Copernicus had already announced in December that the year was the warmest since records began in 1850. It can be assumed that a period of 12 months will be above the 1,5 degree threshold in January or February, it was now said. Experts believe it is entirely possible that 2024 will be even warmer and that the entire year could break the 1,5 degree threshold for the first time...
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China | Wind energy | offshore
Wind energy records: China's new electricity giants
The wind turbines are growing into the sky. The world's largest, with enormous outputs, are being built in China. The amount of electricity a wind turbine can produce per hour.
Wind turbines are getting bigger and bigger. When the first systems fed electricity into the grid in the late 1970s, first in Denmark and a little later in this country, their towers were not much higher than ten or 20 meters and they did not have much more than a few dozen kilowatts of power to offer.
[...] Various newly developed systems with an output of 16 MW were put into operation off China's coast last year, as the Offshore Wind magazine reports...
8. January
Farmers protests | Agricultural subsidies | Pawn catcher
AfD against subsidies: Dear farmers, rights will not save you
Dear farmers: The AfD is not interested in you and will not save your future. It is a party that is only interested in exploiting polarizations in the population for its own purposes and gaining more supporters. One thing should have been clear since the farmers' protests began: the AfD wants to deceive you. In December 2023, she voted in the Bundestag, together with the traffic light parties, to abolish subsidies for agricultural vehicles. She admitted that too. In principle, the AfD does not support any form of subsidies, which you can read about publicly in their party program.
As soon as farmers protest against the planned cuts in agricultural subsidies, the right-wing extremist party presents itself as a friend of farmers, but above all it is one thing: a pawn-catcher who uses its lies to push the deeply dangerous overthrow and coup narratives and shows once again what the AfD really stands for : She wants to destroy our democracy. It is in your interest not to demonstrate with rights and to show a clear stance.
No one has been debating the content for a long time
Whether the farmers' protests were legitimate in terms of content is apparently no longer the issue. The basic rule in a democracy is that all groups interested in democratic exchange have the right to stand up for their interests and, of course, to take to the streets to do so. One thing is clear: the monopoly of violence should always and exclusively lie with the state. Unfortunately, we no longer see that in the farmers' protests in many places in Germany...
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Great Britain | EDF | Hinkley Point
Electricity from British nuclear power plants falls to its lowest level in over 40 years
London - Less and less electricity is being generated from nuclear power plants in the UK. According to Bloomberg, British nuclear power production will have fallen to just 2023 billion kWh by 37. This negative trend will continue until the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, which is currently under construction, goes into operation.
Only nine nuclear power plants with a capacity of around 6.500 MW are currently still in operation on the British Isles. By the end of the decade, there will be a major upheaval in the British nuclear power plant fleet, as all but one of the old nuclear power plants will be shut down by 2028 as things stand. It remains uncertain whether the only replacement nuclear power plant, Hinkley Point C, will be operational by then and whether the transition will be smooth. The only thing that seems certain is that costs will continue to rise.
[...] Even assuming a moderate inflation rate of just 3 percent until Unit 1 of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant goes into operation in 2027, according to an IWR calculation, there is a guaranteed price for nuclear power of 16,7 cents /kWh. For comparison: on the EEX electricity exchange, electricity prices are already being traded today for future years. The annual delivery (baseload) on January 05, 2024 for the year 2027 in Germany costs 8,5 cents/kWh. According to the current status, nuclear power from Hinkley Point C in the reference year 2027 would be approximately twice as expensive as the electricity market price. The British electricity customer or taxpayer pays the difference between the market price and the guaranteed price for nuclear power in 2027.
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Peasant blockades and pawn catchers: How parties voted and how they are now expressing themselves
The CSU and AfD are trying to use the farmers' protests for their own benefit. They also voted for an end to tax breaks. What else stands out?
Police departments in several federal states warned this Monday morning that due to the high number of registered farmers' protests with tractors, there would be traffic disruptions that would last all day and could affect both rush-hour traffic and school-age children and young people.
[...] The blockade plans were criticized as disproportionate by Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), who is largely responsible for the savings plans in the agricultural sector, which have now been partially withdrawn, but has so far been less the focus of discontent than Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens).
[...] The Bavarian SPD parliamentary group leader Florian von Brunn accuses the Union parties and the AfD of playing the wrong game with regard to the farmers' protests - and referred to their actual voting behavior in the Bundestag when it came to the deletion, which has now been withdrawn Vehicle tax exemption for farmers went.
