The THTR Circular

Newsletter XIII 2024

March 24 to ...

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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.

March 1, 2006 (INES 2) NPP Kozloduy, BGR

March 5, 1969 (INES 3) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

March 6, 2006 (INES ? Class.?Nuclear factory NFS, Erwin, TN, USA

March 8, 2002 (INES 3) NPP Davis Besse, USA

March 10, 1970 (INES 3 | NAMS 2,6) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

March 11, 2011 (INES 7 | NAMS 7,5) NPP Fukushima I Daiichi, JPN

March 11, 1958 (Broken Arrow) B-47 Mars Bluff, USA

March 12, 2011 (INES 3) NPP Fukushima II Daini, JPN

March 13, 1980 (INES 4) NPP Saint Laurent, FRA

March 14, 2011 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Pickering, ON, CAN

March 14, 1961 (Broken Arrow) B-52 Yuba City, CA, USA

March 18, 2011 (INES 2) NPP Doel, BEL

March 19, 1971 (INES 3 | NAMS 2) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

March 22, 1975 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Brown's Ferry, USA

March 25, 1955 (INES 4 | NAMS 4,3) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

March 28, 1979 (INES 5 | NAMS 7,9) NPP Three Mile Island, USA

 

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

 


28. March


 

INES Category 5 "Serious Accident"March 28, 1979 (INES 5 | NAMS 7,9) NPP Three Mile Island, USA

 There were about 3,7 million TBq Radioactivity released. Equipment failure and operating errors led to a loss of coolant and a partial core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. (Cost approx. US$1091 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents
 

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Harrisburg/Three_Mile_Island_(USA)

Three Mile Island 2 meltdown

What happened on March 28, 1979 in reactor 2 of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is an example of how easily nuclear accidents can occur due to a combination of small technical defects and human error, without the need for a natural disaster is...
 

The nuclear chain

Three Mile Island, USA

[...] To this day, effective lobbying by the nuclear industry has prevented meaningful scientific analysis of the consequences for the environment and health.

[...] More than two million people lived within an 80 km radius at that time. On March 28, 1979, the worst civil nuclear energy disaster to date occurred there. An emergency valve opened to relieve pressure, accidentally releasing large amounts of coolant. This led to critical overheating of the reactor core and the infamous meltdown. The reactor's protective shell withstood the enormous pressure, but for a few days large amounts of radioactive particles escaped into the atmosphere and contaminated the environment in the form of radioactive fallout...
 

Wikipedia

Reactor accident_im_nuclear power plant_Three_Mile_Island

Reactor accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant

The reactor accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) in the USA on March 28, 1979 was a serious accident (INES level 5) in which a partial core meltdown occurred in reactor unit 2 of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant About a third of the reactor core was fragmented or melted...

Venting to the environment

... by venting into the atmosphere. It is estimated that radioactive gas (in the form of krypton-85; 10,75 year half-life) with an activity of about 1,665 × 10 was released during the incident15 Bq...

 


27. March


 

right-wing extremists | PropagandaEuropean elections

"Voice of Europe" sanctioned

Authorities unmask pro-Russian propaganda platform

The Prague-based Internet portal "Voice of Europe" presents itself as a news site, but gives a lot of space to right-wing extremist politicians. They are said to have received a lot of money from Russia for their performances. Half a dozen intelligence services were involved in the unmasking.

In a large-scale influence operation by Russia before the European elections, hundreds of thousands of euros are said to have flowed to Moscow-friendly politicians in several EU countries. According to information from "Spiegel", the money was either handed over in cash at personal meetings in Prague or transferred via cryptocurrency.

The Czech government had made it public that it had uncovered a “Russian-financed influence network”. It placed the Prague-based Internet portal "Voice of Europe" as well as two business people close to the Russian president who are said to be behind the medium on its sanctions list. The network is said not only to have spread pro-Russian propaganda, but also to have provided "covert financial support to selected people among the candidates for the European Parliament elections"...

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Federal Constitutional CourtBasic Law

Amendment to the Basic Law

This is how Ampel and Union want to protect the Constitutional Court

Exclusive | Berlin · So now: To protect the Constitutional Court, central regulations should be included in the Basic Law. For example, the number of judges and their term of office. This is what a first bill provides for. The independence of the court and the binding nature of decisions should also be ensured.

First of all, the Union recently canceled the delicate and complicated talks with the traffic light about better protection of the Constitutional Court from extreme forces. Then the parliamentary group leadership around Friedrich Merz (CDU) thought again and returned to the negotiating table with Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP). And now there is already a first draft draft as a working paper on how the Karlsruhe court could be better protected - by incorporating central elements into the Basic Law.

The coalition and opposition seem ready for this. The background is primarily the rise of extreme parties in Germany, especially the AfD. The draft available to our editorial team states that the new regulation should “help prevent efforts that want to question the independence of the constitutional judiciary”. The Federal Constitutional Court has now firmly established itself as a “guarantor of the free-democratic order and as an essential constitutional body for the state and society”...

