“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
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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, 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

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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:

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, 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. 

---

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 …

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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

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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

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Putin Ally Insists ‘Nuclear War Is Inevitable’ – Newsweek

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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

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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 …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 26, 2024

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Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant near Avila Beach, California owned by PG&E

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Sunday, (05/26/2024)

Partly due to my eye-awakening blog posts from yesterday and an older one from Post #442 on November 6th of last year concerning the misadventures of Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) that have prompted me to delay the scheduled Post of my in-progress Chapter 5 of the novel I am writing, which is being draft-serialized and extensively detail-edited for quicker reading on every other Sunday on this daily Post. I hope to have Chapter 5 ready for posting next Sunday, June 2nd or, at the latest June 9th.

This Post tonight as an explanation for the one-or-two week delay and why I have titled the fictional story “El Nuclear Diablo” together with the fact that PG&E has requested that the government allow them to continue to operate this dangerous, originally federally required for decommission and closing in 2025. The company has asked for another 20 years of operation, which is unheard of as nuclear plant life goes. This extension is without doubt the most ridiculous and underserved petition the U.S. government has ever received in its history.

The plant itself is named the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, which is from where I took the name “Diablo”, the Spanish word for ‘Devil”, and Nuclear is Nuclear in both English and Spanish. But either way “Diablo” is the most fitting name this nuclear power plant could possibly have because it is owned by PG&E, which is no doubt the most dangerous power utility on the planet, or at least in the United States. Even Annie Jacobsen in her new book “Nuclear War: A Scenario” singled out PG&E’s Diablo Canyon nuclear plant for a nuclear bomb attack from North Korea.

All of these recent developments have given me pause, including the fact that our federal and California governments have already extended the plant’s life for an additional five years and provided PG&E with nearly $10 billion to subsidize Diablo Canyon’s extended life, which is more than bad enough on its own.

All of this has caused me to somewhat revise my views and the ultimate plot of my in-progress novel. When I began to write the outline for the story none of this was a factor. However PG&E’s incredibly irresponsible history along with reckless and illegal activities over the years provided me with some my ideas for modifying into a disastrous fiction. So it is that I am in the process of adjusting the plot for the novel in a different way, which will cause some time delays and a bit of change of direction.

So, in recognition of all of this commotion and uncertainty, I have reposted the slovenly and dangerous (and deadly) history of PG&E’s operations from their entire devious history just below from my blog post #442 on November 6, 2023. It is not a pretty report, for sure, but everyone should know and understand that continuing to allow PG&E to operate the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is like playing Deadman’s poker with the Devil himself . . . ~llaw

LAW’s ‘All Things Nuclear’ #442 (11/06/2023)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD ALBERT WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

NOV 07, 2023

LLAW’s COMMENTARY:

The above image of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant may remain as my on and off masthead for quite sometime because it is very much like the proverbial “Canary in the Coal Mine”. I have been following PG&E’s merciless “accidental” terrorism on California’s human population throughout the State (living next door in Nevada) for several years, and this aging nuclear power plant may very well be PG&E’s last and most devastating accident of all. A nuclear accident at that! With PG&E running the ‘show’, what could possibly go wrong?

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is old, dating back to the ‘1970s, and has leaked radiation recently because of cracked containment walls. The plant is scheduled for decommissioning, shutdown, and to be mothballed in 2025, but the State of California and the Federal Government has decided to extend the old plant’s life by providing several billion dollars to ‘ensure’ it’s safety and continued operation. To me, knowing the ownership’s history, this is obviously a huge mistake on the part of both the state and the federal government.

In later Posts I will have more to say about this particular power plant and selected others around the planet. They all need to be shut down, destroyed, and part by part and piece by piece put back in the same ground where their nuclear fuel (uranium) came from.

Considering their history of ‘accidents’, neglect, and incompetence, the future possibilities could be disastrous beyond belief. What has PG&E done wrong in the past to make such a prediction? Let me count just a few of the ways of many disasters caused by PG&E.

(Summarized, edited, and abbreviated from cited reports,)

PG&E Disasters:

1. Groundwater contamination in Hinkley, California

From 1952 to 1966, PG&E dumped “roughly 370 million gallons” of chromium 6-tainted wastewater into unlined wastewater spreading ponds around the town of Hinkley, California. PG&E used chromium “one of the cheapest and most efficient commercially available corrosion inhibitors” at their compressor station plants in their cooling towers along the natural gas transmission pipelines.

PG&E did not inform the local water board of the contamination until December 7, 1987, stalling action on a response to the contamination. The residents of Hinkley filed a successful lawsuit against PG&E in which the company paid $333 million— the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit in U.S. history. The legal case, dramatized in the 2000 film Erin Brockovich, became an international cause célèbre. By 2013, PG&E had cleaned up 54 acres, but it is estimated the remediation process will take another 40 years.

