Newsletter XV 2024

April 7-13

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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 events 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.

3 April 1960 (INES 4) NPP WTR-2 reactor, Waltz Mill, USA

6 April 1993 (INES 4 | NAMS 4,8) Nuclear factory Tomsk 7, RUS

7 April 1989 (Broken Arrow) Submarine K-278 Komsomolets sunk south of Bear Island, USSR

8 April 1968 (Broken Arrow) Submarine K-129 sunk 2900 km nw Hawaii, USSR

10 April 2003 (INES 3 | NAMS 3,9) NPP Paks, HUN

April 10th to May 15st, 1967 (INES ? Class.?) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR

10 April 1963 USS Thresher Submarine SSN-593 sunk 350 km off Cape Cod, USA

April 11-12, 1970 (Broken Arrow) Submarine K-8 sunk in Bay of Biscay, USSR

19 April 2005 (INES 3) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

21 April 1957 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR

26 April 1986 (INES 7 | NAMS 8) NPP Chernobyl, USSR

28 April 2011 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Asco, ESP

We are always looking for up-to-date information. Anyone who can help, please send a message to:
nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de

13. April

Iran launches airstrike on Israel

Israel intercepts missiles and drones from Iran – Department of Homeland Security gives the all-clear

The Israeli army said Iran used more than 200 drones and missiles in its attack. Only a few hit Israel. The night's news in the minutes.

The essentials in brief:

• Iran has launched an airstrike on Israel. According to the Israeli military, more than 200 drones and cruise missiles were fired. But most of them were intercepted.
• According to the Israeli emergency service, there has so far only been one victim in the south of the country: a ten-year-old child.
• Israeli Homeland Security has given the all-clear for the time being: Israeli residents no longer have to stay near shelters.

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Renewables | Power Supply | Nuclear debate

A year without nuclear power:

And Germany still exists

The gloomy forecasts for Germany after the last nuclear power plants were switched off have not come true. The topic can finally be shelved. 

It is time to verbally disarm the nuclear debate. It has now been exactly a year since the last three reactors in Germany went offline. And what happened? The event took place quite quietly. Let's take the coal. Despite all the prophecies of doom, coal-fired power generation in Germany was a quarter lower in the first year without nuclear power plants than in the previous year. Accordingly, despite the nuclear phase-out, CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour in the German electricity mix fell.

Critics had predicted otherwise. The reasons for the balance sheet are varied. In summary, the lost kilowatt hours were completely compensated for by the addition of renewables. But a slightly reduced electricity consumption due to the economic situation in the industry and an extremely mild winter also depressed the need for coal. Critics had also questioned the stability of the power supply, which continued to exist.

But stability depends more on the state of the networks and the organizational structures of the industry (IT security, for example) than on the question of whether there are three more or fewer power plants. One thing in particular has changed as a result of the nuclear phase-out: the import balance of electricity. It reacts sensitively to minimal changes in the national price structure on the electricity exchange. Germany, a net exporter of electricity for 20 years, became an importer with the end of the last three reactors.

Now one can discuss whether such a snapshot is the major disruptive side effect of the exit - but for what purpose? It doesn't change anything anymore. At least as far as the light water reactors of the 20th century are concerned, nuclear power is history in this country. If someone demands a reversal of their exit for the purpose of personal profiling, it is a fake battle...

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Agriculture | agrivoltaics | Fruits

Agri-photovoltaics in Oberkirch

Solar modules that are tailored to the needs of the plant: initial positive findings

An innovative agricultural photovoltaic system is being tested on an orchard in Ortenaukreis. Your solar modules depend on the sun and the light needs of the plants. 

It is a first in agriculture, at least in Baden-Württemberg: solar modules that not only follow the sun, but are also based on the needs of the plant. Such a novel agricultural photovoltaic system is currently being tested on an orchard in Oberkirch-Nußbach in the Ortenau district.

[...] The LTZ researchers come to the orchard in Ortenaukreis at regular intervals and have already noticed the first positive results. For example, the temperature fluctuations under the modules were lower than on the reference surfaces without modules. “This made the apples more marketable,” explains Greta Ott from LTZ. However, the researchers have not yet been able to detect any differences when it comes to diseases or pest infestations. A few more years are needed to obtain more reliable information. The research has only been ongoing for about a year.

Win-win: energy through photovoltaics and increasing fruit yields

Hansjörg Vollmer can also observe changes - compared to the reference area without modules. The soil in the fields under the PV modules is looser in summer and does not dry out as quickly. The leaves are also greener, says Vollmer.

A big difference can be seen, especially with plums. The covered fruits are not exposed to heat stress and are therefore more recovered. He was only able to harvest the apples a week later, but they did not suffer from sunburn and there was no hail damage, according to the farmer.

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Anti-Semitism | entry ban | Palestine Congress

“Palestine Congress” dissolved in Berlin:

Struggle for sovereignty of interpretation

Just two hours after it began, the police dissolved the controversial “Palestine Congress”. The dispute is now raging online about the procedure. 

BERLIN taz | There are many ways to prevent an event. You can try to ban them. You can put pressure on the organizers and have them block your account. You can instruct the building authority, the trade authority and the fire department to find reasons why the event cannot take place. You can impose massive requirements in advance to make it more difficult. You can prevent participants from arriving or coming into the event hall. And you can look for a reason to end the event early. The Senate and the police in Berlin did all of this to stop a controversial “Palestine Congress”.

Two hours after the start of the event, the police stormed the hall on Friday to interrupt a video lecture, temporarily turned off the power and half an hour later asked the approximately 250 people present to leave the room.

A police spokeswoman later explained to the public that there was a “ban on political activity” against the 87-year-old author and researcher Salman Abu Sitta, who had just been connected via video. It is to be feared that there could be “anti-Semitic speeches that glorify violence and deny the Holocaust”. The event planned for three days was therefore banned entirely.

The British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sittah, rector of the University of Glasgow, had previously been refused entry at Berlin airport. He should have appeared as a speaker on site. Abu Sittah traveled to Gaza with Doctors Without Borders in October 2023 and wanted to report to Berlin about what he had experienced there. In a three-hour conversation at the airport, he was warned that he would be committing a criminal offense if he joined the conference online from abroad, he reported afterwards.

[...] One does not have to approve of the views and individual statements of the organizers and participants of the congress in any way to get the impression that the state has enforced an ominous reason of state with the means of a police state. The organizers have initially lodged an objection against the police's decision and may be planning further legal action. According to Berlin police, a demonstration with 1.500 people against the ban on the congress has been registered for Saturday. The authorities are expecting spontaneous protest events.

“Putin and Netanyahu would be proud of the Berlin police,” said Wieland Hoban from the “Jewish Voice for a Just Peace” to the taz. The entry bans and the termination of his club account are also questionable. “It’s not constitutional.”

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United States | Iran | Israel

Biden should not follow Netanyahu into war with Iran

Israel wants to provoke Tehran to retaliate. They want to distract from the carnage in Gaza. Why the USA shouldn't allow itself to be lured into a trap. Guest commentary. 

The United States and Israel have warned of a possible Iranian retaliation in response to Israel's attack on an Iranian diplomatic facility in Damascus last week.

US government is going in the wrong direction

US President Joe Biden once again assured Israel of “ironclad” US support in the event of an Iranian counterattack. U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Erik Kurilla was reportedly en route to Israel on Thursday to coordinate with Israeli leaders ahead of the expected strike.

The government is moving in the wrong direction. The US should distance itself from Israel's illegal attack. But instead, the Biden administration is trying to protect Israel from the consequences of its own actions.

Israeli forces have regularly attacked Iranian and other targets in Syria for more than a decade. But the attack on the consulate in Damascus was a significant escalation, both in terms of the location and the rank of the Iranian officers killed...

