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bananas's JournalUPDATED WITH COMMENT: South Africa in ‘$50 bn deal’ for Russian nuclear reactors
UPDATED WITH COMMENT: South Africa in ‘$50 bn deal’ for Russian nuclear reactors
Posted on September 23, 2014 in Briefs
This article below from AFP is so disturbing one hardly knows where to begin. Nuclear power stations are prohibitively expensive and affordable only by the richest nations. They are also potentially dangerous, as the well documented Chernobyl, Fukushima and Three Mile Island disasters attest. Plus, mankind has yet to find a safe way of dealing with nuclear waste. With innovation making renewables cheaper, nuclear is also so 20th Century. Such is the public aversion that those who commit their nations to nuclear programmes are often accused of receiving inappropriate inducements – a justifiable conclusion given nuclear’s smelly reputation. In South Africa’s case, we come from a base of well founded suspicion about politicians with snouts deep in the public purse. Trust in an already opaque process hasn’t been helped by the spotty track record of the recently appointed Energy Minister. And with an abundance of coal, potentially game-changing shale gas deposits in the Karoo, plentiful and cheap natural gas in Mozambique and a successful and expandable renewables programme, you have to wonder what is motivating those even considering nuclear as an option. A generous interpretation is that SA’s Government may have fallen into what Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman Warren Buffett describes as “the institutional imperative”, a malaise that often afflicts large organisations. As he explained when writing to shareholders in 1989: “When I entered the business world, I thought then that decent, intelligent and experienced managers would automatically make rational business decisions. But I learned over time that isn’t so. Instead, rationality frequently wilts when the institutional imperative comes into play. Institutional dynamics, not venality or stupidity, set businesses on courses which are too often misguided.” Not just businesses, but pretty much any large organisation. Governments included. – AH
From Agence France-Presse
Russia’s atomic energy agency said Monday it will provide up to eight nuclear reactors to South Africa by 2023 in a $50 billion strategic partnership between the two countries.
The delivery of the reactors will enable the foundation of the first nuclear power plant based on Russian technology on the African continent, the Rosatom agency said in a statement.
Director general Sergey Kirienko estimated the value of the deal at between $40 to $50 billion, given that one reactor costs around $5 billion, according to the Itar-Tass news agency.
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UPDATE 2-EU regulators say will approve British EDF nuclear project
Source: Reuters
European Union state aid regulators will clear Britain's plan to build a 16 billion-pound ($26.15 billion) nuclear plant with French utility EDF, a European Commission official said on Monday.
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But Britain's plans for financing it are extremely divisive within the European Union. A group of more than 20 academics, politicians and renewable energy officials has written to the Commission warning it is likely face legal action for rushing through the decision.
Britain wants to offer EDF a guaranteed power price of 92.50 pounds ($151.27) per megawatt-hour for 35 years, more than twice the current market rate.
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European Competition Commissioner Almunia is scheduled to leave office by the end of October. Colombani did not provide details of the conditions attached to the EU approval.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/22/eu-britain-edf-nuclear-idUSL6N0RN4AY20140922
You just can't trust the nuclear industry.
They said there would be no subsidies, now there are massive subsidies.
There's something seriously wrong with how this approval was pushed through.
People's Climate March Livestream
People's Climate March
Started on Sep 21, 2014
The largest climate march in history kicks off in New York
Source: MSNBC
They’re calling it the largest mobilization against climate change in the history of the planet. On Sunday morning, protesters from all over the United States and the world are converging on Manhattan to demand that global leaders take action to avert catastrophic climate change. Earlier this week Bill McKibben, founder of the environmental group 350.org, projected that the march would consist of “hundreds of thousands” of participants.
Those participants include dyed-in-the-wool environmental activists, but also elected officials, union members, nationwide community organizing groups, LGBT groups, members of indigenous communities, students, clergy members, scientists, private citizens, and a plethora of other concerned parties. Actors Russell Brand and Mark Ruffalo pledged to join the walk, along with South African civil rights activist Desmond Tutu and Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid. All told, more than 1,400 partner organizations have signed onto the march.