The decision was unanimous
There was initially no disagreement between the traffic light parties and the Union about this."All factions - including the CSU and even the AfD - recently voted in the responsible committee of the Bundestag for the end of the vehicle tax exemption at the suggestion of the Federal Audit Office. And then the CDU and CSU took to the streets and raised the mood against it," Brunn explained on Sunday. This shows “how irresponsibly the Union is now acting”...
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Batteries | EU Commission | Subsidies
Green light for Northvolt battery factory in Schleswig-Holstein
The Swedish battery manufacturer will build a new factory in Heide and will receive German aid despite the budget crisis. The EU sees the subsidies as a response to the IRA.
Germany has received the green light for the Swedish company Northvolt to build a battery factory in Schleswig-Holstein. The EU Commission has now approved the proposed funding for the billion-dollar project, as the Brussels authority announced on Monday. Accordingly, Northvolt could receive subsidies of up to 902 million euros, most of which comes from the federal government.
The project at Heide in Schleswig-Holstein had wobbled several times. In the meantime, Northvolt considered implementing the project in North America because the company would have received significantly higher funding through the US government's so-called Inflation Reduction Act. Finally, the federal government's budget dispute jeopardized the project. At the beginning of December, however, the federal government released the funds for the planned factory. Only approval from Brussels was still pending...
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flooding | precipitation | Insurance
Flood insurance
The end of flood dementia
The current floods show once again how necessary prevention and precaution are. This also includes compulsory insurance for natural hazards. This has not yet reached the federal government.
Flood events are becoming more frequent and, above all, more severe. Climate research has been predicting this for a long time. According to the forecasts, the precipitation in Germany will remain the same overall, but it will fall less evenly - the summers will be drier and the winters will be wetter. The current flood crisis is an example of this.
In addition, it is generally true that a warmer atmosphere can absorb more moisture, and of course it has to release it again. It has long been advisable to prepare better for floods.
But far too little is happening so far. The lesson from this winter's flooding is: more prevention and better protection are necessary.
[...] The "flood dementia" that experts speak of ironically should be overcome. What this means is that shortly after events like those in the Ahr Valley or now in Lower Saxony, homeowners are very aware that they need to protect themselves better. But this insight is quickly forgotten when the topic disappears from the headlines.
Redistribution of funds for the Nature Conservation in the Federal budget
Offshore wind power
Money for nature conservation is wasted in the budget
Farmers' protests continue today despite the partial reversal of cuts to their subsidies. To this end, the coalition also wants to use 250 million euros that are actually earmarked for marine nature conservation. The Environment Ministry, in turn, defends itself against this impression.
At the beginning of September, Steffi Lemke sounded euphoric. The Environment Minister regretted in the Bundestag's budget debate that her Environment Ministry had to contribute to a constitutionally compliant budget for 2024 with a slight decrease in the budget. But firstly, Lemke continued, at four billion euros her house still has a larger financial sum for natural climate protection than in any household before - and secondly, there is the wind energy at sea law.
This means that a portion of the offshore auctions will benefit marine nature conservation, explained Lemke. That's another "around" 700, 800 million euros. “There has never been so much money for marine nature conservation. That is a very, very good sign, especially in these times,” said the Green Minister happily.
[...] In purely mathematical terms, the environmental budget with the five percent share will receive 669 million euros in the summer of the 2024 financial year.
Fresh money that the traffic light wants to access now. Of the almost 670 million euros for marine nature conservation, 250 million euros, i.e. more than a third, will now be used to consolidate the federal budget, according to the Federal Environment Ministry...
7. January
France | EPR | Flamanville
France wants to build significantly more new nuclear power plants than planned
Six nuclear power plants had already been decided, and now the French energy minister has announced eight more. France is relying on a reactor model that has often caused problems in the past.
In the coming years, France wants to build eight more nuclear power plants in addition to the six nuclear power plants already planned - and thus far more than previously planned. There is a current bill for this. Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher told the newspaper "Tribune Dimanche" on Sunday that the construction of eight more nuclear power plants has so far been discussed as an "option" by the government. In total, the construction of 14 reactors is under discussion.
[...] The EPR reactor model developed by France and Germany was intended to revive nuclear power after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and offer more power with greater safety. Three reactors are in operation, one in Finland and two in China. However, there were not only problems with the construction in Finland. EPR projects in France and Great Britain are also experiencing delays and cost explosions.
According to the French state energy company EDF, the first EPR reactor in France is scheduled to go online for testing purposes in Flamanville in Normandy in mid-2024 - 17 years after construction began and at a cost of 12,7 billion euros, four times as much as originally planned ...
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Small farmers have to give up and the agricultural industry engages in land grabbing
Farm workers on farmers' protest:
“It’s the little ones who die”
Is it all just right-wing riot farmers? In an interview, agricultural worker Wolf Meyer talks about how farmers' protests come from the left.
taz: Mr. Meyer, you are a farm worker and also involved in the so-called farmers' protests. How do you feel about recent events?
