“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 06, 2024

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Bill Gates’ TerraPower plans to build the first US next-generation nuclear plant

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Wednesday, (06/05/2024)

I’ve posted today’s You Tube video about the trouble with the entire nuclear industry (a good part of it clearly told in 12-1/2 minutes) that speaks beyond the ridiculous idea of building new nuclear power plants of all shapes, sizes, and power, including SMRs, and why the entire concept of nuclear power is absurd as I’ve been preaching to the choir every evening for 652 consecutive days in, of course, far more detail.

But this video summarizes it all perfectly well in a style that everyone can understand and the interview confirms many of my constant complaints for most all the reasons I’m trying to tell the human race that, hey, “World, we have a problem.”

The only difference of opinion I have with the interview is that the guest believes it’s okay to allow some well-managed currently operational nuclear power plants to continue to operate, which is extremely dangerous to humanity and other life. Everything else Mr. Schlissel says duplicates my own concerns, including recognizing that if current nuclear power plants continue to operate, there is the growing issue of continuing uncontrolled amounts of dangerous nuclear waste. Of course I have many other issues that are not dealt with in the interview.

This is what Mr. Schlissel says about existing nuclear power plants continuing to operate: “I think that where existing plants are managed well, that they can continue operating and provide a minor role in the transition,” Schlissel, director of resource planning analysis at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and co-author of a paper on the problems with SMRs told us in this interview with The Register’s Brandon Vigliarolo

The projected SMR plant (Natrium) they refer to near the end of the video will not be in Idaho, but rather in Wyoming, owned by startup company TerraPower. The major shareholder is Microsoft’s originator, Bill Gates. The story, told near the end of the interview, about TerraPower’s two year delay in bringing the plant online because Russian fuel is not available to them is true, and I have mentioned that issue several times over the year-and-a-half-plus that I have been providing these nightly posts. We will forever, if we continue down this path, be blaming our lack of uranium nuclear fuel on Russia when all nuclear power plants sit aimlessly idle because there is no fuel for our reactors, which could start a nuclear war all by itself. ~llaw

Click on the link just below to listen to this short but meaningful YouTube video:

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/60UBiW4zuQA?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

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

There are 6 categories, including 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, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about 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 tonight’s Post.)

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, (06/05/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

It’s not just SMRs – we need to abandon new nuclear projects entirely – YouTube

YouTube

10 years since the first corporate ransomware and things are only getting worse. The Register•357 views · 39:41. Go to channel · ‘Financial Crisis …

UN nuclear agency’s board votes to censure Iran for failing to cooperate fully with the watchdog

KSAT

The IAEA has said inspectors believe Iran used the Varamin site from 1999 until 2003 as a pilot project to process uranium ore and convert it into a …

Droning Russia’s nuke radars is the dumbest thing Ukraine can do | Responsible Statecraft

Responsible Statecraft

Attacks on the early warning system actually highlights the fragility of peace between the world’s nuclear powers.

Nuclear Power

NEWS

US may revive some shut nuclear plants to help meet emissions goal, energy chief says

WHBL

… nuclear power plants to help meet rising demand for zero-emissions electricity, or add reactors to existing sites, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granh…

US May Revive Some Shut Nuclear Plants to Help Meet Emissions Goal, Energy Chief Says

USNews.com

The administration of President Joe Biden believes nuclear power is critical to meeting greenhouse gas reduction goals and decarbonizing the economy …

Community discusses potential Palisades Nuclear Plant reopening – WNDU

WNDU

The community …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Strengthening Global Cooperation on Nuclear Emergency Preparedness | IAEA

International Atomic Energy Agency

Experts in nuclear emergencies are meeting in … Nuclear technology and applications · Energy … Emergency Conventions and in nuclear and radiological …

TheDay.com

… Nuclear Power Station in the town’s Emergency Operation Center Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (Dana Jensen/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints. 6. June 04, 2024 8 …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Nuclear war risk ‘goes up a little bit every year,’ Newt Gingrich tells Times’ forum

Washington Times

Some analysts fear that the other side of the Russia-Ukraine war could also be a danger. While Kyiv gave up its own nuclear stockpile in the 1990s, …

Russia-Ukraine war: Biden tests Putin’s nuclear threats in Ukraine – Vox

Vox

Allowing Ukraine to fire Western weapons into Russia strengthens an ally, but risks violating an unknown red line.

In Brief: How Close Is Iran to Building A Bomb? – War on the Rocks

War on the Rocks

… nuclear weapons? Read more below. Eric Brewer Deputy Vice President, Nuclear Materials Security Program Nuclear Threat Initiative The latest reports.

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Russia-Ukraine war: Biden tests Putin’s nuclear threats in Ukraine – Vox

Vox

The US tests Putin’s nuclear threats in Ukraine. Allowing Ukraine to fire Western weapons into Russia strengthens an ally, but risks violating an …

Ukrainian military observer on NATO’s war with Russia and nuclear threats – Radio NV video – Yahoo

Yahoo

NATO’s preparations for a possible war with Russia and Moscow’s latest nuclear threats were discussed with military observer Denys Popovych in an …

Russian Official Floats New NATO Target for Nuclear Strike – Newsweek

Newsweek

… threats from France, Britain and the U.S.. The Russian Ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, has warned against underestimating the threat of …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

America’s most dangerous volcanoes

MSN

Yellowstone Caldera, WY. The volcanic eruptions that formed … The Yellowstone Volcano is sometimes called a supervolcano. You may also like …

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“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 05, 2024

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Illustration by Brian Stauffer.

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Tuesday, (06/04/2024)

This absolutely frightening article dovetails off of my “All Things Nuclear” Post from yesterday where I asked you, the reader, two simple questions concerning the possibility of another Trump presidency: . . . “who on planet Earth would want to allow this man access to the nuclear button?” and “who on Earth would want to go through Trump’s never-ending obsessive pathological lying again?”

Here is the ‘ultimate’ reason explained by “The Nation” writer William D. Hartung: If this well-documented article from “The Nation” concerning the right wing Republicans, who should not be referred to as Conservatives ever again, radical “Project 25” doesn’t provide you with an instant answer to my yesterday’s questions, while at the same time scaring the hell out of you, nothing will. ~llaw

Conservatives Are Gearing Up for a Major Military Expansion Under Trump 2.0

If Project 2025 gets its way, a second Trump term will funnel more money to the Pentagon, dwarfing even the Biden administration’s spending.

WILLIAM D. HARTUNG

Current Issue: June 2024 Issue

This article is part of “Project 2025: The Plot Against America,” a Nation special issue devoted to unpacking the right’s vast and chilling program for a second Trump term.

This article appears in the June 2024 issue, with the headline “Masters of War.”

When I dipped into the 195-page section on “The Common Defense” in Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, my first question was how even the most hawkish of hawks could be disappointed with a Pentagon budget that is now soaring toward $1 trillion a year—hundreds of billions of dollars more than at the height of the Vietnam War or the peak year of the Cold War. I was particularly intrigued because the author of its chapter on the Pentagon is Christopher Miller, who, after a brief stint as acting secretary of defense under Donald Trump, wrote a memoir in which he asserted that our military is “bloated and wasteful” and argued that we could “cut our defense budget in half and it would still be nearly twice as big as China’s.”

Unfortunately, Miller the budget cutter is nowhere to be found here. Instead, Miller calls for expanding the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Space Force and increasing the funding for nuclear weapons, missile defense, and offensive weapons in space. Perhaps that’s because, according to a number of veteran Pentagon watchers, he is the current favorite to serve as secretary of defense in the unfortunate event of a second Trump administration.

Miller conveniently fails to mention how much all of his proposals will cost. At a minimum, they would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the Pentagon’s spending plan for the next five years—and they would do so at the expense of everything else we need to protect the lives and livelihoods of the people of America and the world, from promoting public health to addressing climate change to rebuilding basic infrastructure to reducing poverty and hunger.

The central component of Miller’s ultra-muscular approach to “defense” is to double down on efforts to create a military that can beat China in a potential conflict. “By far the most significant danger to Americans’ security, freedoms, and prosperity is China,” he warns, adding, with some redundancy, that “U.S. defense strategy must identify China unequivocally as the top priority for U.S. defense planning.” Far from ensuring this country’s safety, however, a military-first approach to China increases the prospects for a war between nuclear-armed powers that we should be doing everything in our power to prevent. (For more on Project 2025’s plans for the US-China relationship, see Jake Werner’s “A New Exclusion Act” in this issue.)

To its credit, Mandate for Leadership makes a frank admission of the severe split within the Republican Party over the conflict in Ukraine. It notes that one conservative faction argues for “continued U.S. involvement including military aid, economic aid, and the presence of NATO and U.S. troops if necessary” (emphasis added), while the other side wants a negotiated end to the conflict and “denies that U.S. Ukrainian support is in the national security interest of America at all.”

Meanwhile, Miller’s proposals for changes in nuclear policy, missile defense, and the militarization of space are both straightforward and extremely aggressive: building more nuclear-armed bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles than are currently planned, ensuring the viability of warheads on existing missiles, and developing new types of nuclear weapons. Keep in mind that these increases would come on top of the Pentagon’s current $2 trillion plan to build a new generation of nuclear weapons. It’s a recipe for an accelerated three-way arms race with Russia and China that will make a nuclear confrontation more likely.

Given Miller’s unalloyed militarism here, it’s not surprising that he calls for sharp increases in spending on missile defense and space war—items that have been near-sacred commitments of the Republican national security elite ever since Ronald Reagan’s 1983 “Star Wars” speech. The Project 2025 Mandate proposes the closest thing to a comprehensive missile defense program since that failed effort of the 1980s. Perhaps most important, Miller denies the very real likelihood that building up “defensive” systems will only provoke rival nuclear powers to increase their deployments of offensive weapons in return.

The flip side of such wholesale militarism is Miller’s call to jettison diplomacy. Among the chapter’s major proposals are plans to “streamline” the State Department by means of a deep restructuring; to issue a freeze on international agreements that are not enshrined in formal treaties; and to withdraw from international organizations like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and the World Health Organization.

While much of Miller’s chapter is a familiar right-wing wish list for US military dominance—albeit a Trumped-up version—there is one element that is decidedly new: the obsession with rooting out “Left” ideas like diversity, equity, and “gender radicalism.” Miller takes aim at these on the very first page, claiming that “the Biden Administration’s profoundly unserious equity agenda and vaccine mandates have taken a serious toll” on the military—and he goes on to blame the current low recruitment numbers on Biden-era interventions. Never mind that potential recruits may be having second thoughts after looking at the disastrous wars of this century—wars that have resulted in the deaths or severe physical and psychological wounding of hundreds of thousands of US troops, to say nothing of the massive death toll, devastation, and destabilization of the targeted countries. For Miller, the blame lies with DEI and public health.