12. April

Power Supply | Data Centers | Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant

AI puts a strain on power supplies

Amazon pays $650 million to a nuclear power plant

Data centers are energy guzzlers. The Germans alone consume more than the city of Berlin. Tendency? Rising. The training of AI models in particular is just beginning. This puts a strain on the power supply. That's why Amazon is knocking on the door of a nuclear power plant.

Data centers are hungry. On electricity. Millions of searches on Google and countless routes on Google Maps have to be processed, videos streamed and transfers made every day. In Germany, data centers will have consumed almost 2023 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity in 20. That is almost twice as much as the entire city of Berlin (12,5 billion kWh) needs per year, writes the Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability in its annual evaluation. 3,7 percent of German electricity consumption already goes to rooms or entire buildings in which computer hardware controls our everyday lives.

[...] However, most AI models are trained in the USA, where the OpenAI partners from Microsoft and Google operate mega data centers. According to Australian telecom provider Cloudscene, there are currently 5381 large data centers in the United States. That's ten times as many as in second-placed Germany.

A $100 billion data center

Germany's future plans also seem tiny compared to the USA: Microsoft wants to build three data centers in the Rhenish district for 3,2 billion euros. In the USA, Microsoft and OpenAI are planning a super data center for 100 billion US dollars. Competitor Amazon isn't going anywhere: The e-commerce giant wants to invest $15 billion in new data centers over the next 150 years in order to be able to cope with the demand for AI applications from its in-house cloud subsidiary AWS. The financial and business portal Bloomberg reported this at the end of March.

[...] Amazon has therefore made two groundbreaking decisions. The AWS parent is building new data centers in US states like Mississippi, where few people live and therefore there are no supply problems. Amazon is also relying on nuclear power: At the beginning of March, the cloud company signed a deal with the operator of the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station nuclear power plant in the rural state of Pennsylvania: Amazon can build a data center right next to the nuclear power plant for $650 million. Amazon will be supplied with electricity around the clock at a fixed price for ten years. If the operation of the 40-year-old nuclear power plant is extended, Amazon will also be allowed to extend the supply contract twice for ten years each.

The deal is a financial lifeline for Talen Energy: the cash-strapped nuclear power plant operator had to file for bankruptcy just two years ago. When debts, interest and fees are paid, 650 of Amazon's 361 million will go into Talen Energy's coffers - a profit margin of 55 percent...

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Fuel assemblies | Interim storage | Castors

Court: Green light for Gundremmingen nuclear waste storage facility

Would the nuclear interim storage facility in Gundremmingen withstand a targeted terrorist attack or plane crash? The Bavarian Administrative Court in Munich heard this question. Now he announced his decision.

The Bavarian Administrative Court has decided that the nuclear interim storage facility in Gundremmingen can continue to operate. In the court's opinion, the necessary precautions against damage are guaranteed. Several residents had filed a lawsuit against the interim storage facility. In their opinion, the highly radioactive material is not adequately protected against a terrorist attack or a plane crash. "Over a hundred castors are stored in Gundremmingen and each one contains tens of times what was released in Chernobyl," says Kurt Schweizer, one of the plaintiffs who lives in neighboring Offingen. He fears that a serious accident could make entire districts uninhabitable for centuries.

[...] Castor containers are the subject of international research

The Society for Intermediate Storage is working with international teams to research how the castor or certain seals on the container lid change over the years. At the Technical University of Munich, for example, research is carried out into how fuel elements age. The research project is designed to be permanent. “We are responsible for the safe storage of the waste until a final repository is ready for operation and we have brought the waste there,” says Maik Stuke, head of the research group. The interim storage of highly radioactive waste in Germany is limited to 40 years; the permit for the Gundremmingen interim storage facility expires in 2046 and would therefore have to be extended in advance.

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NATO | Armament spending | Ready for war

“Turning of times” and military prowess

NATO is relying on escalation. What began with the delivery of helmets to Ukraine is now a call for soldiers. With its expansive geopolitics, NATO is pushing the world closer to the brink of a third world war than ever before.

75 years after its founding, NATO appears to be at the peak of its power. Today, the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, social upheavals caused by excessive armaments and the encirclement of China in Asia are challenging the military pact in an unprecedented way, shows Sevim Dagdelen in her new book.

In the current conflict with Russia, NATO still seems to be hanging on to the myths of the 21s. The strategy of arming Russia to death in a similar way to the Soviet Union back then simply ignores the reality of the third decade of the 13st century. Russia does not spend XNUMX percent of its gross domestic product on weapons and armaments, as the Soviet Union did. The attempt to cut off Russia from importing high technology is not very promising - China and India are ready.

Nevertheless, NATO is accelerating its journey to ever new arms records. It spends five times as much on weapons as China and 15 times as much as Russia. In doing so, your own strategy is also conceptually unbounded. So there is no longer any talk of improving defense capability, but rather, as German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) said, of achieving "war-fighting capability." Russia's attack on NATO territory was invoked. At the same time, its own involvement in the proxy war in Ukraine is constantly increasing and a direct conflict with the nuclear power Russia is at risk.

[...] The main beneficiaries are armorers

NATO, supported by the EU, becomes a symbol of social oppression at home and abroad. Their business model appears to be creating the greatest countervailing forces since their inception. The military pact itself threatens to become an alliance for neo-colonial oppression and imperialist exploitation. It is noteworthy that the real beneficiaries of the arms race are only the major shareholders of the weapons suppliers in the NATO countries. The proxy war in Ukraine also amounts to a gigantic redistribution operation. While the workers pay for the war with social cuts and losses in real wages - in Germany the real wage fell to the level of 2023 in 2016 - the shareholders of large corporations benefit and can look forward to record profits. However, this particularly affects defense companies. The Internet portal Finanzmarktwelt celebrated on February 14, 2024: “While earnings per share before the outbreak of war in 2021 were 9,04 euros, in 2022 they were already 10,64 euros. For 2023 it should be 13,75 euros (…). And for 2024, Rheinmetall's profit per share is expected to be 19,22 euros - an increase of more than 100 percent compared to the pre-war year of 2021. Sales are also expected to increase enormously: from 5,66 billion euros in 2021 to 9,46 billion Euro in 2024.” But the people who benefit most are US defense companies, which can also direct the lion’s share of European taxpayers’ money into their accounts. In 2023, for example, Germany bought 7,75 US CH-60F Chinook heavy transport helicopters from the manufacturer Boeing for 47 billion euros. Questions as to whether and how useful this armament purchase is in times of combat drone warfare were not asked.

The desired war capability apparently consists primarily in promoting the profits of US defense companies through orders from European allies. The military historian Sönke Neitzel predicted that the Bundeswehr, stationed on the Russian border due to its lack of combat drone defense, would “only be able to die there with decency” if an armed conflict broke out. Martial prowess is nothing more than a code for military loudmouth, extremely dangerous hubris and an unconditional commitment to a radical redistribution in society from bottom to top.

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EU Commission | Arms industry | War economy

Brussels and armaments: This is how the EU is preparing for the war economy

The arms industry should be expanded. She also receives many privileges. Why this is a danger to the civilian economy. (Part 2 and conclusion) 

Part 1 This text addressed the new European defense industry strategy, presented on March 5, 2024. The EU is thus taking clear steps towards a war economy. 

The European Defense Industrial Strategy (EDIS) and the complementary European Defense Industry Program (EDIP) aim to promote the mass production of defense equipment in Europe and establish a comprehensive European defense complex in order to be more internationally competitive.

The strategy contains plans to concentrate and form monopolies in the defense industry and to prioritize military production in times of crisis. These plans also contain new legal frameworks that are intended to simplify the initiation of large, cross-border procurement projects in order to strengthen European defense readiness and reduce dependence on non-EU countries. 

