“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 05, 2024

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See image credits of Kim Jong Un in the Newsweek Article below . . .

LLAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Tuesday, (11/05/2024)

North Korea and Russia seem to be uniting in an expanded international threat of nuclear war involving adding thousands of Korean troops to defend against Ukraine in the Kursk area that includes a Russian nuclear power plant previously attacked by Ukraine in the Russia/Ukraine war but also antagonizing South Korea’s leadership, indirectly directed at the U.S., and possibly Japan. ~llaw

In addition to the “Newsweek” story, you might also want to read a related article from “Foreign Affairs”. I have only linked the article here because it requires a subscription. The link is also posted in (InTODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Nuclear War Category: How the War in Ukraine Could Go Nuclear—by Accident – Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs

North Korea Issues Ominous ‘Nuclear War’ Warning

Published Nov 04, 2024 at 2:42 PM ESTUpdated Nov 04, 2024 at 2:49 PM EST

00:49

North Korean Soldiers Face First Combat In Russia’s Kursk Region: Reports

By Micah McCartney

China News Reporter

Anew North Korean research organization has issued a scathing report targeting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, writing that his leadership has put the U.S. ally at greater risk of nuclear war.

The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Sunday that the “white paper disclosing the criminal colors and miserable plight of Yoon” had been published the previous day by a never-before-mentioned research organization known as the Institute of Enemy State Studies.

“‘Yoon’s disastrous policy’ has exposed the Republic of Korea to the danger of a nuclear war,” the KCNA cited the authors as saying.

They referenced hard-line statements by Yoon, who belongs to the conservative People Power Party and is known as a hawk on North Korea, as evidence of escalating hostility on the Korean Peninsula.

Examples included Yoon’s 2022 remark that the South must make “overwhelmingly superior war preparations” to achieve peace and warning that a nuclear attack would lead to the “end of the [Kim Jong Un] regime.”

The North Korean institute also criticized Yoon for approving the suspension in June of a 2018 military agreement that had been reached during a short period of warming ties between the two Koreas. The pact had both sides agreeing to reduce border tensions, establish a no-fly zone along the Demilitarized Zone and cease live-fire artillery drills.

After North Korea successfully launched its first spy satellite into orbit in November 2023, the South partially suspended the agreement by resuming surveillance flights. In response, Pyongyang declared it was “no longer bound by” the document and discarded its confidence-building measures.

The North Korean institute further condemned South Korea’s alliance with the United States and its growing military cooperation with Japan.

The paper highlighted commitments made by President Joe Biden and Yoon in April 2023 to step up dialogue and information sharing on nuclear threats. It also referenced the establishment of the U.S.-South Korea Nuclear Consultative Group, formed during that summit to coordinate on the North Korean threat and align U.S. nuclear planning with South Korean conventional forces.

The North Korean institute further condemned South Korea’s alliance with the United States and its growing military cooperation with Japan.

The paper highlighted commitments made by President Joe Biden and Yoon in April 2023 to step up dialogue and information sharing on nuclear threats. It also referenced the establishment of the U.S.-South Korea Nuclear Consultative Group, formed during that summit to coordinate on the North Korean threat and align U.S. nuclear planning with South Korean conventional forces.

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA”:

There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are two Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)
7. IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Tuesday, (11/05/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

‘Heretic’ Directors Used End Credits to Warn Hollywood About AI – IMDb

IMDb

… Nuclear Warheads, Cause It Might Kill Us All’. 11/4/2024; by William Earl … ‘Jack Ryan’ Returning: Everything We Know About the Prime Video Movie So …

Odd Lots – Ezra Klein On the Legacy of Bidenomics – YouTube

YouTube

… all things Odd Lots, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/oddlots Visit our … Tech giants harness nuclear energy to power AI | BBC News. BBC News …

Bob Woodward’s new book ‘War’ invites readers into a world of back-channel diplomacy

NPR

… nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and Iran, and … All Things Considered · Fresh Air · Up First. Featured. The NPR Politics …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Nuclear Energy’s AI Boom Blew a Fuse—Here’s What Could Happen Next – WSJ

WSJ

Regulator’s decision puts one type of contract at risk, but won’t close the door on nuclear power plants looking to sign agreements with data …

U.S. summer nuclear outages declined in 2024, returning to 2022 levels – U.S. Energy …

EIA

Nuclear plant operators usually avoid scheduling planned nuclear outages during the summer and winter when electricity demand is highest and utilities …

Nuclear energy sell-off a buying opportunity: Analyst – YouTube

YouTube

… nuclear energy names, after government regulators blocked Amazon’s (AMZN) power agreement with provider Talen Energy (TLN). CFRA Equity Analyst …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

U.S. delegation at IAEA General Conference highlights a nuclear future defined by …

Department of Energy

… nuclear energy, safety, security, safeguards, emergency preparedness and response, peaceful uses, nonproliferation, and other nuclear-related issues.

Thailand looks to China’s small nuclear reactor for low-carbon energy – Nation Thailand

Nation Thailand

Addressing safety concerns regarding Thailand’s adoption of nuclear energy, he said: “An SMR can automatically shut down in the event of an emergency …

New solutions needed for urgent power projects – Vietnam Plus

Vietnam Plus

… The draft revised electricity law will comprise … Nuclear power back on table to secure Vietnam’s energy future. October …

Nuclear War

NEWS

How the War in Ukraine Could Go Nuclear—by Accident – Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs

A nuclear state’s greatest responsibility is to keep its warheads secure. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it has put approximately …

What’s new in Russia’s latest nuclear statement? | Lowy Institute

Lowy Institute

As noted in its previous military doctrines of 2000, 2010 and 2014, Russia refers to the potential use only in response to a nuclear attack or use of …

North Korea Issues Ominous ‘Nuclear War‘ Warning – Newsweek

Newsweek

… nuclear war. The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Sunday that the “white paper disclosing the criminal colors and …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

How the War in Ukraine Could Go Nuclear—by Accident – Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs

… nuclear power plants and Russia’s threats to intentionally escalate the conflict past the nuclear threshold. But the more Ukraine seeks to hit …

North Korea Issues Ominous ‘Nuclear War‘ Warning – Newsweek

Newsweek

… nuclear threats. It also referenced the establishment of the U.S.-South Korea Nuclear Consultative Group, formed during that summit to coordinate …

What’s new in Russia’s latest nuclear statement? | Lowy Institute

Lowy Institute

The first refers to the withdrawal of an absolute negative security assurance as Russia expands its definition of threat to include “aggression …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 04, 2024

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Monday, (11/04/2024)

Trying to pull the cart without the horse didn’t last long as the blue-sky stock prices disappeared in a cloud of nuclear plant smoke for the big computer giants and their AI dreams who thought they could intimidate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other agencies and power systems operators into lowering regulatory standards to accommodate their nuclear power-eating plans for data center dreams and AI.

But, at least for now, their market surge came tumbling down — as it should have. And I’m sure these corporations learned a lesson about doing their due diligence before going public with their bid to capture and control nuclear power to satisfy all of their future needs. Perhaps they will manage a reprieve eventually, but carefully regulated nuclear power and its standards are much to sensitive to try to run over at will — especially without the horse. ~llaw

Talen-Amazon Nuclear Power Deal Hits Speed Bump. Why Constellation Stock Is Down More.

By Avi Salzman

Updated Nov 04, 2024, 2:40 pm EST / Original Nov 04, 2024, 8:08 am EST

The nuclear-power renaissance hit a speed bump after a federal commission limited how much power Amazon

AMZN

-1.09%

could use from a nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania.

The decision hit the stocks of nuclear plant owners Talen

TLN

-2.23%

Energy, Constellation

CEG

-12.46%

Energy, and Vistra

VST

-3.15%

on Monday. Talen, which had made the deal with Amazon, was down 2.2%; Vistra was down 3.6%; and Constellation was down 11% despite also posting better-than-expected earnings on Monday.

Constellation experienced a particularly large drop because it’s the largest owner of nuclear power plants in the country, and investors had been expecting the company to sign several specialized deals with big tech companies that want to hook their data centers into nuclear power plants. The regulatory ruling now calls that into question.

Big tech companies like Amazon have turned to nuclear power this year to solve a problem. They need lots of electricity for their data centers, which are processing increasingly complex artificial intelligence applications. But they don’t want to use dirtier electricity sources, like coal, because they’ve made pledges to reduce their carbon emissions. Nuclear power fits the bill because it doesn’t emit carbon and—unlike solar and wind power—it operates continuously.

In March, Amazon bought a data center campus next to Talen’s Susquehanna nuclear reactor that could consume as much as 960 megawatts of electricity capacity—or enough to power around 800,000 homes. Microsoft

MSFT

-0.47%

made a similarly big nuclear investment in September when it agreed to buy power from a decommissioned Three Mile Island nuclear reactor.

Other nuclear stocks that had risen on this trend, like Oklo and Nuscale Power, were also down on Monday despite not being directly affected by the ruling.

Amazon’s plan was unique. It wanted to plug its data center directly into the reactor so that it wouldn’t have to go through the traditional electricity grid. But nearby utilities objected to the plan. The utilities argued that Amazon was siphoning power away from the grid and not helping pay for the infrastructure that keeps electricity flowing to regular consumers. (The Amazon deal is different from Microsoft’s because Three Mile Island would still be connected to the larger grid.)

FERC, or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, ruled late on Friday that the Amazon plan should not go forward as originally proposed. “This filing leaves multiple important questions unresolved,” the FERC ruling said. A concurring opinion said the plan “could have huge ramifications for both grid reliability and consumer costs.” FERC’s ruling will still allow Amazon to use 300 megawatts worth of power from the reactor, but not an additional 180 megawatts, as it had proposed to do.

Talen responded to the ruling by saying that the commission’s concerns were misplaced. “Talen believes FERC erred and we are evaluating our options, with a focus on commercial solutions,” the company said in a statement. “We believe this ISA amendment is just and reasonable and in the best interest of consumers.” The amendment could potentially be resubmitted, allowing the deal to still go forward.

Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.

The ruling is a setback for multiple owners of nuclear plants, some of which had hoped to sign similar lucrative agreements. Amazon did not reveal how much it was paying for access to the nuclear power. But using the few financial data points that were released, analysts extrapolated that Amazon was paying Talen at least 30% above the going rate for electricity.

Jefferies analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith wrote that the FERC ruling is “a major setback for the nuclear data center thesis.” After Amazon’s deal was signed, investors and analysts expected other deals would follow, and they bought up the stocks of other nuclear plant owners like Constellation and Vistra that they thought would benefit. Constellation and Talen have risen more than 100% this year, and Vistra is up more than 200%.

Subscribed

ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA”:

There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are two Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)
7. IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Monday, (11/04/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Is Nuclear Energy Clean? Here’s What You Need To Know – SlashGear

SlashGear

Where “fusion” is combining two or more things together, “fission” is splitting them apart. … All of the nuclear waste from the U.S. over the past 60 …

The Great American Nuclear Weapons Upgrade – Undark Magazine

Undark Magazine

After all, numerous military nuclear accidents occurred during the Cold War. … all these things already.” “I think that people have forgotten what …

RCEA Reverses Rejection of Nuclear Power – Redheaded Blackbelt

Redheaded Blackbelt

— Google stuff. Every tonne of mined lithium results in 15 tonnes of CO2 emissions in the environment. In addition, it is estimated that about 500,000 …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Talen Stock Tumbles on Amazon Nuclear Power Deal Setback. Constellation, Vistra Down, Too.