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Castor transports | Jülich | Ahaus

Dispute in NRW:

Nuclear opponents unloaded

Environmentalists are resisting new Castor transports. But the state economics ministry no longer speaks to them.

BOCHUM taz | In the dispute over highly radioactive Castor transports, the tone between North Rhine-Westphalia's Green Vice Prime Minister Mona Neubaur and environmental organizations is becoming frosty. In a few months, the first castors with radioactive nuclear waste are to be moved from the former Jülich nuclear research center to the Ahaus interim storage facility.

Now representatives of Neubaur's state economics ministry, which is also responsible for nuclear supervision, are apparently no longer allowed to speak personally with anti-nuclear initiatives and the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND).

A scheduled “technical discussion” was canceled out of the minister’s office last Friday, completely unexpectedly – ​​less than two hours before it began. Reason: The opponents of nuclear power have announced that they will inform the public after the conversation.

[...] Without taking into account the police operations to secure the Castor transports, the relocation to Ahaus could be cheaper on paper than building a new interim storage facility in Jülich - which should particularly please the cash-strapped FDP Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Insiders speculate that this is one of the reasons why Neubaur is sticking to the evacuation order for the Jülich camp: The Green Party does not want to risk a new coalition clash in Berlin...

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Turkey | Corruption | Contract killing | Alacadağ, Finike

OB candidate in Turkey:

Enlightenment as a driving force

Her parents paid with their lives for the fight against environmental destruction. This is one of the reasons why Emine Büyüknohutçu is now standing for election in Turkey.

[...] It is mid-February, today Emine Büyüknohutçu will announce her candidacy for mayor in a small circle. She wants to investigate the murder of her parents, well-known environmental activists, and fight against corruption. She will ask those invited for support. Just a few days ago she left her party TİP, the Turkish Workers' Party, and is now running as a non-party candidate. There are still around six weeks until the Turkish local elections on March 31, in which mayors, city and provincial councils will be elected across the country.

At 39 years old, Emine Büyüknohutçu is a young politician. The graphic designer, who was born and studied in Antalya, runs her own advertising agency. She has been politically active for seven years, almost exactly since her parents were murdered.

[...] Her father Ali Ulvi noticed early on that the quarry near their house was destroying the forests and orange orchards of local farmers. He sends photos of clean-shaven mountains to newspapers and appears on political talk shows. In 2015 he caused one of the 14 quarry facilities to stop operating. It turns out that the permit for the facility in question was drawn up without an environmental impact assessment - an indication of corruption. Before the ruling to stop operations becomes final, the owner of the plant, Ali Ulvi, sued Büyüknohutçu for 100.000 lira in compensation (around 25.000 euros at the time). The court agrees with Büyüknohutçu and he doesn't have to pay anything. About two months later, on May 9, 2017, the couple was found shot to death.

“I'm not running to win. I want to show what political corruption can lead to. It was corruption that killed my parents,” says Büyüknohutçu. Public money would flow into luxury company cars for politicians, for example...

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Power grid | Storage | Battery

The largest battery storage facility in the north is being built in Bollingstedt

In the village, batteries will store the daily consumption of 30.000 households. Around 5 hectares are available. The plant is scheduled to go into operation without funding in 2026.

Energy storage is cheaper than ever. Since the summer of 2023, prices have halved again, as the Chinese market leader CATL reports. This means that project developers all over Germany are now thinking in new dimensions. In 2017, the storage facility in Braderup (Nordfriesland district) was celebrated as one of the largest with 2 megawatt hours (MWh), but now it is 239 MWh in the Bollingstedt district of Gammelund (Schleswig-Flensburg district).

Relief for the power grid

The company Eco-Stor is also planning two additional large-scale storage facilities with 600 MWh in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. But in northern Germany, Bollingstedt-Gammelund would be by far the largest project currently planned, according to the Federal Network Agency's market master data register. There are further plans in Brokdorf (Steinburg district), where even 1.600 MWh have been announced in the long term.

[...] In Gammelund, batteries without the controversial metals cobalt and manganese are to be used. Instead, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) is used, reports Urban. This technology is increasingly being used in cars and storage systems because it is cheaper and more and more powerful. The groundbreaking ceremony will take place in Bollingstedt-Gammelund on April 19th. The battery storage system is scheduled to go online in 2026.

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Energy supply | EnBW | billion profits

New boss presents annual figures

EnBW earns billions – profits massively increased in 2023

The energy company increased its profit by more than half in the 2023 financial year. The first appearance of the new CEO Georg Stamatelopoulos is eagerly awaited.

While high prices for electricity and gas burden customers, the energy company EnBW is making billions in profits: The supplier from Baden-Württemberg increased its earnings by more than half last year compared to 2022, as the Karlsruhe-based company announced on Wednesday morning. Accordingly, the adjusted earnings of Germany's third largest utility before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted Ebitda) are 6,4 billion euros. In the previous year the value was 3,97 billion euros.

