Newsletter VI 2024
February 4 to 10
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2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 |
Current news+ | Background knowledge |
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.
February 2008 (INES Class.?) NPP Paluel, FRA
February 2008 (INES 0 Class.?) Nuclear factory La Hague, FRA
1. February 2010 (INES Class.?) NPP Vermont Yankee, USA
4. February 2008 (INES 0) NPP Krümmel, GER
5. February 1958 (Broken Arrow) B-47 Tybee Island, USA
6. February 1974 (INES 4-5) Akw Sosnovy Bor, USSR
8. February 2004 (INES 0) NPP Biblis, GER
February 12, 2013 (North Korea's 3th nuclear test) P'unggye-ri, PRK
13. February 1960 (France's 1st atomic bomb test) Reggane, FRA
14. February 1950 (Broken Arrow) Convair B-36 British Columbia, CAN
16. February 2011 (INES 2) NPP Tricastin, FRA
22. February 1977 (INES 4) NPP Jaslovské Bohunice, SVK
28. February 1954 (6 hydrogen bomb tests) Bikini Atoll, USA
We are always looking for up-to-date information. Anyone who can help, please send a message to: nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de
10. February
Israel | Saudi Arabia | Egypt | Expulsion | Gaza
Saudi Arabia warns Israel about Rafah offensive, Biden sends CIA chief to Egypt
So far, Saudi Arabia has barely commented publicly on the Gaza war - now the regional power is calling for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Meanwhile, US President Biden is trying to free the Israeli hostages.
Saudi Arabia has so far taken a very cautious public stance in the Gaza war. The Sunni regional power has now warned Israel against a military operation in the south of the Gaza Strip. The Kingdom noted the serious consequences of military action in Rafah and emphasized its categorical rejection of the forced relocation of hundreds of thousands of civilians, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry. Riyadh called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to "prevent Israel from causing an impending humanitarian catastrophe."
[...] A military offensive in the city on the border with Egypt is considered highly problematic. The town, which had around 300.000 inhabitants before the war, is now said to be home to well over a million Palestinians. Most of them fled there from other parts of the Gaza Strip before the war, partly on orders from the Israeli military...
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Finland | Power storage | Underground
One of the deepest mines in Europe is being converted into a battery
A huge prototype of a gravity battery is to be built in a Finnish mine.
The Pyhäsalmi mine in Finland is one of the deepest at 1.400 meters underground and was until recently one of the oldest operating underground mines in Europe. It is primarily known for the extraction of copper and zinc.
Underground ore mining ended in August 2022. Now the mine will be used as a huge battery for electricity from renewable energies. The Scottish company Gravitricity wants to implement this.
[...] The principle of such gravity storage is relatively simple: If excess electricity is available, you use it to lift and fix heavy weights. This means the energy is stored.
If you want to access the energy again, you can lower the weights in a controlled manner. This is used to operate generators, which in turn generate electricity.
[...] The big advantage of abandoned mines for such projects is that the necessary basic infrastructure - the underground shafts, the lift systems and a power grid connection - already exists there. The deeper the system and the wider the shafts for entering the mine, the higher the storage capacity...
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Right-wing extremists | Protection of the Constitution | Party ban
What does “secured extremist” mean?
The AfD has to accept two defeats in court in two days. So their youth organization can be classified as definitely extremist. A passage in the 2022 Office for the Protection of the Constitution was also not objected to. Does that have any consequences?
Two courts confirmed this week that parts of the AfD can be classified as “extremist”. Below are some questions and answers about the meaning and consequences of this classification.
Where is the AfD considered to be right-wing extremist?
The party's state associations in Saxony and Thuringia are classified as definitely right-wing extremist by the constitutional protection offices there, and the AfD in Brandenburg is a suspected case. The youth organization Junge Alternative (JA) is also classified as a confirmed extremist effort, which is also legal according to a not yet legally binding decision from the Cologne Administrative Court this week (Az: 13 L 1124/23). The JA has lodged a complaint against this. According to a current decision made by the Berlin Administrative Court in an expedited procedure, there is also no objection to the fact that the 2022 Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution assumes an “extremist potential” of around 30 to 40 percent of all AfD members (ref.: VG 1 L 340/23) .
[...] What do the latest decisions mean for a possible ban procedure?
Nothing serious can be derived from this. In the event of such proceedings, the Federal Constitutional Court decides itself how it investigates, examines materials and what legal consequences it ultimately draws from it.
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Pakistan | Corruption | Parliamentary election
Sharif and Khan wrestle for victory
In the parliamentary elections in Pakistan, former Prime Minister Sharif and his PML-N party missed a majority. Independent candidates close to the imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Khan are ahead. Sharif and Khan both see themselves as winners.
The conservative Nawaz Sharif was celebrated as the winner by his supporters last night. Before the election he was still considered the favorite and promised to get the majority. But according to the latest results, his party, the Muslim League, does not have the most seats.
[...] Sharif has led the country as prime minister three times, most recently until 2017. He later went into exile in London to avoid prison for corruption. He only returned last year. The convictions against him were overturned.
[...] But even on the second day after the election, the final result is not yet known. The election commission had claimed that there were problems with the internet. The astonishing thing about the latest projections: the supporters of the imprisoned ex-prime minister Imran Khan are clearly ahead - ahead of Sharif and Zardari. But since Khan's party was excluded from the election, his candidates had to run as independents.
[...] Khan has been imprisoned since last year, among other things for corruption. Shortly before the election he was sentenced to an additional three prison terms. The former cricket star is particularly popular among younger Pakistanis...
9. February
CO2 emissions | EU states | Commercial Vehicles
EU states vote for stricter CO₂ rules for trucks and buses
The European compromise was in jeopardy until the very end because the federal government wanted to back down. The reason was a blockade by the FDP.
A majority of EU countries have approved plans for stricter CO₂ standards for trucks and buses. This was announced by the Belgian EU Council Presidency. The project was in jeopardy for a short time because the federal government made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP only agreed to approve the new rules at the last moment.
The so-called fleet limits regulate how much climate-damaging CO₂ vehicles in the EU will be allowed to emit in the future. According to the agreement, CO₂ emissions from coaches and trucks should be reduced by 2040 percent by 2019 compared to 90. The European Parliament still has to approve the agreement now agreed between the EU states...
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Germany and Algeria are planning to set up hydrogen production – a green hydrogen pipeline from Algeria to southern Germany
Berlin - Germany and Algeria want to work more closely together on the production of green hydrogen. The package is part of an overall project that also includes a hydrogen pipeline from Algeria via Italy to southern Germany.
As part of the energy partnership between Algeria and Germany, Federal Minister of Economics Habeck announced the establishment of a bilateral hydrogen task force. Algeria is to be supported in setting up a hydrogen infrastructure and production.