Barron’s

The nuclear–power renaissance hit a speed bump after a federal commission limited how much power Amazon · AMZN. +6.19%. could use from a nuclear …

Constellation Energy, nuclear stocks plummet after regulators block Amazon power deal

Yahoo Finance

Microsoft’s nuclear power partner Constellation Energy saw its stock drop on Monday as strong earnings couldn’t overcome a a ruling from the FERC …

Faber Report: U.S. regulator rejects Amazon-Talen nuclear power agreement for data center

YouTube

CNBC’s David Faber reports latest on Amazon’s nuclear energy investment.

Nuclear War

NEWS

UK says it voted against UN nuclear war panel because consequences already known

The Guardian

The UK was one of three countries to vote against creating a UN scientific panel on the effects of nuclear war because, the Foreign Office argued, …

The devastating consequences of a nuclear war are already clear: UK explanation of vote at …

GOV.UK

I am delivering the UK explanation of vote against the draft resolution L.39 ‘Nuclear War Effects and Scientific Research’.

South Korea ‘Dramatically Strengthening’ Nuclear Force Amid Russia Threat – Newsweek

Newsweek

South Korea is bolstering its nuclear defenses as North Korea strengthens military ties with Russia … Israel at War Vladimir Putin Russia-Ukraine War …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Commentary: Nuclear weapons, Israel, and Gaza

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

In the past year, Israeli nuclear threats have escalated dramatically … nuclear facilities, leading to anxieties about potential nuclear war in the …

JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon Flags Rising War Threats, Calling Today’s World Order at Risk

Yahoo Finance

JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon Flags Rising War Threats, Calling … nuclear arms acquisition, escalating the threat of nuclear warfare. He …

Vladimir Putin ally’s ‘nuclear war‘ threat as he warns US and EU not to ‘cross line’ – Irish Star

Irish Star

A close ally of Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, has issued a chilling threat of nuclear war to the West amid escalating tensions between Washington …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

So, when will the next eruption at Yellowstone happen? | U.S. Geological Survey

USGS.gov

Geologists from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory are often asked to estimate how likely future eruptions are at Yellowstone, but it’s no walk …

Why A Far-Fetched NASA Idea To Cool Yellowstone’s Supervolcano Would Never Work

Cowboy State Daily

NASA scientists concocted an idea a decade ago to save the world from a civilization-ending eruption of the supervolcano underneath Yellowstone …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 03, 2024

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Sunday, (11/03/2024)

The story below is just the 1st restraining, rejection, or non-compliance order for nuclear energy expansion, and, I suspect, there will be many more to come from every imaginable direction as the big computer, electronics and AI developers and their data centers will have to face as they attempt to drive nuclear energy down America’s and other countries’ throats.

The regulatory reasons are easy to understand, involving not only incredible power demands but the fears of AI itself, plus the regulatory requirements of quality manufacturing and absolute health and safety requirements of existing and future operations of nuclear power energy itself because of the many threats to human and other life in the event of nuclear accidents, terrorist attacks, or, as we already know from the Russia/Ukraine attacks on nuclear power plants, nuclear war — all of which are very real possibilities along with black-market uranium fuel trade. Nuclear fuel piracy itself could become a huge and dangerous global part among any number of eventual disasters.

Obviously, it stands to reason that the more nuclear power plants we have, large or small, around the world, the more dangerous and perilous they are. ~llaw

US Regulator Rejects Amazon-Talen Nuclear Power Agreement

By Bloomberg

Nov 02, 2024

(Bloomberg) — The top US energy regulator rejected a special deal that would have allowed an Amazon.com Inc. data center to use more power from an adjacent nuclear power plant.

The decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission deals a blow to the efforts by big technology companies to feed their power-hungry data centers with electricity from generators located next to their facilities. Commissioners voted 2-1 against the proposal that would have increased the amount of power supplied to an Amazon data center adjacent to the Susquehanna nuclear facility owned by Talen Energy Corp.  

The commissioners said the plan, which was an amendment filed by the regional grid operator on behalf of the parties, didn’t adequately prove why the special contract should be allowed under federal rules. The plan would set a precedent and the issues should be reviewed more closely, they said. FERC Chairman Willie Phillips dissented, saying that the grid operator addressed reliability issues and called the order “a step backward” for both electricity reliability and national security. 

In March, Amazon Web Services paid Talen $650 million for a 960-megawatt data center campus adjacent to the Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, and signed a long-term agreement to buy power from the plant. 

In June, PJM Interconnection, which operates the eastern US grid, serving more than 65 million people, sought approval from the federal agency to increase the amount of power used onsite to 480 megawatts from 300 MW. Utility owners American Electric Power Co. and Exelon Corp. filed a complaint opposing the move, arguing that it could threaten grid reliability and raise customer rates.

The federal order on Friday night came on the heels of a day-long FERC technical conference on the topic, which discussed the merits and challenges of co-locating data centers with existing power plants, also dubbed “behind-the-meter” demand. Phillips said that artificial intelligence and related technologies represented a generational opportunity for national security and economic growth. Data centers are driving potentially unprecedented growth in US electricity usage and the concern is that such deals will allow them to shunt costs to other consumers.  

The Friday ruling hinders generators like Vistra Corp., Constellation Energy Corp. and Talen, which saw their shares rally in part on the prospects of signing more power-sales deals at a premium with deep-pocketed tech giants. 

While PJM made the filing to enable the Amazon-Talen deal, the grid operator has warned that it’s facing a potential shortfall of generating supply by 2030, Stu Bresler, executive vice president of market services and strategy said in a statement for the technical meeting on Friday. Big consumers located at power plants may create reliability concerns and hinder proper planning, he said. PJM, which serves more than 65 million people from Washington DC to Illinois, has received requests from developers to co-locate 8.5 gigawatts of large load at points on the grid serving existing power plants.

“If behind-the-meter, co-located loads integrate faster than what can be reliably planned for, the industry should appreciate the potential future risks to reliable system operations,” Bresler said in the statement.

Subscribed

ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA”:

There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)
7. IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Sunday, (11/03/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

US Regulator Rejects Amazon-Talen Nuclear Power Agreement – Energy Connects

Energy Connects

Click “Accept all” to consent to our use of these technologies and to the related processing of your personal data. To learn more about the …

Chilling map reveals countries with the most nuclear weapons as global tensions rise

Irish Star

The United States and Russia combine for 88 percent of all nuclear … While the US has been transparent about its nuclear weapon count, countries like …

Sink a Navy Aircraft Carrier: How China Starts a ‘Nuclear World War III’

The National Interest

With war fever gripping the capitals of the world’s great powers, many are wondering when the biggest conflict of all … That’s when things like …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Are we Ready for Nuclear Energy? | TVJ Smile Jamaica – YouTube

YouTube

Are we Ready for Nuclear Energy? | TVJ Smile Jamaica. 2.5K views · 12 hours ago #tvjnews #jamaicanewstoday …more. Television Jamaica. 965K.

Investment Is Pouring in As the Hype Around Nuclear Fusion Grows – Business Insider

Business Insider

Tech leaders are betting on nuclear power as a key source of clean energy in the next decade. · AI tech companies are building small nuclear fission …

US Regulator Rejects Amazon-Talen Nuclear Power Agreement – Energy Connects

Energy Connects

data center to use more power from an adjacent nuclear power plant. The decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission deals a blow to the …

Nuclear War

NEWS

North Korea white paper says Yoon Suk Yeol raised risk of nuclear war | Reuters

Reuters

… nuclear war through his policies toward the North. The document, compiled by North Korea’s Institute of Enemy State Studies and released by state …

Iran fears Trump win would bring Israeli strikes on nuclear sites, Western sanctions

The Times of Israel

Tehran said to believe that if reelected, the former US president would exert the utmost pressure on Khamenei to cave to nuclear containment deal …

North Korea says South’s president has raised risk of nuclear war

South China Morning Post

North Korean state media released a white paper on Sunday accusing South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol of exposing his country to the danger of …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

‘We’re in uncharted territory’: Why the forgotten threat of nuclear war presents real and …

The Irish Times

… threat of nuclear destruction as well as the threats of climate change and biotechnology. … “Everybody knew about the threat of nuclear war. In 1982 …

Vladimir Putin ally issues chilling warning with threat Russia is ‘ready to unleash … – GB News

GB News

Vladimir Putin ally issues chilling warning with threat Russia is ‘ready to unleash Armageddon’ in nuclear war … threats seriously or risk World War …

Analysis | Working Through Israel’s Worst-Case Scenarios: Iran, Russia, and North Korea

israeldefense.co.il

Part one of a two-part article, which explores Israel’s complex strategic calculus in facing an Iranian nuclear threat, and the chilling scenarios …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 02, 2024

1

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Saturday, (11/02/2024)

This story, no-doubt anything more than a “pie-in-the-sky investment” dream, that will probably never happen for reasons that are obvious to anyone with any common sense about the present day and future of Yellowstone National Park and its incredible caldera — at least definitely not in our lifetimes,

But the story is interesting, not necessarily for the “megatons of lithium” the caldera contains (which are most likely never to be mined), but more as a reminder that the steam generated by the caldera could easily provide our human needs for electrical power for the entire North American continent and more without needing nuclear power nor creating environmental damage to the magnificent beauty and future of our spectacular Yellowstone National Park is (unless it decides to create its own environmental damage).

That much more feasible and sensible concept of capturing Yellowstone’s wasted steam is one that I’ve previously posted on “LLAW’s All Things Nuclear” more than once, and the status of the story’s realistic possibility probably needs to be posted again with updated information and data . . . ~llaw

Biggest U.S. Drone Maker Gets Sanctioned By China

Written By Alex Koyfman

Posted November 2, 2024

About 15 million years ago, a cataclysmic event took place in what is now the Western United States. If repeated today, it would likely end human civilization. 

The Yellowstone Supervolcano, with its 1300 square mile caldera, exploded, releasing an estimated 240 cubic miles of lava and enough ash to cover the state of Alaska in foot-deep soot. 

Catastrophic as this eruption was, it’s something that happens on a fairly regular basis, with the three most recent eruptions occurring 2.1 million, 1.3 million, and 600,000 years ago — each releasing similar amounts of energy and contaminants. 

Today, geologists study the Yellowstone region very closely, monitoring the movement of the land with lasers and precision sensors in an attempt to analyze and perhaps even predict sudden changes in activity under the surface. 

Whether knowing it’s about to happen or not will change anything is a question that remains to be answered, but since we’re living in a point in history where another eruption is statistically overdue, geologists are drawn to the Yellowstone Supervolcano the same way astronomers are drawn to black holes and pulsars. 

The Yellowstone Supervolcano’s Gift: 120 Megatons of Lithium

Last summer, this fascination with the caldera led to a rather surprising discovery. 

This is where geologists discovered what could be the world’s biggest concentration of lithium, ever. 

Containing up to 120 million tons of the world’s premier battery metal, this ancient geological artifact has been lying dormant ever since. 

It’s a massive resource that will require an equally massive amount of work to tap into. But earlier this week, the company operating this property announced that it had just closed on a huge, multi-billion dollar loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to start producing lithium for the American EV battery market. 