The reasons for the good numbers

EnBW attributed the strong year-on-year increases primarily to the “Sustainable Generation Infrastructure” segment, which the new boss Georg Stamatelopoulos has previously been responsible for. EnBW announced that the result developed positively, particularly in thermal power generation – for example from coal and gas. Due to increased market prices and fluctuations, the amounts of electricity generated were sold at significantly better conditions compared to 2022. The fact that the previous year was marked by the energy crisis as a result of Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine also plays a role...

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World climate summit | Super election year | Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan: The dictator's climate summit

With the re-election of the dictatorial Azerbaijani president, the country's catastrophic climate policy continues. The host of this year's World Climate Summit is setting a bad example.

"Hosting a world climate conference is a great opportunity. The world will be watching Baku's every move." The two sentences from a comment by Christiana Figueres, the former head of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat, read almost like a warning.

The world climate conference COP 29 will take place at the end of the year in the Azerbaijani capital Baku. The uncontroversial title of Figueres' comment translates as: "Azerbaijan must be the anchor for 1,5 degrees." Given that at the end of January 2024 the global average temperature had already been 1,5 degrees above pre-industrial levels for a whole year, that is probably not too high.

[...] The president's well-oiled repressive apparatus

This was also evident in the presidential elections on February 7th. Ilham Aliyev quickly brought the elections forward by more than a year. During the election campaign, the opposing candidates were overwhelmed with compliments for the president. The actual opposition parties refused to send candidates into the race and, unsurprisingly, Aliyev won with 92 percent of the vote.

[...] The so-called COP Troika simultaneously assured that the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan and Brazil would set a good example and adopt 1,5 degree compatible strategies.

EU is pushing forward gas production

While the fiery words are still in place, this promise is particularly surprising from Azerbaijan. Even with the greatest efforts, the 1,5 degree limit cannot be seen in the country's current climate commitments. By 2050, Azerbaijan aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent compared to 1990 levels, and even this modest commitment is linked to financial and technological support from abroad.

[...] With the "historic victory" behind him, the president would probably have been assured of an election victory even without the well-oiled repressive apparatus. The completely inadequate climate policy is now likely to continue - without opposition, let alone serious political opponents in the country.

Azerbaijan received attention in the German media in 2017 when it became known that various financial payments from the petrostate had flowed to CDU and CSU politicians. The public prosecutor's office began investigations into bribery in several cases.

 


26. March


 

Gaza | Disaster | Drinking water | Food

Gaza: “The children are trapped in a cycle of suffering”

UNICEF spokesman James Elder has been in Gaza for a few days. Today he reported on his impressions on site.

“I want to talk about two important issues that people here in Gaza say are crucial to their survival. The safety of the people in Rafah and the delivery of relief supplies.

Rafah is unrecognizable because the streets are crowded and there are tents on street corners and sandy areas. People sleep on the streets, in public buildings and in any other available space. The global standards for humanitarian emergencies specify that a maximum of 20 people should share a toilet. In Rafah there is about one toilet for 850 people. There are four times as many showers, i.e. one shower for 3.600 people. This is a blatant disregard for basic human needs and human dignity.

The same standards state that every human needs 15 liters of water daily, and a bare minimum of three liters just to survive. When I was here in November, families and children in Gaza were relying on three liters or less of water per person per day. Today, on average, households surveyed have access to less than one liter of clean water per person per day...

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Assange | Press freedom | Espionage

London High Court calls for US guarantees

No extradition of Assange to the USA for the time being

The British High Court decided that Julian Assange may not be extradited to the USA for the time being. The success of his appeal depends on guarantees from the US government. The WikiLeaks founder faces up to 175 years in prison in the USA.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has received another reprieve in his application to appeal against the threat of extradition to the USA. The London High Court ruled on Tuesday that he should not be extradited immediately. Accordingly, the Australian's application for an appeal could still be granted. As the court stated, the appeal was rejected on six out of nine points. On three other points it depends on whether the US government and the British Home Secretary can provide appropriate guarantees. The judges set a deadline of three weeks for this.

A final decision is expected to be made based on a further hearing on May 20.

[...] The US government wants to put the Australian on trial on espionage charges. He faces up to 175 years in prison. The US government accuses him of stealing and publishing secret material from military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, thereby endangering the lives of US informants. Assange's supporters, on the other hand, see him as a journalist who has been targeted by the Washington judiciary for exposing US war crimes...

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Climate change | Hydrogen | Greenwashing

The hydrogen bluff

The supposedly “fully hydrogen-capable” natural gas power plant in Leipzig is still missing components – and it has never been tested. The federal government is also releasing funding for nationwide hydrogen projects without a specific transition period. Energy economist Kemfert describes hydrogen promises from the energy industry as “greenwashing”.