“Not only will it be the largest climate march that’s ever happened, but it really represents a new kind of movement that’s much more diverse,” said 350.org executive director May Boeve. “Climate change has been something of a siloed issue for a long time, but I think that’s really changed, and that’s a good thing. More and more people are seeing how climate change effects them.”
The march takes place just days before the United Nations’ 2014 Climate Summit at its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. At a press conference one week prior to the summit, which will take place on Tuesday, UN Assistant Secretary-General Robert C. Orr said it would be “the largest gathering of global leaders in history on the subject of climate change.”
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Read more: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/largest-climate-march-history-kicks-new-york
Harry Reid moves to ensure nuclear dump stays dead
Harry Reid moves to ensure nuclear dump stays dead
By Erica Werner, Associated Press
Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014 | 2:26 p.m.
WASHINGTON — Amid action in Congress to intensify the fight against Islamic State militants, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid found time Tuesday for an issue closer to home: ensuring that a nuclear waste dump in his home state of Nevada remains mothballed even after the government has spent $15 billion on it.
Reid devoted floor time to confirming two nominees to the agency that oversees the nation's nuclear reactors. That means a Democratic-appointed majority will weigh any further steps related to creating a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, located 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The confirmations come as Republicans have begun talking about trying to revive the Yucca Mountain project if they retake the Senate in November. The Obama administration, under pressure from Reid, abandoned the project early in the president's first term, leaving tens of thousands of tons of spent fuel sitting at nuclear reactors around the country with nowhere to go.
"There's been a huge investment made there and we've got to find a solution to store nuclear waste," said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. "One difference I can tell you for sure is that we'll have votes on it. Whether we can advance it or not remains to be seen."
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This is why elections matter.
Republicans are waiting to push through their anti-science anti-environment pro-corporate agenda.
Ukraine may create nuclear bomb in 10 years - experts
Ukraine may create nuclear bomb in 10 years - experts
Russian experts say Ukrainian Defence Minister's provocative statement on creation of weapons of mass destruction should be taken seriously
MOSCOW, September 17. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine which has large uranium deposits, nuclear power plants and the ability to enrich nuclear fuel as well as enterprises which produced ballistic missiles in the Soviet times may create a nuclear bomb in ten years, Izvestia daily reported on Wednesday with reference to the opinion of Russian experts.
“Ukrainian Defence Minister Valery Geletei’s statement that Ukraine may regain the status of a nuclear power and create weapons of mass destruction is a provocation, but this should be taken seriously,” the daily quoted deputy chairman of Russia’s lower house State Duma defence committee Frants Klintsevich as saying, noting that “This cannot be forgotten that science in Ukraine has always been developed and there won't be any problems creating a nuclear bomb.”
Klintsevich recalled that the neighbouring country had 17 nuclear power units not designed for enrichment.
“If they assign several nuclear power units for the purpose and will get down to resolve this task the process will take quite a long period of time. But they will cope with it for ten years,” the lawmaker believed, noting that “It is very strange if Europe will not give any response to such statements. Double standards became normal for them and this may end deplorably for all.”
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On September 14, Ukrainian Defence Minister Valery Geletei stated the possibility to develop nuclear weapons, if the West refuses to help Ukraine: “If we cannot protect (Ukraine) today, if the world does not help us, we will have to return to creation of these weapons to protect ourselves from Russia.”
This is quite illustrative that “officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the US ambassador in Ukraine refused to comment on possible after-effects of Ukraine’s turning in a nuclear power.
India’s nuclear nightmare: The village of birth defects
India’s nuclear nightmare: The village of birth defects
Indian court trying to unravel mystery of sick and disabled children, miscarriages and fatal cancers around the country's first uranium mine.