The degree of focus on these issues is so far over the top that it’s hard to know whether it’s cynical, delusional—or both. For example, one of Miller’s major recommendations is to “eliminate Marxist indoctrination and divisive critical race theory programs and abolish newly established diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and staff.”

Elsewhere, Project 2025 proposes a litmus test for military leaders: The National Security Council “should rigorously review all general and flag officer promotions to prioritize the core roles and responsibilities of the military over social engineering and non-defense related matters, including climate change, critical race theory, manufactured extremism, and other polarizing policies that weaken our armed forces and discourage our nation’s finest men and women from enlisting.”

Or, put another way, even modest efforts to root out racism, sexism, and anti-government extremism in the ranks of the US military are too much for the Project 2025 crowd to bear.

Along with its hyper-militarism, this call for a neo-McCarthyite cleansing of the military and the diplomatic corps is different in kind from what has come before. Advocates of a more peaceful world must vigorously oppose this approach to “the common defense.” But blocking these proposals is not enough. We also need to press for an alternative to current US policies, which prioritize force and the threat of force over nonmilitary tools of interaction like diplomacy, dialogue, economic cooperation, and cultural exchange.

Existing US strategy is premised on maintaining a posture of global military dominance, despite the overwhelming evidence that this approach has done far more harm than good in Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond. This is painfully evident in the Biden administration’s shameful policy of enabling Israel’s criminal attacks on Gaza.

We need to articulate a new vision for US foreign policy that not only refutes the validity of the hawkish policies proposed by Project 2025 but also advocates for a sharp departure from our current force-based approach to solving global problems. A short-term agenda should include pushing for a cease-fire in Gaza, pulling back from the brink of a potential war with Iran, halting the new nuclear arms race, reducing Pentagon spending, and taking a more constructive approach to relations with China. The fact that Project 2025’s recommendations would make things even worse than our current course is no reason to accept the status quo. It’s just another indication of how desperately we need to reverse course.

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

There are 6 categories, including 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, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about 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 tonight’s Post.)

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, (06/04/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Worries grow about Iran-Israel hostilities spiraling into a wider regional conflict

Little Rock Public Radio

All Things Considered. Next Up: 5:00 PM On the … nuclear facilities sent a sharp warning to … Professor Daniel Byman, senior fellow at the Center for …

Conservatives Are Gearing Up for a Major Military Expansion Under Trump 2.0 | The Nation

The Nation

… nuclear-armed powers that we should be doing everything in our power to prevent. (For more on Project 2025’s plans for the US-China relationship …

US Energy official uses Georgia visit to call for more nuclear power – WUGA

WUGA

Search Query. Donate. WUGA. All Things Considered. WUGA. All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:30 PM Marketplace. 0:00. 0:00. All Things Considered. WUGA.

Nuclear Power

NEWS

CNNC extends cooperation with ENEC, EDF : Corporate – World Nuclear News

World Nuclear News

China National Nuclear Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding with Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation on strategic cooperation in …

Public and private commitment needed for US advanced nuclear deployment

World Nuclear News

Factors including project cost uncertainties and the long and expensive development process for nuclear energy projects have meant that financial …

White House hosts summit on domestic nuclear energy deployment

Nuclear Engineering International

These include “signing on to last year’s multi-country declaration at COP28 to triple nuclear energy capacity globally by 2050; developing new reactor …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

An Overview of Appropriate Medical Practice and Preparedness in Radiation Emergency Response

Cureus

… nuclear detonations, dirty bombs, and nuclear power plant accidents. In addition to the immediate risks of acute radiation syndrome (ARS) and …

UN Nuclear Watchdog’s Board Sets Emergency Meeting on Zaporizhzhia Attacks

aawsat.com

… nuclear power plant, on Sunday, hitting one reactor building, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said, adding that nuclear safety was

Nuclear War

NEW

Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow warns US of ‘fatal consequences’ – Sky News

Sky News

It will be unsafe to restart the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine as long as war rages around it, the UN nuclear watchdog …

A Just-Released Watchdog Report Makes the Case for Eliminating Land-Based Nuclear Missiles

The Nation

… nuclear war. Being the good taxpayer protection group that it is, TCS … nuclear war through mistake or miscalculation. Bold action is required if …

Poland will be wiped off the map in 10 MINUTES with two nukes eviscerating each city, Putin …

The US Sun

… nuclear war. “Are there 20 big cities there? I don’t think so. If we allocate two nuclear missiles to each city, that’s only 30-40 missiles.

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Are Putin’s Nuclear Threats Working? – Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy

Are Putin’s Nuclear Threats Working? A new book examines the past and present of Russian thinking on deterrence.

Why Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats are a flop – AFR

AFR

Why Putin’s nuclear weapons threats are a flop. The Western alliance is intensifying support for Ukraine in a way that was unthinkable at the …

History Supports Senator’s Plan to Revive the Nuclear Arsenal | RealClearDefense

RealClearDefense

But the lessons of America’s first cold war with the Soviet Union support his conviction that a sea change in the threat environment requires a …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Swimming Pools at Yellowstone? (Yellowstone Monthly Update – June 2024) – YouTube

YouTube

… Caldera Chronicles — https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/caldera-chronicles?utm_source=yvo-swimming&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nh …

Kilauea eruption prompts red alert on Hawaii’s Big Island – MSN

MSN

… caldera and north of the Koa’e fault system and Hilina Pali Road, within … What If the Yellowstone Volcano Erupted Tomorrow? 05:02. What If the …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 03, 2024

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a press conference following the verdict in his hush-money trial at Trump Tower on May 31, 2024 in New York City. /Getty Images

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Monday, (06/03/2024)

Tonight I must digress from my usual direct voice and others’ voices relative to “All Things Nuclear” except to say that this man must never, ever, set foot in the Whitehouse again, elected or not. I have to wonder who on planet Earth would want to allow this man access to the nuclear button?

The article below by Ron Elving of NPR reporting on this man’s “News Conference” after being pronounced guilty in his infamous trial the day before, tells us in no uncertain terms (his own words) that this man is criminally insane, believing everyone on Earth who crosses his ego by speaking out against him is plainly seen by what he calls the presiding Judge in his trial: “He looks like an angel but he’s really a devil,” this man said of Judge Merchan. “He looks so nice and soft.” after, insanely, literally lying about what he and his legal defense were not allowed to do, as well as his verbal denigration and obvious hatred of Judge Merchan. Nearly every sentence (or phrase) that he spat out was, as his statements have always been, even long before he was President 45, were untrue. This man told over 30 thousand provable lies during the four years of his presidency, and that doesn’t count the ones when the media is out of hearing distance. Who on Earth would want to go through that again?

Given the world-wide anger and disparity among nations and an environment of potential nuclear war that we live with today, this man is in every possible way mentally unfit to be trusted or associated with any part of America’s future. ~llaw

Vintage Trump remarks after convictions renew dilemma for news media and voters alike

By Ron Elving

Published June 2, 2024 at 4:00 AM MDT

Former President Donald Trump stood in the lobby of Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan Friday morning looking somehow ill at ease in his own building.

He wore his signature suit, shirt and tie and stood alone at a lectern with five American flags and a cold stone wall behind him. Gone was the usual human backdrop of flag-waving supporters seen at MAGA rallies. He stood alone, without script or teleprompter, armed only with two sheets of paper and a look of barely controlled rage.

It was billed as a press conference to respond to the jury verdict that had convicted him on 34 charges the day before. But it was more a speech than a press conference. A contingent of reporters with cameras stood a few yards away, but Trump spoke without interruption and took no questions.

Not far off, a small crowd of supporters including some family members applauded and cheered at intervals. Trump never quite settled on which group he was addressing, connecting only sporadically with the live TV broadcast camera. Some of the TV news channels eventually cut away while he rambled on for a total of 33 minutes.

It was the same location Trump spoke from nine years ago this month when he descended “the golden escalator” to the same lobby and announced his first campaign for the Republican nomination for president. The scene that day featured Melania and Ivanka Trump, both all in white, and a forest of cameras held aloft beneath Trump’s elevated stage. Everything about those theatrics described a different time in a different world.

Trump would recall that occasion on Friday when he almost immediately started attacking immigrants, as he had in 2015.

But first, he had to deal with the moment — and the reason he was here.

“This is a case where if they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone,” Trump said, referring to the prosecutors and Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg. “These are bad people. These are in many cases, I believe, sick people.”

It was an echo of Trump’s frequent claim to his rally crowds that they and not him are the targets of all his legal woes and political adversaries.

But Trump reserved most of his vitriol for Judge Juan Merchan, who would not move the trial out of New York and denied most of the motions filed by Trump’s attorneys.

“We just went through one of many experiences where we had a conflicted judge, highly conflicted. There’s never been a more conflicted judge,” Trump said.

Trump has long tried to make an issue of Merchan’s total of $35 in contributions to Democrats in 2020 and the Democratic ties of the judge’s daughter. At Merchan’s request, both issues had been reviewed by the New York Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics and his refusal to recuse was upheld on appeal.

But Trump was back at it on Friday, and the accusations of bias were just getting started.

“As far as the trial itself, it was very unfair,” said Trump. “We weren’t allowed to use our election expert under any circumstances.”

Merchan actually did allow that expert to testify with the stipulation that the prosecution could also bring in its own expert. At that point, Trump’s team decided not to call the witness.

“You saw what happened to some of the witnesses that were on our side, they were literally crucified by this man,” Trump said, again referring to the judge.

“He looks like an angel but he’s really a devil,” Trump said of Merchan. “He looks so nice and soft.”

Hearing Roy Cohn in Trump’s words

Trump’s weeks of vituperating Merchan recall the maxim he had received half a century ago from a lawyer named Roy Cohn, who was known for saying: “Don’t tell me what the law says, tell me who the judge is.”

Cohn had a career matched by few in the legal profession. The son of a judge, he graduated from both Columbia and Columbia Law School at the age of 20 and went to work for the Justice Department. He helped to convict Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of helping the Soviets steal nuclear secrets. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover then recommended Cohn to Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who hired him to help with his hunt for communists in the government.

Cohn went on to spend 30 years representing many of the biggest names in New York, including athletes, entertainers, a cardinal and organized crime bosses. In the 1970s he represented Trump’s family real estate business when it faced federal charges for racial discrimination.

Trump himself continued to rely on Cohn for years thereafter. Even after reaching the White House in 2017, he complained that none of his many lawyers fought for him like “my Roy Cohn.”

Trump’s well-worn playbook of false statements

Trump did not let his most recent court reversal take up all his on-camera time on Friday. With live TV coverage rolling, at least for a while, he veered off his latest court reversal to attack the man he wants to replace in the White House in November.

Calling Election Day Nov. 5 “the most important day in American history,” Trump blamed Biden for all his legal travails. He said the trial in New York had been orchestrated “in Washington” to protect the incumbent administration, which he called “a fascist state.”