As far as the production of defense equipment is concerned, Brussels wants, among other things, to provide financial incentives to expand and maintain large production capacities. In contrast to ASAP, this should no longer be limited to ammunition production:

The program should (...) provide financial support for measures that contribute to the timely availability and delivery of defense equipment, (...) including the reservation and stockpiling of defense equipment, access to finance for companies involved in the production of relevant defense equipment, the Reservation of manufacturing capacities ('forever warm facilities'), industrial processes for the reprocessing of expired products, the expansion, optimisation, modernization, improvement or reallocation of existing or the creation of new production capacities in this area as well as the training of personnel.
EDIP, Article 19

Freedom of the market can be restricted

However, the Commission's plans go far beyond this...

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Climate policy | Climate Protection Act | Minister of transport

The FDP's intrigues regarding the climate protection law

Federal Transport Minister Wissing wants to force the adoption of the new climate protection law by scaremongering people about large-scale car driving bans. Behind this are deviances on the part of the FDP, which wants to further prevent real climate policy in transport. 

We will know by Tuesday afternoon of next week at the latest whether the solar package or the climate protection law or both will finally be passed by the Bundestag. On Tuesday morning, the political groups agree on the agenda for the plenary session - what will be debated and voted on there.

Until now, the public has been more focused on the solar package. It was recently controversial whether there should be a resilience bonus for the benefit of the domestic solar industry - in the end the FDP prevailed with its no.

By the way, this is said to have happened in mid-March. At the end of March, the Federal Ministry of Economics confirmed that the coalition partner's skepticism about the bonus was too great.

However, despite the agreement, it is by no means certain that the solar package will now be finally adopted, although time pressure is increasing.

Solar package and climate protection law are linked 

The energy industry association BDEW warned on Thursday in a rather sharp tone: If the Bundestag does not now decide on the wind power regulation for acceleration areas provided for in the solar package, the legislation can no longer be completed within the deadline set by the EU by May 21st.

In this context, BDEW boss Kerstin Andreae called it “strange” that the solar package should be coupled with the Climate Protection Act.

[...] In fact, the new climate law stipulates that the sector targets are no longer binding and that increased emissions, which are particularly threatening in transport and buildings, are offset by reduced emissions, for example in energy and industry.

The political intrigues of Wissing and the FDP are really tough. By scaring the public about driving bans, Wissing wants to free his parliamentary group colleagues from the jam they have gotten themselves into with their stubbornness in effort sharing and rejection of the resilience bonus.

In both cases, the FDP premise is clearly: Take climate protection wherever you want, but not with our driver clientele. The big question will be whether the Greens and the SPD will allow themselves to be blackmailed here.

[...] If the climate protection law is now passed according to Wissing's will, there will be a threat of climate policy crowbar in traffic from 2030 at the latest. By then Wissing will already be over 60 and no one will remember which minister used dubious tricks to drive climate protection in traffic into the ground in the mid-2020s.

11. April

Europe | Renewables | electricity market

Share of renewable energy in the EU at its highest level

Last year, around 44 percent of electricity in the EU was generated from renewable energies. According to a KfW study, this is a “new record”. However, the development bank criticizes that the pace is still too slow. 

According to the state development bank KfW, Europe is making progress towards decarbonization in the electricity sector. According to a new study by KfW, around 2023 percent of electricity in the European Union will be generated from renewables in 44. This is a “new high”. The share of fossil fuels fell to 34 percent, with nuclear energy accounting for the remaining 23 percent.

The direction is already correct, but the current pace of reducing emissions in the electricity sector is “significantly too slow,” warned KfW.

[...] Guaranteed minimum and maximum price

Now only a two-tier system will be permitted from 2027: a guaranteed minimum price for purchase on the one hand, but also a maximum price on the other. If market prices rise above this, then the operators have to hand over these amounts to the state. Technically these are so-called Contracts for Difference (CFD).

The reform was controversial because the CfD will not only be able to promote renewable energies in the future, but also nuclear power, especially at the insistence of France. Special rules were also adopted for aid for coal-fired power plants, which met with resistance from environmentalists and Greens.

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United States | China | trade war

US Treasury Secretary Yellen warns China against overinvesting in green technologies

China and the USA cannot find each other. Beijing wants to continue investing heavily in green technologies. Is there a threat of a new trade war? 

Acting US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spent four days in China. She quickly became a star on the country's social networks. But the message she brought to Beijing had a serious background: She warned the Chinese against investing heavily in green technologies.

Yellen warns China against massive investments in green technologies 

In a world threatened by climate change, this warning sounds paradoxical - but this is primarily about industrial policy. China has built up enormous production capacities and supplies the world market at affordable prices. Companies in western industrialized countries can hardly compete with this and their existence is threatened.

[...] The global perspective on supply and demand 

The Chinese side also emphasizes that supply and demand must be viewed globally. Ultimately, the West's criticism focuses on industries that are crucial to the climate goals of the entire planet.

This argument also appeals to Western economists. "If you think about [the accusation of overcapacity], that means that each country should only produce what it consumes. That means no trade. Where would we be if there was no trade?" says Reuters Words from an economist from the Peterson Institute again.

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traffic light coalition | Trust | Bertelsmann

New survey

Traffic lights lose out particularly among people with lower incomes

The parties in the traffic light coalition are struggling with a massive loss of trust. According to a survey, this applies particularly to lower middle class and lower class milieus. In return, the Union hardly benefits.

These are numbers that are likely to cause concern, especially among the SPD and the Greens: According to a representative survey commissioned by the Bertelsmann Foundation, the traffic light parties have lost massive amounts of trust among those with lower incomes. Compared to the federal election, the SPD, Greens and FDP are falling disproportionately in lower middle and lower class milieus.

According to the survey, the SPD, Greens and FDP only have 21 percent in the precarious environment. In the 2021 federal election, the traffic light parties in this group of voters together still had 46 percent. In the precarious environment there are voters who belong to the lower class in terms of income, who strive to connect, but often experience exclusion.

[...] The authors' conclusion: Union and traffic light should work better together instead of blocking each other. The upcoming negotiations on the 2025 budget are “perhaps the last chance to reverse the trend in the middle in time.”
 

IMHO

Whoever follows the military-industrial complex is part of the establishment.

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Finland | Storage | District heating

World's largest long-term hot water storage tank

From 2028, 90 GWh can be stored underground for months.

Work begins on the world's largest long-term heat storage facility (1,1 million m³ of water) in Finland's fourth largest city. From 2028, it is intended to support the district heating of the city of Vantaa in dealing with peak heat demand in winter.

The three-part storage facility will be approximately 100 meters below ground level.

A comparatively small project of this type with 11 GWh of heat in Finland has already proven that heat use and storage can be carried out sensibly...

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April 11-12, 1970 (Broken Arrow) Submarine K-8 sunk in Bay of Biscay, USSR

The Soviet nuclear submarine K-8 sank in the Bay of Biscay on the night of April 11th to 12th, 1970, killing 52 sailors. Since then, 2 nuclear reactors and around 20 nuclear torpedoes have been lying at a depth of 4300 m...
(Costs ?)

Nuclear Power Accidents
 

Wikipedia de

K-8 (submarine)

The K-8 was a Cold War-era nuclear submarine of the Soviet Navy. It was the second nuclear submarine that the Soviet Union had commissioned to build under the name Project 627A. Its sinking in 1970 was the Soviet nuclear navy's first loss.

[...] Sinking in 1970

On April 8, 1970, the 51st day of this mission, the boat was still on the return journey in the Bay of Biscay. It was at a depth of 120 meters and traveling at 10 knots when cable fires occurred almost simultaneously at the sonar station in Department 3 and a control station in Department 7, presumably due to short circuits. The commander had K-8 show up immediately. In Department 3, the crew was able to quickly extinguish the fire, but had to leave the department because of the toxic fumes released during the fire. In Department 7, the fire was now also fueled by the lubricating oils used there, so it could not be extinguished and the sailors also had to evacuate the department. After the two nuclear reactors were switched off, it took another 40 minutes before the fire in Department 7 was extinguished by the deprivation of oxygen as a result of the isolation. 