This loan is exactly what’s needed to fund the enormous, and complex infrastructure required to mine the property, and it’s also a good indication of just how dire our domestic lithium situation is. 

Unfortunately it’s not the only indication.

Earlier this week, the U.S.’s biggest drone maker, Skydio, announced that it would have to start ‘rationing’ its batteries to customers after the imposition of sanctions by the Chinese.

The Result Of 30 Years Of Unchecked Chinese Lithium Domination

According to Skydio, these sanctions are a blatant attempt by the Chinese to eliminate its competitors in the drone sector.

The fact that the Chinese government can exert such influence on companies as big and vital as Skydio is a testament to just how important the lithium industry has become. 

The company on the receiving end of this loan has its work cut out for it. New lithium projects typically take about 10 years to go from planning to production, but with the level of urgency seen today, it’s likely that this one will be fast tracked at every possible turn. 

Once things get rolling, the plan is to start producing about 40,000 tons of the metal annually, eventually scaling up as demand increases and the project expands. 

Even at the most modest estimates, the total value of the resource exceeds $300B — or about 300x the company’s current market cap. 

Of course, it will take many years for all of that value to be unlocked, but just based on the news of the loan closing, shares are already up more than 40%. And it’s likely heading even higher as this mountain of federal funding starts pushing the project towards realization. 

We’ve been following this stock for a while now, ever since word of the potential loan first made the news. 

The stock was beat up then, but now, with the lithium bubble long since passed, it looks like things are finally falling into place for the company, for this unique property, and for American lithium as a whole.

---

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA”:

There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are two Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)
7. IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Saturday, (11/02/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Smart handling of neutrons is crucial to fusion power success | MIT News

MIT News

… things I’m excited about,” he says. “I was inspired by all the professors I had in physics and nuclear engineering at MIT, and I hope to give back …

VOX POPULI: It’s a pity North Korea’s leader is so unwilling to ‘learn’ | The Asahi Shimbun

asahi.com

I mean, pigeons–or doves, really–are symbols of peace, but to use them to guide missiles, of all things? … nuclear capabilities policy. Now …

How the next president could change the course of Israel’s wars – WUGA

WUGA

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:30 PM Marketplace. 0:00. 0:00. All Things … nuclear weapons capabilities. Israel would need U.S. support to …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Nuclear Power Is Poised for a Revival But Needs a Foundation to Stand | RealClearEnergy

RealClearEnergy

Nuclear power is back in vogue. Surging power demand driven by electrification and, most notably, the incredible energy needs of data centers has …

US Regulator Rejects Amazon-Talen Nuclear Power Agreement – Bloomberg

Bloomberg

… energy regulator rejected a special deal that would have allowed an Amazon.com Inc. data center to use more power from an adjacent nuclear power plant

Powering Up U.S. Nuclear Energy | The Regulatory Review

The Regulatory Review

Scholars discuss the role of nuclear power in the U.S.’s clean energy transition.

Nuclear War

NEWS

UN Committee Advances Study of Nuclear War Effects Without US Support

Union of Concerned Scientists

“We already look to international bodies of scientists for research and guidance on critical challenges like the climate crisis. Nuclear war would …

UN approves new study on effects of nuclear war – ICAN

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

… nuclear war, for the first time since 1989. With the risk of nuclear weapons use as high – or even higher – as it has ever been amidst wars in …

World War three warning to the US: ‘Take Russia’s nuclear warnings seriously,’ says Dmitry …

The Economic Times

Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian official, warned the U.S. to take Russia’s nuclear threats seriously to prevent World War Three.

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

UN Committee Advances Study of Nuclear War Effects Without US Support

Union of Concerned Scientists

“This resolution builds on a profound recognition by scientists early in the nuclear age that we need to make sure everyone understands the dangers …

World War three warning to the US: ‘Take Russia’s nuclear warnings seriously,’ says Dmitry …

The Economic Times

Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian official, warned the U.S. to take Russia’s nuclear threats seriously to prevent World War Three.

Medvedev warns US: Heed nuclear threats to avoid World War Three

sharjah24.ae

He emphasized that if Russia’s existence is threatened, it will have no choice but to respond. The ongoing war in Ukraine has reached a perilous phase …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Biggest U.S. Drone Maker Gets Sanctioned By China – Energy & Capital

Energy & Capital

The Yellowstone Supervolcano, with its 1300 square mile caldera, exploded, releasing an estimated 240 cubic miles of lava and enough ash to cover …

Obsidian: Not just a valuable Minecraft resource – YouTube

YouTube

… Yellowstone last month? Subscribe for more Yellowstone volcano content @usgs Read Caldera Chronicles https://usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/ …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Nov 01, 2024

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HMS Vigilant is the third Vanguard-class submarine of the Royal Navy. Vigilant carries the Trident ballistic missile, the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent …

LLAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Friday, (11/01/2024)

I have no idea what this argument is all about, why there is a dispute, and why anyone would care so defiantly. We already know the answer, including previous studies, and the answer is ‘armageddon’. The only way to avoid annihilation is to avoid it, so why worry about the effects of a nuclear war?

The whole issue is just self-important politics and panels of scientific “experts” simply chasing their tails. What we should be doing is coming together and living as one unified world (like John Lennon said). But of course that is never going to happen. It seems humanity is dead-set on exterminating ourselves and has been for a long, long, time — perhaps since our very beginning . . .

It is obvious by our own actions — the never-ending creating and fighting our fellow man with more and more and bigger and stronger and more powerful and destructive weapons from our caveman wooden club days to our nuclear weapons today — until we now have a playground-bully style standoff called deterrence, a foolish temporary name-calling match of vain threats which will last up until the day it happens. So it is that we all already know the answer about what nuclear war means, and, yes, it can all happen in a single day — according to previous studies. ~llaw

Nuclear weapons

UK urged to break with France, North Korea and Russia on UN nuclear war resolution

Non-proliferation groups call on government not to oppose creation of a study into effects of nuclear conflict

Julian Borger

Thu 31 Oct 2024 09.31 EDT

HMS Vigilant is the third Vanguard-class submarine of the Royal Navy. Vigilant carries the Trident ballistic missile, the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent …

Non-proliferation groups are urging the UK government to make a late about-turn on plans to vote alongside France, Russia and North Korea against a UN resolution to study the effects of nuclear war.

In a debate on Friday, a UN general assembly committee will discuss a resolution to create an international panel of scientific experts to examine the global impact of different nuclear conflict scenarios.

The resolution, drafted by Ireland and New Zealand, is expected to be overwhelmingly approved by the committee and then later by the full assembly. Diplomats involved in preparations for the vote say the US and China are expected to abstain but that the UK, France, Russia and North Korea had indicated they were likely to vote against.

London and Paris joining forces with Moscow and Pyongyang would not stop the resolution but could have an impact on their reputations when it comes to other nuclear proliferation issues.

The UK and French missions to the UN did not respond to requests for comment and diplomats in New York said final decisions could be left until the last hours before the vote.

Arms control advocates expressed disappointment on Thursday that, with just 24 hours to go before the debate, the UK’s new Labour government had shown no signs of changing course.

“People naively thought that, with a Labour government, you would see a shift away from this kind of weird line that the UK has taken on this particular type of thing,” said Patricia Lewis, the head of the international security programme at the Chatham House thinktank. “Maybe this is the Labour party trying to be more Catholic than the pope when it comes to nuclear weapons, but why not vote with the US, and abstain?”

The panel proposed in Friday’s resolution would be the first such UN-mandated study since 1988 and experts say a lot has changed since then, in science and the nuclear threats around the world. For example, Russia and North Korea, countries which have made aggressive nuclear threats, have entered a deepening partnership.

Lewis argued that a no vote by the UK and France would undermine their credibility with other UN member states, especially when London and Paris are trying to rally global support for criticism of Moscow.

“The UK has been struggling to get countries like South Africa and Brazil onboard over the whole issue of Russia’s behaviour, so this is an opportunity for the UK to say: ‘Yes, we hear you,’” Lewis said.

Observers believe the UK position could be the result of a pact with France to fend off criticism of their nuclear arsenals.

“I think this is building bridges with the French,” said Zia Mian, a physicist and co-director of Princeton University’s programme on science and global security. “The French don’t want to be alone with the Russians and the North Koreans and whatnot in voting no.”

The UK, France, Russia and North Korea have been on the same side in a UN vote before. In December last year, they were the only four countries to vote against a general assembly resolution aimed at helping radiation victims of nuclear testing and restoring the environment at past test sites.

Some arms control experts were still hoping on Thursday that the British policy had remained unchanged from the previous Tory government through sheer inertia and could still change if the matter gained the attention of the Labour leadership at the 11th hour.

“People are working hard in London to make sure that the political level knows that this is what’s going on, because often this is done on autopilot,” said Mian, who has argued for a new scientific panel.

The UN panel would be made up of 21 scientific experts and would examine “the physical effects and societal consequences of a nuclear war on a local, regional and planetary scale”.

Scientists say such work is essential as so much has changed in the subject area since 1988, when the last study was done. For example, it was previously thought it would take a full-scale nuclear conflict between superpowers to plunge the world into a “nuclear winter”; it is now thought that even a limited nuclear exchange between regional adversaries could have such a devastating global effect.

“They never imagined that the climate system was so sensitive to these kinds of effects,” Mian said.

In April, the UK Royal Society was part of a joint statement by the national academies of science of the G7 member states, which said: “Among the roles of the scientific community are to continue to develop and communicate the scientific evidence base that shows the catastrophic effects of nuclear warfare on human populations and on the other species with which we share our planet.”

While some governments and national scientific institutions have done their own research, supporters of the resolution said a UN panel could establish a global consensus and a scientific “gold standard”, emulating the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and have an impact on policy.

“Studying the results of nuclear war will flesh out how bad it would be to have one, and maybe add pressure on countries who would otherwise think about using nuclear weapons,” said Andrey Baklitskiy, a senior researcher at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research. “Their leaders, their elites would maybe study or read it, or their populations, or partners or allies, who would maybe say we really don’t want this to happen.”

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA”:

There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There is one Yellowstone Caldera bonus story available in this evening’s Post.)
7. IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Friday, (11/01/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

What the Nuclear Power Revival Means for the Price of Uranium | Odd Lots – YouTube

YouTube

And for all things Odd Lots, visit

https://www.bloomberg.

… Visit our other YouTube channels: Bloomberg Television: / @markets Bloomberg …

Russia’s Arctic Policy Poses a Growing Nuclear Threat

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

In response to growing concerns about nuclear safety, Rosatom has offered reassurances on SMRs’ passive safety systems. … all the political …

Workers at Rocky Flats helped build America’s nuclear arsenal. A new film digs into … – KUNC

KUNC

… nuclear weapons during the Cold War … He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Can Quake-Prone Japan Ever Embrace Nuclear Energy Again? – The New York Times

The New York Times

A white curtain is partly draped over the opening. The earthquake also damaged homes in Shika, where a nuclear power plant remains dormant.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Is Bullish on Nuclear Power. Will Nvidia Invest in Nuclear Stocks?