Wolf Meyer: It's a very dynamic situation. There are many right-wing forces in the protests, on the one hand - but at the same time there is also a lot of lack of understanding of the economic situation and situation of the farmers and the context.
Many people don't understand that such a powerful industry makes such bitter demands - and allows itself to be captured by the right.
There is an idea that the profession is doing very well. But the industry is losing a lot of companies in favor of large companies. Almost 2.500 in Rhineland-Palatinate alone in one year. The measures planned by the government will only increase the death of small businesses - and will accordingly promote the agricultural industry. The additional financial requirements currently being discussed can usually be shouldered by large companies. But it's the little ones who die...
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Brazil | Afforestation | Water | Terra Institute
Reforestation in Brazil
A flourishing example
When Sebastião Salgado took over his father's farm, it was mostly hard, dry soil. Primeval forest is now growing again in the countryside and there is more water in the region. How did that happen?
If you want to harvest water, you have to plant a tree. Lots of trees, to be precise, and as many different species as possible. Since 1999, Sebastião Salgado and his wife Lélia have planted more than four million seedlings of hundreds of different jungle trees on the farm that they inherited from Salgado's father.
The huge site covers a nine-kilometer-long valley in Minas Gerais, a Brazilian state. The area was once covered with dense Atlantic jungle, which is what this type of vegetation is called. Most of the trees do not grow as tall as the jungle giants on the Amazon, but the flora and fauna here are even more diverse than in the Amazon rainforest. The Atlantic jungle used to cover almost the entire Brazilian coast, but today only a tiny part remains. Because it is close to large cities and industrial areas, the jungle was largely cut down to make room.
Sebastião Salgado's father also had almost all the trees cut down to turn the area into pasture. 1200 cattle recently grazed on the farm. They trampled over the red clay soil around the waterholes until they dried up and the ground became hard like cement. When his son Sebastião took over the farm, it barely brought in any money because there was far too little water and therefore not enough grass for the cattle...
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Climate policy | Energy prices | Climate money
Expensive energy, fair climate policy and democratic commitment
High energy prices encourage people to save, but increase social injustice, says Aysel Osmanoglu, board member of GLS Bank and member of the editorial board of Klimareporter°. We need to talk about this in order to find our way out of the climate crisis.
Climate reporter°: Ms. Osmanoglu, at the beginning of the year there were increasing reports of rising energy costs due to expiring price controls, the loss of state subsidies for network fees and a generally higher price level than before the war against Ukraine. What do your forecasts say about the burdens on citizens in 2024?
Aysel Osmanoglu: The IW, the German Economic Institute in Cologne, has now calculated that particularly low and average salaries are burdened. The reason for this is higher costs for restaurants due to the return from seven to 19 percent VAT, high energy costs and tax adjustments. Single parents are hit particularly hard.
Unfortunately, this increases the problem of social injustice. But we have to address this in order to find our way out of the climate crisis.
For sustainability researcher and former environmental politician Reinhard Loske, a fair climate policy is an absolute must. In the Klimareporter° interview he gives two reasons: on the one hand, not everyone can cope with the transformation costs equally well, on the other hand, justice deprives populists of the basis for their evil game. What would a fair climate policy look like for you?
On the one hand, the high prices are a welcome incentive to save resources. However, people with low incomes have little scope for saving because they already consume very little - this is what statistics show. They cause the lowest CO2 emissions compared to high-income households.
It's no wonder that feelings of fear and anger arise here. It cannot be reconciled that emissions from private charter flights or cars traveling at 240 mph are legitimate while others cannot afford the bus ticket.
Our solution: a transformation money. It is staggered depending on income, true to the principle: the higher the income, the lower the amount. This can create a social foundation for everyone. It would also be conceivable to have a climate tax in which the bottom 50 percent remain exempt while we start with the top percent...
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Farmers | Livelihoods | Armament spending
Farmers in anger
Peasants are not rebels under normal circumstances. Politics drives them to protest. Even at the time of the Peasants' Wars, the big lords themselves ensured that the little man became their enemy. Back then it was about tithes and compulsory labor. Today, bureaucratic requirements and the removal of tax breaks threaten farmers' livelihoods and not just theirs.
The gentlemen (and ladies) in Berlin must have had a hard time when thousands of farmers closed the capital's main traffic arteries on December 18th last year. “According to the organizers, around 8.000 to 10.000 people took part in the demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate, and more than 3.000 tractors were on the move in Berlin.”