[...] At around 22:30 p.m. on April 11, the situation became critical and more sailors were taken to a rescue ship. All attempts to tow the boat failed due to the heavy seas. 22 remaining crew members, led by the captain, tried to save the boat. A short time later, a single red flare was visible, then K-8 disappeared into the darkness from the rescue ship's radar screens. Two severe tremors were felt on the rescue ship, possibly the result of decompression explosions.

A few hours later after sunrise, the supposed site of the sinking was searched and the body of an officer was recovered from the sea. The commander's body was also sighted, but it sank before it could be brought on board. 30 K-8 sailors died as a result of the fires, mostly from carbon monoxide intoxication; The 22-man ship security group around the commander died when the boat sank.
The commander, Captain 2nd Rank Bessonov, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and the killed crew members and survivors were also awarded medals. The wreck of K-8 lies at a depth of around 4500 meters...

List of U-boat accidents since 1945

The list of submarine accidents since 1945 documents submarines that were lost or suffered serious damage due to accidents or combat operations since the end of the Second World War (Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945). Of the ships lost, at least nine were nuclear-powered, some armed with nuclear missiles or torpedoes. As far as is known, accidents with radioactive contamination of the environment are also documented...

[...] April 8 - K-8 - Project 627 - Nuclear submarine. Sunk in the Bay of Biscay after a fire broke out on board and an unsuccessful attempt to tow. Four nuclear torpedoes recovered, around 20 more in the wreck or on the seabed at a depth of around 4300 m. Sinking position around 490 km northwest of Spain. A hull crew of 52 sailors who remained on board died in the sinking. 73 survivors were rescued by the recovery ship.

10. April

Assange | Press freedom | War Crimes | Prison

Julian Assange:

Biden is considering waiving further prosecution of Assange

For years, the Australian government has been calling for the US allegations against WikiLeaks founder Assange to be dropped. Now President Biden says they are thinking about it.

US President Joe Biden may not want to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for betraying secrets. “We are thinking about it,” Biden replied when asked about a request from Australia when he received Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Assange's lawyer viewed the US President's statements as very encouraging.

"This is a case that should never have been started," Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said at a rally in London to mark the fifth anniversary of Assange's arrest in Britain. “The solution to this case, where we are dealing with a political persecution, is a political solution and a political push,” Hrafnsson said.

The human rights organization Amnesty International has once again called for the release of Assange, who has been in prison in Great Britain for exactly five years this Thursday. "Julian Assange dared to bring to light revelations of alleged US war crimes. It is unacceptable that years of his life were stolen from him," said Secretary-General Agnès Callamard. The organization warned of a catastrophic precedent for global media freedom if Assange were extradited to the US...

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Corona | Masks | vaccine | Commissions

Deception and transparency

Mask deals, vaccine bargaining, a disempowered Bundestag: it is necessary to come to terms with it - because it helps democracy to assert its rights.

In war, truth dies first. This is not a new finding, even if it is of course repeatedly denied on both sides. I would add: the first thing to flourish in times of crisis is deception. Transparency, if it exists at all, is replaced by camouflage. This is increasingly true in our democracy. Most media reporting is also becoming more one-sided. Differentiated, open debates are even rarer than usual. This is not without impact.

The credibility of the government and state authorities is further undermined. In times of crisis, a lot of money is often spent quickly - and this is done in a non-transparent manner and with little control. This opens the door to corruption and profit lobbying without running the risk of triggering a real debate. We experience in such a compressed form how important democracy still has, how quickly it is further restricted, and how little diversity of opinion can still develop in the mainstream public. Sounds conspiratorial? No, it is this lack of transparency, deception and one-sidedness that gives conspiracies the breeding ground to become interesting to many people.
Lobby deals

Germany 2020. Lowest Corona time. While the basic rights of the population and then also those of the Bundestag were restricted, countless transactions are being carried out between members of parliament and some companies. The most well-known are probably the mask deals. MPs collected millions in commissions for arranging orders. In other words, they abused their office and the situation and used their contacts so that certain corporations could get lucrative, overpriced contracts with the state. In return, the MPs received commissions that they were able to keep - even if the deals were exposed. None of this is illegal, because the rules for this are not set by the legislature, but by the Bundestag. The Federal Court of Justice determined this in July 2022[1]. And the corrupt politicians were acquitted in the final instance. How many deals and enrichments should we expect? When we find out something, we usually don't know who got what in return. Everything is quickly forgotten again...

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Commitment | Non-profit status | Attac

Shock for civil society

Attac has been resisting the removal of its non-profit status for ten years. It's about more than tax details

On April 14, 2014, the Frankfurt tax office issued a decision that hit the anti-globalization organization Attac like a bombshell: It declared the association's activities between 2010 and 2012 to be non-profit. Attac pursued general political goals. This is not compatible with the rules of non-profit law.

[...] The legal dispute over Attac's non-profit status leaves two open ends. One of these could soon be clarified. On April 18, a lawsuit will be heard before the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court in which Attac demands that documents from the Federal Ministry of Finance be released. The association suspects political influence by the ministry and personal connections to the Federal Finance Court.

The other open end is a constitutional complaint Attac submitted three years ago.

[...] "The Attac ruling sent shockwaves through civil society." It is exemplary of the pressure on civil society's commitment to democracy and the rule of law. Diefenbach-Trommer criticizes the fact that the federal government has not yet changed the tax code. In its decision, the Federal Finance Court clearly stated that anyone who wanted to promote commitment to democracy, human rights or social justice must declare these purposes to be non-profit. The fact that this has not yet happened is leading to the failure of many clubs. His bitter conclusion: "Commitment to democracy or against anti-Semitism is praised and demanded, but not actively encouraged."

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PFAS | limit | Drinking water

Burden on the environment

This is how heavily polluted waters around the world are with perennial chemicals

Water samples worldwide often exceed guideline values ​​due to high PFAS concentrations. The long-lasting, sometimes toxic substances are now more strictly regulated in the USA

Not everything that is natural is good - and not everything that is artificial is reprehensible. However, when it comes to the so-called eternal chemicals, which do not occur naturally in the environment, there is increasing evidence that they are an extremely problematic class of more than 10.000 substances.

[...] A new Study in the journal “Nature Geoscience” has now collected data from more than 45.000 water samples, which have been published in around 270 studies since 2004. They come from groundwater and surface water. The vast majority of the samples were collected in Europe, North America and East Asia, as well as in Australia, where the majority of the author team conducts research.

[...] Strict rules in North America

In some countries there are PFAS guidelines for drinking water, and in some cases also for surface water such as lakes and rivers. But in the European Union, for example, these only apply to 20 selected compounds to which a measure of their toxicity has been assigned. According to the international Stockholm Convention, only two well-researched, highly problematic substances are banned, PFOS and PFOA - out of several thousand individual substances. But they continue to appear in the environment because the products treated with them continue to be used and the particles continue to accumulate.

In Canada, the rules are particularly strict compared to other countries. While the EU recommends total PFAS levels below 500 nanograms per liter for drinking water, in Canada this limit is 30 ng/l. In the USA the limits were massively tightened a few years ago...

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Methane | Opencast lignite mining

Environmental aid study

Satellite images from the Hambach opencast mine show dangerous methane emissions

Berlin · The greenhouse gas methane has around 80 times as much effect on global warming as CO2. Using satellite images, environmental experts discover how much of the climate-damaging gas is escaping into the atmosphere.

According to a study, emissions of climate-damaging methane from open-cast brown coal mining in Germany are significantly higher than expected. As the study by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and the Ember Climate Institute shows, Germany could emit around 184 times more methane in this area than officially stated. According to DUH, this is an estimate based on satellite data.

Germany has so far stated that it will be responsible for 2022 tons of methane emissions from open-cast lignite mining in 1390 - that corresponds to one percent of EU-wide methane emissions from this area. The study authors assume that, according to their calculations, it would have to be almost 256.000 tons. They also point out that German brown coal production will have accounted for more than 2022 percent of the total production of the fuel in the EU in 40...