Anyone who turns onto the site of the Leipzig Süd thermal power plant will pass a meter-high poster. It advertises the plant as “the first fully hydrogen-capable power plant.” In October 2023, Stadtwerke Leipzig opened the power plant under a bright blue sky. They pride themselves as pioneers in the energy transition, telling the German Press Agency that green hydrogen will be available “in the required quantities and at affordable prices” in 2025. By then, at the latest, the power plant will burn 30 percent hydrogen in addition to natural gas and usher in a new era. In the hustle and bustle between the bouncy castle and beer benches, a state secretary from the FDP-led research ministry celebrates the “Hydrogen Republic”.

Dozens of media outlets picked up on the jubilation, and CORRECTIV also reported in the daily newsletter. After all, hydrogen should be the future, or as Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck says: “Everyone is waiting for the hydrogen market”. The Green Party describes gas as a key technology for the energy transition and travels around the world to organize H2, i.e. hydrogen, for German power plants, for example in Algeria.

However, there is a small catch: In Leipzig, no tests have yet been carried out to determine whether the power plant can deliver the hydrogen output that was promised as safe. And contrary to what is claimed, it is not yet “hydrogen capable”. This specific case shows that the hydrogen republic is still a pipe dream. The gas is being treated as a future panacea - because the natural gas industry wants to continue doing business and municipalities want to achieve climate goals without having to save energy. However, no one knows whether and when hydrogen will be available, affordable and transportable. It's as if we were asphalting expressways today to change traffic and promising that they would one day become cycle paths...

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Warming | OceanSea temperatures

Climate extremes in the oceans:

That's why sea temperatures are breaking all records

Since March 2023, sea temperatures have risen dramatically worldwide. Two unexpected effects that reinforce each other are probably responsible for the sudden warming.

It is currently the biggest mystery in climate research. Since March 2023, the world's oceans have been warmer than ever, and by an enormous margin. Sea temperatures exceeded the previous record by more than half a degree, an extreme value that surprised and shocked experts. In terms of atmosphere, 2023 was also the hottest year ever recorded - also by a wide margin. It is well known that climate change is gradually warming the earth, but the drastic increase in heat within a short period of time exceeds all expectations.

It is now becoming apparent that two important influencing factors of the Earth system are involved. On the one hand, less heat has been flowing from the sea surface into the depths of the ocean for several years. And on the other hand, the Earth has been absorbing an unexpected amount of solar energy since 2023. These two effects worked together and explain a significant part of the extraordinary warmth...

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1,5 degrees | Climate targets | CO2 budget

Updated climate calculation

Germany lives above budget for 1,5 degrees

Germany has recently exceeded its fair CO2 budget for the 1,5 degree limit, according to a reassessment by the Environmental Council. The scientists demand that politicians should act with an “excess budget” instead of a residual budget.

The Environmental Council cannot be denied good timing. The week before last, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) announced that Germany would meet its climate target for 2030, mainly thanks to the fact that the traffic lights turned things around in climate protection.

What was particularly surprising about the positive climate projection for 2024 presented by Habeck was that Germany not only achieved its goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 2030 percent by 65, but also adhered to the CO2 budget set out for the period by the Climate Protection Act.

As every year, the Federal Government's Climate Expert Council is now examining whether this is plausible. Its report is expected in the summer.

Climate law is not enough for Germany to make a fair contribution

In the middle of all this, yesterday, Monday, the Advisory Council for Environmental Issues (SRU) spoke up and pointed out: The CO2 emissions that the climate law allows overall are significantly above the CO2 budget that Germany considers to be a "fair contribution" to the Paris The 1,5 degree target must be met...

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Wind turbinesoffshoreshadow side

Should offshore wind farms grow in height?

Why larger wind turbines could be better than smaller ones

High up: In the offshore wind farms of the North Sea, modern large wind turbines could have somewhat less disruptive side effects than smaller systems, as computer models have shown. Accordingly, the wind turbines that are higher and further apart have less influence on the sea surface and neighboring wind farms. But how much does the taller design of the wind turbines really change the air and ocean currents?

As part of the energy transition, the European Union is massively expanding offshore wind farms in the North Sea. The wind turbines used to generate electricity are becoming ever higher and more powerful. Over the last 20 years, their output has increased from two megawatts to around 15 megawatts. Thanks to further advances in construction technology, this should even reach 20 megawatts per wind turbine in a few years.

There are currently wind turbines with a total output of 28 gigawatts (28.000 megawatts) in European waters. According to EU plans, there should be 2030 gigawatts by 60 and even 2050 gigawatts by 300.

The dark side of offshore wind farms

But more wind turbines also have undesirable side effects: Because the rotation of the rotors causes air to swirl, turbulence occurs behind a wind farm. In addition, the wind speed is lower there. For a wind farm that is located behind another, this means a lower electricity yield. The different systems can therefore slow each other down...