2. Metcalf sniper attack

(Included here for evidence of PG&E’s extended reputation of illegalites)

On April 16, 2013, a team of gunmen opened fire on the Metcalf transmission substation in Coyote, California. The attack damaged 17 high-voltage transformers, causing more than $15 million in damage. The team also cut a fiber-optic telecommunications cable owned by AT&T. PG&E and AT&T offered a $250,000 reward for anyone who had information leading to the arrest of the culprits, however, they were never found. The Federal Bureau of Investigation found that it was not domestic terrorism and The Department of Homeland Security claimed they had evidence that it may have been an ‘inside job’.

3. Wildfires

PG&E equipment has often been the cause of wildfires in California. PG&E has been found guilty of criminal negligence in many cases involving fires. These include the 1994 Trauner Fire a substation fire in San Francisco in 1996, the 1999 Pendola Fire, a San Francisco substation fire in 2003, the Sims Fire and Fred’s Fire in 2004 an explosion and electrical fire in San Francisco in 2005, the 2008 Rancho Cordova Gas Explosion,^[ the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion, 2014 Carmel Gas Explosion,^[ 2015 Butte Fire, 2018 Camp Fire, among others.^[

Approximately 40 of the 315 wildfires in PG&E’s service area in 2017 and 2018 were allegedly caused by PG&E equipment.

PG&E was on probation after being found criminally liable in the 2010 San Bruno fire. Following that fire, a federally appointed monitor initially focused on gas operations, but his scope expanded to include electricity distribution equipment following the fires in October 2017. A separate case involved allegations the utility falsified gas pipeline records between 2012 and 2017, and as of January 2019 was still being considered.

4. Wildfire Liability

State law follows a principle of “inverse condemnation” for wildfire liability, which means that utilities are held responsible for damages resulting from any fire caused by their equipment, even if their maintenance on equipment and surrounding vegetation was done to standards. This policy resulted in $30B of liability for PG&E from the 2017 & 2018 fires and drove it to bankruptcy proceedings. In July 2019, a new $21 billion wildfire trust fund was created to pay for damages from future wildfires, started with a 50-50 balance of utility and customer monies and also reduced the liability threshold for utilities to where customers must prove negligence before companies are held liable.

5. Sierra blaze

On June 19, 1997, a Nevada County jury in Nevada City found PG&E guilty of “a pattern of tree-trimming violations that sparked a devastating 1994 wildfire in the Sierra”. “PG&E was convicted of 739 counts of criminal negligence for failing to trim trees near its power lines—the biggest criminal conviction ever against the state’s largest utility.

6. San Bruno, California explosion

On the evening of September 9, 2010, a suburb of San Francisco, San Bruno, California, was damaged when one of PG&E’s natural-gas pipelines that was “at least 54 years old, 30 inches (76.2 centimeters) in diameter and located under a street intersection in a residential area “…exploded sending a “28-foot section of pipe weighing 3,000 pounds flying through the air, fueled by blowing natural gas”.^[235] The blast created a crater at the epicenter and “killed eight people and injured nearly five dozen more while destroying about 100 homes” The USGS reported that the shock wave was similar to a 1.1 magnitude earthquake. Following the event, the company was heavily criticized for ignoring the warnings of a state inspector in 2009 and for failing to provide adequate safety procedures. The incident then came under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). On August 30, 2011, the NTSB released its findings, which placed fault for the blast on PG&E. The report stated that the pipeline that exploded, installed in 1956, did not even meet standards of that time. Even in the years following the disaster, PG&E failed to implement legally mandated safety procedures aimed at preventing similar disasters.

7. Butte Fire

In September 2015, the deadly and destructive Butte Fire ignited in Amador and Calaveras counties. It killed two people and destroyed hundreds of structures. An investigation found PG&E responsible for the fire after a gray pine tree came in contact with one of their powerlines.

8. October 2017 Northern California wildfires

In October 2017, PG&E was responsible for their own lines and poles starting 13 separate fires of the 250 that devastated Northern California. These fires were caused by “electric power and distribution lines, conductors and the failure of power poles”. Pending further investigation, the following fires have been confirmed by CAL FIRE investigators to have been started by PG&E equipment:

• Redwood Fire, Mendocino County
• Sulphur Fire in Lake County
• Cherokee Fire, Butte County
• 37 Fire, Sonoma County
• Blue Fire, Humboldt County
• Pocket Fire, Sonoma County,
• Atlas Fire, Napa County
• Norrbom, Adobe, Partrick, Pythian and Nuns fires of Sonoma and Napa County
• Cascade Fire, Yuba County

8. Ghost Ship fire

On December 2, 2016, in Fruitvale, Oakland, California a fire broke out in a former warehouse that had been illegally converted into an artist collective with living spaces known as Ghost Ship. 80-100 people were at an event in the space and 36 were killed. The plaintiffs claim that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction. A civil case was put forward against PG&E, alleging blame.