Yahoo Finance

In recent weeks, there seems to be something of a consensus forming on the question of affordable energy for AI: It’s going nuclear. Investors are …

What the Nuclear Power Revival Means for the Price of Uranium – Bloomberg

Bloomberg

There’s something of a uranium cult out there: the investors and traders who believe that nuclear is the future of energy, and therefore this crucial …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Proliferation News 10/31/24 – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

… Nuclear Attack, UK Urged to Break with France, North Korea and Russia on UN Nuclear War Resolution.

North Korea’s Choe accuses US and South Korea of plotting a nuclear strike against her country

Reuters

Choe said North Korea was committed to helping Russia in its war with Ukraine which she said Moscow would win. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter …

“NATO or Nukes”: Why Ukraine’s nuclear revival refuses to die

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

NATO countries are not at war today. All people are alive in NATO countries. And that is why we choose NATO over nuclear weapons.” On the same day, …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

NATO Must Respond to the Russian Nuclear Threat in Space | American Enterprise Institute

American Enterprise Institute

While the Turner memo may have been a wake-up call for some in Washington, the threat of a nuclear attack in space is not new. The Soviet Union …

Will Iran Withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty? – War on the Rocks

War on the Rocks

An Israeli attack on nuclear facilities would elevate the perceived existential threat to Iran. … threats, rather than as a definitive step …

Nuclear Threats Boost Russia’s Military Perception | OilPrice.com

Oil Price

Nuclear Threats Boost Russia’s Military Perception · US News & World Report ranked Russia as having the world’s strongest military in its 2024 survey.

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Volcanic Ash Alert Issued In Texas After Mexico Eruption – 95.5 KLAQ

95.5 KLAQ

A Volcanic Danger Still Looms Over the State of Texas · Mexico’s Popocatépetl Volcano gave Texas a very rare volcanic alert on Wednesday, October 30, …

IAEA Weekly News

1 November 2024

Read the top news and updates published on IAEA.org this week.

1 November 2024

IAEA Launches New App to Help Assess Radiation Threat Following Alarm

The IAEA has launched a new app to help frontline officers assess radiation alarms triggered by people at airports, border crossings and other points of entry – and ease delays. Read more →

31 October 2024

Update 257 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

At Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), repairs are being conducted in one of its six reactors after a small water leakage was detected from an impulse line – essentially a small pipe – connected to the unit’s primary circuit, with the work expected to be completed later this week, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today. Read more →

30 October 2024

Breast Cancer Screening and Diagnosis Strengthened in the Caribbean

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, held in October, promotes screening and prevention of this disease, which affects millions of women. Read more →

29 October 2024

IAEA Director General Highlights Agency’s Role in Global Non-Proliferation, Nuclear Security and Safety at Nuclear Law Workshop

The Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi, highlighted the IAEA’s vital role in global nuclear non-proliferation, safety and security in a keynote address for a unique nuclear law workshop convened in the United States of America. Read more →

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Oct 31, 2024

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LAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Thursday, (10/31/2024)

Following is the most detailed Elon Musk/Starlink story I have read, If you are concerned about Musk’s penchant for launching communications satellites, and creating controversy, you will want to read this story — not that doing so will allay your concerns in any way. And, then, too, there are other concerns, including environmental issues relating to Musk’s satellite enterprise. But his actions at the time may have helped to at least temporarily delay the beginning of a nuclear war . . .

Musk is a loose cannon and his independence and aggressive actions along with his alliances in high political places reminds me a bit of the old film Dr. Strangelove. (You have to watch the movie to understand, but the Soviet Union with the help of a nuclear bomb is the target there as well. And then there is a Trump-like General Jack Ripper, another interesting character, who personally deploys the bomb in an odd manner.)

If this important Forbes story contributed by Kevin Holden Platt story is nothing else, it is informative and thought-provoking — and entertaining as well. ~llaw

Russian Threats To Elon Musk And Strikes On SpaceX Dishes Skyrocket

Kevin Holden Platt

Contributor

Kevin Holden Platt writes on space defense, SpaceX, ISS, Space War I

Oct 30, 2024,09:35pm EDT

Updated Oct 31, 2024, 01:02pm EDT

While The Wall Street Journal has been blasting out its bombshell story that Elon Musk has had “secret conversations” with Vladimir Putin for the last two years, this same timeline has been marked by the Kremlin’s unending barrage of threats against SpaceX’s founder, and military assaults on his Starlink satellite terminals crisscrossing Ukraine.

These threats have ranged from dark hints of assassinating Musk – from the same Kremlin cabal that has despatched henchmen armed with radioactive polonium, or the Soviet chemical weapon Novichok, to deal with political enemies – to cascading warnings that Russian missiles could be fired at SpaceX satellites circling the globe.

They started right after Russia’s blitzkrieg assault on Ukraine in February of 2022, when SpaceX’s founder began airlifting hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of Starlink transceivers to the besieged democracy, even as Russia escalated its missile attacks to wipe out the country’s internet infrastructure. Activating his rings of satellites above the globe, Musk foiled Moscow’s plan to imprison Ukraine inside a bomb-backed Iron Curtain.

The Kremlin’s rulers were furious.

Their revenge started when the head of the Russian space agency – who also oversaw building Moscow’s intercontinental ballistic missiles – threatened Musk with personal retribution for supplying Ukraine’s “fascist forces” with satellite-beamed Web connections.

The SpaceX leader reacted with macabre humor: “If I die under mysterious circumstances,” Musk posted on Twitter, “it’s been nice knowin ya.”

The combative deputy defense minister elevated by Putin to reign over Roscosmos had lashed out at the creator of the planet’s greatest constellation of satellites for allowing Ukraine’s armed defenders to link up nationwide via their hyper-tech, ultra-mobile SpaceX Starlink dishes.

“It turns out that the internet terminals of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite company were delivered to the militants … by military helicopters,” Dmitry Rogozin, then Director General of Roscosmos, charged in a fantastical falsehood. “The delivery of the Starlink equipment was carried out by the Pentagon. Elon Musk, thus, is involved in supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment. And for this, Elon, you will be held accountable.”

So started the fusillade of threats against Musk that would explode over the next two years – from Kremlin calls to deploy anti-satellite missiles against his mega-constellation to warning the use of Starlinks to stage attacks on occupied Crimea could impel Russia to detonate a nuclear bomb in Ukraine.

Since then, Moscow has deployed advanced Su-34 fighter bombers, Tornado-S multiple launch rocket systems and Lancet kamikaze drones to seek out and destroy Starlink transceivers across Ukraine.

Yet in a story that has ricocheted around the world, The Wall Street Journal reported last week that: “Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.”

In the dramatically titled “Elon Musk’s Secret Conversations With Vladimir Putin,” the five WSJ reporters who penned the article didn’t identify any of their sources by name or even government title, rather citing “several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials.”

“Knowledge of Musk’s Kremlin contacts appears to be a closely held secret in government,” they reported. “Several White House officials said they weren’t aware of them.”

“One person aware of the conversations,” they wrote, conceded that “no alerts have been raised by the administration over possible security breaches by Musk.”

As a whirlwind of press reports based on the WSJ article swept across the continents, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida issued a statement criticizing Musk’s trial by media: “Anybody who has contracts with the U.S. government undergoes a constant review for security background and clearances.”

“I will tell you that without SpaceX, I don’t know how we’re going to rescue our astronauts that are stuck in space,” Senator Rubio stated. “All that said, I can’t opine on whether Musk called Putin or not, because I don’t know, and he’s a private citizen. If that imperils his clearance, there’s a process for all of that. It’s not through the media ….”

One reporter probably has closer insights than anyone else on Musk’s attempts to shield himself and SpaceX from the bombardment of Kremlin threats while balancing his dealings with the major players in the life and death struggle over the Ukraine invasion: Walter Isaacson, Musk’s hand-picked biographer, became embedded in the SpaceX inner circle for two years as he crafted his blockbuster book Elon Musk, even as Russian tanks and missile brigades began crashing across the border to spearhead their invasion.

Isaacson, who’s scripted a series of bestselling bios on world-changing figures like Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs, reveals in the memoir that late one evening in September of 2022, Musk frantically contacted him to tell him about Russia’s just-issued threat to explode a nuclear warhead in Ukraine – in revenge for a planned attack using submarine drones, guided by Starlink technology, against the Russian fleet stationed in occupied Crimea.

In an excerpt from the book, “The untold story of Elon Musk’s support for Ukraine,” published in the Washington Post, Isaacson disclosed that Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, had just warned Musk the Kremlin would use the most powerful weapons in its arsenal if the drone subs hit its navy.

“The ambassador had explicitly told him [Musk] that a Ukrainian attack on Crimea would lead to a nuclear response,” Isaacson recounted.

Musk, in turn, refused Ukrainian appeals to extend the coverage of the Starlink system to reach Crimea’s port, the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, to carry out the planned Pearl Harbor-style assault.

While engaging in backstage diplomacy with the Russian envoy to forestall a nuclear strike, Musk also shot off an urgent message – via Twitter – to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky:“Trying to retake Crimea will cause massive death, probably fail & risk nuclear war.”

The SpaceX leader also rushed to brief White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and General Mark Milley, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the looming crisis, Isaacson reported.

At that time, President Joe Biden and his security team projected that the likelihood of Russia unleashing a nuclear bomb in Ukraine had risen sharply, according to reporting by The New York Times.

“President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has repeatedly threatened the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine, including during a crisis in October 2022, when Mr. Biden and his aides, looking at intercepts of conversations between senior Russian commanders, feared the likelihood of nuclear use might rise to 50 percent or even higher,” the Times reported.

Could Musk’s moves to deescalate the conflict, via his backchannel talks with Ambassador Antonov and limits on the use of Starlinks by Ukraine’s democratic resistance, have been one factor in tipping the balance in favor of Russia freezing its plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons?

Musk came under fire in the U.S. for placing limits on Ukraine’s weaponization of Starlink navigation and guidance technology, but it remains a puzzle whether that helped prevent a Russian nuclear strike.

His placing territorial restrictions on the use of SpaceX Starlink technology by Ukraine’s resistance paralleled the White House ban on using American weapons to hit targets inside Russia, says Ron Gurantz, an associate professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Professor Gurantz, an expert on space power and security, states in a paper for the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute that Musk “decided not to activate Starlink because he worried such an attack could cause escalation, or perhaps even nuclear war, between Russia and the United States.”

“Would the US government have made the same decision?”

The U.S. had similarly held back on supplying Ukraine with weapons that could reach Crimea, Professor Gurantz reported in his fascinating, just-released study, “Satellites in the Russia-Ukraine War.”

“Moreover, recent reports suggest the Biden-Harris administration was extremely worried at the time about a scenario in which a Ukrainian offensive against Crimea could provoke Russia to use nuclear weapons.”

“The decision to limit Starlink,” Gurantz concluded, “may not have been different if government officials had been involved.”

Check out my website. 

Kevin Holden Platt

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Kevin Holden Platt covers world-leading breakthroughs in science and hyper-technology.