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Batteries | Lithium | Charging cycles

How lithium-ion batteries last longer

Pulsed charging could extend the lifespan of batteries by more than double

It's all about charging: An amazingly simple measure could significantly increase the lifespan of common lithium-ion batteries, an experiment reveals. If the batteries are charged with a rapidly changing, pulsed voltage, this reduces the otherwise typical loss of charging capacity - also known as the memory effect. In the test, the lithium-ion batteries lasted twice as many charging cycles as normal. The analyzes revealed the reason for this.

They are found in cell phones, notebooks and cameras, but also in electric cars and aircraft electronics: lithium-ion batteries are almost indispensable for today's technology. The batteries have a relatively high energy density and can be charged and discharged often. However, the life of lithium-ion batteries is also finite: the best commercially available lithium-ion batteries have a lifespan of five to eight years, then their charging capacity drops below 80 percent - they become inefficient.

[...] Jia Guo from the Humboldt University in Berlin and his colleagues may have now found a solution to this problem. They investigated whether a changed charging protocol could slow down or prevent the degradation of the lithium-ion battery. Up until now, batteries have usually been charged using a largely constant alternating current. The research team has now investigated whether a rapid change in power supply and breaks can increase the lifespan of the batteries.

To do this, the scientists exposed various type 18650 lithium-ion batteries to either standard constant charging cycles or high-frequency pulsed charging. In the latter, the voltage changed with a frequency of 100 or 2.000 Hertz.

Double lifespan

The result: The lithium-ion batteries with the normal, constant charging protocol lost around 500 percent of their capacity within just 20 charging cycles; after 1.000 cycles, their charging capacity was only 37,8 percent. “In stark contrast, performance remains significantly higher with pulsed charging,” reports the team. With 100 Hertz pulses there was still 1.000 percent capacity left after 66,5 charging cycles, and with 2.000 Hertz even almost 82 percent...

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10 April 2003 (INES 3 | NAMS 3,9) NPP Paks, HUN

During cleaning work in Unit 2 of the Nuclear Power Plant, the casing of some fuel rods was damaged. 360 TBq of radioactive gas escaped.
(Cost approx. US$43 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents
 

Wikipedia de

Nuclear Power Plant_Paks

During cleaning work in Unit 2 of the Paks nuclear power plant, the fuel rod casing was damaged. Radioactive gas escaped, causing a “serious incident” (INES 3). No one was injured in this accident. However, the measuring probes in the area registered noble gas pollution above the limit values...
 

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Paks_(Hungary)

In 2003, a serious INES level 2 accident occurred at reactor 3, in which several fuel elements were damaged during cleaning and radioactive gas escaped. No one was injured, but the reactor could not be put back into operation until four years later. An IAEA report said they initially found increased radiation in a cleaning pool near the reactor core and opened the cleaning system. "It turned out that the majority of the 30 fuel elements were overheated due to a lack of cooling and were severely damaged or melted." The damaged fuel elements were transported by rail to Mayak, Russia, in August 2014, without the public being informed at the time...

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April 10th to May 15st, 1967 (INES ? Class.?) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR

Wikipedia de

1967: Contaminated dust storms

A period of drought in the spring of 1967 led to a falling water level in Lake Karachay, which was used as an interim storage facility. Between April 10 and May 15, strong winds transported radioactive sediment dust from the dry banks over an area of ​​1.800 to 5.000 km². Their total activity is estimated by various sources to be between 22 TBq and 220 TBq.

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10 April 1963 USS Thresher Submarine SSN-593 sunk 350 km off Cape Cod, USA

Wikipedia de

Thresher (submarine)

The Thresher (SSN-593) was a nuclear-powered submarine of the United States Navy and belonged to the Thresher class named after her. The boat, commissioned in 1961, was lost during diving tests on April 10, 1963, about 350 kilometers off Cape Cod on the east coast of the United States, killing 129 people. This made the Thresher the first nuclear submarine to sink...

List of U-boat accidents since 1945

Of the lost ships, at least nine were nuclear-powered, some armed with nuclear missiles or torpedoes...

9. April

Global | Climate Crisis | Climate lawsuit

Failed climate lawsuits

Judges make decisions according to outdated rules - that must finally change

The climate crisis knows no national borders, unfortunately courts do. The verdict on a dismissed lawsuit shows that the judges must recognize the new reality - and act accordingly. 

The climate crisis is a global problem. This applies to its causes as well as its consequences. For generations, companies, states and citizens around the world have contributed to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rising far too quickly. The planet is warming. Heavy rain, storms and heat waves are increasing everywhere - in Australia as well as in Canada and Germany.

The climate crisis is cross-border, international, universal. And that's exactly the crux of the matter: by no means did everyone contribute to its creation to the same extent, they by no means have the same opportunities to contain it, and they are by no means affected by the consequences to the same extent. The fight against the climate crisis is a fight for justice.

Thousands of people around the world are going to court to clarify who has what responsibility and who needs to be protected. This has already been successful nationally, for example in Germany with the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling for stricter climate targets for 2021. Swiss climate protectors have now had Tuesday with a first lawsuit for stricter measures against climate change before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) success. However, their complaint only concerned their own government. That's encouraging, but not a breakthrough...

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Climate change | Greenhouse gases | CO2 | Methane

Climate change drivers

Greenhouse gas emissions remain at record levels worldwide

Global concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide continued to climb to all-time highs in 2023 

Levels of the three most important human-caused greenhouse gases continued to rise last year. Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide (known as nitrous oxide) are still on record – contrary to ambitious global climate targets that call for significant reductions.

Like global measurements of the US climate agency NOAA show, the concentration of CO2 rose to 419,3 ppm (parts per million) on an annual average, which means an increase of 2,8 ppm over the year 2023. Individual maximum values ​​were significantly higher: On June 1st, for example, there was a record at a measuring station Hawaii recorded a daily value of around 425 ppm, which was a maximum for millions of years. Incidentally, 2024 ppm was measured at the same location on the Mauna Loa volcano in March 425,38.

[...] The amount of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere today is comparable to what it was 4,3 million years ago, according to NOAA. During the Middle Pliocene, sea levels were about 30 meters higher than today - and the Arctic tundra was covered with forests.

Mystery about methane increase

Methane (CH4), the second most harmful greenhouse gas, occurs less frequently than CO2 and disappears from the atmosphere more quickly, but is far more damaging to the climate because it binds heat more strongly in the atmosphere. According to NOAA, methane concentrations rose to an average of 2023 ppb (parts per billion) in 1.922,6. This is the fifth highest value since the renewed rise in methane began in 2007. The methane concentration in the atmosphere is now more than 160 percent above pre-industrial levels...

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Brazil | offshore | Wind energy

Brazil is starting to expand offshore wind energy

With its gigantic coastline, Brazil has huge potential for expanding offshore wind energy. Offshore wind energy in the South American country is currently still in the initialization phase. But that could change quickly in the near future with a declaration of intent that has now been signed.

With Brazil joining the Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA) during the COP 28 climate conference in Dubai, the country reached an important milestone. Following the political initiative, the focus is increasingly on the concrete implementation of the first projects. With the now signed declaration of intent (MoU) for the development of the structures in the port of Açu, the wind project developer Corio Generation and the Brazilian port developer Prumo want to lay an important foundation for the development of the offshore wind industry in Brazil.

Cooperation for the development of the port of Açu into a strategic offshore base

Global offshore wind developer Corio Generation and Brazilian port developer Prumo have signed an MoU to explore the use of the port of Açu, north of Rio de Janeiro, for future Corio offshore wind projects.

[...] Corio is planning offshore wind farms in Brazil with a capacity of up to 6.000 MW

Corio intends to develop five Brazilian offshore wind farms with a total capacity of up to 6.000 MW (6 GW) as part of its growing global portfolio of projects with a capacity of over 30.000 MW (30 GW) in North and South America, Asia and Pacific region and Europe. The locations for the planned offshore wind farms in Brazil, each expected to have a capacity of approximately 1.200 MW (1,2 GW), are located in the northeast, southeast and south of Brazil...