In August 2020, PG&E settled a civil lawsuit for 32 of the victims, out of the 36 who perished in the fire.^] The amount of the settlement was undisclosed, but it was limited to the amount available under PG&E’s insurance coverage for the year 2016.

9. Tubbs Fire

The Tubbs Fire was a wildfire in Northern California during October 2017. At the time, the Tubbs Fire was the most destructive wildfire in California history, burning parts of Napa, Sonoma, and Lake counties, inflicting its greatest losses in the city of Santa Rosa. Suspicion for the cause of the fire fell on PG&E, but the company seemed to be cleared of responsibility in this incident after Cal Fire released the results of its investigation on January 24, 2019, upon which news the company’s stock price jumped dramatically. On August 16, 2019, the judge ruled that the trial can proceed “on a parallel track” because “it advances the goals of this bankruptcy.” After the judge’s ruling, the company’s stock price sank by 25%.

10. Camp Fire (The worst of them all)

In November 2018, PG&E and its parent company were sued in the San Francisco County Superior Court by multiple victims of the Camp Fire – the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. The Camp Fire destroyed more than 18,000 buildings, including 14,000 homes, being particularly devastating to poorer residents. Approximately 90% of the population of the town of Paradise, California as of June 2020 remains dispersed in other parts of the state and the country. The lawsuit accused PG&E of failure to properly maintain its infrastructure and equipment.

The cause of the fire, as indicated by PG&E’s “electric incident report” submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission, was a power failure on a transmission line on November 8, just 15 minutes before the fire was first reported near the same location. Later investigation revealed that a “broken hook may have allowed a piece of electrically charged equipment to swing free and come close enough to the tower to arc, providing the spark that ignited the blaze.

. . . and the heat goes on . . .

11. Dixie Fire

On January 4, 2022, CalFire determined that “the Dixie Fire was caused by a tree contacting electrical distribution lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) located west of Cresta Dam.” CalFire forwarded the investigative report to the Butte County District Attorney’s office, the same federal office that prosecuted PG&E in 2018 following the Camp Fire.

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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, Sunday, (05/26/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Under pressure from all sides, Brown backtracks, says Yucca ‘should not be revived’

Nevada Current

Under pressure from all sides, Brown backtracks, says Yucca ‘should not be revived’ … nuclear waste project should not be considered. … things I’m …Data centers’ nuclear option – Morning Brew

Morning Brew

As AI turns data centers into gigawatt gluttons, split atoms might soon be a staple of their energy diet. Data center operators and their customers …

Coalition’s brave nuke world a much harder sell after new CSIRO report – The Guardian

The Guardian

What’s new on nuclear costs? CSIRO’s GenCost report says a 1,000 megawatt nuclear plant would cost about $8.6bn to build, but that comes with some …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Nuclear Power Has to Work – The Atlantic

The Atlantic

The United States used to build nuclear–power plants affordably. To meet our climate goals, we’ll need to learn how to do it again.

Nuclear – Cipher News – Cipher News

Data centers’ nuclear option – Morning Brew

Morning Brew

… nuclear power plant operator Constellation Energy. Searching for breakthroughs. On top of old-school reactors that split atoms (fission), the data …

A way to play the global nuclear power renaissance from Morgan Stanley – CNBC

CNBC

Morgan Stanley says the much touted nuclear renaissance may actually be real this time, and Curtiss-Wright is poised to benefit.

CNBC on X: “A way to play the global nuclear power renaissance from Morgan Stanley https://t.co … – twitter.com

Full Coverage

Nuclear War

NEWS

Polish foreign minister calls for long-term rearmament of Europe | Poland – The Guardian

The Guardian

He said: “We have allowed all those production facilities to be closed down after the end of the cold war. … nuclear, and presumably they don’t want …

Ukrainian strike on Russian nuclear radar system causes alarm in West – The Telegraph

The Telegraph

Analysts warned that Ukraine should avoid striking nuclear infrastructure, after it carried out another attack in Russian territory.