Trump has made these accusations before, offering no form of evidence, as he again did not on Friday. But he used the allegation of Biden involvement to pivot to attacking Biden on immigration.

It was a kind of reprise of what might be called Trump’s greatest hit. In his speech in this same venue in 2015, he had stunned the political world with his language about immigrants at the U.S. border with Mexico: “They’re not sending their best … they’re bringing drugs, they’re rapists.”

Trump on Friday broadened his assault to include a number of other specific countries and nationalities sending “millions” who were “pouring in” unchallenged across “open borders.” He mentioned Congo in Africa and China in particular.

He said the prisons of Venezuela had been “emptied out” and that countries were sending people from their mental institutions.

He offered no evidence or sources for any of these statements.

And while some of his assertions took the form of casual, unproven superlatives such as “record numbers of terrorists” entering the country, some were downright false statements starkly at odds with the facts.

Early in his Friday remarks, when he criticized the Manhattan district attorney, he had said crime was “rampant” in the city and painted it in apocalyptic terms. Crime statistics in New York City are actually much lower today than in the 1990s, a decade in which Trump ally Rudy Giuliani was elected to his two terms as mayor. Shootings and homicides are down in particular in the past two years.

But this species of misstatement or disinformation has been part of the Trump arsenal for some time. He often raises rhetorical questions and makes sweeping statements that seem to have sprung from an alternative reality.

His talent for selling his own version of reality posed a challenge to the news media as far back as his years as the star of a TV “reality show” called The Apprentice. Trump was in the middle of his 14 seasons with the show when he began publicly questioning whether President Barack Obama had been born in the U.S.

It was just this kind of falsehood — picked up and promoted by countless commenters on cable TV, websites and social media — that made Trump a political force before he was an actual candidate. And when, in the fall campaign of 2016, he informed the world that he had himself laid to rest the “birther” issue (which he blamed on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign), it forced many in the mainstream media to reexamine their longstanding aversion to the word “lie.”

By the end of Trump’s term in office, the news media had come to routinely label many of his claims as false — especially his denial of his defeat in the 2020 election. Some had also taken to labeling as lies the Trump statements they believed he had to know were false.

But Friday at Trump Tower was another reminder that as the November election gets closer and the political season comes to predominate, Trump can be expected to test and exceed the boundaries of fact and fiction one again.

Are we better prepared to deal with it this time?

Copyright 2024 NPR

NPR News

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

There are 6 categories, including 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, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about 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 tonight’s Post.)

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, (06/03/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Vintage Trump remarks after convictions renew dilemma for news media and voters alike

Boise State Public Radio

Everything about those theatrics described a different time in a different world. Trump would recall that occasion on Friday when he almost …

Vintage Trump remarks after convictions renew dilemma for news media and voters alike

Nevada Public Radio

All Things · Culture · Food and Drink · The Guide … He helped to convict Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of helping the Soviets steal nuclear secrets.

Jon Lampley, a veteran of Stephen Colbert’s talk show, releases his debut album | WEKU

WEKU

This story first aired on All Things Considered on May 28, 2024. Listen • 3:37. Load More. Stay Connected. instagram · facebook · linkedin. © 2024 …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Last Energy to advise NATO on microreactors – World Nuclear News

World Nuclear News

US microreactor developer Last Energy has formed a partnership with the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence to jointly research military …

USA announces new cooperation to support Ghana SMR plans – World Nuclear News

World Nuclear News

The signature of two key arrangements facilitated by the US Foundational Infrastructure for the Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor …

US Energy Secretary calls for more nuclear power while celebrating $35 billion Georgia reactors

Yahoo

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm called for a stronger move towards nuclear power as she toured two reactors built for $35 billion in …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEW

Limerick nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania to test emergency siren on June 3

CBS News

The emergency siren at the nuclear power plant in Limerick, Pennsylvania will be tested on Monday, June 3 at 2 p.m., Constellation Energy said.

Dept. of Health to distribute free nuclear emergency meds around power plants

NorthcentralPA.com

Berwick, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Dept. of Health has noted that potassium iodide (KI) tablets distributed to residents who live near nuclear power …

Full Siren Test To Be Held At Limerick Nuclear Plant Monday – Patch

Patch

LIMERICK, PA — The Limerick Generating Station will hold its regular semi-annual test of its emergency warning sirens on Monday afternoon.

Nuclear War

NEW

Keir Starmer says he would use nuclear weapons if needed – BBC News

BBC

… nuclear weapons system. If elected, Sir Keir said he would increase defence spending and update the UK’s nuclear arsenal. … World War Two soldiers …

UK defence chief doubts Russia wants war with NATO as he marks D-Day anniversary

Sky News

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin appears very confident the Kremlin is not looking for direct confrontation with members of the NATO alliance – and that …

NATO greenlights Ukraine’s use of weapons to target Russia, threatening nuclear war

WSWS

For the first time since the end of the Second World War, the US and its allies are directly targeting Russian territory.

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Should US weapons be used against Russian targets? – The Week

The Week

… risks of escalating America’s tensions with a nuclear-armed Russia. Until … “During the Cold War, nuclear threats were not uncommon, but the U.S. …

Russia’s nuclear threats are losing their power – Financial Times

Financial Times

But Moscow has also taken actions recently to underline its threats, with Russian troops conducting nuclear drills near the border with Ukraine. These …

Russia’s Radioactive Submarines Remain a Toxic Arctic Threat – Bellona.org

Bellona.org

… nuclear submarines that were intentionally scuttled at sea. … Other threats lurk beneath the ocean. Moscow’s … War has Ukrainian environmentalists …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

McDermitt caldera: An early caldera of the Yellowstone hotspot track – USGS.gov

USGS.gov

Yellowstone caldera is the most recent in a series of volcanic structures that stretches across the Snake River Plain of Idaho and into northern …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 02, 2024

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An artist’s rendering of the BWRX-300 small modular reactor from GE Hitachi, which is slated to start operating in Canada in 2028 – GE Hitachi

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Sunday, (06/02/2024)

There’s not much to comment negatively about in this excellent report that comes with a link to a PDF (at the end of the article) of the justifiable findings from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) But this short article captures the problems with the entire concept of Small Nuclear Reactors (SMRs): They are too expensive, too slow, and too risky. ~llaw

ENERGY

Small modular nuclear reactors get a reality check in new report

By Michael Franco

May 31, 2024

VIEW 4 IMAGES

VIEW GALLERY – 4 IMAGES

A new report has assessed the feasibility of deploying small modular nuclear reactors to meet increasing energy demands around the world. The findings don’t look so good for this particular form of energy production.

Small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) are generally defined as nuclear plants that have capacity that tops out at about 300 megawatts, enough to run about 30,000 US homes. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), which prepared the report, there are about 80 SMR concepts currently in various stages of development around the world.

While such reactors were once thought to be a solution to the complexity, security risks, and costs of large-scale reactors, the report asks if continuing to pursue these smaller nuclear power plants is a worthwhile endeavor in terms of meeting the demand for more and more energy around the globe.

The answer to this question is pretty much found in the report’s title: “Small Modular Reactors: Still Too Expensive, Too Slow, and Too Risky.”

If that’s not clear enough though, the report’s executive summary certainly gets to the heart of their findings.

“The rhetoric from small modular reactor (SMR) advocates is loud and persistent: This time will be different because the cost overruns and schedule delays that have plagued large reactor construction projects will not be repeated with the new designs,” says the report. “But the few SMRs that have been built (or have been started) paint a different picture – one that looks startlingly similar to the past. Significant construction delays are still the norm and costs have continued to climb.”

Too Expensive

The cost of SMRs is at the forefront of the report’s argument against the deployment of the reactors. According to some of the data it provides, all three SMRs currently operating (plus one now being completed in Argentina) went way over budget, as this graph shows.

The report authors also point out that a project in Idaho called NuScale had to be scrapped because during its development between 2015 and 2023, costs soared from $9,964 per kilowatt to $21,561 per kilowatt. Additionally, the costs for three other small plants in the US have all skyrocketed dramatically from their initial cost assessments.

Not only are the excessive costs of building SMRs problematic in and of themselves, says the IEEFA, but the money being poured into the projects is money that is not being spent on developing other sources of energy that are cleaner, quicker to deploy, and safer.

“It is vital that this debate consider the opportunity costs associated with the SMR push,” write the authors. “The dollars invested in SMRs will not be available for use in building out a wind, solar and battery storage resource base. These carbon-free and lower-cost technologies are available today and can push the transition from fossil fuels forward significantly in the coming 10 years – years when SMRs will still be looking for licensing approval and construction funding.”

Too Slow

That last bit gets to another of the report’s findings: that building SMRs simply takes too much time. The Shidao Bay project in China, for example, was supposed to take four years to build, but actually took 12; the Russian Ship Borne project had an estimated completion time of three years, but took 13; and the ongoing CAREM project in Argentina was supposed to be done in four years, but it’s now in its 13th year of development.

The report also points out that the MPower PWR project, which was one of the first planned SMRs in the US, had its plug pulled in 2017 after it was clear it wouldn’t meet its 2022 deployment date – a decision that effectively wasted the $500 million that had already been spent on the effort.

“Despite this real-world experience, Westinghouse, X-Energy and NuScale, among others, continue to claim they will be able to construct their SMRs in 36 to 48 months, perhaps quickly enough to have them online by 2030,” write the authors. “GE-Hitachi even claims it ultimately will be able to construct its 300MW facility in as little as 24 months.

“Admittedly, there is a not-zero chance this is possible, but it flies in the face of nuclear industry experience, both in terms of past SMR development and construction efforts and the larger universe of full-size reactors, all of which have taken significantly longer than projected to begin commercial operation.”

Despite breakthroughs in SMR manufacturing, such as the welding advance that allows workers to put together an SMR reactor vessel in 24 hours instead of 12 months, the time it takes to get these facilities into the field will likely continue to be a major barrier to their adoption.

Too Risky

Both the unpredictable costs and the extraordinary building delays makes SMR development just too big of a risk, says the IEEFA. But that’s not the only potential peril. Because the technology for this small-scale nuclear facility is fairly new and untested, risks could exist in terms of functionality and safety as well. For example, the authors question if the new SMRs will actually be able to output the kind of power they claim. Based on cost and development estimates going so widely afield, the sense in the report is that power output claims could also be off.

In terms of safety, the report quotes a 2023 study for the US Air Force that said: “Since SMR technology is still developing and is not deployed in the US, information is scarce concerning the various costs for [operations & maintenance], decommissioning and end-of-life dissolution, property restoration and site clean-up and waste management.”

The authors also point out that because many SMRs are being built using identical technologies, if a component of that tech fails, it could easily affect reactors around the world.

For example, they bring up the fact that steam generators have needed to be replaced at more than 110 pressurized water reactors (PWRs), with half of those operating in the US, because of the denting and wall thinning of tubes made from a material called “heat-treated Alloy 600.”