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA”:

There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There is one Yellowstone Caldera bonus story available in this evening’s Post.)
7. IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Thursday, (10/31/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

North Korea launches new intercontinental ballistic missile designed to threaten U.S. | Utah …

Utah Public Radio

All Things Considered. UPR Live. All Things Considered … They say North Korea likely possesses short-range missiles that can deliver nuclear strikes …

Meet America’s secret team of nuclear first responders | Georgia Public Broadcasting

Georgia Public Broadcasting

Members of the Nuclear Emergency Support Team training for a radiological contamination scenario. For 50 years, the secretive team has been the …

Japanese nuclear reactor that survived earthquake power plant restarts – Spectrum News

Spectrum News

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese nuclear reactor which survived a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that badly damaged the nearby Fukushima nuclear power …

Nuclear Power=

NEWS

Nuclear power is coming back – and that could be a win for older workers | Morningstar

Morningstar

By Joseph Coughlin. The revival of nuclear power – and the push for clean energy – may depend on keeping older workers online for longer.

Five Ways the Tech Sector’s Embrace of Nuclear Power Benefits America

RealClearEnergy

Recent announcements by Amazon, Google, and Microsoft that they are dedicating billions of dollars to consume nuclear power and invest in the next …

Entergy mulls expanding US nuclear power capacity, execs say – Reuters

Reuters

Entergy is considering expanding its nuclear power generation capacity and exploring new nuclear technologies, with the Louisiana electric utility …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

TEPCO ex-chair at time of Fukushima nuclear disaster dies at 84 while on trial over responsibility

ABC News – The Walt Disney Company

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings’ former chairperson, who led the emergency response after a meltdown at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant …

Lessons from the past helped make atomic reactors cleaner and safer

Malaya Business Insight

In response, international nuclear agencies and governments adopted stringent standards for reactor design, operator training, and emergency protocols …

Nuclear War

NEWS

UK urged to break with France, North Korea and Russia on UN nuclear war resolution

The Guardian

Non-proliferation groups call on government not to oppose creation of a study into effects of nuclear conflict.

NTI Statement in Support of the UN Resolution on Nuclear War Effects and Scientific Research

The Nuclear Threat Initiative

Global systems are interdependent in ways that generate potential for cascading effects, which in case of a nuclear war could impact populations …

The Federation of American Scientists Urges Support of UN Draft Resolution on Nuclear War Effects

Federation of American Scientists

… nuclear war. “Whether people support or oppose nuclear weapons, they deserve to know what the consequences of nuclear use are. An independent fact …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

NTI Statement in Support of the UN Resolution on Nuclear War Effects and Scientific Research

The Nuclear Threat Initiative

These insights are essential not only for informed nuclear policy and decision-making but also to educate citizens around the world about the risks of …

Takeaways from AP story on Ukrainian schools built underground to guard against bombs …

AP News

Since the start of the war, Russia has repeatedly alluded to its nuclear weapons stockpile without leveling direct threats. In September, Russian …

Russian Threats To Elon Musk And Strikes On SpaceX Dishes Skyrocket – Forbes

Forbes

The Kremlin has repeatedly threatened to detonate nuclear weapons … nuclear war.” The SpaceX leader also rushed to brief White House 

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Erta Ale Volcano (Ethiopia): Violent Lava Overflow Episode from Summit Vent

Volcano Discovery

List and interactive map of current and past earthquakes near Yellowstone volcano.

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Oct 30, 2024

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Wednesday, (10/30/2024)

I love the opening paragraph in this article from “NPR” . . . It echoes my own thoughts and concerns exactly. And then there is the 2nd article I have added on to this one today that makes one wonder if ‘Big Tech’ and their “AI” want to power-up the new style SMRs (Small Modular Reactors), not with the limited typical 5% nuclear fuel of the past, but with up to 20% nuclear fuel, or, in other words, nuclear bomb power potential. Apparently technical data corporations have lost control of their sanity, or AI has already taken over . . . ~llaw

Article 1: (from the Article: Why does this sound like the plot to some end of the world movie where AI and nuclear power get together?

Tech companies look to renewable energy to power AI

By Dara Kerr,

A Martínez

Published October 29, 2024 at 3:28 AM MDT

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

There is an arms race for artificial intelligence. Every major tech company is working on it. The downside? Well, AI uses a lot of energy, far more than your typical web search. Now some companies are planning to bring back a surprising source of energy – nuclear power. NPR tech reporter Dara Kerr is here to talk about it. Dara, why does this sound like the plot to some end of the world movie where AI and nuclear power get together?

DARA KERR, BYLINE: Yes, this is about AI’s energy usage, and all the companies are working on AI right now, and it just eats up power. For example, a ChatGPT query uses about 10 times as much energy as a Google search. And that energy mostly comes from traditional power plants, which, as we know, are highly polluting. And they release greenhouse gases into the air. So the tech companies are looking at alternative power sources to help fuel their AI. Earlier this month, Amazon and Google both announced they’re investing in small nuclear reactors. And another big tech company, Microsoft, says it’s planning to revive Three Mile Island. You remember Three Mile Island, right? It’s that power plant in Pennsylvania that infamously had a partial meltdown in the ’70s.

MARTÍNEZ: I do remember Three Mile Island. Wow. So why are they doing this?

KERR: All of the tech companies say they’re doing this to help meet their climate goals. All of the top five tech companies have the ambitious goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2030. That includes Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook parent Meta. So nuclear energy doesn’t release greenhouse gases. It also doesn’t burn fossil fuels like coal and gas, and fossil fuels are the primary driver of climate change. And unlike other renewable energies such as wind and solar, nuclear delivers a lot of energy all of the time. And that’s important to these companies who need huge amounts of power 24/7 to feed their AI.

MARTÍNEZ: So it sounds like a good thing for addressing climate change. I mean, how long will all this take?

KERR: That’s the thing, A. It’s expected to take at least a decade or even more. Building nuclear reactors or reviving old ones like Three Mile Island is expensive and time-consuming. They’re heavily regulated to ensure safety, and that means everything takes a while. And these small, modular power plants that Amazon and Google are looking at are really a different kind of technology. We don’t have any operating in the U.S. yet. I spoke to Ivy Main, who’s been researching the energy usage of data centers for years. She says she’s skeptical of these companies’ plans.

IVY MAIN: One of the problems here is that the demand is now. And these small, modular reactors, assuming they pan out, are 10 years from now. So this is a situation of, I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.

KERR: Main says a fix for AI energy consumption needs to come now, not in several years.

MARTÍNEZ: I love the Wimpy reference from the Popeye cartoons. Now, you know, in the meantime, are tech companies looking at other types of renewable energy?

KERR: Yes. So all of the major tech companies use solar and wind power in at least some of their data centers, but solar and wind aren’t reliable 24/7. They’re also looking at other types of renewables. Google, for example, is working with a startup in Nevada that uses geothermal heat as an energy source. But a lot of these companies’ climate change commitments came before the AI boom. Both Google and Microsoft say their emissions have skyrocketed over the last couple of years, and they attribute that specifically to AI. And that’s the tension, A. These data centers that fuel AI are creating a lot of pollution right now, and the proposed solutions are years on the horizon.

MARTÍNEZ: That’s NPR’s Dara Kerr. Thank you very much.

KERR: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE AMERICAN ANALOG SET “(THEME FROM) EVERYTHING ENDS”) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Dara Kerr

Dara Kerr is a tech reporter for NPR. She examines the choices tech companies make and the influence they wield over our lives and society.

A Martínez

A Martínez is one of the hosts of Morning Edition and Up First. He came to NPR in 2021 and is based out of NPR West.

Article 2: (Whoever said nuclear fuel is “clean” doesn’t have a clue. It is the most dirty and dangerous fuel on planet Earth. It is the stuff of nuclear bombs . . . llaw)

Oklo CEO wants to make clean nuclear energy more accessible

Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton

Tue, October 29, 2024 at 1:47 PM PDT

Energy and power grid constraints look to be the biggest hurdles for Big Tech to overcome in the industry’s wider buildout of AI data center infrastructure. Tech players have begun investing in nuclear energy developers to find the clean energy output needed to power these expansions.

Oklo Inc. (OKLO) is one of these names benefitting from the trend, its stock having jumped nearly 200% over the past month. The nuclear startup is backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is also Oklo’s chairman.

Oklo Co-Founder and CEO Jake DeWitte joins Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton on Market Domination to talk about the long-term investments in small modular reactors (SMR) and the intricacies of these systems; Oklo doesn’t expect to finish building its first SMR and producing power from it until 2027.

“When you split an atom, you get almost 50 million-times more energy than when you combust like a molecule of natural gas or so. It’s incredible,” DeWitte tells Yahoo Finance. “What that means, then, is there’s a lot of energy in nuclear fuel. And actually in almost all reactors, you only use about 5% of the fuel in one pass through the reactor. And there’s reasons why long story short, is you could put more fuel in, it could run for longer. But that comes at increased cost for the added systems you would need to manage all that.”

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm told Yahoo Finance that her department’s focus will be on ensuring these AI data centers are powered by clean energy, while understanding the challenge in widespread SMR adoption: “Nobody wants to be the one to buy the first one.”

Oklo has already inked energy partnerships with date center providersw Equinix (EQIX) and Wyoming Hyperscale. DeWitte describes the regular business model for nuclear systems as “clunky.”

“One of the things that we set out to do in the beginning was, was make it easier to buy what people really want from nuclear systems, in other words, make it easier to buy nuclear power because the clean, reliable, affordable power, that’s the stuff people really want,” DeWitte explains.

“We’re unique because we actually make that easy — we design, we own, we operate the plants, we contract someone to build them, and then we just sell the power out to the customers through off-take agreements. That makes it easy for them to buy what they want.”

For more coverage on Big Tech’s adoption of nuclear energy, catch Yahoo Finance’s respective interviews with X-energy CEO Clay Sell about Amazon’s (AMZN) investment into the nuclear reactor designer and Kairos Power Co-Founder and CEO Mike Laufer’s input on the nuclear startup’s partnership with Alphabet’s Google (GOOG, GOOGL).

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There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There is one Yellowstone Caldera bonus story available in this evening’s Post.)
7. IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Wednesday, (10/30/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Meet America’s secret team of nuclear first responders – NPR

NPR

NEST has always kept a low profile, partially because almost everything it does related to nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism is classified, but …

Tech companies look to renewable energy to power AI – KSJD

KSJD

All Streams. Home · About · KSJD · Sunflower Theatre · Community Radio … There’s been a lot of talk about nuclear, but those projects are years …

Oklo CEO wants to make clean nuclear energy more accessible – Yahoo Finance

Yahoo Finance

… nuclear fuel. And actually in almost all reactors, you only use about 5% of the fuel in one pass through the reactor. And there’s reasons why long …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

At Three Mile Island, a Test of Nuclear Power’s Promise – The New York Times

The New York Times

The Pennsylvania plant, site of the worst U.S. nuclear energy accident, is at the forefront of efforts to expand nuclear capacity to meet rising …

Czech watchdog prohibits nuclear power contract signing amid appeals – Reuters

Reuters

The Czechs plan to use the new nuclear power units, together with small modular reactors and renewable sources, to replace a fleet of coal-fired …

Tech companies are showing a new, strong interest in nuclear power. Here’s why.

Atlantic Council

Earlier this month, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google announced partnerships and investments in advanced nuclear reactor developers.

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Explained: What Is US Financial Emergency That SpaceX Founder Elon Musk Is Talking About

ETV Bharat

… emergencies separately. Under Article 352, if … Explained: How Navy’s 4th Nuclear–Powered Submarine Launch Enhances India’s Strategic Sea Power.