Nuclear deterrence – Newspaper – DAWN.COM

Dawn

Nuclear weapons are political weapons, ideally not intended for war-fighting. … nuclear warfare. An agreement was reached on advance notification of …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Israeli atomic threats to shift security equation in region – Mehr News Agency

Mehr News Agency

Israeli officials’ threats to use nuclear … Araghchi argued that the Israeli regime had not ruled out possessing nuclear … war on Gaza broke out. He …

Nuclear deterrence – Newspaper – DAWN.COM

Dawn

Nuclear weapons are political weapons, ideally not intended for war-fighting. … war, primarily due to nuclear deterrence. … Given the dangers of a …

Is Russia planning a tactical nuclear strike? – Vox News Albania

Vox News Albania

Representatives of Western countries have criticized Moscow’s leadership because of atomic threats. Although President Putin has not openly threatened …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 25, 2024

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Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Saturday, (05/25/2024)

The nuclear news is full of substantive, interesting, and useful articles tonight — a rarity! But in deciding which headline was the most significant to me, I chose this one, which is actually three short articles in one about one of my favorite subjects: The future of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant is under review. This week, officials met to discuss options for the site after its decommissioning … from KCBX. As you cannot help but note as you read on, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is not at all respected by the public, which is no secret from anyone who knows the company’s history. ~llaw

Environment and Energy

Here’s what could happen after the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant’s decommissioning

KCBX | By Amanda Wernik

Published May 24, 2024 at 4:52 PM PDT

The future of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant is under review. This week, officials met to discuss options for the site after its decommissioning.

The Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Engagement Panel and the plant’s operator, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), went over an environmental impact report that listed several repurposing options for the nearly 800-acre site.

Susan Strachan with the San Luis Obispo County planning department helped draft the report.

“We took information from the strategic plan, different sources and collectively came up with these concepts, but it did also include information provided by PG&E,” Strachan said.

Possible repurposing ideas include turning the site into an energy research lab for Cal Poly, a desalination plant, or an offshore wind area for the Central Coast.

Mona Tucker, tribal chairwoman for Yaktitutitu Yak Tilhini, said the land should be preserved.

“Everything that happens at Diablo lands is of special interest to our tribe, as this is land that was stolen from us,” Tucker said. “We were removed violently from there.”

Another proposed concept is turning the land into a local indigenous historic preservation site.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing PG&E’s application to renew the plant’s license for another 20 years.

Tags

Environment and Energy Diablo Canyon Power PlantNuclear Regulatory CommissionPG&E

Amanda Wernik

KCBX Reporter Amanda Wernik graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a BS in Journalism. Amanda is currently a fellow with the USC Center for Health Journalism, completing a data fellowship that will result in a news feature series to air on KCBX in the winter of 2024.

Related Content (Stories 2 and 3):

• Environment and EnergyPG&E files application to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant operating until 2045Kim Foster Carlson, November 8, 2023Tuesday, PG&E submitted an application to keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant running 20 years after its scheduled closure date, meaning the plant could operate until 2045.
• Environment and EnergyNuclear Regulatory Commission hosts Oral Argument on Diablo Canyon License RenewalAmanda Wernik, May 22, 2024Mothers for Peace, Friends of the Earth, and the Environmental Working Group are asking for a formal hearing to challenge Pacific, Gas and Electric’s application to extend Diablo Canyon’s operations for another 20 years. Board members with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will consider these arguments in deciding whether to approve the requested hearing.

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, Saturday, (05/25/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEW

Glenn Greenwald and Alan Dershowitz Debate Bombing Iran – Reason Magazine

Reason Magazine

All that is needed is for one bomb, one nuclear bomb to land in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, and that would be the end of Israel. And he said, and he was …

A North Korean propaganda music video has gone TikTok viral. South Korea isn’t amused

WUNC

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:30 PM … All Streams. News. North Carolina News … nuclear crisis and the Fukushima earthquake and nuclear disaster.

Oklo CEO on Nuclear Power, Going Public and AI – Bloomberg

Bloomberg

So it kind of enabled all of those things at the same time. The company itself is is now structured where you have a lot of long term shareholders …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Nuclear power can help with AI energy demand: Oklo CEO – YouTube

YouTube

The International Energy Agency forecasts that global electricity consumption for the cryptocurrency, data center, and AI sectors could double by …

Here’s what could happen after the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant’s decommissioning

KCBX

The future of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant is under review. This week, officials met to discuss options for the site after its …

DCD>Debate: Nuclear power’s fallout: Is anyone convinced by the latest advancements?

