The climate and nuclear scene, as 2017 begins

Keep Trump away from nukes.

We start the year with some concerning new evidence on climate change. Global warming is happening faster than previously estimated. Climate change threat to global ocean circulation might be worse than we thought. The tipping point for climate change is nigh upon us. The nuclear scene remains one of anxiety about the arms race. There are the nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan, with fear about ISIS. There's anxiety about the situation when the Trump administration takes over in America.


On the so-called "peaceful" nuclear industry a rather distressing tendency is becoming evident. That is simply, that despite overwhelming evidence that the industry is an economic disaster, Britain, France, and in some States, America, are pressing on with it. The argument is always "JOBS". It reminds me of the Bertolt Brecht play "Mother Courage and Her Children" - in which the mother continues her job, as that job gets all her children killed, one by one.

The World Health Organisation has confirmed that low dose radiation increases cancer risk.

AUSTRALIA

CLIMATE.  2016 was Australia's year of record-breaking extreme weather. It's also tipped to be Australia's hottest year.
Turnbull government admits that Australia's greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. Australia has its very own Minister For The Coal Industry - Matt Canavan.
Determined local protests against Adani coal mine.
Queensland government moving fast towards its renewable energy target.

NUCLEAR. Things seem still quiet, with the defeated push for nuclear waste importing to South Australia. The proponents are now regrouping for a new campaign. Ben Heard leads the propaganda push.

The Federal plan for a nuclear waste dump in South Australia – the Australian government plays dirty tricks with language on High Level nuclear Wastes (HLW) - it is done with deceptive labelling. The government will hold a webinar on nuclear waste dump project on 23 February.

Nuclear submarines now obsolete? New Swedish technology indicates this. Australia's proponents of nuclear submarines are way behind the times.

INTERNATIONAL

JAPAN

 

Accounting scandal at Toshiba - ruinous overpayment for an American nuclear firm. Has nuclear energy got a future in Japan? It's doubtful. Toshiba's business mistake in making nuclear power a centrepiece of its future. Japan governor tells Tepco bosses Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant must stay shut.


Fukushima. Earthquakes of M5.3 and M5.8 struck Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures.

Tragic death in a fire of its only full-time doctor at Hirono, Fukushima hospital. Volunteer doctors sought. Debris Removal at Reactor # 3 Delayed, but Arrival of the First Elements of the New Building for its Spent Fuel Removal. Fate of Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant remains unknown.

FRANCE

 

France's nuclear company AREVA in a state of collapse – taxpayers to the rescue!
Further French inquiry in AREVA's nuclear manufacturing scandal – could affect UK's Hinkley Point project.

USA

- Mutually Assured Destruction - a MAD danger that might be increased by Donald Trump.
- USA's EPA (Nuclear Industry Protection Agency) confirms dramatic increase in radiation permitted in drinking water.
- Radiation Public Health Project (RPHP) finds increased cancer rates near Salem/Hope Creek nuclear reactor complex.
- Radioactive contamination spreading within Hanford plant.
- Renewable energy Tesla starts mass production of solar battery cells.

United Kingdom


Crisis in Toshiba, major owner of NuGen, but NuGen says it’s "committed" to Moorside nuclear project.

CHINA


China criticises India's nuclear weaponry, says Pakistan should have the same nuclear "privileges".

China's $493 billion plan for renewable energy.
Renewable energy gives China an opportunity for world business leadership.

INDIA


Jaitapur to witness anti-nuclear plant protest again.

Solar panels bring cheap energy to India. Solar power is now cheaper than coal in India, where they have prioritised clean energy.

ISRAEL


Israel now making a solar energy leap forward.


Christina Macpherson
Antinuclear Australia
www.antinuclear.net
www.nuclear-news.net
https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/

@ChristinaMac1

Zeige Kommentare: ausgeklappt | moderiert

Subservience to US over nuclear weapons dangerous path to follow

The article by Julie Bishop and Bert Koenders, the Foreign Ministers of Australia and the Netherlands, "Australia and the Dutch, 400 years of shared history" (CT, November 2), states the two nations "work side by side in the United Nations".


The Netherlands was streets ahead of Australia at the UN last week when a resolution to start negotiating a nuclear weapons ban treaty in 2017 was passed by a strong majority.


The Australian and Dutch governments are under strong society pressure to support the banning of these horrific devices. US pressure is in the other direction. In the Netherlands, the government listened to its people and abstained; a very significant abstention that indicates a breakthrough in NATO solidarity on this issue.


Our government not only voted against the resolution but led the charge in urging others to do likewise. If Australia really is the "champion of democracy" minister Bishop believes we are, we would cease doing the dirty work of the US in upholding their nuclear weapons policy. Our subservience on this is gutless, dangerous and the antithesis of a vibrant democracy.


Sue Wareham, ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), Cook


 

Despite Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the world is closer to banning nuclear weapons

Despite Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump's posturing on nuclear weapons, we are suddenly as close as we have ever been to making these weapons of mass destruction illegal.


In a historic vote just before Christmas, the United Nations overwhelmingly passed a resolution to start negotiations on an internationally binding treaty to ban nuclear weapons. This is a momentous step. It comes at a time when the world faces a choice: do we get rid of these weapons, or do we let them multiply in the US, Russia, the Middle East, South Korea and Japan?