 


25. March


 

UN Security Council | GazaCeasefire

USA abstains

UN Security Council calls for “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip

Almost six months after the start of the war, the UN Security Council passed a resolution on the war in the Gaza Strip for the first time. The committee calls for an “immediate ceasefire”. The veto power of the USA abstains and thus makes the decision possible.

The UN Security Council is calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip for the first time. In addition, the most powerful body in the United Nations is demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by the terrorist organization Hamas. The veto power of the USA, Israel's closest ally, abstained from the vote this time, thereby enabling the resolution to be adopted. The 14 remaining members of the committee voted in favor.

The decision, which is binding under international law, increases international pressure on the conflict parties Israel and Hamas. However, it is questionable whether or to what extent the resolution will have any influence on decisions made by the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Hamas regarding the further course of the war. Efforts to get the UN Security Council to call for a ceasefire have so far failed, mainly due to resistance from the USA.

According to the White House, the abstention in the UN Security Council does not represent a "change in policy." The US abstained from voting because, although it supported a ceasefire, the resolution did not contain any condemnation of Hamas, said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby...

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Human right | AssangeExtradition

“He would fall into the hands of the very people who planned an assassination attempt on him.”

The decision is still pending as to whether Julian Assange can be extradited to the United States. If the appeal is rejected, his extradition can be carried out immediately. But could the European Convention on Human Rights help him? We ask Lisa Kretschmer from Reporters Without Borders, who is following the extradition process in London.

The case of Julian Assange has been pending at the Royal Court of Justice in the British capital for more than a month - an appeal against his extradition to the United States. The decision on this is still pending.

Update: The decision will be announced on Tuesday at 11.30:XNUMX a.m.

The US justice system is demanding the transfer of the 52-year-old Australian in order to put him on trial. Assange is said to have illegally published classified documents on war crimes and human rights abuses in Afghanistan and Iraq and numerous documents on CIA hacking tools on the Wikileaks platform. According to the US Espionage Act, he faces 175 years in prison, which would be decided by a secret court in the US state of Virginia...

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Military | ArmamentClimate killerCO2 footprint

War and rearmament fuel climate change

Military armament is a danger in several respects, warns Otmar Steinbicker

The well-founded fear of nuclear war motivated hundreds of thousands in the Federal Republic to take part in powerful peace demonstrations in the 1980s. The intense debate on security policy that this promoted also spread to the military. At the end of the Cold War, a consensus developed, at least in Europe, that not only could a major nuclear war not be survivable, but that a major, large-scale conventional war on the dimensions of a Second World War would also endanger European civilization. This realization on all sides led to the logical consequence of extensive, negotiated disarmament measures in order to prevent an outbreak of war.

Today the picture has changed. Government officials in NATO and Russia are counting on a long-lasting conventional war in Ukraine and at the same time hope that this war will not escalate into a major nuclear war that will destroy humanity, out of the interest of the survival of all those involved. It remains to be seen whether this expectation will be realized if the war in Ukraine is not ended but is further escalated through the delivery of more extensive weapons systems or even through the deployment of ground troops from NATO countries.

Today, however, there is another factor that is important for the living conditions of humanity as a whole, the importance of which was rarely seen in the debates of the 1980s: climate change...

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Municipal utilities | Supply contracts | Gas grid

German gas supply: municipal utilities under pressure, gas networks must be dismantled

Dismantling of the gas networks is necessary, costs are rising for consumers. Transformation requires adaptations and investments in sustainable energy sources.

After the end of locally produced city gas, German natural gas supply was entirely focused on flexible pipeline supplies, initially from the Netherlands and later from Russia and Norway. Only Norway remained after gas from Russia was no longer wanted and the gas field in Groningen was closed due to earthquakes caused by production.

Volatile elements in the gas supply

Within a very short time, a secure gas supply became a collection of highly volatile elements. It starts with the weather and doesn't end with pricing and availability on the global gas market. Thanks to the technical possibilities available there, the gas transported by ship can, like oil, change its destination port at short notice if another buyer offers more.

The gas supply companies, which were used to long-term gas supply contracts and which had increasingly been taken over by the municipalities as part of public services in the course of remunicipalization, were now faced with a problem.

Fearing that they would not have enough gas to supply their customers in a cold winter and that they would not be able to buy more quickly enough on the market when needed, they entered into supply contracts when prices were high at the start of the Ukrainian war...

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EU ParliamentRenaturalisation | Agricultural policy

Nature Restoration Law:

Brussels' empty promises

The law was practically passed and is yet again on the brink. One thing is certain: there is no alternative to renaturation on the way to the Green Deal.

Guys, it's about your food! If you and your grandchildren want to continue eating roast pork in the future, think again. You have until Monday afternoon, when the EU environment ministers will meet. It looks like they won't pass the Nature Restoration Act. Actually, that would be a mere formality. Belgium's Council President wants to postpone the vote, which could turn into a first-class funeral.