Data Center Dynamics

They point to the economy of scale for each reactor and the lack of long-term power purchase agreements needed to generate investment. But, interest …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEW

Plant Vogtle debriefs important emergency exercise – WJBF

WJBF

… Power Company, and Southern Nuclear Operating Company. J.T. Ackermann represents Region 4 for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Plant Vogtle debriefs important emergency exercise – Yahoo

Yahoo

… Power Company, and Southern Nuclear Operating Company. ADVERTISEMENT. Advertisement. J.T. Ackermann represents Region 4 for the Federal Emergency …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Exclusive: Putin wants Ukraine ceasefire on current frontlines | Reuters

Reuters

Russia concerned about nuclear escalation: sources. MOSCOW/LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to halt the war in …

Implications and Responses to Putin’s Tactical Nuclear Weapons Drills – RealClearDefense

RealClearDefense

If Putin believes that NATO is reluctant to risk a war with Russia, he may take the opportunity to exploit the deterrence vacuum by launching a single …

As NATO moves to allow Ukraine bomb Russia with its weapons, Kremlin floats possible … – WSWS

WSWS

… nuclear war. It is not Moscow, but the NATO powers led by Washington that … war, and also about nuclear war. “Two of the sources cited Russian …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Is the Risk of Nuclear War Increasing? – LSE Phelan US Centre Event Review | USAPP

LSE Blogs

… dangers and risks of nuclear war amid increasing public awareness. Panellists included Dr Lauren Sukin, assistant professor of International …

Polish FM says US will strike Russian troops in Ukraine if Russia uses nuclear weapons

The Kyiv Independent

The threats have failed to materialize, and Russia continues to wage its all-out war without its nuclear arsenal. “The Americans have told the …

Can the U.S. Defend South Korea and Taiwan Simultaneously? | The National Interest

The National Interest

-However, growing threats from adversaries … War II, in future conflicts the … nuclear attack while imposing unacceptable costs on the Soviet Union.

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Yellowstone volcano overrated for planetary doom – The Independent Record

The Independent Record

Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week’s …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 25, 2024

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(Image: IAEA)

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Friday, (05/24/2024)

The apparent and extremely dangerous ongoing sabotage of the subject nuclear power plant (Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine) in the article below has been going on for more than a year, and lately the incoming power lines that provide indispensable electricity to operate the plant and its nuclear reactors, forcing the huge nuclear plant (the largest in Europe with six reactors), to rely on inadequate power generation from diesel generators providing far less than full power from the incoming grid. It has become a war weapon unto itself waiting to win the war for Russia.

Several meltdowns have reportedly somehow been avoided by patching up the power lines just in the nick of time according to the news we get from many international news and watchdog agencies sources. Should this plant fail and suffer a meltdown, not only would Ukraine be dangerously affected by radiation from the failing reactors, but much of Europe would be threatened as well.

If we consider the tense world situation today, this kind of problem could, created not only by intensified war, but also by sabotage and cyber attacks from conventional warfare, but also from international terrorism, endangering human and other life wherever nuclear power plants are situated around the globe. The threat of nuclear war is bad enough, but terrorism could also easily contaminate much of planet Earth with lethal radiation.

And yet we are being encouraged by world governments and the aggressive nuclear industry to build more of them in order to defeat global warming and climate change from current use of fossil fuels contaminating the planet with CO2 and other greenhouse gasses. We should be concentrating on renewable resources like wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal energy around the world to achieve a safer, faster and far more economic solution. And an attempt at conservation might help as well. ~llaw

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IAEA’s Grossi highlights continued Zaporizhzhia power supply concerns

24 May 2024

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has said concerns continue over the impact potential disruption to off-site power could have at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.

He was speaking after Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), which has been under the control of the Russian military since early March 2022, had to rely on its last remaining 330 kV back-up external power line for more than three hours on Thursday.

According to the IAEA the disconnection of the 750kV Dniprovska line happened at 13:31 local time, about six kilometres from plant’s switchyard, in Russian-controlled territory. The plant told the IAEA that it was caused by a short-circuit and that it was reconnected at 16:49.

Before the conflict the plant had four 750 kV and six 330 kV lines, compared with one of each at the moment. It also has an expanded fleet of emergency diesel generators to provide power for essential safety functions in case all external power is lost.

Grossi said: “For Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to depend on one or two power lines is a deep source of concern and clearly not sustainable. Our concerns also extend to the operating nuclear power plants across Ukraine, where a disruption to off-site power supplies could have very serious implications for nuclear safety.”

He reported that the IAEA team stationed at Zaporizhzhia continued to hear explosions at various distances from the plant: “For the outside world, the situation … may have appeared relatively calm in recent weeks, since the drone attacks on the site confirmed by our experts in mid-April. But this is not the way we see the situation on the ground. The stark reality is one of constant danger. The nuclear safety and security situation at the site remains extremely vulnerable.”

The IAEA team has continued to carry out observations at the plant, and this week visited the main warehouse facility, outside the plant perimeter, where they saw spare parts and “the team noted that much of the electrical equipment originated from western suppliers and was delivered prior to the start of the armed conflict”. The IAEA said it was told by the ZNPP that the transition to a new procurement system was almost complete for procurement from potential suppliers in the Russian Federation.