“We’re not arguing that new SMRs will have these same issues,” they write. “We expect that the design and material decisions made for SMRs will reflect remedial measures taken at existing reactors. Our concern is broader in that a problem at one SMR might have serious repercussions at many other SMRs with the same standardized design.”

Conclusion

So: too expensive, too slow, and too risky. And not at all where we should be focussing our, um – energy – these days, as the study authors make clear in their conclusion.

“At least 375,000 MW of new renewable energy generating capacity is likely to be added to the US grid in the next seven years,” they say. “By contrast, IEEFA believes it is highly unlikely any SMRs will be brought online in that same time frame. The comparison couldn’t be clearer. Regulators, utilities, investors and government officials should acknowledge this and embrace the available reality: Renewables are the near-term solution.”

You can read the full report in PDF format online.

Source: IEEFA

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

There are 6 categories, including 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, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about 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 tonight’s Post.)

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, (06/02/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Vermont becomes 1st state to require oil companies to pay for climate change damages | NPR Illinois

NPR Illinois

All Things Considered. NPR Illinois. All Things Considered. Next Up: 8:00 PM Planet Money – How I Built This. 0:00. 0:00. All Things Considered. NPR …

Opinion: It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s trash and tunes in the air | WVTF

WVTF

North Korean defectors living in South Korea release balloons carrying propaganda leaflets denouncing North Korea’s nuclear test at Imjingak, near the …

At a conference in Singapore, countries make competing claims to the South China Sea

WKU Public Radio

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:00 PM BBC … He has reported from all … North Korean defectors living in South Korea release balloons carrying …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

U.S. energy secretary praises completion of Plant Vogtle, says US needs more nuclear reactors

WSB-TV

Chris Womack is the CEO of Southern Co., the Atlanta-based parent company of Georgia Power. He said he supports Granholm’s call for more nuclear power …

Small modular nuclear reactors get a reality check in new report – New Atlas

New Atlas

A new report has assessed the feasibility of deploying small modular nuclear reactors to meet increasing energy demands around the world.

We can’t afford to cut America’s nuclear modernization program – The Hill

The Hill

… nuclear weapons than the United States. Meanwhile, China is the fastest-growing nuclear power on the planet, building 100 new nuclear warheads a …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Due to Russian attacks, there are consequences for the power grid facility

unn.ua

УНН Society ✎ Due to Russia’s attack on Ukrainian power grid facilities, emergency power cuts were carried out in most regions of Ukraine on 2 …

Yasno: there will be emergency blackouts across the country today | УНН

unn.ua

УНН Society ✎ Emergency power outages will occur today across the country without observing any schedules, said the head of the energy company …

Pennsylvania to Distribute Free Potassium Iodide Tablets Near Nuclear Plants – MyChesCo

MyChesCo

… nuclear power plants. This initiative is part of routine preventive efforts to prepare for potential emergencies. Many KI tablets previously …

Nuclear War

NEWS

‘Russia will be turned into cinders!’ Putin sent dire warning over nuclear war with NATO

Daily Express

Putin’s allies are continuing to threaten nuclear war with NATO as his forces continue to hit Ukraine with devastating strikes.

We can’t afford to cut America’s nuclear modernization program – The Hill

The Hill

Tensions with China and Russia are higher now than at any point since the Cold War. From Ukraine to the Middle East to the South China Sea to the …

Ukraine striking Russia to lead to nuclear confrontation, analyst says – Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen English

The United States allowing Ukraine to attack Russia will lead to a nuclear confrontation and a possible all-out collapse of NATO and the EU.

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Shangri-La Dialogue: Ukraine’s Zelensky urges China’s help in nuclear safety and ending the war

South China Morning Post

… threats? Yes,” he said. “This is a threat to the whole world. I would want China to be present, and we know their presence … There should be nuclear …

Russia not ‘bluffing’ with nuclear threats as Biden greenlights limited military strikes, Medvedev says

WFIN

The developments and threats of escalation came just weeks after Gen. Charles Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said NATO military …

Russia’s radioactive submarines remain a toxic Arctic threat – The Barents Observer

The Barents Observer

Far from the battlefields, in the country’s northwest loom radioactive threats that remain only half cleaned up and largely ignored. By. Charles …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 01, 2024

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U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Saturday, (06/01/2024)

This story from the Associated Press is the reporting of just another really, really, bad idea! What is wrong with our world leaders, including those of our own here in the United States of America? Instead of more nuclear nuclear power plants, we should be decommissioning all of the existing ones, and investing in renewable energy power plants instead, including considering presently wasted steam from the world’s volcanic calderas such as the Yellowstone caldera in the USA that is capable producing power for the entire North American continent with plenty left over. We have known this for more than a decade, but have done nothing but talk about it.

Some scientists say Yellowstone creates enough steam to power the world and even now geothermal energy is successfully produced to some moderate extent here in the USA and around the world from other geothermal resources. But instead we want to build nuclear energy monoliths or monuments to eventually suffer the consequences of worthless nuclear power plants because there is not enough uranium in the ground (Yes uranium is technically a fossil fuel and is NOT a renewable fuel.) and producing it after mining it is a very complicated and expensive several-step refining process including preliminary milling at or near the minesite to create a refined product called Yellowcake (U308), then shipping that product to additional refineries, all of which makes nuclear power a very expensive and an environmentally dirty process even without its ability to destroy all life around the entire globe, even without a nuclear war. And yet the nuclear industry, governments, and ignorant others call it clean, safe, and cheap. llolloll! Nothing could be further from the truth.

New nuclear power plants, including the two new ones in Georgia discussed in this article, cost more, including cost overruns, to build than anyone with an understanding of finance and who pays the future bills and taxes for these terrific costs and never-ending overruns would automatically realize that more nuclear power plants will further enslave the American workers and bankrupt America if they don’t kill us all first . . . ~llaw

US Energy Secretary calls for more nuclear power while celebrating $35 billion Georgia reactors

JEFF AMY

Fri, May 31, 2024, 11:39 AM PDT5 min read

WAYNESBORO, Ga. (AP) — U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Friday called for more nuclear reactors to be built in the United States and worldwide. But the CEO of the Georgia utility that just finished the first two scratch-built American reactors in a generation at a cost of nearly $35 billion says his company isn’t ready to pick up that baton.

Speaking in Waynesboro, Georgia, where Georgia Power Co. and three other utilities last month put a second new nuclear reactor into commercial operation, Granholm said the United States needs 98 more reactors with the capacity of units 3 and 4 at Plant Vogtle to produce electricity while reducing climate-changing carbon emissions. Each of the two new reactors can power 500,000 homes and businesses without releasing any carbon.

“It is now time for others to follow their lead to reach our goal of getting to net zero by 2050,” Granholm said. “We have to at least triple our current nuclear capacity in this country.”

The federal government says it is easing the risks of nuclear construction, but the $11 billion in cost overruns at Plant Vogtle near Augusta remain sobering for other utilities. Chris Womack is the CEO of Southern Co., the Atlanta-based parent company of Georgia Power. He said he supports Granholm’s call for more nuclear-power generation, but he added that his company won’t build more soon.

“I think the federal government should provide a leadership role in facilitating and making that become a reality,” Womack said. “We’ve had a long experience, and we’re going to celebrate what we’ve gotten done here for a good little while.”

Friday’s event capped a week of celebrations, where leaders proclaimed the reactors a success, even though they finished seven years late.

On Wednesday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp floated the idea of a fifth Vogtle reactor. Although the Republican Kemp rarely discusses climate change, he has made electric vehicles a priority and has said new industries demand carbon-free electricity.

“One of the first questions on their minds is: Can we provide them with what they need?” Kemp said. “We can confidently answer ‘Yes!’ because of days like today.”

The new Vogtle reactors are currently projected to cost Georgia Power and three other owners $31 billion, according to calculations by The Associated Press. Add in $3.7 billion that original contractor Westinghouse paid Vogtle owners to walk away from construction, and the total nears $35 billion.

Electric customers in Georgia already have paid billions for what may be the most expensive power plant ever. The federal government aided Vogtle by guaranteeing the repayment of $12 billion in loans, reducing borrowing costs.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden’s administration held a meeting to promote nuclear power, saying it would create a working group to ease the challenges that dogged Vogtle.

The Biden administration promised that the military would commission reactors, which could help drive down costs for others. It also noted support for smaller reactors, suggesting small reactors could replace coal-fueled electric generating plants that are closing. The administration also pledged to further streamline licensing.

Granholm said that she believed others could learn from Vogtle’s mistakes, like starting construction before plans were completed. She also predicted additional models of the Vogtle reactors, which were the first of their kind built in the United States, could be built at lower cost.

“So the question is, how do you learn from the new design in the second and the third and the fourth and the fifth plant? If you don’t vary the design, it gets 30% less expensive every time you build it,” Granholm said.

In Michigan, where Granholm was a Democratic governor, she announced in March up to $1.5 billion in loans to restart the Palisades nuclear power plant, which was shut down in 2022 after a previous owner had trouble producing electricity that was price-competitive.

But with much of the domestic effort focused on building a series of smaller nuclear reactors using mass-produced components, critics question whether they can actually be built more cheaply. Others note that the United States still hasn’t created a permanent repository for nuclear waste, which lasts for thousands of years. Other forms of electrical generation, including solar backed up with battery storage, are much cheaper to build initially.

In Georgia, almost every electric customer will pay for Vogtle. Georgia Power owns 45.7% of the reactors. Smaller shares are owned by Oglethorpe Power Corp., which provides electricity to member-owned cooperatives, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and the city of Dalton. Utilities in Jacksonville, Florida, as well as in the Florida Panhandle and parts of Alabama also have contracted to buy Vogtle’s power.

Regulators in December approved an additional 6% rate increase on Georgia Power’s 2.7 million customers to pay for $7.56 billion in remaining costs at Vogtle, with the company absorbing $2.6 billion in costs. That is expected to cost the typical residential customer an additional $8.97 a month in May, on top of the $5.42 increase that took effect when Unit 3 began operating.

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

There are 6 categories, including 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, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about 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 tonight’s Post.)

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, (06/01/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Opinion: It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s trash and tunes in the air – Nevada Public Radio

Nevada Public Radio

All Things · Culture · Food and Drink · The Guide … North Korean defectors living in South Korea release balloons carrying propaganda leaflets …

U.S. House speaker reverses on radiation compensation bill that excluded Missouri | KCUR

KCUR

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:30 PM … nuclear radiation. … Politics, Elections and Government Nuclear powernuclear weaponsU.S. House of …

Chinese entrepreneurs aim to stay off the U.S. trade restriction list – WCBU

WCBU

… nuclear weapons modeling and all manner of different kinds of banned activities. And the United States was essentially saying to its companies, we …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

US Energy Secretary calls for more nuclear power while celebrating $35 billion Georgia reactors

Yahoo Finance

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Friday called for more nuclear reactors to be built in the United States and worldwide.