That would be dramatic for the population in Europe. Not because the “Nature Restoration Law” was so great and effectively protected fertile soils, clean drinking water, biodiversity and a predictable climate in Europe. In repeated rounds of negotiations, the text of the law, which was good in itself, had been severely polished. But we are seeing a downward spiral. Out of fear of radical farmers, Europe's agricultural politicians are putting the protection of our livelihoods aside...

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Brazil | heat waveFlooding

Heavy rains

Many dead in floods in Brazil

First came the heat wave, then the storm: heavy rains led to floods and landslides in southeastern Brazil. At least 25 people died. The rescue work is still ongoing.

At least 25 people have died in severe storms in southeastern Brazil. The authorities in the state of Rio de Janeiro reported eight deaths on Saturday, and in neighboring Espírito Santo the local civil protection authority announced 17 deaths on Sunday.

Heavy rain on Saturday night led to flooding, flash floods and landslides. According to a civil defense spokesman, more than 5400 people were brought to safety in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazilian media reported. More than 250 people lost their homes...

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INES Category 4 "Accident"March 25, 1955 (INES 4 | NAMS 4,3) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

This fire killed around 1000 people TBq Terabecquerel radioactivity released. (Cost approx. US$4400 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents
 

This incident as well as several other releases of radioactivity are in Wikipedia no longer to be found.

Wikipedia

Sellafield # Incidents

Radiological releases

Between 1950 and 2000 there were 21 serious off-site incidents or accidents involving radiological releases that warranted classification on the International Nuclear Event Scale, one at Level 5, five at Level 4 and fifteen at Level 3. In addition, there were in intentional releases of plutonium and irradiated uranium oxide particles into the atmosphere known for extended periods in the 1950s and 1960s...

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

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), United Kingdom

There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites

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

 


24. March


 

Minister of transport invests tax money

Transport Minister wants to invest 150 million euros in German air taxi startup

According to media reports, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing wants to invest 150 million euros in the German air taxi startup Volocopter - despite the strict austerity program and all warnings. Taxpayers probably bear the risk.

The Ministry of Transport actually has to make do with five billion euros less due to the austerity program decided by the federal government at the end of 2023. The promotion of electric cars, for example, fell victim to the red pencil.

150 million euros to Volocopter

The plans of Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) are correspondingly surprising, according to which 150 million euros should flow into the development of air taxis, as Spiegel writes. Air taxis were also a favorite topic of Wissing's predecessor Andreas Scheuer (CSU).

It is therefore less surprising that the Federal Ministry of Transport and the Free State of Bavaria want to share the costs. However, the federal government should make advance payments - ultimately the taxpayers would be liable if there was a failure.

In any case, the risks are great. The money will exclusively benefit the Munich-based company Volocopter. Competitor Lilium, also from Bavaria, comes away empty-handed, as Spiegel says.

Auditors warn of great risk

In any case, the auditors from Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC) warned Wissing and his ministry against the investment...

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HydrogenFundingSteel production

Conversion to hydrogen use uncertain:

Green steel costs too much coal

Funding is coming for the climate-neutral conversion of the Bremen steelworks. But the company is hesitant to invest: green hydrogen is too expensive.

taz | BREMEN At least the financing is in place: Bremen announced on Tuesday that the state will make its contribution and raise a good 251 million euros so that the Bremen steelworks can be converted to be climate-neutral. The conversion of the Bremen plant is to be funded with a total of 840 million euros and will cost around twice as much. The path to get there was not easy: Even the opposition CDU party had to jump over its shadow and agree on new debts with the government factions so that the country could do its part to promote it.

This means that all government bodies – federal, state and EU Commission – have now delivered their funding commitments. Nevertheless, the future of the Bremen steelworks is still not secured. The Arcelor Mittal company itself has not yet decided whether climate-neutral “green” steel should be produced in Europe and on the Weser in the future.

[...] The Senator for Economic Affairs reveals that a so-called “flexi tool” is agreed upon in the contract with Arcelor Mittal: in the event of an “unfavorable price development,” the company could legally rely on natural gas instead of hydrogen until the end of the 1930s. Only when the price is roughly at the same level as the current natural gas price can one speak of hydrogen being used economically, according to the economics department. A concession to Poelvoorde's concerns about high costs...

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IsraelGazaairstrikes

War in the Middle East

Israel launches new military operation in Khan Yunis

As fighting continues at Shifa Hospital, Israeli troops have apparently sealed off two clinics in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. Seven people die in an air strike in neighboring Rafah.

Israel's armed forces say they have launched a new military operation in Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip. The operation in the west of the city began with "a series of air strikes on around 40 terrorist targets." The aim of the operation was to "continue to destroy terrorist infrastructure and eliminate terrorists in the area," the military said in a statement.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, Israeli troops have sealed off two hospitals in Khan Yunis. The aid organization said tanks had advanced into the area around the Al-Amal and Nasser hospitals. The clinic staff was exposed to heavy fire. A Palestinian Red Crescent employee was killed.