The IAEA has had staff stationed at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant since September 2022 as part of efforts to reduce the safety risks to a facility which is on the frontline of Russian and Ukrainian forces. It also has experts  present at the Khmelnitsky, Rivne and South Ukraine nuclear power plants and the Chernobyl site – they all report 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”.

Researched and written by World Nuclear 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 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, Friday, (05/24/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Russia is practicing nuclear drills near the border with Ukraine | WJCT News 89.9

WJCT News

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:00 PM … Russia is practicing nuclear drills near the border with Ukraine … Russia is carrying out drills with …

This breakthrough engineered surface promises cooler nuclear reactors

Interesting Engineering

The ability to induce the Leidenfrost effect at lower temperatures could lead to the development of more efficient cooling systems for everything from …

‘Beautiful one day. Nuclear the next?’ Labor can’t wait for a fight on Dutton’s energy plan

The Guardian

It’s got a touch of the negative gearings about it. Compounding all that, Dutton and Littleproud did not prepare the ground, either in the joint party …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

IAEA’s Grossi highlights continued Zaporizhzhia power supply concerns

World Nuclear News

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has said concerns continue over the impact potential disruption to …

Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant suffers power supply glitch that could lead to … – GB News

GB News

The International Atomic Energy (IAEA) said that the power outage “underlines extremely precarious nuclear safety and security” at the plant. Yet the …

Congress Wants to Solve Nuclear Waste. The Solutions Are Known. – POWER Magazine

POWER Magazine

Our organizations support nuclear energy as a tool of economic opportunity and emissions reduction, and we believe that nuclear’s sustainable …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

IAEA’s Grossi highlights continued Zaporizhzhia power supply concerns

World Nuclear News

… power could have at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants … power for essential safety functions in case all external power … IAEA staff observe emergency …

Electricity shortages persist, blackout schedules are in effect around the clock – Ukrenergo

unn.ua

The reason: significant damage to energy infrastructure facilities after 5 massive Russian attacks. The company said that emergency recovery and …

Belarus to provide humanitarian aid to Russia’s regions affected by flood – BELTA

BELTA

The Emergencies Ministry, the Agriculture and … The Emergencies Ministry … Rosatom ready to build second nuclear power plant in Belarus if necessary.

Nuclear War

NEWS

Threat of nuclear war paralyses International Geneva – SWI swissinfo.ch

Swissinfo

With Russia starting nuclear exercises near Ukraine and disarmament negotiations in Geneva at a standstill, the question arises: can diplomacy address …

Is Putin preparing for nuclear war? – ASPI The Strategist

ASPI The Strategist

On 6 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he had authorised a military exercise involving the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in …

Ukrainian missiles hit Crimea as Russia launches nuclear drills in area – Euronews.com

Euronews.com

Ukraine struck two Crimean targets late on Thursday, the Russian head of the annexed peninsula said. Two people were killed in a missile attack near …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Is Putin preparing for nuclear war? | The Strategist

ASPI Strategist

… threats to use nuclear weapons. And he is now doing so with increasing frequency. Since this tactical nuclear weapon exercise is concentrated in …

The View From Kyiv: How Ukraine Confronted the Looming Threat of War – Literary Hub

Literary Hub

And it stated that both sides must avoid situations that might be deemed “national security threats. … nuclear triad. The message was: Get out of …

Russia says main power line to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant goes down, no safety threats

WIBQ

… nuclear plant goes down, no safety threats. By Thomson Reuters May 23, 2024 … dangers to nuclear safety and security” from the Russia-Ukraine war.

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 24, 2024

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Thursday, (05/23/2024)

The following, carefully crafted for appearances, is one of most incomprehensible and irresponsible articles concerning the ‘war’ between renewable energy production and the slowly dying fossil fuel industry taking humanity and other life with it. There are so many hidden inaccurate comparisons in this story that one is tempted to believe that uranium mining is small, cheap, clean, and neat — and that its impact on the environment is minimal. Nothing could be more wrong. Uranium mining is an extremely costly business that includes toxic waste from required refining of milling to produce the basic radioactive product called yellowcake (U308), which also requires further refinement to create the actual fuel (U235) that is eventually used in nuclear reactors.

Uranium mining requires far more earth-moving equipment of specialized kinds for earth stripping of overburden and other waste, analytical engineering, drilling exploration for locating and recovering of ore grades of sufficient grade and quality to mine and mill economically. Mine waste stripping by huge mining equipment may have a stripping ratio to millable ore of 30+ to 1, or more, cubic yard of overburden waste to economic ore that can profitably produce U308 creating man-made hills surrounding multiple pits of uranium mining operations that must be reclaimed along with mill tailings ponds that environmentally takes an ominous toll on wildlife while milling activity goes on, so the huge ratio of waste to a millable uranium product for for further refinement is essentially doubled simply by the eventual reclamation costs.