US Energy Secretary calls for more nuclear power while celebrating $35 billion Georgia reactors

ABC News – The Walt Disney Company

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is calling for more nuclear reactors to be built in the United States and worldwide.

Gulf states add nuclear power to energy mix as net-zero goals loom – The National

The National

After the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait is also considering nuclear energy capabilities.

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

U.S. delegation lays out the present and future of nuclear security at ICONS

Department of Energy

… nuclear security in the sustainable expansion of nuclear power. “ICONS … nuclear facilities requires new approaches to nuclear security and emergency …

Fire Brigade Drill at Decommissioned Nuclear Plant in Garigliano – Il Mattino

Il Mattino

Exercise of the fire brigade of the Provincial Command of Caserta, in accordance with what is provided in the Interprovincial External Emergency …

Fire Brigade Drill at Decommissioned Nuclear Plant in Garigliano – Il Mattino

Il Mattino

… Emergency Plan, at the decommissioned nuclear power plant on the Garigliano. The exercise, which took place with the presence of the Provincial …

Nuclear War

NEW

Putin Aide Lashes Out At West, Issues Fresh Nuclear War Threat; ‘Not Mere Intimidation…’

YouTube

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aide, Dmitry Medvedev, issued a tough warning to NATO. Medvedev warned NATO against the “fatal mistake” of …

Russia’s Medvedev Threatens West With Nuclear War | theTrumpet.com

theTrumpet.com

Russia’s Medvedev Threatens West With Nuclear War … Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned on May 31 that Moscow is not bluffing when it says …

Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow warns it could go to war with NATO over US move – Sky News

Sky News

They also called for North Korea to end its nuclear weapons programme. Yesterday, North Korea fired a barrage of ballistic missile to show it is …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow warns it could go to war with NATO over US move – Sky News

Sky News

A top Russian official has said Ukraine striking with US weapons inside of Russia could mean war with NATO – and warned Moscow’s nuclear threats are …

Putin Aide Lashes Out At West, Issues Fresh Nuclear War Threat; ‘Not Mere Intimidation…’ | Watch

YouTube

Putin Aide Lashes Out At West, Issues Fresh Nuclear War Threat; ‘Not Mere Intimidation… … Nuclear Threats By Russia. Oneindia News New 2.5K views · 47 …

Kremlin official threatens war against NATO if Ukraine uses US weapons against Russia

Sky News

… threats to both Ukraine and the West, often invoking Russia’s nuclear weapons. Some commentators even say his wild statements could be designed to …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Lava continues to flow from Icelandic volcano but activity calms – YouTube

YouTube

Iceland Volcano Eruption LIVE | Iceland Volcano Spews Red Streams Of … Henrys Fork Caldera: Yellowstone’s Last Caldera Eruption Completely in Idaho.

10 Spectacular Volcanoes and Their Unique Ecosystems – MSN

MSN

2. Yellowstone Caldera, USA. Yellowstone National Park, situated atop a massive supervolcano, is a hotbed of geothermal activity and biodiversity. The …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

JUN 01, 2024

1

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• Update 230 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Friday, (05/31/2024)

I must say that the following concern of the IAEA regarding the scary situation in Ukraine and considering both nuclear situations — nuclear power and nuclear war — which could instantly spark the beginning of World War III, especially considering NATO’s aggressive threats alongside Russia’s never-ending threats.

But contrary to the IAEA’s view, I consider Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to already be an important part of the ongoing Russia/Ukraine war rather than two separate states of affairs, although, either way, this dangerously volatile situation is the same.

I am profoundly beginning to doubt that there will ever be a peaceful solution to this war and that it is the culprit most likely to erupt into the final devastation courtesy of ‘all things nuclear’. ~llaw

Update 230 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

30 May 2024

51/2024

Vienna, Austria

Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi met with senior Russian officials this week as part of the continuing efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to help prevent a nuclear accident at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

During Tuesday’s meeting in Kaliningrad with Alexey Likhachev, head of Russian state nuclear company Rosatom, Director General Grossi again raised those factors that the IAEA believes remain a real challenge for nuclear safety. Specifically, these include the vulnerability of the ZNPP’s off-site power lines, its need for reliable water supplies to ensure reactor cooling and other essential functions, and the situation related to staffing and equipment maintenance.

As Director General Grossi has repeatedly stressed, the IAEA must engage with both Ukraine and the Russian Federation on matters related to nuclear safety and security, which remains precarious, especially at the ZNPP.

“The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is continuing to face serious nuclear safety and security risks. We can’t afford to let our guard down for a single minute,” Director General Grossi said after the meeting in the Russian city. “In view of these challenging and unprecedented circumstances – with Europe’s largest nuclear power plant located in a war zone – there is an understanding that its six reactors should remain in cold shutdown for the time being.”

“Even with all six reactors in cold shutdown, plant safety and security remain extremely fragile. Any decision to re-start the ZNPP’s reactors in the future – when it is safe to do so – must be preceded by a very careful and detailed examination of all operational and regulatory aspects relevant for nuclear safety and security to ensure that the plant is not further put in jeopardy,” he said.

On the ground at the ZNPP, the IAEA experts stationed at the site have continued to hear explosions on most days over the past week, normally at distances away from the plant. However, on Sunday, the team was awakened by four explosions near the site. The ZNPP informed the team that there was no damage to the plant.

Also this week, the IAEA experts have conducted regular walkdowns to monitor nuclear safety and security, including ongoing and planned maintenance activities on parts of the safety systems, such as the emergency core cooling system of the unit 1 reactor, and on the main electrical transformer of unit 2.

The IAEA team visited the ZNPP’s maintenance workshop, where they were told that all machines are in operational condition and able to perform necessary maintenance tasks.

During a visit to the reactor building and safety systems rooms of unit 4, the IAEA experts observed equipment including steam generators and the main cooling pumps. They noted that generally the housekeeping was good, but they did observe some oil on the floor of the reactor hall coming from the overhead cranes, as well as boron deposits on the floors of some of the safety systems rooms, which are not uncommon for such facilities. The ZNPP confirmed these would be addressed through cleaning and maintenance.

Over the past week, the IAEA team also observed the successful performance of routine testing of emergency diesel generators of units 4 and 6.

The experts visited four levels of the turbine building of unit 5 where they observed the status of different types of equipment, including the main feedwater pumps, main steam valves and the main condenser, but once again were denied access to the western side of the building.

The IAEA experts also met with the site’s Chemistry Control Division, where they were informed of the technological process used for water treatment and were also told that all necessary consumables and chemical reagents have been supplied from the Russian Federation. The team was further informed that the division has sufficient staff, including personnel that have come from Russian nuclear power plants (NPPs).

While visiting the ZNPP’s thermal mechanical warehouse, the IAEA team saw its diesel generator spare parts and electrical equipment. The team observed spare parts from various manufacturers, including from Western suppliers before the conflict, as well as some from the Russian Federation. The ZNPP informed the team that it had completed its transition to a Russian-based spare parts and equipment database.

The IAEA experts also went to the temporary shelters located inside each reactor building, which were established by the ZNPP in 2022 due to the unavailability of the original shelters. The team was informed that up to 1000 people can be sheltered on site in these temporary shelters.

As the summer approaches, the warmer temperatures and drier climate have contributed to wildfires in the areas around the ZNPP. Late last week, the IAEA experts could both see and smell smoke from what the ZNPP said was a forest fire on the other side of the Dnipro river. On Tuesday, the IAEA team saw a wildfire south of the 750 kilovolt (kV) open switchyard, but it appeared to have been extinguished later in the week and did not cause any damage to electrical systems.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, the IAEA experts present at the Khelmnytskyy, Rivne and South Ukraine NPPs and the Chornobyl site reported that nuclear safety and security is being maintained despite the effects of the ongoing conflict, including air raid alarms on several days over the past week.

Over the past week, two reactor units at the Rivne NPP successfully re-started after the planned outages for refuelling and maintenance were safely completed ahead of schedule. The Rivne NPP now has three units in full power operation, while the fourth reactor is being prepared for shutdown for planned refuelling and maintenance. Meanwhile, the planned maintenance activities at one of the reactor units at the South Ukraine NPP are continuing according to schedule.

The IAEA continues with the delivery of much-needed equipment and supplies for maintaining nuclear safety and security in Ukraine. This week, the Agency organized two deliveries of nuclear safety and security equipment to Ukraine, bringing the total number of deliveries to 49 since the start of the armed conflict. The KhNPP, SUNPP and USIE Izotop – a Ukrainian state enterprise involved in the management of radioactive material intended for medical, industrial and other purposes – received physical protection equipment and atmospheric probing systems. The equipment was procured using extrabudgetary contributions from the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Related resources

• Update 229 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine
• Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards in Ukraine
• Rafael Mariano Grossi

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

There are 6 categories, including 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, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about 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 tonight’s Post.)

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, (05/30/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Out There: Marching for the planet | Vermont Public

Vermont Public

Vermont Public’s weekly dose of all things environment. … nuclear power and fewer new renewables). It … “All Vermonters need to think of …

In ‘Bomb Island’ Stephen Hundley crafts a coming-of-age story on a Georgia barrier island

Georgia Public Broadcasting

… nuclear bomb was accidentally dropped into the ocean decades ago … Peter Biello. Heard on. All Things Considered … Stephen Hundley: One thing I like …

2024 Utah GOP primary voter guide for Senate: Curtis, Staggs, Walton and Wilson | KUER

KUER

All Things Considered. Next Up: 7:00 PM The … about their own careers than about our country! … If we can decrease the cost of nuclear — why shouldn’t …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Biden administration, Georgia officials applaud debut of Plant Vogtle expansion

Georgia Recorder

U.S. Energy Department visits Waynesboro, Georgia May 31 to celebrate completion of Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle nuclear plant expansion.

The UK’s Reinvigoration of Nuclear Energy – Vinson & Elkins LLP

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Indeed, at COP 28, no less than 22 countries committed to triple global nuclear power capacity by 2050, and the UK Government has announced plans to …

France to the US: Leave the tiny nuclear reactors to us – E&E News by POLITICO

E&E News

… nuclear power. For Europe, the idea is simple: Join forces to beat … nuclear plants. Advertisement. But for France, there’s a major problem with …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Pennsylvania offering free potassium iodide tablets for those near nuclear power plants

Yahoo

… nuclear power plant. In case of an emergency, the tablets can protect the thyroid glam against harmful radioactive iodine. On June 12, tablets can …

China, 5 Central Asian nations establish emergency management cooperation mechanism

Xinhua

New giant panda couple makes debut in Spain · Pic story: designer of nuclear power project in SW China …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Russia says it may take extra nuclear deterrence steps if US puts missiles in Europe/Asia | Reuters

Reuters

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in expanded …

Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow warns it could go to war with NATO over US move | Sky News

Sky News

Germany has followed the US in approving strikes inside Russia using its weapons – as Moscow warns the moves could cause a war with NATO.