Troops join emergency responders in search for missing after flash floods in Valencia, Spain

Explore SE Iowa

More than 1,000 troops had been deployed to the province to help with the emergency response, the Military Emergencies … nuclear power plant · Explore …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Putin Holds Strategic Nuclear Drills Days Before US Election – Bloomberg.com

Bloomberg.com

Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw strategic nuclear drills a week before the US presidential election, boasting of improved capabilities …

Investigating the Climate Impacts of Nuclear War | National Security Archive

National Security Archive – The George Washington University

UPDATESee the original June 2, 2022, posting below this updateWashington, D.C., October 30, 2024 – A 1983 study from scientists at the Department …

Russia fires missiles to simulate ‘massive’ response to a nuclear attack – CNA

CNA

MOSCOW: Russia test-fired missiles over distances of thousands of miles on Tuesday (Oct 29) to simulate a “massive” nuclear response to an enemy …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Russia’s Putin launches drill of nuclear forces simulating strikes – Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera

“Given the growing geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new external threats and risks, it is important to have modern and constantly ready-to- …

Russia Simulates ‘Massive’ Nuclear Response to Enemy Attack – The Moscow Times

The Moscow Times

“In light of rising geopolitical tensions and emerging external threats, it is essential to have modern and combat-ready strategic forces,” the …

Russia fires missiles to simulate ‘massive’ response to a nuclear attack

South China Morning Post

… nuclear response to an enemy first strike. Advertisement. “Given the growing geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new external threats and risks 

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Often overlooked, West Thumb Geyser Basin is one of Yellowstone’s most scenic spaces

Idaho Capital Sun

The caldera is relatively small by Yellowstone standards and is nested within the much larger 47 x 29 miles, 631,000-year-old Yellowstone Caldera.

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Oct 29, 2024

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A NEST AgustaWestland 139 helicopter equipped with special radiation monitoring equipment on display during the team’s 50th anniversary celebration at Joint Base Andrews. The helicopters, which measure radiation by flying low and slowly, are deliberately painted with a civilian color scheme to avoid the “black helicopter” stereotype.

LLAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Tuesday, (10/29/2024)

In addition to the following article on secret nuclear health and safety investigations, there is another story in today’s blog that will emphasize that this job will become an international effort of great importance if SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) are eventually spread around the world, especially dealing with the control of nuclear terrorism, that I discussed in my recent post #792 on on Saturday, October 26th, concerning tyrannical and terrorist elements as well as avoiding a “black market” for nuclear fuel, all of which goes far beyond health and safety, and which is already more than enough danger to humanity. ~llaw

The related story, which offers the potential ‘bright side’ of SMR nuclear energy without considering the more-than-obvious ‘dark side’, link is available in the Nuclear Power section of TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Tuesday, (10/29/2024), from You Tube titled, Small modular reactors could give developing countries access to nuclear energy

Meet America’s secret team of nuclear first responders

October 29, 20246:00 AM ET

Geoff Brumfiel

Members of the Nuclear Emergency Support Team training for a radiological contamination scenario. For 50 years, the secretive team has been the first line of defense against nuclear emergencies.

NNSA

In an aircraft hangar at Joint Base Andrews, just outside of Washington, DC, one of the government’s most secretive groups gathered recently to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Though there were drinks, cake and speeches, right from the start, it was clear this was not an ordinary birthday party.

“Please note that this is an unclassified event, so please understand that there is a lot that our people are not going to be able to discuss,” Rick Christensen, the director of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s office of nuclear incident response told the small crowd sitting in folding chairs.

The group is known as the Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST). It’s made primarily of people who work elsewhere in the government—scientists, federal law enforcement personnel, and regulators—who all take time out of their day jobs to prepare for a nuclear incident. Think of it as a volunteer fire department – except the volunteers have high-level security clearances and they respond to nuclear threats.

NEST has always kept a low profile because almost everything it does related to nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism is classified, and because it doesn’t want to alarm people. 

But in an era when the Pentagon says the world is facing new nuclear threats and challenges, the group is trying to be slightly more open about its mission.

“We are always ready, 24-7, and always prepared to deploy,” says Wendin Smith, the Deputy Under Secretary for Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation at the Department of Energy, which runs NEST. She hopes talking more openly about the mission might help people feel more assured, as well as deter adversaries who may be out to cause nuclear mayhem.

Cold War origin story

The history of the team sounds like it belongs in a spy thriller.

It all began in 1974, when a person going by the name “Captain Midnight” threatened to set off a nuclear bomb somewhere in Boston unless they were paid $200,000.

Government scientists from the nation’s nuclear weapons laboratories rushed to an airbase near Boston, but missed flights and problems with their equipment meant they never actually entered the city. The crisis ended when the FBI left a bag containing phony bills at the ransom spot, but nobody came. The incident was deemed a hoax, according to the 2009 book Defusing Armageddon, which details the history of the NEST group.

Then-president Gerald Ford was appalled, and six months later the government created NEST to aid in the response to, “lost or stolen nuclear weapons and special nuclear materials, nuclear bomb threats, and radiation dispersal threats,” according to the secret memorandum that set up the team.

It quickly found work. In 1978, NEST deployed in Canada’s remote Northwest Territories to recover debris from a crashed Soviet reconnaissance satellite that was powered by uranium. A year later, NEST helicopters circled over the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, after one of the plant’s reactors partially melted down. At the time, little was known about how much radiation had leaked from the plant, and it was NEST who helped collect the necessary data to guide evacuation orders.

In 2011, NEST experts and equipment flew to Fukushima, Japan, after a nuclear power plant there melted down and spewed a plume of radioactivity across the countryside.

The mission was “to help the Japanese government understand what is being released from the damaged reactors, and where is that plume going, where is it deposited on the ground,” says Jay Tilden, the DOE’s head of intelligence and counterintelligence who until recently ran NEST.

NEST does more than survey areas for radioactivity. Teams also train to search for and disarm nuclear weapons that are lost or damaged. And they learn how to evaluate other terrorist threats—for example, using nuclear material to make a so-called “dirty bomb.”

There’s less that can be openly discussed about those missions, but, Tilden says, NEST doesn’t want to be seen as a shadowy government agency flying around in black helicopters. In fact, when the group purchased new helicopters a few years ago, he explicitly avoided the color.

A NEST AgustaWestland 139 helicopter equipped with special radiation monitoring equipment on display during the team’s 50th anniversary celebration at Joint Base Andrews. The helicopters, which measure radiation by flying low and slowly, are deliberately painted with a civilian color scheme to avoid the “black helicopter” stereotype.

NNSA

“We didn’t even want them dark gray because they look military,” he says. “We wanted to be very distinct. We’re a civil agency and when those aircraft are flying they’re flying largely for a public health and safety mission.”

The aircraft have a two-toned, blue-and-gray color scheme, and the government agents who fly them around aren’t exactly men in black either. They are folks like Jacqueline Brandon, a physical chemist who works as a mission manager for NEST.

“When I found out as a scientist I get to fly in a helicopter and do real national security missions, I was like, ‘sign me up right away!’ ” Brandon recalls.

Her job is to sit in the back of the helicopter scanning for signs of radioactivity as the helicopter flies low to the ground.

“To me it’s like a rollercoaster ride, I love it,” she says.

Constantly watching

She’s airborne a lot. This year alone, NEST aircraft have flown above the Super Bowl, the Boston Marathon and both Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Part of their job is to monitor large events like these even when there’s no specific threat.

And then there’s the calls they haven’t planned for.

“They happen periodically,” she says. When they do, “we’ll pack up all of our gear and be up and be in the air in four hours and flying over whatever we’re trying to fly over.”

Brandon didn’t want to get into too many specifics about what might spur a NEST team into action, but Smith, the current head of NEST, was willing to talk in broad strokes.

NEST scientist Jacqueline Brandon displays radiation detection equipment inside one of NEST’s helicopters. “When I found out as a scientist I get to fly in a helicopter and do real national security missions, I was like sign me up right away,” she says.

G. Brumfiel/NPR

“We don’t provide the details but I would say on a weekly basis there’s either an unknown event that triggers the deployment of a NEST team or a question from a local responder,” she says.

Smith says nuclear materials are more a part of daily life than most people may realize. They’re used in oil and gas drilling, and in a lot of medical applications. Sometimes people are even injected with radioactive dye to aid with medical imaging.

In fact, somebody with radioactive dye in their body caused a recent NEST response. A team was called out after local police found a radioactive puddle in a fast food parking lot somewhere in America.

Smith says they quickly identified the source. “If somebody doesn’t use a public restroom and happens to alleviate their need in a parking lot, then that can cause a troubled signature if there is indeed an isotope, a medical isotope involved,” she says.

Of course NEST prepares for far worse. Smith is less open about those dark scenarios, but she says, “the fact that people understand that NEST exists…is important to help people sleep at night.”

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA”:

There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There is one Yellowstone Caldera bonus story available in this evening’s Post.)
7. IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Tuesday, (10/29/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Meet America’s secret team of nuclear first responders – NPR

NPR

NEST has always kept a low profile because almost everything it does related to nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism is classified, and because it …

Starting a nuclear reactor: It’s all in the preparation and slow and careful actions (Part 1)

ANSTO

Reactor operators and shift supervisors, including Shift Engineer Simon Thomas, complete this startup sequence routinely to achieve criticality. Read …

Israeli Strikes Knocked Out All Of Iran’s S-300 Air Defense Systems: Officials – The War Zone

The War Zone

The apparent destruction of the last three Iranian S-300s would pave the way for expanded Israeli airstrikes. The apparent destruction of the last …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

What it will take to restart decommissioned US nuclear plants. A primer

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Nuclear plant restarts at Palisades and Three Mile Island Unit 1 are a test case for the future of the US nuclear industry, a former assistant …

Small modular reactors could give developing countries access to nuclear energy

YouTube

Experts say small modular reactors, called SMRs, are bringing affordable nuclear energy to less wealthy countries. But what are SMRs and why are …

Japanese nuclear reactor which survived earthquake that badly damaged Fukushima power …

ABC News – The Walt Disney Company

… nuclear energy to provide stable power and reduce carbon emissions. The No. 2 reactor at the Onagawa nuclear power plant on Japan’s northern coast …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Meet America’s secret team of nuclear first responders – NPR

NPR

… nuclear emergencies. … A year later, NEST helicopters circled over the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, after one of the plant’s reactors …

Full-scale nuclear emergency exercise set for October 29 and 30 – City of Saint John

City of Saint John

On behalf of NB Power NB Power, in partnership with the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization (NBEMO), will conduct Synergy 2024, …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Russia Simulates ‘Massive’ Nuclear Response to Enemy Attack – The Moscow Times

The Moscow Times

Russia’s military test-fired ballistic missiles across the country Tuesday to simulate a “massive” nuclear response to an attack on the country.

“Most Difficult Stage”: Russia Begins Nuclear Drill, West Plans Response – NDTV

NDTV

Russia’s nuclear forces today began a special exercise after orders were received from President Vladimir Putin. The move comes at a critical …

Russia drill simulates “massive nuclear strike” in response to enemy attack, Moscow says

CBS News

Nuclear submarines test-fired ICBMs, while nuclear-capable bombers carried out practice launches of long-range cruise missiles, …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Confronting the Threats Posed by Threats of Nuclear Use | Arms Control Association

Arms Control Association

Confronting the Threats Posed by Threats of Nuclear Use. Arms … dangers of nuclear war must be avoided. For example, Washington should …

Russia fires missiles to simulate ‘massive’ response to a nuclear attack | Reuters

Reuters

… nuclear response to an enemy first strike. “Given the growing geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new external threats and risks, it is …

Why the World Needs a New UN Study on the Effects of Nuclear War

Union of Concerned Scientists

The nuclear war consequence models maintained by the Defense Threat … threats from its international bodies; an example is the ..