The farmers' distress
Since the Federal Constitutional Court declared the Berlin practice of moving money between special funds to be illegal with its ruling of November 15, 2023, the Berlin traffic light has been flashing in constant warning mode. Seventeen billion still have to be scraped together for the 2024 budget. Where to take and not to steal?
This means: All expenses are put to the test. All? No, spending on armaments and the war in Ukraine will not be cut, but spending on our own population will be cut...
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Lobbyregister | Sofas in Energy and Cars
Study on interest groups: “45 lobbyists for every member of the Bundestag”
With 43 million euros, the financial industry has more money at its disposal than any other interest group in Berlin, says one Study of the initiative “Financial turnaround”.
With 610 employees, the financial industry's stakeholders have a stronger presence in Berlin than any other industry. This means that there is almost one financial lobbyist for every member of the Bundestag; the parliament has 736 seats. The financial industry has a total budget of almost 43 million euros at its disposal, reports the “Citizens’ Movement Financial Transition” in its new study “The power of the financial lobby".
The evaluation refers to the 100 financially strongest entries in the lobby register for lobbying the Bundestag and the Federal Government...
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Current news+
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NuScale | SMR | Promises | Lawsuit | Electricity production costs
US developers of mini-nuclear power plants under pressure – class action lawsuit by shareholders against NuScale Power
Portland, USA - Small modular nuclear power plants (Small Modular Reactors, SMR) or mini nuclear power plants are being presented by the nuclear industry as a pioneering alternative to large nuclear power plants. A major SMR developer is the listed US company NuScale Power Corporation (NuScale). But an analysis by Iceberg Research, the cancellation of an important SMR flagship project in Idaho and, most recently, the filing of a class action lawsuit are apparently putting the company in increasing trouble.
NuScale Power Corporation has developed an SMR whose design was approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission - as the first and so far only SMR - was certified. NuScale sees itself as well positioned to serve customers around the world by providing nuclear energy. But the implementation problems are apparently more serious than expected and NuScale does not have an operational model SMR. The company's future seems more uncertain than ever, but NuScale is fighting back.
Iceberg Research: Two significant SMR contracts - one fake customer?
According to Iceberg Research, NuScale had two significant contracts at the time of publication on 19.10.2023/462/6. The first contract is a 77 MW (50 SMR of 9,3 MW each) agreement with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), a consortium that supplies wholesale electricity to approximately XNUMX municipalities, at a cost of $XNUMX billion .USD in Idaho.
According to Iceberg Research, the second contract is for 1.848 MW of SMR power, and the signed agreement with blockchain data center service provider Standard Power is estimated to be worth around USD 37 billion. On October 06, 2023, NuScale shares rose by over 20 percent after the contract for the delivery of 24 SMR modules, each with 77 MW each, in 2029 was announced. NuScale's trading partner Entra 1 would then develop, manage, own and operate the SMR, while blockchain data center service provider Standard Power would be the end user.
However, Iceberg Research indirectly shows that such a gigantic financial commitment of USD 37 billion is probably disproportionate to a company that apparently only employs 30 people and has a data mining power requirement of around 50 MW. The order volume and risk must also be considered against the background that NuScale itself does not yet operate an SMR operationally and there are only two SMR systems in operation worldwide, one SMR in China and another in Russia. Iceberg Research believes that there is no chance that this contract will be executed.
Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) and NuScale Power Bury Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP)
On November 08.11.2023th, 2021, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) and NuScale agreed to terminate the Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP). The reason is cost explosions and financing problems. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, the target price for nuclear power was still at 58 USD/MWh (5,8 cents/kWh) in mid-89. This price has now risen to USD 5,3/MWh and there is no end in sight. The estimated construction costs increased from USD 9,3 to 75 billion, an increase of XNUMX percent.
However, nuclear power generation costs would be significantly higher without the $4 billion in federal tax subsidies, which includes a $1,4 billion contribution from the U.S. Department of Energy and a $30/MWh discount under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The institute also points out that the cost of nuclear power of 8,9 ct/kWh (89 USD/MWh) only refers to the year 2022 and the price is expected to be significantly higher once the SMR is completed.
Block & Leviton LLP is suing NuScale for securities law violations
On December 22.12.2023, 3, Block & Leviton LLP, a U.S. securities law firm, announced that it had filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of shareholders against NuScale Power Corporation and certain of its executives for securities fraud. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon and is titled Sigman v. NuScale Power Corporation et al., No. 23:01689-cv-15 (D. Or.). Block & Leviton LLP seeks to represent investors who purchased shares of NuScale Power Corporation between March 19 and October 2023, XNUMX and lost money.