[...] Algeria intends to become a major producer of green hydrogen and aims to export a total of 2040 percent of EU requirements via the southern H10 corridor by 2. The country could thus improve its own economic prospects, create new jobs and gradually move its energy sector away from fossil gas.
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Fascism | Socialism | Totalitarianism | Wokeness
The “leftward shift” of the totalitarian center
Is the left on the rise? Socialism is in the starting blocks? We have a left-wing government and left-wing media? It's all nonsense - the opposite is actually true.
Sometimes you despair of the people who surround you. Even intelligent minds are worried: the country is supposedly in the left's grip. By this they mean the government and its consensus factories, which they call media institutions. Everywhere they smell the new socialism, I noticed it with Corona: the aid money was classified as a new socialist orgy of happiness.
[...] Nobody intends to pay the assistant the same salary as the heart surgeon. But without surgical cleaning staff, it can hardly be denied that such a heart procedure would be an even more dangerous affair because it would be less protected against infections. Menial jobs? Doesn't exist! The Woken have absolutely no feeling for such considerations. They talk about structural racism, structural sexism - everything is always structural for them, because only the structure guarantees that they can imagine themselves in the big fight against the system - but then they order kimchi and sushi from Lieferando and give it to whoever Euphemistically, "delivery hero" means a 40 cent tip - as a reward for having to take the stairs to the sixth floor because the elevator was unfortunately out of service - and believes that it will make the world a better place.
[...] With totalitarianism it is like with fascism, of which the writer Ignazio Silone said that when he returned he would not say that it was fascism, but would emphasize that it was anti-fascism. The totalitarians today say they are left-wing. When the mafia eliminates someone, they don't approach him by saying up front that they're going to kill right now. She says: We're friends! The government is definitely left. The media anyway. And the entire zeitgeist is particularly left-wing. Because he deceives some people into believing that something is happening that is not true. Like the shift to the left, which only looks like that if you stay on the surface and let yourself be fooled by wokeness. In terms of economic policy, we could certainly use a shift to the left. And it's been that way for a while.
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pollutant | Urine samples | phthalate
The Federal Environment Agency has suspicions
Does the pollutant discovered in children's urine come from sunscreen?
A few days ago, a pollutant discovered in urine samples - including from small children - made headlines. The search for the exact origin of the phthalate is still ongoing, but data from the Federal Environment Agency suggests a connection with cosmetics, especially sunscreen.
According to information from the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), a pollutant discovered in urine samples could possibly come from sunscreen. The phthalate MnHexP (mono-n-hexyl phthalate) was recently found in the urine of many people. “In our first, exploratory analyses, we see a connection between exposure to MnHexP and cosmetics, including sunscreen in particular,” said toxicologist Marika Kolossa from the UBA on Thursday.
[...] According to the UBA, the substance DnHexP may no longer be used in the EU without approval since 2023. Applications for approval have not been submitted. It cannot be ruled out that it is contained in contaminated sites or imported products containing DnHexP. DnHexP has been severely restricted or banned in the EU for many years.
[...] According to the results of animal experiments, MnHexP is a reproductively harmful substance, Kolossa recently said. It primarily affects the reproductive organs of male fetuses in the womb. Substances in this group could also be harmful to adults and increase the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity, which is shown by further animal experiments. Concentrations "that are so high that a health risk cannot be ruled out" have been discovered in individual people...
The chemical industry produces countless toxic substances in huge quantities every day, and the shareholders make a fortune from it. The costs of the often futile attempts to protect the health of those affected and the environment are borne by the general public. This applies to the chemical industry and its eternal poisons PFAS, Glyphosate, Phthalates (plasticizers) etc. as well as to the nuclear industry and its ever growing mountains of radiating, toxic Nuclear waste. If we fail, we will leave future generations nothing but untold suffering, and our descendants will have no opportunity to reject this legacy.
It is high time to protect humanity from the foolish poisoning of life by industry and to consistently implement the polluter pays principle.
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Solidarity | Debt brake | Wealth tax | Tax the Rich
Proposal to abolish solidarity:
Pay the rich, please!
If only a small group gave up a portion, Germany wouldn't have to worry about the tax authorities. Switzerland and Spain show how it works.
The FDP has imposed a strong taboo on the country - so strong that no member of the government is currently thinking about it, let alone talking about it. Higher taxes are considered poison. Although it is completely clear that a climate-friendly restructuring of the energy system can only be achieved with higher government spending, the federal government can only think of two ways to plug the hole created by the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling.
Either save drastically or perhaps loosen the debt brake a little, as some economists are now massively demanding. However, none of the larger parties have heard of the fact that there is also leverage on the revenue side to equip the state treasury for sustainable politics. On the contrary: Ministers Christian Lindner (FDP) and Robert Habeck (Greens) are currently calling for the solidarity surcharge to be abolished because it allegedly endangers growth.
Only a tiny group would have to give up a part that was easy for them to get over in order to solve the problem...
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Hydrogen | occurrence | Mine
Geoscience
Huge hydrogen reservoir discovered
Gas emissions in an Albanian mine indicate large H2 deposits underground
Raw material from the depths: There could be a huge hydrogen reservoir beneath a mine in Albania - it would be the first evidence of a larger underground H2 deposit. This is indicated by strong hydrogen emissions - around 200 tons of gas escape from the mine every year at the selective measuring points alone. Their source is probably the deep ophiolite rock - a formation that occurs worldwide, as researchers report in "Science". This could mean that there are large reserves of hydrogen elsewhere too.
Hydrogen is considered the energy source of the future. However, the H2 gas has so far had to be produced chemically - for example through the electrolysis of water or methane reduction. Hydrogen production is therefore complex and expensive. Until now, there was no alternative to this because hydrogen does not form large underground reservoirs - or so it was thought.
[...] Truche and his team monitored the hydrogen leaks in the mine for six years.
The result: “At least 200 tons of hydrogen are released in the mine every year,” report the scientists. “However, these outgassing rates are minimum values that are based solely on what is measured at specific points - not an extrapolation to the entire volume. We only monitored a fraction of the total air coming out of the mine.”...
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Nuclear fusion | tokamak | JET reactor
Nuclear fusion: JET reactor achieves world energy record
Fusion generates 69 megajoules of energy for the first time, but still no breakeven
World record: The JET fusion reactor in Great Britain has set a new energy record in its latest experiment. It produced 69 megajoules of energy from just 0,2 milligrams of deuterium-tritium fuel. This is more energy than any other fusion experiment. However, this tokamak reactor still had to use more energy to heat the plasma than was produced by nuclear fusion. Nevertheless, JET provides important insights for the future large-scale European reactor ITER.