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

West Thumb Geyser Basin: Diverse and Exceptional Hot Springs, Mud … – National Parks Traveler

National Parks Traveler

The caldera is relatively small by Yellowstone standards and is nested within the much larger 75x 45 km (47 x 29 miles), 631,000-year-old Yellowstone …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Oct 28, 2024

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Image of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant during an IAEA visit in 2023: IAEA Imagebank/Flickr.

LAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Monday, (10/28/2024)

During the two years that I’ve been constantly railing about the inevitability of nuclear power plants “magically” becoming nuclear war weapons of mass destruction, this is the first responsible public article (other than reports from the IAEA) to my knowledge to echo my fears.

This extremely critically dangerous situation that the greater news media and the entire nuclear world remains oblivious to, or perhaps fiscally unwilling to report on, the nuclear war associated-implications. Instead they simply stick to the nuclear “accident” excuses. Anyone who knows anything about nuclear power plants clearly understands, whether they will admit it or not, that nuclear power plants are sitting ducks waiting to be used as weapons of mass destruction in nuclear war . . .

These well-voiced concerns come from Australia, historically one of the most anti-nuclear countries on the planet along with its territorial neighbor, New Zealand. These countries have always had their common sense about “all things nuclear” in high gear, and I hope they keep it forefront in their minds as Australia considers the idea of allowing commercial nuclear power plants in their country. ~llaw

War risks from nuclear power plants? Just look at Zaporizhzhia

28 Oct 2024|Henry CampbellRussia–Ukraine war

Proposals for nuclear power in Australia will have to take national security risks into account.

As evidenced in an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report released in September, Russia’s occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine continues to create high risk of a nuclear disaster. In considering future conflicts, no one can safely assume that an enemy will avoid targeting nuclear power stations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s repeated threats to use nuclear weapons and new nuclear doctrine are alarming. But, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned at the United Nations on 25 September, the immediate nuclear risk is at Zaporizhzhia.

The Zaporizhzhia plant has been on or near the frontline since the Russian invasion in February 2022, exposed to nearby combat and, since Russian seizure in March 2022, dangerous mismanagement. There is significant risk of an accidental or intentional nuclear incident at the plant.

It is no longer tenable to argue that nuclear power plants are protected in conflicts by taboo. This must be considered as the Australian Liberal-National opposition proposes building seven major nuclear power plants and two small modular reactors in Australia.

The IAEA, the global nuclear watchdog, has been clear on the risks associated with the Zaporizhzhia plant. As established in the most recent and earlier reports, Russia’s actions during the conflict have either partially or fully compromised all seven of the IAEA’s ‘indispensable pillars’ of nuclear security. Notably, this framework was developed only in response to the invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s unprecedented wartime targeting and occupation of nuclear facilities.

Physical integrity (Pillar 1) and safety and security systems (Pillar 2) have been compromised by damage to the plant from direct attacks and nearby combat. The plant was first shelled in March 2022 when Russia seized control. More recently, on 27 June, an external radiation monitoring system 16km away was destroyed by shelling—which also compromised radiation monitoring and emergency preparedness (Pillar 6).

Drone strikes targeted the plant in April and July, and IAEA monitoring teams at the plant reported nearby explosions as recently as September. In August, fires at the plant coincided with the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk, with large amounts of smoke billowing from a cooling tower.

In 2023, Russia conducted unauthorised structural changes and Russian forces even stored explosives in proximity to a nuclear reactor. Additionally, anti-personnel mines were also laid between the plant’s inner and outer fences in 2022, and more mines were laid in January 2024.

The capacity of operating staff, (Pillar 3) has been affected by the treatment of Ukrainian employees at the plant, including physical violence and torture, some fatal, by occupying Russian military and security forces. Workers have also been denied access to critical security systems and exposed to high stress. The chain of command has become unclear, resulting in conflicting messages to workers.

Shelling and other damage to the nearby city of Enerhodar has left workers and their families in poor living conditions, intermittently without power or fresh water supply. By early 2024, Ukrainian employees were reportedly no longer permitted at the facility. It is now operating with a personnel shortage: the plant has about 5000 workers, down from the pre-war peak of 11,000. In May, remaining staff were reporting severe psychological stress.

Russia has also weakened the facility’s necessary off-site power supply (Pillar 4). Since Russia tried to connect it to the Russian energy grid, the plant has lost three 750kV power lines and five of its 330kV backup power lines. It now operates with one of each and has suffered eight complete losses of off-site power. External power supply is essential to secure operation of the plant and continued operation of safety systems. In early 2024, the plant went 23 consecutive days without a backup connection.

As for Pillar 5 (an uninterrupted supply chain), the IAEA has reported the plant’s fragile logistics for spare or replacement parts and safety equipment. This is in part due to reliance on equipment from Western suppliers. Pillar 7, the requirement for reliable communications, has been compromised by the limitations on communication between the plant and the Ukrainian energy grid operator.

Additional threats have come from the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June 2023, an event that is widely attributed to Russia. This reduced water supply to the Zaporizhzhia plant for cooling reactors and spent fuel.

Russia has targeted other Ukrainian nuclear facilities, too. The Institute of Physics and Technology in Kharkiv, which housed a small experimental reactor, was destroyed from the air in March 2022. Moscow has also continually spread disinformation and stoked nuclear fears, most recently regarding the security of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant after the Ukrainian advance into the region.

This is a lesson on the vulnerability of nuclear infrastructure during a conflict. Political leaders and policymakers must pay attention to it as they consider domestic energy policy.

Author

Henry Campbell is the strategic engagement and program manager of ASPI’s Northern Australian Strategic Policy Centre (NASPC), Strategic Policing and Law Enforcement Program and Counterterrorism Program.

Image of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant during an IAEA visit in 2023: IAEA Imagebank/Flickr.

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA”:

There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)
7. IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Monday, (10/28/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

From Nvidia to nuclear power to extra spicy hot sauce – Yahoo Finance

Yahoo Finance

Building a 21st-century media company: The traditional media industry continues to be disrupted by everything from new streaming networks to creators …

How the US can counter Russian and Chinese nuclear threats in space – Atlantic Council

Atlantic Council

As China and Russia bolster their counterspace capabilities, the United States must modernize its space-based nuclear command.

Bill Gates Is Pouring Billions Into Nuclear Power. Is This the Best Nuclear Stock to Buy Now?

AOL.com

… all signed deals for nuclear energy. That’s not a … Investors in NuScale Power are thinking all about the upside of SMR technology right now.

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Sam Altman-backed energy stock surges amid AI-driven ‘nuclear power renaissance’

Yahoo Finance

Oklo’s stock has surged as investors look to nuclear energy stocks as the next big AI trade. But the company and its competitors face several …

Donald Trump Takes A Skeptical View Of Nuclear Energy On Joe Rogan’s Podcast

HuffPost

Former President Donald Trump took a skeptical stance on nuclear energy in his recent interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, warning that the source of …

Can Big Tech revive nuclear power? – E&E News by POLITICO

E&E News

The multitrillion-dollar cloud computing industry is rolling the dice on old and new reactors.

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

No deficiencies in Luzerne County’s nuclear power plant emergency response drill

The Sunday Dispatch

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission also reviewed the capabilities of nuclear plant operators to recognize, classify and communicate simulated emergency …

Emergency towers erected following catastrophic NSW storm – Energy Magazine

Energy Magazine

The utility said that three more emergency towers have been safely … Nuclear power public hearing kicks off. by Sarah MacNamara · October 28 …

Thousands in Plymouth to receive ‘emergency alert’ this week

Plymouth Live

… nuclear powered submarines for the Royal Navy. Residents can sign up to receive the emergency alerts through the Council’s website. READ MORE …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Why We All Need a U.N. Study of the Effects of Nuclear War | Scientific American

Scientific American

A new United Nations expert study of the effects of nuclear war would spur informed and inclusive global debate on what nuclear war means for …

War risks from nuclear power plants? Just look at Zaporizhzhia | The Strategist

ASPI Strategist

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s repeated threats to use nuclear weapons and new nuclear doctrine are alarming. But, as Ukrainian President …

Former Trump Official Warns of Nuclear War Scenario – Newsweek

Newsweek

Former national security adviser Robert O’Brien said Ukrainian NATO membership would be “too provocative” and suggested security guarantees as an …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

War risks from nuclear power plants? Just look at Zaporizhzhia | The Strategist

ASPI Strategist

Subscribe. War risks from nuclear power plants? Just look at … Russian President Vladimir Putin’s repeated threats to use nuclear weapons and new …

How the US can counter Russian and Chinese nuclear threats in space – Atlantic Council

Atlantic Council

Today, two evolving threats pose new challenges for NC3. First, China is improving the quality and quantity of its nuclear arsenal, which raises the …

Why We All Need a U.N. Study of the Effects of Nuclear War | Scientific American

Scientific American

… risks posed by nuclear war plans and nuclear deterrence threats. In September the U.N.’s member states overwhelmingly agreed on the Pact for the .

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Oct 27, 2024

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Sunday, (10/27/2024)

An interesting — and more than valid today — point of view from “Modern Diplomacy” and author Prof. Louis René Beres from a comment made in reference to the the use of the 1st atomic bombs used against Japan from physicist, Leo Szilard, who was a team member of the United States’ Manhattan Project.

May I just say, today, “The ‘hive’ is much larger these days.” ~llaw

Survival Limits of Military Nuclear Power: Israel and “The Sting of the Bee”

Even while Israel remains the only regional atomic power, a nuclear war with the Islamic Republic remains possible.

ByProf. Louis René Beres

October 27, 2024

In a now classic 1965 article on nuclear weapons,[1] physicist Leo Szilard offered a clarifying metaphor on different types of national nuclear capability. For some situations, the Manhattan Project physicist explained, belligerent use of nuclear ordnance could become self-annihilating. Recalling that one type of honey bee dies after it has stung, Szilard proceeded to identify certain “weaker” nuclear states as those with “sting of the bee” survival limits.

Such imaginative characterizations remain relevant to world politics.  Were he writing today about possible Russian or North Korean interventions on behalf of Iran, Szilard would likely caution Israel that even its most powerful nuclear weapons could be immobilized by such surrogate foes. In essence, Szilard would warn Israel against ever being reduced to “bee sting” nuclear status. Following Israel’s October 26 self-defense retaliations against Iranian aggression – lawful counter-attacks against an enemy displaying continuously criminal intent or mens rea – this would be an appropriate warning.

For Israel’s senior military planners, issues of Iranian nuclearization are already dense and soon-to-be opaque. Even while Israel remains the only regional atomic power, a nuclear war with the Islamic Republic remains possible. More precisely, even a pre-nuclear Iran could bring Israel to the point where Jerusalem’s only strategic options would be intolerable capitulations or nuclear escalations. In effect, the second option would represent an “asymmetrical nuclear war.”