In the lawsuit, Block & Leviton refer to Iceberg Research's report published on October 19.10.2023, XNUMX, which, according to the securities firm, contradicts NuScale's claims that the company is able to fulfill the two large contracts already mentioned: the a contract with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) for the Free Power Project (CFPP) and the other contract with Standard Power, which focuses on blockchain mining and high-performance computing applications.
As early as October 19.10.2023, 12, NuScale shares fell by 4,46 percent amid high sales and closed at USD 08.11.2023 per share. On November 09.11.2023, 32,9, after the announcement of the termination of the project with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, the price fell by 2,08 percent on November XNUMX, XNUMX and closed at USD XNUMX per share.
Block & Leviton's statement of claim alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements and failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects.
NuScale Power Sees Inaccurate and Misleading “Research”
NuScale Power Corporation issued a statement in response to “a misleading short seller report dated October 19, 2023,” without directly naming Iceberg Research. NuScale says the “research,” which is inaccurate and misleading, is filled with speculative statements with no basis in fact and shows a limited understanding of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) and the nuclear energy industry.
NuScale has known and worked with Standard Power for years, which is supported by very wealthy family offices and financial institutions based in the USA. Data center projects under development require about four gigawatts of power, NuScale said. Standard Power will also be led by Chairman Douglas Wurth, who served as a senior member of JP Morgan for almost 20 years.
NuScale also points out that the company has no debt and has $30.09.2023 million in cash as of September 190, XNUMX.
| Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
Background knowledge
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The map of the nuclear world
No living being needs this nuclear waste and certainly no more of it...
The “Internal Search”
with the search terms
NuScale | SMR | Electricity production costs
brought the following results, among others:
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December 1, 2023 - IAEA calls for more nuclear power at the world climate conference
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November 29, 2023 - USA: End of SMR flagship project
The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!
Search term = NuScale - SMR - electricity production costs
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=NuScale
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=SMR Small Modular Reactor
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Stromgestehungskosten
Wikipedia
NuScale Power Corporation is a publicly traded American company that develops and markets small modular reactors (SMR). The company's headquarters are in Portland, Oregon. A 50 MWe version of the design was certified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in January 2023. The current 77 MWe scalable SMR VOYGR design was submitted for NRC review on January 1, 2023 and is currently approximately one-third complete.
NuScale's SMR designs use 2,7 m (9 ft) diameter and 20 m (65 ft) high reactor vessels using conventional cooling methods and fueled by low-enriched uranium fuel based on existing light water reactors. Each module will be housed in an underground basin and will generate approximately 77 megawatts of electricity. The cooling circuit works with natural convection and is fed from a large water reservoir that does not require driven pumps.
NuScale had agreements to build reactors in Idaho by 2030, but that was canceled in 2023 as the estimated cost of a 460 MWe power plant rose from $3,6 billion to $9,3 billion. .
Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
(SMR, German for “small modular reactors”) 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 capital costs.
[...] prototypes
- The floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov As a replacement for the Bilibino nuclear power plant, 2020 took over the electricity and heat supply to Pewek, a town of 4.000 inhabitants in Siberia on the Chukchi Sea, as well as to adjacent mines. It has been built since 2007 in the St. Petersburg port on a 150 m long barge with two KLT-40C pressurized water reactors, each with an output of 35 MW.
- Carem-25 (output 27 MW) in Argentina, described by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a research reactor for a small pressurized water reactor: construction began in 2014, with an estimated construction progress of around 60%, the new construction phase began in August 2020 with Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA continued as contractor.
- In 2021 the first two were in China HTR PMreactors put into operation. The two pebble bed reactors, each with 250 MW of thermal power, together drive a turbo set with 210 MW of electrical power.
- Also in 2021, construction began in Hainan ACP100 started with the name Linglong One. With an electrical output of 125 MW, the reactor is expected to generate 1 TWh of electricity annually.
In the energy industry, levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) refers to the costs that are necessary for converting energy from another form of energy into electrical power. They are stated, for example, in euros or dollars per megawatt hour. The electricity production costs result from the capital costs (including the financing costs of borrowed capital), the fixed and variable operating costs, if applicable the fuel costs and costs for emission rights as well as the desired return on capital over the operating period. The distribution of the electrical energy generated is not included...
YouTube
Search term = NuScale - SMR - electricity production costs
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=NuScale
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=SMR
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Stromgestehungskosten
Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...
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- The THTR circular researches and reports in detail. In order for us to be able to do that, we depend on donations. We are happy about every donation!
Donation account: BI environmental protection Hamm
Purpose: THTR circular
IBAN: DE31 4105 0095 0000 0394 79
BIC: WELADED1HAM
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