Nuclear fusion is considered a possible energy source of the future, but there is still debate about which type of reactor is best suited for it. Laser fusion has already achieved ignition of the fusion plasma, but can only use tiny amounts of fuel at once. Larger amounts of plasma, on the other hand, use magnetic confinement reactors based on the stellarator or tokamak principle. The latter includes the large reactor ITER, which is under construction, but also the Joint European Torus (JET) in Great Britain.
[...] However: With this energy record, the JET reactor did not reach a positive energy balance and thus did not reach the “breakeven” point of the fusion. Because more energy had to be put into heating the plasma than the resulting fusion produced. The reason: For nuclear fusion in JET and other magnetic confinement fusion reactors, a larger amount of plasma has to be heated up than, for example, in laser fusion. Physicists assume that only ITER will achieve the necessary proportions for breakeven...
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Rosatom | Framatome | Lingen fuel element factory | ANF
Atomic city of Lingen
Collective objections against Rosatom's entry into the ANF fuel element factory in Lingen
Dear friends,
Today we once again call on people to take part in the objections to the expansion of the Lingen fuel element factory and the associated entry of the Kremlin group Rosatom:
https://atomstadt-lingen.de/files/Sammeleinwendung-Brennelementfabrik-Lingen.pdf
We need the completed signature lists (unfortunately only on paper, not electronic) back by February 26th.
On March 1st, the personal handover to the Lower Saxony Environment Minister Christian Meyer will take place in Hanover.
It's great that letters with completed collection requests are now arriving in Lingen every day. .austradit and many other groups also collect diligently. A big thank you to everyone involved!
But we urgently need as many signatures as possible. Therefore, please try to continue collecting - also in organic shops, from unions or from other environmental groups.
How necessary our protest is can be seen again this morning: The Russian uranium ship Baltiyskiy 202 is currently heading towards the port of Rotterdam - most likely with uranium on board for Lingen. In return, fuel rods for Kazakhstan/China may be taken via Russia. The Kremlin is still busy in the nuclear deal with Western Europe and the federal government is just watching.
The council meeting in Lingen on Tuesday was also a scandal: The Greens had introduced a resolution against Rosatom's entry - the CDU, SDP and FDP unanimously rejected it. The mayor even illegally allowed the head of the Framatome works council to speak, Framatome employees came to the town hall for a demonstration, and opponents of nuclear power were not given the right to speak. A former general works council chairman of RWE Power also sits on the city council for the CDU. The local newspaper spoke of an “important sign” from Framatome/ANF that the fuel element factory was not a “foreign body” in Lingen, but rather good for Lingen as a business location. Unfortunately, the nuclear lobby is still very strong locally and is also dangerously naive when it comes to dealing with the Kremlin nuclear company. The majority of the council believes that everything can be easily controlled and that a nuclear deal with Putin is completely OK - the main thing is jobs in Lingen...
8. February
Media | awareness | Right-wing extremists | enemies of democracy
The AfD has long been planning for the “day after”
The AfD doesn't just provoke. She deals with the day after. These fantasies are terrifying.
The number and density of columns dedicated to the AfD topic among co-authors has increased considerably in recent weeks. The question arises as to whether we are not doing the Höcke-Weidel party a service by further increasing the attention quotient and driving even more people who despise democracy into their arms.
[...] What feeds the thinking and planning of the ultra-right? Has anyone already designed a theoretical structure for post-democratic society? Have the strategy papers for the takeover of power already been written?
Well connected with Identitarians and other right-wing extremists
If you want to find out more about this, you should take a look at the publishing program of Antaios Verlag, which has already been put under observation by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as “right-wing extremist”. Götz Kubitschek is not only responsible for the publishing house, he also installed an “Institute for State Policy” in Schnellroda on the state border from Saxony-Anhalt to Thuringia. For Kubitschek, the AfD, to which he has been a friendly advisor with Björn Höcke for years, is just a “party political necessity”. He thinks much further than the representatives of a “conservative revolution” suggested.
[...] Anyone who donates their cross to the AfD in the upcoming elections to the European Parliament and in the three federal states should be clear about what they are getting into. “Of course you can vote for this party. But you can’t say you didn’t know anything!” I recently heard the cabaret artist Wilfried Schmickler say...
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Czechia | EDF | KHNP | Dukovany
Westinghouse doesn't deliver - Prague speculates on volume discounts for new nuclear power plants
In March 2022, the Czech Republic launched a tender for another nuclear power plant at the Dukovany site. The process is carried out by the CEZ Group, which is the majority Czech state-owned energy supplier. Now the tender is entering the next phase with a surprise.
As part of the continuation of the tender process for a single nuclear power plant at the Dukovany site, the Czech government has surprisingly reduced the number of bidders. At the same time, the remaining bidders should submit another binding additional offer for up to four nuclear power plants. The reason is possible volume discounts if several nuclear power plants are ordered, according to the Czech government. Nothing has been decided yet, the Czech government just wants to be able to choose from an expanded variety of offers.
Czech government only negotiates with South Korean KHNP and French EDF
After the early exit of the Chinese state-owned CGN and the Russian state-owned Rosatom, Prague no longer wants to go into the next round of expansion with Westinghouse. This is remarkable given that only Westinghouse can boast the type of nuclear power plant originally required by the Czech government as a single plant with an output of up to 1.200 MW...
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leak | radioactive water | Fukushima
Leak in processing plant
Radioactive water leaked from Fukushima nuclear power plant
Thousands of liters of radioactive water have leaked from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant. An employee discovers the leak by accident. According to the nuclear power plant operator, the surrounding area was not contaminated. Nevertheless, measures must be taken.
According to the operator, around 5500 liters of radioactive water escaped from a leak at the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. However, no signs of contamination were found around the plant, said a spokeswoman for the operator Tepco. The water came out on Wednesday morning and an employee discovered the leak while cleaning a filter. It was then immediately closed...
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Pakistan | Military | Democracy
Imran Khan's political fate: the rise and fall of a hopeful
Imran Khan's journey from celebrated prime minister to prisoner paints a turbulent picture of Pakistan. His case raises questions about democracy and power games.
Almost 130 million voters are called upon to cast their votes today - there are always large numbers involved in Pakistan. It is also a military giant, boasting of having the largest army of all Muslim nations and being the only one to have nuclear weapons.
This concentrated power weighs on the third poorest people in Asia (HDI index, only Afghanistan and Yemen are poorer) and has been causing trouble since the founding of the state.
The army has planted its own in this state; here the deep state is not a fantasy, but extremely real. This is why “democracy” and “elections” are so flexible. The deep state may no longer be able to be removed without destroying the other.
Most of the time, the army's most important ally (not Pakistan), the USA, favored this development and often forced it...