According to the Red Crescent, Israeli troops carried out extensive demolition work with bulldozers in the area around Al Amal Hospital...

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Climate CrisisDrynessdrought

Consequences of the climate crisis:

After the dryness is before

Thanks to all the rain in autumn and winter, the drought in the soil is over. But is Germany prepared for a new period of drought?

HANOVER taz | After the end of five and a half years of extreme drought in Germany, researchers are calling for better preparation future periods of drought. “I see the danger of giving the impression that the drought is over for now and that we can turn to other problem areas,” warns climate scientist Andreas Marx from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research – UFZ in Leipzig. “However, we must expect that a similar drought event will occur again in the future. And then we should be better prepared than we were in 2018,” he demands.

The hydrologist leads the Drought monitor at UFZ, which mainly showed deep red areas for five and a half years. It was far too dry in the country for so long - until above-average rainfall in 2023 and the autumn and winter months of 2023/24 made the parched soil wet again...

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Coal exitBrown coal

Seven brown coal units will be permanently shut down

A number of coal-fired power plants were allowed to continue operating during the energy crisis in order to reduce natural gas consumption. It's now over for seven blocks.

At the end of March, seven more lignite power plant blocks in Germany will be finally shut down. The closure of all blocks had already been planned earlier. In order to save gas during the energy price crisis, the federal government took five blocks from the so-called supply reserve. Two further blocks were allowed to continue running beyond the originally planned shutdown date. At the end of this winter it will finally be over for them.

These are blocks of the energy companies RWE in the Rhenish region and Leag in Lusatia. To reactivate the systems, former employees also returned from retirement to their old jobs. Others postponed the start of their retirement. In total, the seven blocks have an output of around 3,1 gigawatts...

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Federal Constitutional CourtMerzthutjanix

Friedrich Merz also wants to better protect the Constitutional Court

Extreme parties could weaken the Federal Constitutional Court. The CDU recently rejected traffic light plans to protect it, but now Merz is open to it.

Friedrich Merz has asked Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) to make a proposal to protect the Federal Constitutional Court from extremists. “We are open to talking about anchoring a core of proven structures of the Federal Constitutional Court in the Basic Law,” the CDU leader told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

There is currently discussion about enshrining details about the election and term of office of constitutional judges not just in a law, but in the Basic Law. This could prevent judges from being removed from office relatively easily after a change of government.

[...] There is great agreement about this within the traffic light coalition, but the Union recently rejected the plans...

 


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Nuclear lobby and IAEA want to spend climate money for MiC's nuclear plans

Protest at the first nuclear summit in Brussels against the IAEA's “nuclear fantasies”

Nuclear lobby wants to divert climate protection funds to the nuclear sector

On the occasion of the first nuclear summit of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) taking place in Brussels, more than 600 environmental, climate protection, peace and human rights organizations from over 50 countries signed a joint declaration. The signatories call on governments around the world not to waste valuable time and money in the fight against the climate crisis on the fantasies of the international nuclear lobby, but instead on the transition to a system based on 100 percent renewable energy in a “safe, affordable and climate-friendly energy for all”. In addition to the IPPNW, the signatories include Greenpeace, the Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND), the WWF and the Don't Nuke the Climate Alliance (DNTC).

The NGOs' statement is directed against the nuclear lobby and the IAEA, which are trying to direct public and private investments into the nuclear sector under the guise of climate protection. On the sidelines of the World Climate Conference, a coalition of 22 countries declared that they wanted to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050.

The IAEA nuclear summit now taking place in Brussels is directly related to this announcement by the group, which includes, among others, the nuclear weapons states France, Great Britain and the USA, as well as Poland and the Netherlands. According to its statutes, the Atomic Energy Authority itself is obliged to promote the spread of civil nuclear energy use.

IPPNW Chairwoman Angelika Claussen explains: “The claim that global nuclear capacities can be tripled within 26 years is not only completely unrealistic in terms of industrial policy, it is also dangerous. All efforts to preserve nuclear power come at the expense of climate protection. The construction of nuclear power plants is expensive, time-consuming and risky. If states invest time and money in this outdated niche technology, they miss the only realistic opportunity we have in the climate crisis: We need a consistent restructuring of our energy system based on 100 percent renewable energies.”

France's nuclear sector is in debt of almost 70 billion euros. Nuclear energy is the most expensive of all available energy sources and can only be achieved with government subsidies. According to Don't Nuke the Climate, in order to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050, between 26 and 28 nuclear power plants would have to be put into operation every year. However, the nuclear industry is not even able to maintain existing capacities. Nuclear power is an aberration both ecologically and economically. It is no coincidence that all states that nevertheless operate nuclear power plants possess nuclear weapons, seek to acquire them or are part of military alliances with nuclear weapon states.