Would Israel allow itself to reach such an “all-or-nothing” decisional precipice? Though there are several persuasive answers, all that really matters is that Jerusalem consider this chilling prospect with attention to force-multiplying intersections and “synergies.”  Accordingly, a one-sided nuclear war scenario should come to mind in which Iran would target Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor and/or employ radiation dispersal weapons against the Jewish State. Unique escalations could also follow in the wake of an Iranian resort to biological or electromagnetic pulse (EMP) ordnance. In a next-to-worst-case scenario, Israel would be prevented from striking preemptively against designated Iranian targets by Russian and/or North Korean nuclear threats. The worst-case scenario would be a “bolt-from-the-blue nuclear attack launched by Russia or North Korea (or both together).

Where does Jerusalem actually stand on such existential challenges? Looking toward its steadily-expanding conflict with Iran, any “one-off” preemption against Iranian weapons and infrastructures (an act of “anticipatory self-defense” under international law) would be problematic. At this late stage, any such defensive action would need to be undertaken in increments and during an ongoing war. In 2003, when this writer’s Project Daniel Group[2] presented its early report on Iranian nuclearization to then-Israeli PM Ariel Sharon, Iranian targets had already become more daunting than had been Iraq’s Osiraq reactor on June 7, 1981 (“Operation Opera”).

What next? There is a revealing strategic dialectic. During any expanding war against Iran, Israel could calculate that it has no choice but to launch multiple and mutually-reinforcing preemptive strikes against specific enemy targets.

At the same time, Russian and/or North Korean threats of support for Iran could lay the groundwork for a multi-state nuclear war, one that could come to involve the United States and/or China. While it might be tempting to claim such jaw-dropping interventions as “speculative” or “unlikely,” there is no science-based way to estimate the probabilities of any unique event. True probabilities can never be determined ex nihilo, or “out of nothing.”

There would be variously important qualifications. To the extent that they might still be usefully estimated, the risks of an Israel-Iran nuclear war will depend on whether such a conflict would be intentional, unintentional, or accidental. Apart from applying this critical three-part distinction, there could be no adequate reason to expect operationally-gainful strategic assessments of any such war.  Ensuring existential protections from openly declared Iranian aggressions, Jerusalem should always bear in mind that even the Jewish State’s physical survival can never be “guaranteed.” At some point, even a nuclear weapons state could be left with only “the sting of the bee.”

There are further nuances. An unintentional or inadvertent nuclear war between Jerusalem and Teheran could take place not only as the result of misunderstandings or miscalculations between rational leaders, but also as the unintended consequence of mechanical, electrical, or computer malfunction. This should bring to analyzing Israeli minds a further distinction between an unintentional/inadvertent nuclear war and an accidental nuclear war. Though all accidental nuclear wars must be unintentional, not every unintentional nuclear war would need to occur by accident. On one occasion or another, an unintentional or inadvertent nuclear war could be the result of fundamental human misjudgments about enemy intentions. This catastrophic result could be both irremediable and irreversible.

               History matters. An authentic nuclear war has never been fought. There are no genuine experts on “conducting” or “winning” a nuclear war. Reciprocally, Jerusalem ought always to disavow strategic counsel drawn from “common sense.” Complicated strategic problems can never be solved by “seat-of-the-pants” judgments or glaringly empty witticisms, For Israel, nothing could prove more important than to understand this imperative and to reserve complex nuclear calculations to small cadres of “high thinkers.” We are speaking here of the caliber of Szilard, Fermi, Oppenheimer, Einstein, Bohr and assorted others, not to make another “gadget,” but to plan for nuclear deterrent success via calculated non-use. All such urgent planning should be initiated on a theoretical level; it is not a task for conceptually unfortified operational designs.

               There is more. Providing for Israeli national security amid a still-nuclearizing Iran ought never to become an ad-hoc “game” of chance. Without a suitably long-term, systematic and theory-based plan in place, Israel would render itself unprepared for an Iranian nuclear conflict that is deliberate, unintentional or accidental. At every stage of its lethal competition with Tehran, Jerusalem should never lose sight of the only sensible rationale for maintaining its national nuclear weapons and doctrine. That justification is (1) stable war management at all identifiable levels; and (2) reliable nuclear deterrence.

               More than anything else, Israel’s strategic plans should include a prompt policy shift from “deliberate nuclear ambiguity” to “selective nuclear disclosure.” The core logic of this shift would not be to simply reframe the obvious (i.e., that Israel is already a nuclear power), but to remind would-be aggressors that Jerusalem’s nuclear weapons are operationally usable at all imaginable levels of warfare. Nonetheless, even with optimal prudential planning, Russian and/or North Korean threats to Israel could sometime become overwhelming.  Ipso facto, Jerusalem will need to remain prepared for all plausibly related scenarios.

               Reduced to its essentials, an authentically worst case scenario for Israel would commence with progressively explicit threats from Moscow about Israeli preemption costs. Israel, aware that it could not reasonably expect to coexist indefinitely with a nuclear Iran, would proceed with its planned preemptions in spite of the dire Russian warnings. In subsequent response, Russian military forces would begin to act directly against Israel, thereby seeking to persuade Jerusalem that Moscow is in a patently superior position to dominate all conceivable escalations. Alternatively, Putin could delegate such military responsibilities to North Korea, an Iranian ally that is presently preparing (within Russia) to augment Russian military forces against Ukraine.

 For Vladimir Putin, such persuasive effort would not be a “hard sell.” Unless the United States were willing to enter the already-chaotic situation with unambiguously support for Israel, Moscow should have no foreseeable difficulties in establishing “escalation dominance.” In this connection, well-intentioned supporters of Israel could over-estimate the Jewish State’s relative nuclear capabilities and options. Significantly, there is no clear way in which the capabilities and options of a state smaller than America’s Lake Michigan could actually “win” at competitive risk-taking vis-à-vis Russia or North Korea.  For Israel, in such unprecedented matters, self-deflating candor would be much safer than self-deluding bravado. As a strategic objective, Israel’s avoidance of “bee sting” nuclear capacity would be indispensable.

               What about the United States? Would an American president accept an alliance commitment that could place millions of Americans in positons of grievous vulnerability? For those most part, the answer would lie with the character and inclinations of the American leader. It this president would visibly assume the long-term benefits of honoring US security guarantees, the world could be looking at another Cuban Missile Crisis or some similar confrontation. If, however, this president would take the openly-stated position of candidate Donald Trump concerning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine (“Let Putin do whatever the hell he wants”),^[3] Jerusalem could have no choice but to accept a nuclear Iran. After all, a military confrontation with Russia would be one in which Israel could not reasonably expect to prevail.

               There are additionally important issuers of nuclear doctrine. In his continuing war of aggression and genocide against Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has been recycling provocative elements of Soviet-era strategic thinking. One critical element concerns the absence of any apparent “firebreak” between conventional and tactical nuclear force engagements. Now, much as it was during the “classical” era of US-Soviet nuclear deterrence, Moscow identifies the determinative escalatory threshold with a first-use of high-yield, long-range strategic nuclear weapons, not a first use of tactical (theater) nuclear weapons.

               But this perilous nuclear escalation doctrine is not shared by Israel’s United States ally, and could erode any once-stabilizing barriers of intra-war deterrence between the original superpowers. Whether sudden or incremental, any such erosion could impact the plausibility of both a deliberate and inadvertent nuclear war. As Israel could need to depend on firm US support in countering Russian nuclear threats, Vladimir Putin should be granted a prominent place in Israel’s threat assessments of Iranian nuclear progress. In principle, at least, this place ought even to be preeminent.

               For Israel, the bottom-line of such dialectical analysis is an invariant obligation to analyze still-pertinent preemption–options as an intellectual task. Among other things, reaching rational judgments on defensive first strikes against a still pre-nuclear Iran will require fact-based anticipations of (1) Russian and/or North Korean intentions; and (2) United States willingness to stand by Israel in extremis. Prime facie, Israel’s growing nuclear war hazards include variously tangible scenarios of Russian or North Korean interventions on behalf of Iran. Remembering Leo Szilard’s elucidating metaphor, Jerusalem should consider in its strategic calculations that even with conspicuously refined nuclear weapons and doctrine, Israel could end up with “the sting of a bee.” 

               For the imperiled Jewish State, no such end could be survivable.

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ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA”:

There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

1. All Things Nuclear
2. Nuclear Power
3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
4. Nuclear War
5. Nuclear War Threats
6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)
7. IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Sunday, (10/27/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Israel’s first open attack on Iran targets missile sites and apparently spares oil and nuclear ones

AP News

Get caught up on what you may have missed throughout the day. See All Newsletters … things no one ever said · Russia’s central bank raises …

Israel launches airstrikes on Iran | Utah Public Radio

Utah Public Radio

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:30 PM Marketplace. 0:00. 0:00. All Things … There has been worry leading up to this that Israel might try to strike …

How Iran might react to Israeli airstrikes | Prairie Public

Prairie Public

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:00 PM … There had been great concern over the past few weeks that Israel would hit Iran’s energy or nuclear …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

The Debrief: What is behind the revival of nuclear power? – YouTube

YouTube

washingtonexaminer #nuclearpower #kamalaharris #environment #energy Washington Examiner Editor-in-Chief Hugo Gurdon joins Investigations Editor …

From Nvidia to nuclear power to extra spicy hot sauce – Yahoo Finance

Yahoo Finance

From Nvidia to nuclear power to extra spicy hot sauce · The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the …

Nuclear Energy Renaissance: Should You Buy NuScale Power Stock? – Yahoo Finance

Yahoo Finance

Companies and governments around the world are building and restarting nuclear power plants after realizing they are perfect for the growth in …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Onagawa No. 2 nuclear reactor set for restart amid mixed local reception – The Japan Times

The Japan Times

The No. 2 unit at Tohoku Electric Power’s Onagawa nuclear power … Some emergency power generators at the plant stopped functioning due to damage from …

Coalition confident new Queensland government will back nuclear power – ABC News

ABC

Nationals leader David Littleproud says he would expect the new LNP government in Queensland to work with the Coalition on nuclear power if it won …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Satellite images show damage from Israeli attack at 2 secretive Iranian military bases

AP News

… that experts in the past have linked to Tehran’s onetime nuclear weapons program and at another base tied to its ballistic missile program.

Whitmire: The long stupid saga of Kay Ivey’s nuclear war – AL.com

AL.com

This is an opinion column. On Tuesday, Gov. Kay Ivey fired a man. Veterans Affairs Commissioner Kent Davis didn’t resign to spend more time with …

Survival Limits of Military Nuclear Power: Israel and “The Sting of the Bee”

Modern Diplomacy

Even while Israel remains the only regional atomic power, a nuclear war with the Islamic Republic remains possible.

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

NATO begins its two week nuclear war exercises – Daily Excelsior

Daily Excelsior

… threat.” The announcement of the nuclear exercises came just as survivors of the two US atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima …

Survival Limits of Military Nuclear Power: Israel and “The Sting of the Bee”

Modern Diplomacy

At the same time, Russian and/or North Korean threats of support for Iran could lay the groundwork for a multi-state nuclear war, one that could come …

Killing Iran’s nuclear program: Did Israel throw away a golden opportunity? – analysis

The Jerusalem Post

… threats by the Biden administration about weapons transfers if the … First, Jerusalem had more legitimacy to attack the nuclear program than at any …