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Gas power plants | fossil natural gas | Hydrogen
New power plant strategy Kemfert:
Building new gas power plants is “nonsensical”
Energy economist Claudia Kemfert warns that the federal government's power plant strategy could make electricity more expensive. Kemfert told MDR AKTUELL that Germany does not need any new gas power plants. She also has doubts as to whether the power plants could be easily converted to hydrogen. This has not been technically tested.
According to energy economist Claudia Kemfert, the federal government's new power plant strategy will make electricity more expensive. She told MDR AKTUELL that it was “absolutely nonsensical to build new gas power plants now.” “Excess capacity” would be built up. In addition, fossil natural gas is being phased out. Investing there is expensive.
Kemfert also doubts that the new gas power plants can later be easily converted to green hydrogen. “This has not been technically tested,” explained the energy economist. In addition, the green hydrogen must first be produced. Five times more renewable energy would be required than is available...
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Climate change | Temperature | Global Warming
EU climate change service Copernicus
Global warming was above 1,5 degrees for twelve months for the first time
Alarming figures from the EU climate observers: According to Copernicus, the global average temperature was consistently one and a half degrees above the reference value for a year. And January 2024 was also far too warm.
According to the EU climate change service Copernicus, global warming has for the first time consistently exceeded 1,5 degrees Celsius over a twelve-month period compared to the pre-industrial era. From February 2023 to January 2024, the global average temperature was 1,52 degrees Celsius above the reference value in the 19th century, the European Earth observation program Copernicus (C3S) announced on Thursday.
Global temperatures in January 2024 were higher than at any time this month on record...
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8. February 2004 (INES 0) NPP Biblis, GER
Wikipedia
During full-load operation, due to insecure coverage of safety-relevant devices, a weather-related short circuit occurred outside the power plant, which led to the power plant block being disconnected from the 220 kV high-voltage network at 12:48 p.m. As a result of the incident, the unit also disconnected from the 380 kV network due to faulty control mechanisms. This sudden drop in load meant that the system could no longer stabilize itself to meet its own needs. As a result of these events, to avoid further safety risks, the reactor was automatically shut down and all four emergency diesel generators necessary to maintain reactor safety were started...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
...As early as the 1960s, the mayor of Biblis, Josef Seib, tried to get the community to build the nuclear power plant. The nuclear power plant was welcomed for a long time because it was perceived as an economic factor; RWE also donated a sports hall to the community for eight million German marks. There was initially little resistance to the Biblis-A and -B reactors. This only changed when it became known in 1973 that RWE was planning two additional blocks C and D and submitted applications for approval in 1975. Years of discussions began about the safety of the plant, especially about the risks of a reactor accident with a core meltdown as a result of a plane crash. "Biblis is initially located in a low-altitude training zone and is often directly overflown by fighter jets." Biblis-C and -D were abandoned because of the protests...
7. February
Press freedom | Assange | War Crimes
Wallraff stands up for Assange – death in installments
Investigative journalist Günter Wallraff called for Assange's immediate release before the EU Parliament in Strasbourg.
On February 20th and 21st, the highest English court will decide whether Julian Assange can be extradited to the USA. If the judges reject the appeal of the founder of the disclosure platform Wikileaks, Assange could be tried and convicted in the United States under the so-called Espionage Act - a more than hundred-year-old law that was passed to convict traitors and spies during the First World War and which has not been used for decades. Assange, who, with the help of international media, published thousands of documents on the Wikileaks disclosure platform that allegedly document serious war crimes committed by the US Army in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also many other crimes committed by corporations, governments and private individuals, faces up to 175 years in prison.
“Assange is being criminalized, even though a US court explicitly confirmed in 2019 that the publication of the US documents was covered by freedom of the press because no information was ever published that was not true,” says Cologne investigative journalist Günter Wallraff, for whom it is clear: “Julian Assange is a political prisoner. An example should be made of him that should show other journalists: Don't mess with the powerful states of the world."...
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Administrative court | Protection of the Constitution | Right-wing extremism
Decision of the administrative court
AfD fails with urgent application against the 2022 Constitutional Protection Report
The AfD wanted to have comments about the party's extremist potential deleted from the 2022 report for the protection of the constitution. However, the Berlin Administrative Court considers the passage to be permissible.
The AfD failed with an urgent motion against a passage in the 2022 Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution report. According to a decision published on Wednesday by the Berlin Administrative Court, the federal government was allowed to write in the report that the AfD had an extremist potential of around ten thousand people or 30 to 40 percent of all AfD members. The AfD wanted to have this passage deleted from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution report.
As the administrative court ruled, the Federal Ministry of the Interior is entitled to inform the public about efforts against the free democratic basic order if there is sufficiently serious factual evidence to this effect. This is also permissible in the suspicion phase...
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Energy | Power storage | battery technology
Understanding the energy transition: The indispensable role of storage technologies
The energy transition will not succeed without electricity storage. But what has been technically possible for a long time is still waiting for political decisions.
All attempts to achieve the energy transition solely by building up additional renewable capacity are doomed to failure in a market economy system for technical and economic reasons. In a state-planned economy, such an approach would break the system.
The need for storage technologies
How far storage technology has already been developed and how far politics is lagging behind in developing the necessary regulations was shown on February 1st at the BVES Large Storage Conference under the motto "Without storage there is no energy transition, without regulation there is no storage"...
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International lawyer cites clause
Is UNRWA protecting Europe from Gaza refugees?
The millions in transfers from Europe to the UN Palestinian Relief Agency are keeping people in Gaza despite the war. The international lawyer Hartwig refers to an exclusion clause in the Geneva Refugee Convention. If the funds are not available because of the terror allegations, the situation will change, he says.
According to international law experts, the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, which has come under suspicion of terrorism, is the reason why the Geneva Refugee Convention does not apply to Palestinian refugees. The Heidelberg international law expert Matthias Hartwig told the “Rheinische Post” that this was related to an exclusion clause in Article 1D of the convention. It concerns people who fled Israel in 1948 or from areas occupied by Israel in 1967, as well as their descendants who remain in the Middle East.
“It was certainly the purpose of this clause that these people could not move from there like other refugees,” Hartwig suspected to the newspaper. But that will change the moment “UNRWA protection ends, for whatever reason.” The international lawyer explained: "If UNRWA no longer has any funds and can therefore no longer fulfill its tasks, as I understand it, this means that the people concerned will benefit from the Geneva Refugee Convention." This means that Palestinian refugees can then make use of the opportunity to apply for asylum as refugees as soon as they have entered an EU country...
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Energy transition | Emissions | Wind and solar
For the first time, more wind than gas in Europe's energy mix
Less demand and more wind and solar power have reduced emissions in the EU energy sector in 2023. Europe's wind power was able to cover France's entire electricity needs.