Russia’s War and the Specter of Nuclear Conflict | Arms Control Association

Arms Control Association

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale, illegal, and brutal assault on Ukraine in early 2022, he has issued occasional threats …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Russia’s War and the Specter of Nuclear Conflict – Arms Control Association

Arms Control Association

The Group of 20 nations also underscored the dangers in joint statements in 2022 and 2023, saying the use of nuclear weapons and threats of use are “ …

Russia’s Medvedev says Moscow’s nuclear threats over Ukraine are no bluff | Reuters

Reuters

Russia’s Medvedev says Moscow’s nuclear threats over Ukraine are no bluff. By Reuters. May 31, 20241:30 AM PDTUpdated 5 hours ago.

Putin Ally Issues Nuclear Weapons Warning to NATO – Newsweek

Newsweek

… threats to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine were not empty. “Life is much worse than their frivolous reasoning,” Medvedev—now a deputy …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Radioactive radium helps scientists understand Yellowstone’s hydrothermal system – Billings Gazette

Billings Gazette

Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 31, 2024

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This cynical but humorous sign is compliments of my writer and nuclear concerned Wisconsin friend, Michelle UluOla. I will have something more to say about what it represents in tomorrow’s post.

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Thursday, (05/30/2024)

I apologize for being so late with this “All Things Nuclear” Post tonight, but I had three long medical appointments that ran overtime, taking up much of my day. The delay was worth the trouble, though, since I came away with a clean bill of health, which is always good to know; especially at my age.

Because this is so late and there are mostly typical nuclear news tonight, I will leave interested readers to their own devices and scan the nuclear news (plus one Yellowstone story) to suit your fancy. ~llaw

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

There are 6 categories, including 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, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about 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 tonight’s Post.)

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, (05/30/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Why Kansas City musician recorded an album in a Cold War missile silo – WQLN

WQLN

Russia keeps threatening to use nuclear weapons. The United States, China, North Korea – they’re all beefing up their arsenals. Meanwhile, a Kansas …

Are We Doing Decarbonization Totally the Wrong Way? | Odd Lots – YouTube

YouTube

The cost of solar has been plunging for years. Everyday there’s a new headline about … .bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/oddlots And for all things …

“I knew FAS is a group that really seeks to do good”: A Conversation with Dr. Rosina Bierbaum

Federation of American Scientists

And so she was fascinated in all things … You have this organization that is very historically nuclear … And you’re not afraid to jump into that room …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

White House holds summit on US nuclear energy deployment

World Nuclear News

The US Administration announced the formation of a new working group to look at ways to reduce nuclear construction project risks, a programme to …

Energy & Environment – World Nuclear News – World Nuclear News

White House Announces Creation of Nuclear Power Working Group

American Public Power Association

Small modular nuclear reactors and microreactors can provide defense installations resilient energy for several years amid the threat of physical or …

World Nuclear News

Duke Energy, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nucor have signed agreements on proposed tariffs that would lower the costs of investing in clean …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Nuclear plant near Lancaster County border to sound emergency sirens June 5

Lancaster Online

The emergency test sirens at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station will sound for three minutes at 1 p.m. on June 5.

Expiring potassium iodide tablets offered those near active nuclear plants – Times Leader

Times Leader

… nuclear power plants as part of routine preventive efforts in case of future emergencies. The facilities are Susquehanna Steam Electric Station …

Residents living near nuclear power plants can receive new supply of KI tablets | fox43.com

fox43.com

… emergencies. They help protect the thyroid gland against harmful radioactive iodine and can be taken by anyone if they are not allergic. Officials …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Think tank close to Kremlin says Russia should consider a ‘demonstrative’ nuclear explosion

Reuters

… wars between the great powers since 1945 and that they have now largely lost – fear of nuclear war.” Suslov is the latest Russian security expert …

We hope nuclear drills ‘knock sense’ into West, Moscow says after jets pledge – Sky News

Sky News

… wars between the great powers since 1945 and that they have now largely lost – fear of nuclear war.” Vladimir Putin has previously praised the …

Think tank close to Kremlin says Russia should consider a ‘demonstrative’ nuclear explosion

Stars and Stripes

… wars between the great powers since 1945 and that they have now largely lost — fear of nuclear war.” Suslov is the latest Russian security expert …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Germany’s Nuclear Fear: Deterrence, Escalation, Nuclear and Other Threats | DGAP

German Council on Foreign Relations

Germany’s Nuclear Fear: Deterrence, Escalation, Nuclear and Other Threats · Olaf Scholz cites risk of nuclear war in refusal to send tanks to Ukraine, …

Opinion: On Ukraine, Biden is taking Putin’s threats too seriously – CNN

CNN

Opinion: Biden is taking Putin’s threats too seriously. Opinion by Adam Kinzinger and Ben Hodges. Published 4:21 AM EDT, Thu May 30, 2024.

Russia issues nuclear threat as Nato prepares to send troops to Ukraine – iNews

iNews

Russia issues nuclear threat as Nato prepares to send troops to Ukraine. Nato could deploy troops to Ukraine in ‘a matter of weeks, or even days …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Daily Postcard: Coyote Hunting On Slope At Valles Caldera – Los Alamos Daily Post

Los Alamos Daily Post

With the reintroduction of wolves, Yellowstone coyotes returned to a more typical social organization—pairs with pups. At Valles Caldera, packs of …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 30, 2024

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While construction has begun at the site of TerraPower’s Natrium nuclear facility near Kemmerer, Wyoming, testing of the technology that will be used in the reactor continues at the company’s testing facility in Everett, Washington. (TerraPower)

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Wednesday, (05/29/2024)

Being that Wyoming is the state I was born and raised, played, and worked in the intrepid (then) nuclear fuel and uranium mining business for several years, and that I am now as anti-nuclear as anyone on planet Earth can be,

I am sad to see this irresponsible act by the Wyoming legislature to throw open the beautiful land of the Wyoming country to uranium and rare earths mining, milling, and the construction of safety-questionable small nuclear reactor power plants (SMRs) to what should have remained a deplorable and dead issue, not only in Wyoming, but globally. But here we are, jumping right back into the middle of pioneering yet another trail along the road to the highway of self-extinction. ~llaw

Wyoming To Expand Critical Minerals Permitting To Include Uranium, Rare Earths

With Wyoming positioning to become ground zero for a new U.S. nuclear power revolution, the state is finalizing rules to expand its energy regulatory authority to include uranium and rare earths mining, aka “nuclear source material.”

Pat Maio

May 28, 2024 5 min read

With Wyoming positioning to become ground zero for a new U.S. nuclear power revolution, the Cowboy State is finalizing rules to expand its energy regulatory authority to include uranium and rare earths mining, aka “nuclear source material.”

While the permitting process for nuclear plants and oversight of the fuel cycle rests with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Wyoming’s potential new rules are important because there’s a nuclear reactor coming to southwestern Wyoming in the next few years — the first in a long time.

Future Wyoming power plants may not necessarily find permitting easier, but subtle changes are coming at the state level that could deliver a competitive edge for radioactive minerals found in the Cowboy State. These so-called nuclear source materials will effectively streamline the nuclear fuel cycle by helping out with a domestic supply of the ingredients needed to make the fuel — which will continue to be regulated by the NRC.

TerraPower LLC’s nuclear fuel cycle for the reactor it’s building in Kemmerer, Wyoming, will remain under the responsibility of the NRC, which regulates all things nuclear, as will other power plants on the drawing board.

The subtle changes coming at the state level will touch on some of the critical minerals that may go into the fuel cycle or have a radioactive edge for other things being built in the military world or elsewhere.

The state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is planning a final presentation on new draft rules that expand a self-regulating program on “nuclear source material” with the NRC — nothing to do with nuclear fuel that’ll get processed for TerraPower’s Natrium reactor.

A groundbreaking ceremony for that project is scheduled for June 10.

Change Began In 2023

There are 39 “agreement states” with programs that meet the NRC’s requirements for regulating nuclear material uses other than nuclear power. This can include the recovery of uranium and thorium, according to NRC spokesman Scott Burnell.

“Wyoming has been an agreement state since 2018 with regards to uranium recovery,” Burnell told Cowboy State Daily in an email seeking answers to questions about proposed changes in Wyoming’s agreement state status.

“Wyoming is seeking to amend its agreement to cover the incidental recovery of uranium and thorium during rare earth mining,” Burnell said.

The changes in Wyoming’s nuclear source material program are the result of a 2023 state law signed by Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon that lay out the Cowboy State’s guidelines for permitting and regulating parts of the rare earth and critical minerals industries.

There are several rare earth minerals companies operating in Wyoming, and which are in various stages of launching major mining operations for critical elements and magnets in coming years.

The rare earth minerals bonanza is the result of consumers starved for magnet metals integral to the green transition to electric vehicles, wind turbines, consumer goods, robots and military drones, missiles and chips needed for sophisticated computing power.

The state’s growing uranium industry is seeing a surge in demand and has lined up in the state’s Red Desert and northeastern Wyoming to mine the strategic radioactive element from underground.

Spot prices on the commodity exchange for trading uranium have soared following intense demand for a domestic, homegrown supply of the mineral following efforts to cut off the gravy train for Russia, once America’s major supplier of enriched uranium.

Thorium, which is used to make ceramics, welding rods, heat resistant paint and metals used in the aerospace industry, as well as in nuclear reactions, is a naturally occurring radioactive metal found at trace levels in soil, rocks, water, plants and animals.

Radioactive Changes

In Wyoming last year, state lawmakers gave authority to the DEQ to promulgate regulations to become an agreement state with the NRC for the regulation of “source material.”

In a February 2023 letter sent by Gordon to NRC Chairman Christopher Hanson, the Republican governor wrote that Wyoming planned to expand its agreement with the NRC for licensing uranium mining and milling and the associated by-product material.

Comments on the DEQ’s finalized draft rules must be received by the state agency’s Land Quality Division by June 19, with an advisory board meeting taking up the topic on June 20. That’s when the advisory board will review a draft of all nine chapters of the proposed rules on the new source material program.

Some of the chapter topics will cover radiation protection standards, inspections, enforcement and penalties, licensing requirements for source material, and transportation of radioactive material.

“The public notice was for the rules for the new source material program, which will be an amendment to the existing agreement state program to include licensing of incidental recovery of source material from mining or milling operations,” said Brandi O’Brien, the DEQ’s uranium recovery program manager, in a statement to Cowboy State Daily.

“The NRC does not rescind authority to regulate nuclear power plants, so Wyoming cannot be granted regulatory authority over licensing for TerraPower,” she emphasized.

Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.