“One aspect that is systematically ignored in the debate about the expansion of nuclear energy is the civil-military links within the nuclear sector. These interconnections are the real reason why countries afford technology that leaves future generations not only with a mountain of nuclear waste, but also with a huge mountain of debt. Civilian nuclear technology finances the construction and modernization of nuclear weapons. It provides the know-how and infrastructure needed to maintain and expand the nuclear military sector. Or to put it more simply: There are no nuclear weapons without nuclear power plants and vice versa,” explains Angelika Claußen.

This connection is also clearly visible in a statement from the French Ministry of Defense. In the future, two reactors at the Civaux nuclear power plant will produce not only electricity but also tritium for military purposes. Tritium is used as a fuel for nuclear weapons.

Dr. Ernest Moniz, Secretary of Energy and Nuclear Security under Barack Obama, attends the IAEA conference. He is one of the leading nuclear lobbyists. “The entire U.S. nuclear enterprise – weapons, boat propulsion, nonproliferation, enrichment, fuel production and negotiations with international partners – depends on a robust civilian nuclear industry,” Moniz said.

An international alliance of environmental, climate protection and peace activists confronts the organizers and the expected high-ranking political guests of the nuclear summit with a colorful protest action and rally with speakers from IPPNW, Greenpeace and Don't Nuke the Climate, among others . The action with an inflatable fairytale castle and mythical creatures takes place near the Atomium.

 


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Background knowledge

The map of the nuclear world

Imagine if it were all solar and wind power plants...

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The “Internal Search”

Climate protection | Nuclear lobby | MIC

December 30, 2023 - War debacle and a lot of money: The secret agenda behind the failed US foreign policy

December 1, 2023 - IAEA calls for more nuclear power at the world climate conference

August 29, 2023 - Sustainability has become less important with the triumph of the nuclear lobby

June 24, 2023 - Who fuels the war and profits from it

May 31, 2023 - Despite the risk of earthquakes, Japan extends the life of its nuclear reactors

February 24, 2023 - Toxic gases, forest fire, oil slick

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The search engine Ecosia is planting trees!

https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Finanzierung militärisch-industrieller Komplex

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analyze and criticize

Special assets of the Bundeswehr: Is a military-industrial complex emerging?

A special fund of 100 billion euros is intended to additionally increase the Bundeswehr's budget over the next five years. Taking into account the announced increase in military spending, Germany will most likely have the third largest military budget in the world - after the USA (778 billion US dollars in 2020) and China (252). With 91 billion US dollars, the Federal Republic would then be well ahead of the budgets of Great Britain (59,2), France (52,7) and Russia (61,7). But it is still unclear whether the third largest military budget automatically translates into the third strongest military potential on earth. Much depends on how effectively the new resources are used and whether Germany will permanently spend at least two percent of its gross domestic product on armaments. In any case, the window of opportunity for this seems to exist in terms of domestic and foreign policy.

Rapid arms deliveries are also expected by the Central Eastern European states as a matter of course. However, their greatest enemy is not political unwillingness, but a complex reality: In the post-1990 period, wars no longer took place as major conflicts between states, but as quasi-police interventions by superior alliances of states to secure the world order in local contexts - from Somalia to Kosovo. The western armies and thus also the Bundeswehr were aligned with this. The concept was intertwined with the paradigm of armies that were as “flexible” as possible. Specifically, the focus should be on armed forces capable of intervention and the large mass armies of the Cold War should be dispensed with. As a result, this meant outsourcing, the gradual abolition of conscription and the conversion of armaments to as few but multifunctional systems as possible, which are correspondingly vulnerable and expensive

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Wikipedia

Military-industrial complex

The term military-industrial complex (MIK) is used in socio-critical analyzes to describe the close cooperation and mutual relationships between politicians, representatives of the military and representatives of the armaments industry.

[...] Characteristics and characteristics

We speak of a military-industrial complex when phenomena of this kind occur in a society:

  • strong lobbying work by representatives of the military industry,
  • numerous personal contacts between representatives of the military, industry and politics,
  • intensive exchange of personnel between the leading positions in the military, business and state administration, especially when representatives of the military or politics move to significantly better paid positions in this industry,
  • intensive research in the area of ​​innovative weapon systems, significantly supported by government contracts,
  • targeted influence on democratic control bodies and public opinion through an exaggerated security ideology.
  • Militarized foreign policy

For Alex Roland, the F-35 stealth fighter project reflects the current state of the military-industrial complex in the USA, which he personally would prefer to call the “Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex”. Although the threat posed by drones, cyber warfare and military robots to national security is significantly greater, more money has flowed and continues to flow into the most expensive arms project of all time than into these 3 areas combined...

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YouTube

Keywords: Military-industrial complex, Nuclear lobby

 

Will open in a new window! - YouTube channel "Reaktorpleite" playlist - radioactivity worldwide ... - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJI6AtdHGth3FZbWsyyMMoIw-mT1Psuc5Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...

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

 


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Newsletter XII 2024 - March 17th to 23th

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