According to an analysis, emissions in the energy sector in the EU fell more sharply last year than ever before. The 19 percent decline in emissions is due, on the one hand, to the sharp drop in electricity generation from coal and gas, according to a report published on Wednesday by the think tank Ember. Accordingly, electricity generation from coal has fallen by 26 percent and from gas by 15 percent, meaning that generation from fossil fuels accounts for less than a third of EU electricity for the first time. In addition, the demand for electricity has fallen.
According to the information, wind and solar energy continued to increase. According to the analysis, together they generated a record share of 2023 percent of EU electricity in 27 - for the first time, renewables account for more than a quarter of the energy mix...
6. February
United States | Westinghouse | AP1000 | Vogtle NPP
More delays for Vogtle 4
Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Co, says vibrations found in a cooling system of unit 4 at the Vogtle NPP means that the plant will not start commercial operation until the second quarter of 2024, or between 1 April and 30 June. Previously operation was set for 30 March. In a filing to investors Georgia Power said the vibrations "were similar in nature" to those experienced during start-up testing for unit 3, which began commercial operations last year.
[...] The five members of the Georgia Public Service Commission ruled that the company cannot earn any additional return on equity through a construction surcharge levied on Georgia Power's 30m customers after 2,7 March. The construction budget will not be affected provided unit 4 begins operating by June 30. However, Georgia Power said it would have to pay $15m a month in extra construction costs if the project extends into July.
[...] Vogtle 3&4 are both 1000 MWe Westinghouse AP1.117 pressurised water reactors (PWRs). The two units were originally expected to cost about $14bn and to enter service in 2016 and 2017 but suffered a series of delays, including Westinghouse’s bankruptcy in 2017. The total cost of the project to build Vogtle 3&4 is now put at more than $30bn...
Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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1,5 degree | Warming | sea temperature
Analysis of Caribbean sponges
Did global warming start much earlier?
A study of sponges from the Caribbean suggests that global warming may have started earlier than thought - and could already be 1,7 degrees above pre-industrial levels. But the study is controversial.
According to a research group, global average surface temperatures could already be 1,7 degrees Celsius above the temperature level before the industrial revolution: Australian and US scientists have derived this from studying the skeletons of sponges in the Caribbean Sea.
In their journal »Nature Climate ChangeIn the study published, the group suspects that global warming began in the 1860s - earlier than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) models. At 1,7 degrees Celsius, it would also be 0,5 degrees Celsius higher than the IPCC estimate. However, other researchers express some sharp criticism of the study.
[...] Mojib Latif from Geomar also speaks of uncertainties in the methodology - but also of a very academic discussion: "In my opinion, it is already far too warm on Earth, regardless of whether we are 'officially' still below or not Already above 1,5 degrees Celsius." The effects of global warming, which has already been realized, are already catastrophic, says Latif: "In my opinion, we should not discuss tenths of a degree and distract from the urgency of trade."
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Distrust | Politics | Trust | Democracy
Youth Study
Trust in democracy - skepticism towards politics
The majority of 18 to 30-year-old Germans have trust in democracy - this is the result of a study. The value is higher than in other EU countries examined. But at the same time, many people also distrust politics.
Trust in democracy is comparatively strong among young Germans - yet many of them distrust the government and parliament. This is shown by a current study by the Bertelsmann Foundation.
Accordingly, 59 percent of the 18 to 30 year olds surveyed said they trust democracy, and 62 percent said this with regard to the European Union. That's more than anywhere else: Of those surveyed from nine other European countries, on average only 50 percent trust democracy and 57 percent trust the EU.
Nevertheless, distrust of politics is widespread in this country: more than one in two young adults (52 percent) said they did not trust the government, and 45 percent distrusted parliament. Education and science, on the other hand, enjoy the highest regard among young people: around three quarters of those surveyed said they trust these areas...
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Does the hurricane scale need to be expanded?
New Category 6 is intended to reflect the increasing frequency of “super” cyclones
It's no longer enough: Climate researchers are proposing to expand the current five-level hurricane scale upwards. Because of climate change, hurricanes that are stronger than a normal Category 5 hurricane are already increasing. A new Category 6 on the Saffir-Simpson scale would better communicate the threat of such “super” storms. With just two degrees of warming, the risk of such Category 6 hurricanes could double in the Caribbean, and in Southeast Asia it would then increase one and a half times, as the researchers report.
[...] The five-stage Saffir-Simpson scale reveals how strong a hurricane is. It is based on measurements of the maximum wind speed at a height of ten meters. The fifth and highest category applies to wind speeds of 250 kilometers per hour - but it is open at the top. This means that even extreme cyclones can currently only be classified as category 5 - and may therefore be underestimated, for example in the case of a hurricane warning.
“The open-ended scale can lead to an underestimation of risk – and this is particularly problematic in a warming world,” explain Michael Wehner of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and James Kossin of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a result of global warming, hurricanes have more energy available and are becoming stronger. “New wind speed records will therefore continue to be broken,” say the researchers...
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Glyphosate | Monsanto | Compensation
Glyphosate Damages:
Bayer loses in US appeals court over glyphosate
The Leverkusen-based group must expect high claims for damages in the USA. The company suffered a setback in its legal defense.
The agricultural and pharmaceutical company Bayer has lost before an appeals court in the USA in connection with a lawsuit over a weed killer. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Leverkusen-based company is not protected from lawsuits over the weed killer Roundup, which contains glyphosate. The Atlanta court declined to dismiss a lawsuit by a Georgia doctor who claims Roundup gave him cancer.
The decision is the latest setback in the company's efforts to fend off thousands of similar lawsuits, potentially worth billions of dollars in damages. Several other appeal courts had previously reached the same conclusion in similar cases...
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6. February 1974 (INES 4-5) Akw Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad, USSR
Wikipedia
Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents and Dangers
Incidents and dangers
The first accident occurred on February 6, 1974, in the first year of operation. In unit 1, the heat exchanger broke due to boiling water. Radioactive water from the primary circuit was released into the environment along with highly radioactive filter sludge. Three people died as a result of burns caused by boiling water. (INES: 4–5)...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Nuclear power plant near Saint Petersburg
The Leningrad nuclear power plant, also known as Sosnovy Bor, is one of the most fault-prone plants in Russia. It is only about 5 km from Sosnovy Bor and 70 km from the megacity of St. Petersburg...
1974: Serious accidents of INES level 4-5
Shortly after commissioning, two serious accidents occurred at the reactor, both of which were classified as INES levels 4-5 (accident/serious accident).
After a gas container that was supposed to retain radioactive gases was destroyed on January 7, 1974, a serious accident occurred shortly afterwards. On February 6, 1974, the reactor's intermediate circuit broke because it contained unintentionally boiling water. Three employees died, highly radioactive water and radioactive sludge from filter powder were released into the environment...