And, then too, as a non-renewable product, uranium is limited in quantity — far moreso than coal, oil, and natural gas. So the kilowatt hour cost of producing electricity, like all fossil fuels, will continue to increase until there is no more. The costs are already beyond any reasonable economic value, and, as in all commercial products, the working classes ultimately foot the bills, almost always without having a clue what they are paying for.

I could go on and on about the ultimate cost and accompanying waste (which extends all the way through the nuclear process to the spent fuel that created the necessary nuclear reaction, which is a whole ‘nother nuclear issue. But that would be little more than a waste of breath.

The nuclear industry propaganda goes on — and on — and on — evidently until Doomsday . . . ~llaw

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ENERGY AND CLIMATE

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

It’s Settled, More Nuclear Energy Means Less Mining

Clean Energy Minerals Are Challenging Traditional Environmental Dogmas

MAY 23, 2024

For decades, the environmental movement has lumped nuclear energy with fossil fuels as a mining-intensive, environmentally destructive technologies while extolling solar and wind as pillars of a more sustainable future.

“Nuclear energy is a carbon hog. Plant construction cement, steel, and complex electronics is carbon intensive” opines Greenpeace co-founder Rex Wyler in one rambling essay. Another report by Friends of the Earth condemns mining for nuclear fuel as unacceptable, while exonerating mining for solar and wind as worrying but manageable in the next breath. A graphic produced by the Japanese environmental think tank Climate Integrate groups nuclear power and mining under an unequal fossil-fuel system while enshrining wind and solar within an “equal” and “nature positive” future society, somehow blissfully separated from mineral production.

Claiming that nuclear power is more mining-intensive than renewables never made much sense to begin with, but such assertions have stubbornly persisted in environmental forums, simply because nobody had invested the effort into challenging them with modern data.

That debate is now settled. When considering how to best manage the mining footprint of a global shift to low-carbon energy, the math clearly shows that clean energy systems using relatively more nuclear energy will impose fewer mining impacts than systems using only solar, wind, and storage. A major research report from my team, building on recent U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, MIT, and United States Geological Survey analyses, finds that every unit of clean electricity from a nuclear power plant requires excavating just 30% or 23% the mass of rock and metal, compared to an equal unit of solar or onshore wind electricity.

But many traditional environmentalists and nuclear technology opponents remain determined to exclude clean nuclear power from consideration as a clean energy source by any means necessary. However, using mining as an angle of attack to label nuclear energy as “not sustainable” relative to solar and wind is to make arguments utterly unmoored from real-world data. Rather, insisting on a renewables-only nuclear-free energy system means accepting higher mining-related environmental tradeoffs. Anti-nuclear environmental thinkers must either grapple with that tension or embrace it, but they cannot deny it.

After the clean tech mining arguments

I do have some good news—both for wind and solar advocates and for all pragmatic environmentalists. First, blanket demonization of mining as a concept is misguided to begin with, given mining’s necessity to modern society and for global human development. Second, the extractive intensity of any clean energy system will likely prove considerably better than our existing fossil-based energy system, given the gargantuan scale of coal mining globally. Third, the mining impacts of solar, wind, or nuclear energy are flexible, not fixed, and can improve significantly as technology and practices advance.

To the pragmatic technological optimist, the moderately higher mining footprint of solar and wind energy is just one of many variables in the calculus and politics of achieving a better future, one in which society will probably employ both renewable and nuclear technologies together.

Rather, the harshest rebuke from this data-driven discussion of clean energy mineral needs falls upon entrenched, incoherent environmental dogmas. International green groups and decorated sustainability scholars cannot claim to worship at the altar of empirical science while invoking the material footprint of nuclear energy to classify it “unsustainable”. Nor are calls from degrowth, ecosocialist, or traditional environmentalists to limit extraction through unrealistic and convoluted social measures logically reconcilable with their continued rejection of nuclear power’s potential to alleviate the mining impacts of the clean energy transition.

In one prominent example, the treatise A Planet to Win devotes thirty-odd pages to the importance of reducing energy demand, slashing car dependence, recycling more, restricting the global mining industry, and even supporting resistance at “mines linked to renewable energy” to “buy time” for better mining and recycling technologies (essentially blockading clean energy mineral production) as part of the authors’ vision for a Global Green New Deal. Yet the book’s only mention of nuclear power is a gesture of lukewarm support for running existing nuclear plants a little longer… until society can replace them with solar and wind.