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

There are 6 categories, including 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, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about 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 tonight’s Post.)

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, (05/29/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Wyoming To Expand Critical Minerals Permitting To Include Uranium, Rare Earths

Cowboy State Daily

… all things nuclear, as will other power plants on the drawing board. The subtle changes coming at the state level will touch on some of the …

South Korea says the North has flown balloons carrying trash over the border – NHPR

NHPR

All NHPR Newsletters · The Rundown Newsletter · The … All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:30 PM … nuclear-capable missiles. “The acquisition of …

On Nuclear Disbelief | Commonweal Magazine

Commonweal Magazine

You might have said all those things about the great armies of Europe in 1914. Indeed, people did say them. Reasons for not using nuclear weapons are …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Exclusive: White House to support new nuclear power plants in the U.S. | Reuters

Reuters

… nuclear power plants, a large potential source of carbon-free electricity the government says is needed to combat climate change.

Exclusive-White House to support new nuclear power plants in the U.S.

1330 & 101.5 WHBL

Nuclear proponents say the technology is critical to providing large, uninterrupted supplies of emissions-free power to serve soaring electricity …

Hungary and Belarus sign roadmap for nuclear energy cooperation

World Nuclear News

Belarusian Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto have held talks and agreed on the next steps in …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Enhanced Safety of Advanced Reactors – Department of Energy

Department of Energy

Nuclear power plants maintain the highest standard for operational safety, security, cybersecurity, and emergency preparedness. Nuclear Power Plant …

Coolant leak causes Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Lake County to shut down, NRC says

WKYC

The repair work has been completed, and the unit is now operating at full power. As the online NRC report notes, this was a non-emergency event and …

China and Central Asian Countries to Jointly Respond to Emergencies

The Times Of Central Asia

Energy Russia Security Strategy Industry Nuclear power · Uzbekistan to Build a Nuclear Power Plant. 2 days ago. Industry Employment Solar Energy Green …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Modeling the threat of nuclear war | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT News

… nuclear war? Eli Sanchez, who recently completed his doctoral studies at MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), explored these …

NATO prepares direct intervention into Russia-Ukraine war – World Socialist Web Site

WSWS

This raises the danger that NATO could decide to use nuclear weapons in a war to counterbalance this relative weakness. NATO war plans against Russia …

Think tank close to Kremlin says Russia should consider a ‘demonstrative’ nuclear explosion

Swissinfo

… wars between the great powers since 1945 and that they have now largely lost – fear of nuclear war.” Suslov is the latest Russian security expert …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

U.S. must improve nuclear weapons or face threats from China, Russia – Washington Times

Washington Times

U.S. must improve nuclear weapons or face threats from China, Russia. We failed to understand our enemies in Beijing and Moscow.

Quieting the nuclear rattle: Responding to Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons exercises

European Leadership Network

The universal and consolidated backlash against nuclear threats was one of the main factors that helped quiet the nuclear rhetoric surrounding the war …

Are NATO Nations training for a Nuclear Strike on Russia? Big Claim by Russia Official | Oneindia

The Daily Gazette

… these escalating threats.#NuclearWar #Russia #NATO #RussiavsNATO #RussiaUkraineWar #UkraineRussiaConflict #Moscow #VladimirKulishov #VladimirPutin …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

30 Of North America’s Most Breathtaking Volcanoes – MSN

MSN

Yellowstone Caldera, Wyoming … Rather than being a towering mountain which can be seen for miles, Yellowstone Caldera is a 30-by-45-mile supervolcano …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 28, 2024

1

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Tuesday, (05/28/2024)

There were quite a few other articles of value in today’s TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS (listed below), but when I saw this one, I couldn’t resist. “So”, I thought to myself, “this is how the powerful, rich, and famous expect to escape nuclear doomsday on planet Earth.”

I had often wondered if the ‘elite’ of us might have a way to ‘take it with ‘em’ after their tour of greed on Earth, other than common death, and perhaps Mars is where they plan to go. But according to Musk, the exodus may not be ready for another 20 years, so the question is, will the “starships” be feasible in time to save even the elite? Certainly, given the problems with ‘all things nuclear’ and global warming that we have today, it is a huge gamble and there is no guarantee. ~llaw

The article is incredibly interesting, and very much worth reading whether or not you have a dim view of Elon Musk . . .

FORBESBUSINESSAEROSPACE & DEFENSE

Elon Musk’s Starship Ark Aimed At Helping Humanity Survive Nuclear War

Kevin Holden Platt

Contributor

Writing at the intersection of space and defense, focus on SpaceX, Mars’ 1st cosmopolis.

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May 28, 2024,06:26am EDT

SpaceX is racing to conduct the next test flight of its incredibly advanced Starship – the Titan-size “space ark” designed to shuttle humans to a terraformed Mars – even as the specter of nuclear war spreads its shadows across the Earth.

After Moscow’s ambassador to Washington personally warned him that use of the SpaceX satellite system by Ukraine’s resistance could spark Russia to respond with tactical nuclear weapons, Elon Musk has been stepping up tests of the Starship spacecraft, as if he is trying to outpace an atomic time bomb.

Musk told his hand-picked biographer, Walter Isaacson, that Ambassador Anatoly Antonov had directly threatened him that Moscow would repel any Ukrainian assault on occupied Crimea, where the Kremlin’s Black Sea fleet is headquartered, with nuclear arms.

Even as Musk engaged in shuttle diplomacy with Antonov, and with Ukraine’s leadership, to avert any nuclear battlefront, the commander of the SpaceX Starship project has doubled down on the super-capsule’s development.

While his Plan A is to foster the peaceful sphere of space flight to the International Space Station, carrying NASA, allied and Roscosmos astronauts to the outpost aboard his Dragon spacecraft, Musk also has an interplanetary Plan B: creating a second foundation for human civilization on weapons-free Mars, far from the atomic missile silos positioned across the northern hemisphere of the Earth.

The creator of SpaceX – the globe’s first independent space superpower – sketched out his vision of Mars as an off-world sanctuary during a fantastical overview he presented recently at his Starbase launch center, the massive rocket skunkworks he’s expanding, at bullet-speed, right off the turquoise seas of the Gulf of Mexico.

Musk said that as the penumbra of war darkens the fate of the Earth, “There’s a high urgency to making life multi-planetary.”

“The overarching goal of the company is to extend life sustainably to another planet – Mars is the only option really – and to do that ideally before World War III.”

“Obviously I’m not talking about abandoning Earth or anything like that and we want Earth to be as good as possible for as long as possible,” he added, “but there are certain things that may be outside of our control.”

“So we want to just get Mars to be a self-sustaining civilization as quickly as possible.”

Rapidly building a haven for humans on Mars is imperative, SpaceX’s chief rocket designer said, “if there’s something that takes out Earth – like let’s say there’s a World War III global thermonuclear warfare.”

Even an advanced lunar colony wouldn’t survive as a refuge for humanity, Musk said, because nuclear warriors would “probably throw a few nukes at the Moon.”

“It’s way harder to shoot Mars with nuclear,” Musk said, as if narrating a film that he has replayed countless times in his head. “Mars would see it coming and probably have some time to stop the inbound missiles.”

Around the same time that Vladimir Putin’s emissary to Washington issued the ultimatum to Musk on the use of atomic arms in Ukraine, another Kremlin lieutenant began threatening at UN gatherings to shoot down SpaceX Starlink satellites that are beaming broadband internet coverage into the occupied nation.

At the same time, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency has reported the deployment of advanced fighter-bombers and missile systems to destroy Starlink transceivers used along the front lines of the conflict.

The Kremlin is apparently preparing to extend its brinkmanship in the heavens by stationing a nuclear-armed spacecraft in orbit, designed to perpetually circle the Earth and challenge the satellites of NATO nations aiding Ukraine. That might be setting the stage for a showdown between Russian and allied ASATs, which in turn could spark a wider conflict, say defense experts across American universities and think tanks.

While some critics have derided Elon Musk’s visionary blueprints to transform Mars into a second-world sanctum for Homo sapiens, SpaceX’s designer-inventor is not alone in proposing that celestial settlements could guarantee humanity’s future even if the home planet is destroyed via nuclear warfare.

In one of his final interviews with the BBC, the world-shaking astrophysicist Stephen Hawking warned: “We face a number of threats to our survival from nuclear war, catastrophic global warming, and genetically engineered viruses.”

“Although the chance of a disaster to planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time, and becomes a near certainty in the next thousand or ten thousand years.”

Yet Professor Hawking, author of the global blockbuster book “A Brief History of Time,” tempered his doomsday oracle by stating: “By that time we should have spread out into space, and to other stars, so a disaster on Earth would not mean the end of the human race.”

While outlining his prophecy, Hawking forecast it could take up to a century to begin founding independent colonies in space.

But Musk has proposed creating a self-sustaining civilization on Mars within just 20 years, via flotillas of Starship arks that depart Earth every two years, when the planets are optimally aligned. Each Starship will accommodate 100 settlers, and 10,000 flights will foster a flourishing SpaceX cosmopolis of one million first-generation Martians.

“You know the giant Starship Factory that we’re building is obviously key to that,” Musk said during the Starbase talk. “And the launch sites that we’re building here and at the Cape [Cape Canaveral Space Force Station] and elsewhere in the future will be key to that.”

The next-generation technology, colossal size, high-speed evolution and full reusability of the Starship all represent a planet-changing revolution in space flight – one that will be chronicled in history books for centuries into the future, says Professor Kip Hodges, the founding director of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, one of the leading American space studies centers.

In terms of rocketing robots and humans, satellites, servers and other building blocks of a hyper-tech society to Mars, SpaceX’s Starship is absolutely without rival, he told me in an interview.

The first wave of astronauts will live inside and conduct research from Starship outposts that begin to crisscross the orange-red dunes of Mars, Professor Hodges says, as clusters of arks form citadels and then cities beneath robotically assembled geodesic domes.

Although Elon Musk hasn’t yet outlined any scheme to safeguard birds and giraffes, dolphins and Dalmatians by transporting genetic samplings of every species known to Earth aboard his arks, he has set out a masterplan to transfigure the now-frozen Red Planet into a vibrant new proto-Eden.

“We can warm up Mars and we can densify the atmosphere,” he predicted during the spellbinding Starbase talk. “There would be a liquid ocean on about 40 percent of the surface so we could make it an Earth-like planet long-term.”

“Elon Musk has rightly identified nuclear weapons as a continuing threat to humanity,” says Tim Wright, Treaty Coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the group that won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its central role in promulgating the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Thousands of warheads “are still in missile silos and on submarines, ready to be launched at any moment,” Wright told me in an interview. “A thermonuclear war could render much of Earth permanently uninhabitable.”

“It’s important to focus on eliminating the weapons,” Wright says.