5. February
Resistance | State elections | European elections
Descendants of the resistance fighters
"Let us learn from history"
More than 280 descendants of Nazi resistance fighters appeal to voters in Germany in a letter. They call for people to learn from Germany's history - and to "stand up to" the New Right.
Descendants and relatives of German resistance fighters during the Nazi era have called for the protection of democracy against right-wing extremism. “It was our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who opposed the Nazi injustice as resistance fighters,” says an appeal published verbatim by the newspapers of the Funke media group.
"That's why we, as relatives and descendants, are speaking out today and calling on all our fellow citizens to stand up to the New Right in our country and across Europe." Everyone should feel responsible for preserving and defending liberal and constitutional democracy...
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Czechia | EDF | Westinghouse | KHNP
The Czech Republic wants to build “up to four” new nuclear reactors
The government is expanding its original plans. The existing plants in Dukovany in South Moravia and in Temelín in South Bohemia are affected
Prague – The Czech Republic has significantly expanded its tender for the expansion of its nuclear energy industry. Instead of a new reactor in the South Moravian nuclear power plant Dukovany, there is now talk of “up to four new units” in Dukovany and in the South Bohemian Temelín power plant. This is what it says in a statement from the Prague government to the French company EDF and the South Korean KHNP.
The American company Westinghouse was excluded from the tender because its offer did not meet the conditions, it was said. Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said on Czech television on Sunday that it had not been decided that the Czech Republic would build four new nuclear units. The applicants should have submitted their final offer for the construction of a reactor in Dukovany and a non-binding offer for another three units.
[...] According to the former head of the Czech Energy Corporation (CEZ), Jaroslav Míl, such a large order would bring with it a number of complications. According to his estimates, the four blocks could cost around two trillion crowns (80,3 billion euros), which the state would have to raise and which it does not have. Míl also drew attention to the lack of qualified experts working on similar designs.
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Fossil power plants | Natural gas | Hydrogen
Climate-neutral electricity system
Coalition agrees on light power plant strategy
The almost 24.000 megawatts of new gas power plants that were once planned will be replaced by 10.000 megawatts of “H2‑ready” systems and a capacity market. Experts and associations criticize today's agreement on the power plant strategy for sticking to fossil natural gas.
[...] The new gas power plants should only run when renewables do not provide enough electricity, thus bridging the famous "dark doldrums", according to an analysis now published by the Berlin consulting firm Aurora Energy Research on behalf of the WWF environmental foundation.
New gas power plants are idle most of the time
According to the study, in 2 these H2030 gas power plants will only have to supply as much electricity as they would be able to produce in 70 so-called full-load hours. In 2040, this period would be less than 870 hours, the equivalent of around 36 days.
[...] For the energy economist Claudia Kemfert, however, the agreement to build new natural gas power plants carries the risk of initially creating expensive fossil fuel overcapacity. “Fossil natural gas is a phased-out model, switching to hydrogen has not yet been technically tested and is therefore unsafe,” Kemfert criticizes the decision. “It is also questionable whether the necessary quantities of hydrogen will even be available during this period.” ...
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Democracy | Right-wing radical | Capital
Roots of the shift to the right – What the defenders of democracy ignore
“Frankfurt stands up for democracy” was the motto for a demonstration on February 5th. But: Which democracy is meant? It used to be known that capitalist societies promoted right-wing radicalism. That has been forgotten.
According to the founding fathers of the Federal Republic of Germany, the main thing that should be avoided is that a threat from the right arises again. People still knew about the close connection between capitalism and fascism. Accordingly, politicians well into the CDU/CSU were convinced that capitalism had to either be abolished or at least significantly curbed in order to give democracy a lasting basis.
[...] Such talk seems communist to us today. Kurt Schumacher was an outspoken anti-communist. He rejected any dictatorial approach to introducing a socialist democracy. However, he defined democracy in a way that is only understood by those who are now considered left-wing extremists. Schumacher's view was shared by many members of the CDU at the time. The CDU's Ahlen economic program of 1947 began with the following memorable sentences: “The capitalist economic system has not done justice to the state and social interests of the German people. After the terrible political, economic and social collapse, only a new order can come from the ground up.”
[...] Isn't it crazy that today an almost self-evident knowledge from back then is considered extremely left-wing and for some perhaps even anti-constitutional? The knowledge that unbridled capitalism and developments to the right are in a cause-and-effect relationship, as well as the even more important insight that there cannot be democracy without social balance...
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How China and Russia are outdoing the West in trade with Africa
China's business with Africa is booming. Russia is pushing towards the black continent with gifts of wheat and political rapprochement. How the West reacts.
Goods exchange between China and Africa has grown to a full $2023 billion in 282, although the African trade deficit is increasing. This means that African-Chinese trade is now close to the size of the EU's African trade of 268 billion euros in 2021.
China's billion dollar power game in Africa
For comparison: Africa's trade with the USA amounted to almost 62 billion US dollars in the same year.
However, Russia is still far from ready in this regard. In 2022, Russian-African trade amounted to the equivalent of $18 billion, but exploded by a further 2023 percent in the first half of 35...
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5. February 1958 (Broken Arrow) Tybee Island, USA
Wikipedia
The Tybee Bomb is a 3,5 ton Mark 15 hydrogen bomb that was lost on February 5, 1958 near Tybee Island off Savannah, Georgia. After a Boeing B-47 bomber from the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command collided with an F-86 in mid-air during a training flight, the commander had to drop the bomb in order to land the plane safely. It is one of eleven missing US nuclear weapons...
Wikipedia en
The U.S. Department of Defense has officially recognized at least 32 Broken Arrow incidents between 1950 and 1980.
Examples of these events are:
1950 British Columbia B-36 crash
1956 B-47 disappearance
1958 Mars Bluff B-47 nuclear weapon loss incident
1958 Tybee Island mid-air collision
1961 Yuba City B-52 crash
1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash
1964 Savage Mountain B-52 crash
1964 Bunker Hill AFB runway accident
1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident
1966 Palomares B-52 crash[6]
1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash
1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion, Arkansas
Unofficially, the Defense Atomic Support Agency (now known as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)) has detailed hundreds of "Broken Arrow" incidents.
Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
A 1973 Sandia Laboratories report, citing a then-classified army compilation, stated that between 1950 and 1968, a total of 1.250 U.S. nuclear weapons were involved in accidents or incidents of varying severity, including 272 (22 percent) in circumstances involving impacts which, in several instances, caused the detonation of the weapon's conventional high explosives...
4. February
Israel | Gaza | Displaced people
Anger of the hostage members:
“They are the ones who are afraid”
A deal for the release of the Hamas hostages is still a long time coming. At the same time, criticism of Israel's government is growing among relatives.