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Nuclear phase-out | green power | CO2 emissions

Analysis for green energy providers

Nuclear phase-out made electricity cleaner

CO2 emissions have not increased in the year since the last three German nuclear power plants were shut down, but have decreased. This is shown by an analysis published today.

The last three were in Germany almost a year ago Nuclear power plants shut down namely Emsland (Lower Saxony), Neckarwestheim 2 (Baden-Württemberg) and Isar 2 (Bavaria). These recently supplied around six percent of the electricity consumed in Germany. 

The exit was then fiercely contested and also controversial within the traffic light federal government. However, a current analysis shows that concerns about the consequences for the climate and electricity prices were unfounded. 

[...] The Anti-Nuclear Organization Ausgestrahlt Meanwhile, calculated that the increase in renewable energies mathematically increased the electricity production of the three nuclear power plants completely replaced. According to this, from April 2023 to March 2024, wind power and solar systems in Germany together generated 29 billion kilowatt hours more electricity than in the previous twelve months, which corresponds almost exactly to the 30 billion kilowatt hours of nuclear power lost.

According to the Enervis analysis, the strong expansion of renewable energies is expected to make Germany an exporter of green and cheap electricity from around 2030. The share of green electricity in consumption is currently a good 50 percentAccording to traffic light plans, there should be at least 2030 be 80 percent. 

Geenpeace nuclear expert Heinz Smital concluded: "One year after the nuclear phase-out, electricity in Germany is cleaner, cheaper and safer than before." The exit from high-risk technology was the right decision; it accelerated the energy transition.

Broadcast speaker Armin Simon emphasized that shutting down the nuclear power plants also made Germany more independent. "Germany is no longer different from those countries that still rely on nuclear power dependent on Russian uranium."

8. April

Hydrogen | biogas | Steam reforming

Green hydrogen from biogas:

First green H2 from Krefeld

Hydrogen can advance the transformation if it is produced with renewables. The pioneering company BtX is now using biogas for this purpose.

FREIBURG taz | The company BtX Energy from Hof, Bavaria, says it will bring the “first approved green hydrogen in Germany” onto the market. This is now possible because on March 14th the Bundestag legally defined the rules according to which hydrogen (H2) can be described as “green”.

This case is also special because the company does not produce hydrogen from water via electrolysis using excess wind or solar power - as is usually discussed in the context of the energy transition - but rather obtains it from biogas. Raw biogas consists of around 60 percent methane. Pure hydrogen can be produced from this because methane (CH4) consists of four atoms of hydrogen and one atom of carbon per molecule.

The splitting takes place using steam reforming. In the end, 60 percent of the energy of the biogas is still in the hydrogen, explains the company. 20 percent of the energy is released as usable heat during reforming, the rest is lost during the conversion...

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United States | Investments | Subsidies

Third US semiconductor factory: TSMC doesn't make a mess, it makes a difference

The global market leader TSMC is investing more abroad than ever before. Samsung also reportedly wants to build more in the USA.

The USA has secured another wave of investment from Asian chip contract manufacturers. The Taiwanese world market leader TSMC is planning to build a third semiconductor factory for around 25 billion US dollars - bringing the total investment to a good 65 billion US dollars. All three works are created in Phoenix, Arizona.

TSMC announced this after securing the first subsidies under the US Chips Act. TSMC will receive direct financing of $6,6 billion from the funding pot, i.e. around 10 percent of its investment volume.

[...] Intel's chip contract manufacturing division, Intel Foundry, plans to invest at least $100 billion in US production over the next five years. The expenses of TSMC, Samsung and Intel would therefore be more than 200 billion dollars.

This means that Europe not only looks old compared to Asia, but also compared to the United States. The largest EU projects for additional manufacturing capacity are Intel's Magdeburg works (a good 30 billion euros) and TSMC's branch in Dresden under the company name ESMC (a good 10 billion euros).

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Energy transition | Wind turbines | Redispatch

Bottlenecks in the power grid cost almost 2023 billion euros in 3,1

Wind turbines in northern Germany repeatedly have to be shut down because the capacity of the grid is not sufficient. There were more bottlenecks in 2023 than in the previous year. After all: the costs have fallen.

In Germany, wind turbines had to be curtailed significantly more frequently in 2023 because the capacity of the grids was not sufficient to direct the large amount of electricity from the north of the republic to the high-consumption south. Nevertheless, the costs of the so-called redispatch have fallen: from around 4,2 billion euros in 2022 to almost 3,1 billion euros last year. This emerges from current statistics from the Federal Network Agency. All electricity consumers pay the costs of compensating curtailed power producers and replacing them with other power plants through the network fees.

In total, a good 2023 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity were lost in 19 due to grid bottlenecks. For comparison: This corresponds to around four percent of Germany's total electricity generation. Wind farms at sea and on land were particularly affected. In return, other power plants that would not have actually entered the market during these phases had to generate a good 14 TWh additionally. It is primarily coal and gas power plants in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg that then step into the breach...

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8 April 1968 (Broken Arrow) Submarine K-129 sunk 2900 km nw Hawaii, USSR

Atomwaffen A-Z

Nuclear Weapon Accidents - Hawaii, 1968

On April 1.200, 4.900, 11 km northwest of the island of Oahu, Hawaii, at a depth of 1968 meters in the Pacific, a Soviet diesel submarine K-129 (Gulf class) sank under unclear circumstances. Three ballistic missiles (SS-N-5) and possibly two torpedoes with nuclear explosive devices were on board. 80 sailors were killed. In 1974, the CIA, with the participation of naval forces, made a secret attempt to raise the submarine, which resulted in the hull breaking. The effort was called “Project Jennifer.” Apparently the Howard Hughes boat "Glomar Explorer" was used for this.
 

Wikipedia de

Submarine K-129

The K-129 was a Soviet Project 629 (Golf class) submarine. It was a diesel-electric powered missile submarine. After sinking in 1968, it was partially raised by the United States Navy in the Azorian Project in 1974...

History

In February 1968, the submarine set off from a base on Kamchatka on its third nuclear deterrent patrol in the Pacific. At the beginning of March there were no regular radio messages from the boat to the Soviet Navy, whereupon the Soviet Navy started a search operation, but was unable to find the submarine...

Azorian project 

The United States, on the other hand, was able to locate the scene of the accident using the SOSUS underwater listening system. The CIA then began planning how to excavate the wreckage to obtain more information about Soviet nuclear capabilities. Billionaire Howard Hughes stepped in as a cover and had a ship, the Hughes Glomar Explorer, built ostensibly to mine ore undersea. In fact, the US government financed the ship, which was supposed to encircle the wreck at a depth of 5000 meters with a gripper arm and bring it to the surface of the water. In 1974, the Glomar Explorer set course for the accident site and managed to grab the wreckage as planned. However, this broke during lifting so that only part of the bow could be recovered.

Until then, the entire operation remained hidden from the public; it was not until 1975 that the first newspaper and television reports appeared. In March 1975, the New York Times finally uncovered large parts of the Azorian Project in a report by Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh. The CIA itself first released extensive documents about the operation in 2010.

[...] Carrying out the operation

On August 1st, the grab arm was finally closed around the wreckage of K-129 and lifting could begin. The Glomar Explorer then announced via unencrypted radio that the gripper arm used to retrieve the manganese nodules had been damaged and that the naval base on the Midway Islands should be visited to check. This is how the CIA wanted to explain why the civilian ship was calling at a naval base. However, there were problems with lifting the load and the hydraulic pumps partially failed. During the ascent, part of the gripping arm broke off, and with it a large part of the wreck also slid back to the seabed. What was recovered by the Glomar Explorer has not been officially announced. According to media reports, the bow of the boat contained, among other things, two torpedoes with nuclear warheads, but not the nuclear missiles. The bodies of six Soviet sailors were also recovered. They were buried in a sea burial in September 1974.