By: Raveena Aulakh Environment, Published on Mon Sep 15 2014
JADUGORA, INDIA—
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Neither Alowati nor Duniya can walk, nor can they hold anything; their limbs dangle lifelessly. Their legs are skeletal, their arms slightly stronger. Their knees and elbows are rubbed raw from crawling. They can’t speak in sentences and gesticulate loudly when they want something. They can’t feed themselves. They need help to bathe and use the toilet.
Children with birth deformities like Alowati and Duniya live on almost every street in Jadugora, a leafy town surrounded by hills and rivers in eastern India, as well as in neighbouring villages. There are young women who have had multiple miscarriages, and men and women who have died of cancer.
No one knows why.
Now, an Indian court wants to unravel the mystery of what is happening in Jadugora, the hub of India’s uranium mining industry since the late 1960s.
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“If you ask the tribals (as the indigenous people are known) who have lived there for decades, long before uranium was discovered, they will tell you that they lived healthy lives, drank from the rivers, ate fruits and vegetables ... and they never saw the inside of a hospital,” says Dias.
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The Jharkhand High Court is also looking for answers.
In March, it sent a notice to UCILasking for an explanation for the deformities, cancers and miscarriages around the Jadugora mine. It based the notice on local media reports, which included shocking pictures of children who were sick or deformed. (The demand was made by the court unilaterally, without a filing by officials or victims, in what is known as a suo moto action.)
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A People's Climate Movement: Indigenous, Labor, Faith Groups Prepare for Historic March
Published on Sep 19, 2014
http://democracynow.org
New York City is set to host what could be the largest climate change protest in history.
Organizers expect more than 100,000 people to converge for a People's Climate March on Sunday.
Some 2,000 solidarity events are scheduled around the world this weekend ahead of Tuesday’s United Nations climate summit.
We spend the hour with four participants representing the labor, indigenous, faith and climate justice communities:
- Rev. Dr. Serene Jones is the president of Union Theological Seminary, which recently voted to divest from fossil fuels;
- Lidy Nacpil is a member of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice;
- Clayton Thomas-Muller is co-director of the Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign in Canada and a member of the Idle No More campaign;
- and Estela Vázquez is executive vice president of 1199 SEIU, which is expected to bring thousands of union members to the march.
This video is an excerpt of an extended discussion. Watch the full 45-minute segment here: http://www.democracynow.org/2014/9/19/a_peoples_climate_movement_indigenous_labor
British Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Planes
Source: Sky News
British fighter jets have been scrambled to intercept two Russian planes flying through international airspace.
The Typhoon jets were sent to identify the planes, which turned out to be Russian military Bears.
A statement released by the RAF said the aircraft did not enter UK airspace.
The statement said the launch was the first time a Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) had been issued from RAF Lossiemouth since the Moray base took on the role of defending the UK's northern airspace.
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Read more: http://news.sky.com/story/1338586/british-fighter-jets-intercept-russian-planes
Russian planes intercepted near U.S., Canadian airspace
Source: CNN
Two U.S. jets intercepted six Russian planes that neared U.S. airspace off Alaska on Thursday and Canadian planes intercepted two Russian bombers that approached Canadian airspace, NORAD reported.
A U.S. official told CNN's Barbara Starr that officials in Washington think the incidents were related to the visit by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who talked to Canadian officials Wednesday and President Barack Obama on Thursday. The United States promised Ukraine $46 million in nonlethal aid for its battle with pro-Russian militants.
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Two Alaskan-based F-22 fighter jets intercepted two Russian IL-78 refueling tankers, two Russian Mig-31 fighter jets and two Russian Bear long-range bombers, a statement from NORAD said. The Russian planes flew in a loop and returned toward Russia.
Two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets intercepted two Russian Bear long-range bombers in the Beaufort Sea, the statement said.
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Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/19/us/russian-plane-incidents/
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