[...] "The government says we must continue to pressure Hamas and Jahia Sinwar (their leader) to agree to the terms," shouts Ronen Manelis, a reserve brigadier general and former Israeli army spokesman addressed the thousands of people who came to the weekly vigil. “It is they who are afraid of a break in fighting because they fear that criticism and investigations could then arise.”
Such political tones are new on the forecourt of the Tel Aviv Art Museum. Until now, the Hostage Families Forum, which was formed as a support group shortly after the attack, had remained politically reserved. But no other hostages have been freed since the last ceasefire at the end of November.
[...] Despite the negotiations, the military action in the Gaza Strip does not appear to be letting up. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, 24 people were killed and 127 injured in Gaza within 178 hours on Sunday night. The information cannot be independently verified. Israeli Defense Minister Joaw Galant recently announced that the army would reach Rafah on the southern border of the Gaza Strip and “eliminate every terrorist.”
More than a million displaced people are crowded into the border town with Egypt, in addition to the 250.000 pre-war residents. Many of them have already fled for the second or third time in just a few months. A sea of tents and shacks stretches between the buildings. Slowing aid deliveries, hunger and spreading diseases are turning Rafah into a “pressure cooker of desperation,” said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN emergency agency OCHA, recently.
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Research | Cuts | Debt brake
Project in Freiberg
Millions in cuts for battery research in Saxony
Because of the budget crisis, the federal government is cutting funding for research projects. An institute in Saxony is also affected – a serious blow for research on battery recycling there.
Professor Heiner Heimes also considers the cuts fatal. He is working on lithium-ion batteries at RWTH Aachen University. His point: Without publicly funded research, there are no skilled workers. Because research projects are always a way to train specialists. “The industry is not yet at that stage where it can now say: We will provide all our own training in the field of battery research,” says Heimes.
[...] This also concerns the Saxon Bundestag member Bernhard Herrmann from the Greens. He sits on the Energy and Climate Protection Committee in the Bundestag. Hermann says that such disruptions cannot be tolerated, especially in Saxon regions where skilled workers are urgently needed.
The Green politician is therefore calling for a reform of the controversial debt brake. Because you need investments in technologies like batteries. "It is fatal if we stick to the debt brake, which is actually a brake on investment, and we stand in our own way." The problem, however, is that the FDP within the government absolutely wants to stick to the debt brake.
According to Hermann, he now wants to work for the Fraunhofer Institute with the department in Freiberg and also seek direct contact. They can definitely use support there.
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Constitutional Court | Party ban | enemies of democracy
Constitutional Court protect:
Buschmann wants a “joint proposal”
Federal Justice Minister Buschmann is calling for a cross-party initiative to better protect the Federal Constitutional Court. He also comments on a ban on the AfD.
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) sees good opportunities for a cross-party initiative to better protect the Federal Constitutional Court from enemies of democracy. “I am very happy that all factions of serious democrats in the Bundestag want to make the Federal Constitutional Court more secure with a constitutional change,” Buschmann told the newspapers of the Funke media group. He referred to attempts in Poland, Hungary and Israel to restrict the independence of the constitutional courts.
There is a lot to be said for securing the current structure of the Federal Constitutional Court in the Basic Law, said Buschmann. “This should not be an issue of majority and minority, government or opposition,” he explained.
[...] Afd ban: Buschmann remains cautious
The Minister of Justice expressed reservations about possible ban proceedings against the AfD, which is classified by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as definitely right-wing extremist. “You should only take legal action against a party if you are very sure that the proceedings will be successful because the extremely strict standards for a ban have been met in court,” he said.
It must also be clear to everyone that ban proceedings take four to six years. Therefore, he emphasizes: "The most convincing thing is if we as democrats manage to fight the AfD politically in such a way that it has much less support than now," said the FDP politician.
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Russia, the Ukraine and the West
What the Western media and politicians don't understand about Russia
The West could exercise more self-criticism in the interests of ordinary Ukrainians.
Some in the Ukrainian leadership and in the West blame the failure of the 2023 Ukrainian offensive on the inadequate quantity and quality of weapons supplied to Ukraine. This claim is difficult to assess objectively, except that Ukraine's allies have limited ability and willingness to supply weapons. However, there is a clearer point to make.
Western political elites and the media they control in one way or another have misrepresented several key aspects of the deep-rooted conflict between Ukraine and Russia and the resulting Russian invasion. Russia's responsibility is not in the least diminished by the West's mistakes. But an honest discussion about the latter is certainly overdue...
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Prosecutor | right-wing extremists | Police officers
Investigations into “NSU 2.0” discontinued:
No charges against police officers
In the case of the “NSU 2.0” series of threats, an investigation was also carried out against a police officer and his colleague. The public prosecutor's office has now dropped the proceedings.
BERLIN taz | The suspicion is serious: The public prosecutor's office has been investigating Frankfurt police officer Johannes S for years. The suspicion: He is said to have been involved in the “NSU 2.0” series of threats, which initially targeted NSU victim advocate Seda Başay-Yıldız from the summer of 2018 and then dozens more affected people. Başay-Yıldız's data had previously been accessed at Johannes S.'s police station without any official reason; the 34-year-old was known for his right-wing extremist views. But now the public prosecutor's office stopped the investigation against him.
The proceedings had already been discontinued in December because no sufficient suspicion could be established, a spokesman for the Frankfurt/Main public prosecutor's office confirmed to the taz ...
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4. February 2008 (INES 0) NPP Krümmel, GER
Wikipedia
On February 4, 2008, a smoldering fire occurred in a ventilation system. The fire was extinguished by the plant fire department within an hour; no external help was necessary. The nuclear regulatory authority sent an expert and said that no radioactivity was released at any time. This incident (INES 0) was used by numerous environmental and climate protection organizations to question the safety of the Krümmel nuclear power plant and nuclear energy...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Boiling water reactor • Output: 1.402 MW • Type: BWR-69 • Manufacturer: KWU • Construction began April 5, 1974 • Commissioning: September 14, 1983 • Shutdown: August 6, 2011 • Start and end of dismantling: open
Der Spiegel
The breakdown series of the nuclear power plant operator Vattenfall
Trouble at the nuclear power plant operator Vattenfall: New details of the incidents in Brunsbüttel and Krümmel as well as new disruptions become known almost every day. The group is reprimanded for its information policy and security culture. Now there is a risk of the operator's license being revoked...
Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
Current news+
Energy policy | Renewables | Blackout | Battery storage
Nuclear power is a dead horse – why isn’t Merz getting down?
Nuclear power cannot be financed without constant tax support. Construction projects always take longer and cost much more than planned. Why don't the Union and FDP want to let go of this? Reason is not the reason.