By August 9, the rest of the wreckage was brought to safety in the boat's hull, shortly after the Soviet tug SB-10, which had moved within a few meters of the Glomar Explorer in the previous days, left the area. During an initial investigation, the crew of the Glomar Explorer discovered that the wreckage was contaminated with plutonium hydroxide...

List of U-boat accidents since 1945

Of the lost ships, at least nine were nuclear-powered, some armed with nuclear missiles or torpedoes...

7. April

Ukraine | Zaporizhia | Drone attacks

"A serious incident"

Nuclear authority confirms drone attacks on Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been occupied by Russian troops since 2022. The work is repeatedly attacked. Now there are several drone attacks. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency has given the all-clear regarding nuclear safety.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported drone attacks on the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The protective cover of the sixth reactor was hit three times, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on the social network X. According to the IAEA, nuclear safety was not at risk. Nevertheless, "this is a serious incident that had the potential to violate the integrity of the reactor protective envelope," warned the IAEA, which has a team of observers permanently on site.

[...] The Russian power plant management reported the explosion of a drone over the dome of the sixth reactor. On their Telegram channel, the factory management blamed the Ukrainian army for the attack...

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energy company | Uniper | excess profits

Blockade of End Terrain:

Against blood coal from Colombia

In Gelsenkirchen, activists blocked coal piles - and thereby protested against murders and environmental destruction in South America.

[...] “This power plant alone blows 20.000 tons of climate-damaging CO2 into the air every day,” said Jule Fink, spokeswoman for Ende Gelände on site, to the taz at a bridge from which climate activists had rappelled down over the tracks. The power plant operator Uniper is making a “significant contribution to the planet heating up to such an extreme that entire regions are devastated by floods, droughts or fires and become uninhabitable,” explained Fink.

Uniper achieves “excess profits in the billions”. After Putin's attack on Ukraine, the energy company, as one of the main importers of Russian gas, slipped into an existential crisis; in December 2022, the coal-fired power company was nationalized. In the following year, Uniper made huge profits again, over 4,4 billion euros.

This is possible through the import of so-called “blood coal” from Colombia, criticizes Ende Gelände. Because there are protesters against the gigantic El Cerrejón opencast coal mine repeatedly victims of violence by paramilitary groups. At 690 square kilometers, El Cerrejón is more than eight times larger than the long-contested Hambach open-cast mine in the Rhine. Trade unionists are said to have been murdered there on behalf of international coal companies...

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permits | wind | Sun | LNG | Solar package

Solar fitters from the FDP, Saxon enthusiasm and frustrating chupze when it comes to LNG

Calendar week 14: The wrangling over the solar package will hopefully soon come to an end in the Bundestag, says Oliver Hummel, board member at the green energy supplier Naturstrom and member of the editorial board of Klimareporter°. He criticizes the fact that authorities in the northeast are waving through a large-scale LNG project but delaying a community wind farm.

[...] And what was your surprise of the week?

On Wednesday, the State Office for Agriculture and Environmental Protection (Stalu) in Western Pomerania Draft approvals for the controversial Rügen LNG terminal published – without an environmental impact assessment being carried out in the process. The justification based on the supposedly otherwise unsecured natural gas supply can now be seriously questioned.

The chutzpah with which the approval authority is proceeding here not only surprised me, it also frustrates me. While the Stalu in Western Pomerania is happily waving through major fossil fuel projects, the sister authority in West Mecklenburg is stalling Construction of a community wind farm, which we have been planning together with a small community near Ludwigslust for over ten years.

Too big to fail Apparently applies not only to the financial sector, but also to energy infrastructure. If you consider that Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is the federal state with the most Actions for failure to act due to delayed approval procedures of wind projects, the LNG permit for Rügen has a very bitter aftertaste.

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Renewables | Climate change | Sun

Solar future versus fossil past

All life owes itself to the sun - even the energy that we obtain from coal, gas or oil is solar energy stored over millions of years.

Actually, the entire history of evolution is a single solar age, divided into three phases: The first phase was the hundreds of thousands of years in which the sun was the only source of energy for heat, wind and water power as well as food.

Fossil energy from 1850

In the second phase, humanity discovered combustible fossil energy sources such as coal, natural gas and petroleum in the earth. For a short time from around 1850, these ancient energy sources enabled us to enjoy a steep path to success in technology and prosperity. But these energy sources caused and are causing the man-made greenhouse effect and the resulting climate change.

That is why we must now build the third phase of the solar age: back to the sun as our only real source of energy, supplemented by another five huge renewable energy sources, indirect solar energies - wind, water, bioenergy, geothermal energy and current and wave energy from the oceans.

We will use technologies that would not exist without the fossil intermediate phase.

How the fossil age will end

The fossil age will no more end due to a lack of fuel than the Stone Age ended due to a lack of stones. But renewable energies are so superior both ecologically and economically that they will defeat the old business models with coal, gas, oil and uranium in just a few years through exponential growth...

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7 April 1989 (Broken Arrow) Submarine K-278 Komsomolets sunk south of Bear Island, USSR

Atomwaffen A-Z

Nuclear weapon accidents

North Cape Basin, 1989

On the line between North Cape and Bear Islands, the nuclear-powered Soviet submarine K-278 “Komsomolets” (Mike class) deviated from course on April 7, 1989 and sank after a few hours of surface travel. 42 crew members died from burns, injuries, suffocation and hypothermia. A nuclear reactor and two torpedoes with nuclear warheads lie at a depth of 1685 meters, almost 480 kilometers from Norway's coast.
 

Wikipedia de

Komsomolets (submarine)

The K-278 Komsomolets was a Soviet nuclear submarine. It entered service in 1984 and sank on April 7, 1989. The sinking claimed the lives of 42 crew members.

[...] The fate of the Komsomolets

On April 7, 1989, a fire broke out in the Komsomolets' stern compartment. The boat was at a depth of 150 to 380 meters when a valve on a high-pressure air line connecting the boat's main ballast tanks ruptured and leaking oil (presumably from the hydraulic valve) caught fire on a hot surface. The spread of the fire could not be stopped by sealing off the compartments, as the fire spread through the boat's cable ducts. As a direct result, the reactor's automatic emergency shutdown was initiated to prevent overloading. This caused the drive to fail. The lack of power led to system failure throughout the boat, including the failure of most safety systems. The boat managed to surface after XNUMX minutes, but the rupture in the compressed air system further fueled the fire. Most of the crew left the boat. After a few hours the hull broke and the boat sank. The commander and four other crew members remaining on board tried to save themselves with the emergency capsule. However, this was partially flooded and filled with poisonous gases - only one of them survived ascent to the surface.

[...] At the time of the sinking, the boat was carrying two nuclear-tipped and eight conventional torpedoes.

[...] The consequences of the demise of the Komsomolets

The sinking site is in one of the world's richest fisheries, and a leak of radioactive inventory could cost the fishing industry billions in losses. In May 1992, the research vessel Akademik Mstislaw Keldysh was called to the scene of the accident and discovered numerous fractures along the entire length of the titanium pressure hull. Some were up to 40 cm long. It was also believed that cracks could be seen in the primary cooling circuit. Cracks in this cycle would allow radioactive material to leave the reactor core and enter the lake water and thus the food chain. In the spring of 1993, the Russian government classified the fractures as harmless. Another study in August 1993 examined the circulation movements of the water at the accident site, but found no “vertical mixing” of the layers and therefore no acute risk of radioactive contamination. However, people were surprised to find an almost 8 m large hole in the bow torpedo room, which could not be explained as a result of the accident, but was obviously caused by an explosion.

[...] When an investigation in the summer of 1994 revealed that plutonium-239 was leaking from one of the warheads, the torpedo shaft was sealed.