With his tremendous wealth and influence – the SpaceX founder now has 184.9 million followers on X/Twitter – Elon Musk could do more to aid the global movement to completely abolish nuclear weaponry from the face of the Earth, he adds.

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

There are 6 categories, including 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, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about 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:

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2. Nuclear Power
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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, (05/28/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Pentagon Playing Catch Up After Years Neglecting Nuclear Protection

National Defense Magazine

… nuclear weapons — talking about it almost as if it’s commonplace. … “If we’re trying to solve all the problems at once, yeah, it’s not a lot of …

Advocates push for compensation for St. Louis-area radioactive waste victims as deadline looms

STLPR

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:00 PM … nuclear weapons program. The months-long fight … nuclear waste in the St. Louis region. Despite efforts …

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Program Sparks Debate Over Money – and Need – The Cipher Brief

The Cipher Brief

… things we need to do tactically and operationally. … And certainly, the next year will inform us on how we can get at how to balance all of that.

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Russia to build a small nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan | AP News

AP News

According to Russian media, the two countries were earlier discussing building a nuclear power plant of a larger capacity — of 2.4 gigawatts. Putin …

Russia set to build SMR nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan

World Nuclear News

An agreement between Uzbekistan and Russia will see a six-unit small modular reactor nuclear power plant built in the Jizzakh region of Uzbekistan …

Russia to build a small nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan – Yahoo

Yahoo

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbekistan leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev held talks on Monday and signed a number of agreements aimed at …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

KI’s Specialist Centre Excels in Radiation Emergency Medicine | Mirage News

Mirage News

In particular, the war in Ukraine has induced fears of nuclear plant emergencies and even of a possible use of so-called tactical nuclear weapons.

New Caledonia state of emergency to be lifted, says Paris | SaltWire

SaltWire

… emergency would end as planned in the French … Lifting the state of emergency … 4. Russia not currently planning to restart Zaporizhzhia nuclear power …

Youm-e-Takbeer: the day PAEC made the nation proud – Opinion – Business Recorder

Business Recorder

As per international best practices in the field of nuclear power, Emergency Preparedness Measures are well in place for timely intervention at these …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Russia Claims NATO Is Planning Nuclear Strikes – Newsweek

Newsweek

In parallel with the increased nuclear rhetoric, the Kremlin and its propagandists have framed the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a proxy war …

Elon Musk’s Starship Ark Aimed At Helping Humanity Survive Nuclear War – Forbes

Forbes

SpaceX’s Starship is a Titan-size “space ark” designed to shuttle settlers to Mars, an off-world sanctuary enabling humanity to survive a nuclear war

War in Ukraine Might Just Kickstart a Nuclear Energy Renaissance – Bloomberg

Bloomberg

Climate change is supposed to be the catalyst for the long-elusive US nuclear power renaissance, but the war in Ukraine may provide the motivation …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Pentagon Playing Catch Up After Years Neglecting Nuclear Protection

National Defense Magazine

The last two Defense Department Nuclear Posture Reviews have acknowledged the heightened threat of nuclear warfare and recommended more training …

Is Putin Preparing for Nuclear War? – RealClearDefense

RealClearDefense

… threats to use nuclear weapons. And he is now … war between the major powers at any level risks escalation to mass destruction. … nuclear warfare, …

Russia Claims NATO Is Planning Nuclear Strikes – Newsweek

Newsweek

… nuclear weapons after what Moscow said were threats from the West. … war between Moscow … Israel at War Vladimir Putin Russia-Ukraine War Donald Trump.

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 28, 2024

1

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The Transmutex reactor (Franklin Servan-Schreiber/Transmutex)

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Monday, (05/27/2024)

The following article is about pure alchemy (turning metal into gold) and is probably about as likely to solve the rapidly increasing nuclear threat of nuclear war, nuclear meltdowns, and nuclear fuel waste. Also 500 years to reduce lethal radioactivity is a long, long, time in mankind’s world(s).

How is it that we cannot seem to understand that the only way to solve our already seriously life-threatening nuclear world is to permanently get rid of it and never use any of it for any reason again. Doing so would take a long time as well, but the years would be finite (perhaps no more than the time to build 25 years worth of new nuclear power plants), but if this broken world of humanity banded together and concentrated on accomplishing just this one mandatory job, it could be done. (Which is possible. . .)

Of course I have my doubts that humanity could ever unite in an internationally cooperative way to ever make a workable engineering blueprint (which is possible); a workable timeline and occupational accomplishment schedule for a permanently designed long term destruction schedule that would require an unbridled world-wide co-op effort (which is possible); and accumulate the required financial capital to make it happen (which is also possible). But we won’t do the possible. The doomsday darkness of nuclear world war or a sky of world-wide nuclear radiation poisoning, or both, will come. Then is the time when hindsight will tell us that we will wish we had, but it will be too late if it is not already so. ~llaw

Breakthrough Swiss tech cuts 80% of radioactive waste in nuclear plants

Radioactivity of nuclear waste could be reduced from thousands of years to less than 500 years.

Updated: May 27, 2024 07:46 AM EST

Ameya Paleja

Aformer CERN scientist working at the private nuclear fission company Transmutex has developed a new approach that could radically cut down the radioactivity of nuclear waste by as much as 80 percent.

Based in Switzerland, Transmutex’s technology was reviewed over several months by Nagra, the Swiss national body that manages nuclear waste, which also arrived at this estimate. 

While the operational safety of nuclear fission reactors has often been the focus of attention, the safety of the spent fuel requires more attention. Nuclear fission fuel remains radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years, long after the energy extracted from it is used up. 

As countries look for ways to move away from fossil fuels, nuclear fission technology is poised for a comeback. At COP28 last year, 20 nations decided to triple their nuclear energy capacity in the next 25 years but plans for long-term storage of spent fuel have yet to be drawn up. 

Interesting Engineering has previously reported Finland’s plans to store nuclear fuel one thousand feet below sea level for over 100,000 years.

However, with countries ramping up nuclear energy production, more such facilities are required unless technological breakthroughs such as Transmutex’s are adopted. 

What is Transmutex’s technology? 

As its name suggests, Transmutex relies on the transmutation of elements—the conversion of an element into its isotope or another element altogether. Technically speaking, this is the same principle that alchemists attempted to apply in the past to turn metals into gold. 

Where the alchemists failed, former scientists from CERN have been able to succeed. Using a particle accelerator, the researchers propose using a slightly radioactive element such as thorium and transmuting it into an isotope of uranium. 

The accelerator is connected to a nuclear fission plant, where the newly generated uranium can be processed immediately. However, unlike its uranium counterpart, which is used in nuclear power plants today, this uranium does not produce plutonium or other highly radioactive waste. 

The technology is the brainchild of Carlo Rubbia, the former director-general of the physics laboratory at CERN. 

Hurdles in the path

While Rubbia might have had access to a particle accelerator at his old workplace, nuclear energy plants do not have the same luxuries. Building a particle accelerator near each plant can be quite expensive, considering that CERN spent nearly US$5 billion to deliver the Large Hadron Collider. 

The other challenge is the opposition to nuclear technology itself. Interesting Engineering has previously reported how Germany phased off its nuclear power plants. Switzerland, too, has similar plans for its four existing nuclear power production facilities. 

If the government is convinced, Transmutex’s technology could be a lifesaver for these plants. Transmutex has raised private funding for its technology, but Nagra’s assessment is also a major boost. 

According to the Swiss national body, Transmutex’s technology could help reduce the volume of nuclear waste generated by 80 percent and reduce the time it remains radioactive to less than 500 years. More importantly, the technology could also be applied to 99 percent of existing nuclear waste. 

With regard to operational safety, a Transmutex-powered nuclear facility could also be shut down in two milliseconds, an unprecedented measure in fission tech, a company statement added. 

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

There are 6 categories, including 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, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about 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 tonight’s Post.)

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, (05/27/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Polish official claims the US told Russia it would strike Russian targets in Ukraine if Putin …

Yahoo News Singapore

Putin has regularly issued nuclear threats since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. … all your targets [positions] in Ukraine with …

Opinion: Loose talk about the end of everything | Chattanooga Times Free Press

Chattanooga Times Free Press

Iran’s theocrats simultaneously claim they are about ready to produce nuclear weapons. And, of course, since 1979, Iran has periodically promised …

Adm. Rickover’s Nukes Warning: ‘We’ll probably Destroy Ourselves’ – FlaglerLive

FlaglerLive

Every form of energy, including nuclear power, creates its own adverse consequences. … things through and I understand what humanity is all about and …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Russia to build Central Asia’s first nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan – Reuters

Reuters

Russia will build a small nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan, the first such project in post-Soviet Central Asia, Uzbek President Shavkat …

Russia to build a small nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan – ABC News

ABC News – The Walt Disney Company

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbekistan leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev have held talks and signed a number of agreements aimed at deepening …

Breakthrough Swiss tech cuts 80% of radioactive waste in nuclear plants

Interesting Engineering

Nuclear fission fuel remains radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years, long after the energy extracted from it is used up. As countries look for …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Electricity restrictions in Ukraine have been in effect since 6 a.m., NPP unit is back in operation

unn.ua

УНН Society ✎ Ukraine imposed power supply restrictions from 6 a.m. to midnight, reconnected a nuclear unit to the grid after repairs, …

Belarus sends humanitarian aid to Russia’s Orenburg Oblast, Kurgan Oblast – BELTA

BELTA

… Emergencies Ministry. The humanitarian cargo … Emergencies Minister Aleksandr Khudoleyev informed. … Rosatom ready to build second nuclear power plant …

Nuclear War

NEW

Putin Ally Insists ‘Nuclear War Is Inevitable’ – Newsweek

Newsweek

Russian media personality Vladimir Solovyov promoted nuclear war on a recent episode of his show.

Sweden, NATO and the irresponsible calls for more nuclear sharing in Europe – ICAN

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Swedish PM won’t rule out hosting nuclear weapons in war time despite pressure. On May 13th, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson suggested in an …

Royal Navy’s Most Advanced Nuclear Attack Sub Nears Active Service – The Defense Post

The Defense Post

The Royal Navy’s fifth Astute-class submarine is near deployment duties after completing trials off the US East Coast.

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Putin Ally Insists ‘Nuclear War Is Inevitable’ – Newsweek

Newsweek

Putin said in March that, while Moscow is prepared for nuclear war, it is not his intention to use the weapons unless there is a threat to the …

Israeli nuclear threats to push others to change doctrine: Iran offic. | Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen English

Israeli nuclear threats to push others to change doctrine: Iran offic. … Read more: The Looming Threat of Nuclear War · Israeli aggression · Israel …

Russia’s Radioactive Submarines Remain a Toxic Arctic Threat – The Moscow Times

The Moscow Times

… nuclear submarines that were … The West’s Reliance on Russian Nuclear Fuel Funds Moscow’s War … Other threats lurk beneath the ocean. Moscow’s …