To start with a personal question: How are you prepared at home if the power goes out? Well, the probability that this will actually happen is extremely low, because the German power grid is one of the most stable in Europe and also in the world. The security of supply continues to increase. Although Friedrich Merz personally warned in autumn 2022 that Germany was threatened with a “blackout”. It is one of the narratives that Merz has adopted from the far right.
But back to the question: If, contrary to expectations, it does get dark for a short time, how prepared are you? Candles at hand, flashlight in the kitchen drawer?
Whatever your answer was, it probably wasn't: "To be on the safe side, a diesel generator runs in my basement all year round." That would be absurd, annoying and expensive.
More like the flashlight
And yet this clearly absurd method corresponds structurally to the plan to support the rapidly growing renewable energies worldwide with nuclear power plants. You can't just switch a nuclear power plant off and then switch it back on again. There are always phases, most of them quite short, in which wind and solar power would not be enough to cover German needs, even if renewable energies were expanded to a much greater extent than today.
In such cases, the network can be temporarily stabilized with battery storage. One such facility is to be built in the former Brokdorf nuclear power plant, for example, and construction of such a facility will begin in Lower Saxony this year. This is a successful model in Australia. According to the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, battery storage also accounted for 2023 percent of the available power in this country by 3,15.
Battery storage, gas and later hydrogen power plants can be started up and shut down very quickly. They are more like the flashlight in the kitchen drawer than the constantly running diesel generator in the basement.
Costs more than doubled
Building nuclear power plants that run all year round so that we have an alternative in the few weeks of the year when renewable electricity is not quite sufficient in the future has a number of major disadvantages.
Above all, nuclear power plants are incredibly expensive. They are almost never completed at the originally planned cost and almost never on the planned date. In Great Britain, for example, the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant has been under construction since 2016. It was actually supposed to be finished in 2025, then 2027, but the commissioning date has now been pushed back to possibly 2031. The expected costs have more than doubled since construction began and are now probably 46 billion euros, including inflation - if that's enough.
The most expensive default insurance in the world
A Chinese investor has now withdrawn from the project because of the enormous costs, and France wants Great Britain to inject even more money. The state-owned French nuclear company EDF, which is building Hinkley Point, is constantly making high losses and is already heavily in debt. Nuclear power plants are the most expensive default insurance in the world.
The head of the German energy supplier and former nuclear power operator EnBW recently told the "Handelsblatt" that it was "a mystery" to him how Hinkley Point would "ever be able to generate electricity to cover costs." New nuclear power plants are “not the solution for energy supply.” The Federal Association of the Energy Industry sees it the same way.
Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
Background knowledge
The map of the nuclear world
On the wrong track for 80 years...
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The “Internal Search”
Energy policy | Renewables | Blackout | Battery storage
January 18, 2024 - Record for new wind turbines at sea
December 30, 2023 - One hundred percent renewables on winter day instead of blackout
November 19, 2023 - China's energy policy is tipping - in the right direction
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The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!
Energy policy + renewables + blackout + battery storage
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Energiepolitik
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Erneuerbare
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Blackout
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Batteriespeicher
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Agora energy transition
The energy transition in Germany: State of play in 2023
1. Germany's greenhouse gas emissions will fall to 2023 million tons of CO673 equivalent in 2, their lowest level in 70 years.
This corresponds to a decrease of 73 million tons of CO2-eq compared to 2022 or 46 percent compared to 1990. A large part of the reduction compared to 2022 can be attributed to an unexpectedly large decline in coal consumption as well as crisis and economic downturns in production in the energy-intensive industry. Only around 15 percent of emissions reductions are secured in the long term.
2. Renewable energies will cover over 2023 percent of electricity consumption for the first time in 50, and coal-fired power generation will fall to a historic low of 132 TWh.
With an expansion of 14,4 GW, photovoltaics exceeds the previous record from 2012 by 6,2 GW. The expansion of onshore wind power remains significantly too weak at 2,9 GW, but 7,7 GW, or 74 percent more output, was approved than in the previous year. In 2023, Germany will be a net importer of almost 12 TWh of electricity, which corresponds to 2,3 percent of electricity consumption. Around half of the imports came from renewables.
3. The building and transport sectors are once again missing their climate target; their emissions are stagnating.
The main reason is the slow pace of electrification: As in 2022, electric cars will account for almost 20 percent of new registrations; To achieve the goal of 15 million electric cars in 2030, the proportion must increase to 90 percent in the coming years. 2023 was a record year for heat pumps, but also for gas heating; Around 2,5 times more fossil heating systems were sold than climate-neutral heating systems.
4. With the Karlsruhe budget ruling, the financing of climate protection investments will become the central issue for 2024.
After by far the hottest year on record and the COP 28 decision to “transition away from fossil fuels”, investments in climate neutrality are more urgent than ever. In order to achieve the 2030 climate target, additional instruments will be necessary in 2024 to secure these investments and finance social compensation measures...
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Bpb - Federal Agency for Civic Education
The energy transition presents Germany with major challenges. The phase-out of nuclear energy has been completed. Fossil fuels should also be replaced by renewable energy in the long term. This requires huge investments. Energy policy plays a crucial role if Germany wants to achieve its climate goals and at the same time be sustainable as an industrial location. This dossier brings together bpb content on the topic of energy policy.
In order to maintain security of supply, the federal government is temporarily relying on coal and nuclear power plants in the current energy crisis. The importance of renewable energies has been increasing for years.
For months, there has been discussion in Germany about the question of whether energy is safe in this country and how gas and electricity can remain affordable in view of the sharp rise in energy prices. The German energy mix has been changing for many years, particularly in terms of electricity generation. Most recently, the composition of energy sources changed massively within a few months due to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine...
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Wikipedia
Renewable energies (RE) or regenerative energies, also alternative energies, are energy sources that are available in a practically inexhaustible manner within the human time horizon for a sustainable energy supply or that are renewed relatively quickly. This sets them apart from fossil energy sources that are finite or only regenerate over a period of millions of years.
In addition to the efficient use of energy, renewable energy sources are considered the most important pillar of a sustainable energy policy and the energy transition. They include bioenergy (biomass potential), geothermal energy, hydropower, marine energy, solar energy and wind energy. They get their energy from the sun's nuclear fusion, which is by far the most important source of energy, from the kinetic energy of the earth's rotation and planetary movement, and from the earth's internal heat.
The expansion of renewable energies is being pushed forward in many countries around the world. In 2018, renewable energies covered 17,9% of global final energy consumption...
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YouTube
Search word = renewable energies
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Erneuerbare Energien
July 19, 2023 - Terra X Lesch & Co - 29:19
The truth about the energy transition: More appearance than reality?!
Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...
This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic of atoms*
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Current news+ | Background knowledge | Top |
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