The cost of salvaging the boat was estimated at over $1995 billion in 24. It also carried the risk that the shell could break during the project. A fallback plan was to seal the boat with a jelly-like material. Implementation of this plan began on June 1995, 1996 and was completed in July 20. The case is expected to provide 30 to XNUMX years of protection...

Current news+

Fossil | Climate Crisis | CO2 emissions | Oil company

Shell pleads not guilty

Three years ago, a court ruled that the oil company must reduce its emissions. Now Shell is trying to downplay its culpability for the climate crisis in the appeal process - and is making record profits in the meantime.

It was a groundbreaking ruling that a Dutch court made in May three years ago: The oil company Shell is committed to reducing CO₂ emissions by 2030 percent by 45 compared to 2019. That not only includes emissions from its natural gas and crude oil production, the judges said, but also includes the fuels sold to customers, such as gas stations and airlines. The consequence of the decision would likely mean a significant reduction in production volumes by 2030 - and thus the beginning of the end for Shell's fossil fuel business model. But a final decision has not yet been made.

Seven environmental groups sued, supported by over 17.000 Dutch citizens as co-plaintiffs. “The people against Shell,” was the motto of the trial. The renowned environmental lawyer Remo Klinger mentioned the first Verdict in SPIEGEL "historical". A cheer went through the climate protection scene. At Shell, however, the shock was deep: the company fired the responsible law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek and looked for new lawyers (currently the British legal consultancy Clifford Chance). The appeal process started this week and will continue until next Friday. The verdict is expected in the second half of the year.

Shell and its new lawyers hope to overturn the verdict. A civil judge is "simply not authorized to make judgments that have national and political consequences," lawyer Daan Lunsingh Scheurleer told the AFP news agency before the proceedings opened on Tuesday. Shell's Netherlands boss, Frans Everts, assured that the company believes "urgent action is necessary for climate protection." But the court hearing is not the right way to get there. The ruling would simply lead to customers switching to other suppliers.

It becomes clear again and again that the oil company has no plans to change its business model. Instead of reducing gas and oil production volumes, he even wants to develop new fields in the coming years. The funding is more lucrative than ever: The company recently made record profits, reaching $2022 billion in 42. This is one of the reasons why the group cut its own emissions targets in mid-March: less should be reduced by 2030, and the 2035 target of minus 45 percent was removed entirely. In any case, the goals only related to the company's own emissions - not to sales.

Environmental associations also repeatedly point out, citing studies and official reports, that the situation has worsened since 2021. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), oil and gas consumption must fall by more than 2050 percent by 75 in order to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. A report from last November warned against pushing ahead with even more natural gas projects; States should also think carefully about whether they support new liquid gas infrastructure. "Anyone who continues to invest in new gas projects risks throwing their money out the window," said agency head Fatih Birol.

The facts speak against Shell

At the same time, most international oil and gas multinationals simply carry on. They are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in the development of new deposits - despite record temperatures worldwide and the promises of many countries to become greenhouse gas neutral in the medium term. The “Global Oil & Gas Exit List”. Environmental protection organization Urgewald lists the corporations' projects. TotalEnergies as well as Shell, Eni, ExxonMobil, BP, Petronas, Chevron and Repsol are all pursuing expansion projects in more than two dozen different countries each.

Lawyer for the environmental group Milieudefensie Roger Cox said the scientific basis for the lawsuit against Shell was still being strengthened. »Facts count in court. That's why I'm confident that we can convince the judges again that Shell must act within the framework of international climate agreements." Regardless of the outcome of the appeal process in the summer, another appeal to the country's Supreme Court is expected.

In the coming week there will be further lawsuits in the context of climate protection, they are directed against the governments of various countries: On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights will decide on three climate lawsuits, including from young people from Portugal and senior citizens from Switzerland. They accuse governments of violating their human rights with negligent climate policies and are calling for stricter climate targets.

The number of climate lawsuits has been increasing for several years (see Figure 1). Environmental and climate-oriented lawyers as well as citizens and environmental associations have discovered the judiciary as a weapon in climate protection. In doing so, they are drawing attention to the climate crisis - and putting politicians and CEOs under pressure. It is not unlikely that they will be successful, at least in the long term.

Background knowledge

The map of the nuclear world

Energy from solar, wind and water would have been much cheaper and less risky...

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The “Internal Search”

Fossil | Climate Crisis | CO2 emissions | Oil company

January 16, 2024 - The US fossil “tentacles”: ExxonMobil wants to start a war in Latin America

January 12, 2024 - Sociologist on climate crisis: “Act according to the polluter pays principle”

September 25, 2023 - Lawsuit against "Lies of Big Oil"

September 10, 2023 - Scandal: 70 billion euros in tax money for fossil instead of renewable energies

February 12, 2023 - Buzzword climate neutrality, savior of the fossil fuel lobby and talk of alarmism

November 1, 2022 - BP and Saudi Aramco More oil companies with billions in profits

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The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Fossile Klimakrise

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=CO2-Emissionen

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Ölkonzerne Milliarden

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Reuters

Total, BP, Shell

The largest oil and gas companies in the world ranked

From which country do the largest oil and gas companies in the world come from by market capitalization? Which company is at the top? An overview. 

Dusseldorf. In view of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the energy market has changed. Russia's oil and gas companies Gazprom and Rosneft no longer make it into the top ten of the world's most valuable gas companies. The Norwegian oil giant Equinor has also been thrown out of the ranking. Newcomers in the ranking this year are from Brazil and the United Arab Emirates...

The largest oil and gas companies in the world in 2024 in the table

Source: CompaniesMarketCap.com

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National Geographic

26 hard facts about climate change - and four that give hope

The challenges facing our world in these times are large and complex. It is not easy to understand why some countries experience drought while others are flooded. It is not easy to understand how, on the one hand, the Arctic ice is melting, while elsewhere in the world winters are becoming more and more extreme.

All of these contradictory extremes have a common trigger: climate change caused by ever-increasing global warming. This not only has a catastrophic impact on nature, it also destroys economies, infrastructures and threatens political stability. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon once described this situation as a “disastrous brew”. In the same speech, he said climate change was the “defining issue of our time.”

The facts prove him right.

Emission levels as they were 4,5 million years ago

Carbon dioxide – CO2 for short – is a greenhouse gas and as such stores heat. According to scientists, its concentration in the atmosphere last reached today's levels 4,1 to 4,5 million years ago in the Pliocene, when the Earth was still inhabited by mammoths. The sea level at that time was around 24 meters higher than today, and the average temperature at that time was four degrees Celsius higher.

Development of thousands of years in a hundred

Since 1850, CO2 concentrations have increased by 48 percent due to human activity. Even before 1850, the CO2 concentration rose, but naturally and much more slowly: In order to reach the values ​​measured between 1850 and 2020, a period of 20.000 years was necessary, which began with the last ice age maximum...

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Wikipedia

Global warming

Global warming – colloquially also “climate change” or “global warming” – refers to the current increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. This is man-made climate change, which is a result of net greenhouse gas emissions that have arisen since the beginning of industrialization through the use of fossil energy resources and unsustainable forestry and agriculture. Greenhouse gas emissions increase the retention capacity for infrared thermal radiation in the troposphere, thereby increasing the natural greenhouse effect. The most important greenhouse gas in current global warming is carbon dioxide (CO2), and there are others such as: B. methane and nitrous oxide. The average CO2 concentration in the earth's atmosphere measured by the Mauna Loa measuring station rose from originally around 280 ppm before the start of industrialization to now over 410 ppm.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the temperature increase compared to 1850-1900 was around 2010 °C by the 1,1s. 2023 was the hottest year on record; the temperatures were around 1,45 °C above the average of the pre-industrial reference period. Since the 1980s, every decade has been warmer than the previous one. The past nine years are the nine hottest years since records began...

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YouTube

Search:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%C3%96lkonzerne+Milliardengewinne

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Fossile+Klimakrise+Emissionen
 

Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...

This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic of atoms*

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Newsletter XIV 2024 - March 31st to April 6th

Newspaper article 2024

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