It is time for climate commentators to acknowledge that nuclear technology could in fact aid the advancement of many of their fundamental aims—and in doing so begin the necessary work of rethinking their environmental worldviews in more ecomodernist terms.

At the very least, environmentalists must acknowledge the inherent tradeoffs of insisting on 100% renewable energy systems. The last 10% of an ultimately subjective 100% renewable grid aspiration not only comes with high and nonlinear cost increases from the additional solar, wind, and storage resources to cover all needs at all times and in all weather, but also necessitates greater land and mining footprints. Energy systems with high shares of wind and solar also require more geographically distributed infrastructure like transmission, substations, synchronous condensers, distribution upgrades, and more—important additional mineral demand drivers that our recent study does not capture. Producing low-carbon fuels like hydrogen, methanol, or renewable synthetic methane for use in power plants, vehicles, or industry would require yet even more expansive deployment of renewables and storage to power the requisite electrolyzers and carbon capture facilities.

The match between nuclear and better mining is strong

Some environmental commentators would counter that society will ultimately supply new solar, wind, and battery equipment through recycling rather than new mining. While this is possible in the long-term, the limited availability of many recycled materials like silver, rare earth elements, lithium, or graphite makes this infeasible in the near-term. Moreover, improved recycling would benefit nuclear technology equally if not more, enabling reactors not only built with repurposed steel and concrete aggregate but also powered with recycled spent fuel.

Others might emphasize that the avoided coal mining from a clean energy transition is so substantial that the relative differences in the mining footprint of nuclear, wind, or solar are minor and negligible by comparison. This argument has some merit, but falters somewhat upon considering important nuances.

First, coal-fired electricity is already diminishing, extinct, or was nonexistent to begin with in many regions like Western Europe, California, the Middle East, or much of South America. Coal mining impacts are entirely irrelevant to the mining-related implications of the energy transition in these regions, which are effectively choosing between renewables, gas, and nuclear (and oil in the case of the Middle East). Coal of course remains a factor in other regions like Eastern Europe, East Asia, India, Australia, or Southeast Asia.

Second, mining for clean energy minerals is often more additional to coal mining than it is substitutional. Coal is a consumable fuel, not a metal, so society has already incurred all of the coal mining impacts for the coal energy historically produced to date. Much—though certainly far from all—of current and future coal demand will also be supplied from existing mines and regions. Those mines would correspondingly expand even as the required rate of global supply shrinks, consuming more land in the process, but the global geography of coal mining will not likely shift as dramatically as that of the critical minerals sector in the decades to come. The energy transition, in contrast, will bring new mines to mostly new places, impacting new ecosystems and creating new sociopolitical tensions. Such regional dynamics can get overlooked when considering changes in global average mining activity only.

Lastly, environmentalists and progressives would themselves challenge society not to contentedly accept a future that only offered moderate improvements from the present day when even greater gains are reasonably possible. All else equal, future energy systems that incorporate more nuclear power alongside renewables will consume less land directly, and less land through mining.

At the same time avid pro-nuclear supporters should not leap too quickly to condemn renewable energy as a mining nightmare. Too often, debate over nuclear and renewables originates out of technological pessimism over allegedly inherent, insurmountable problems that society and technology can actually overcome in practice. Nuclear proponents dismiss wind and solar as sprawling, short-lived infrastructure while nuclear opponents bemoan nuclear energy costs and safety risks. But none of these characteristics are ironclad axioms.

One can imagine thinner, more efficient futuristic solar panels that last for half a century, just as one can imagine affordable factory-produced nuclear reactors with inventive, foolproof safety features. A rigorous ecomodernist and technological optimist imagines both sets of technologies at their best, distinguishes between solvable problems and truly inherent characteristics, and works determinedly to crack the former.

The long lever of innovation

But even if traditional and radical environmentalists remain hesitant to contemplate ecomodernism, it may be time for them to reconsider their stubborn opposition to nuclear energy. Indeed, the challenging nexus of clean energy minerals and the energy transition arguably reveals underlying fissures and incoherencies within both traditional environmentalism and its modern offshoots like ecosocialism and degrowth communism. The key driver for maximizing human well-being and minimizing the impacts of mining upon nature is clearly technological innovation and decoupling, not societal behavior change.

With current technology, nuclear energy would do more to reduce energy transition mining than degrowth ideas like rationing ever could. Looking forward into the future, it is far easier to cut the amount of aluminum in solar farms by half than it would be to cut the amount of solar panels needed globally by half. Innovative approaches for isolating magnesium from seawater could replace aluminum solar module frames with virtually no future mining whatsoever. And even degrowth and circular economy proponents cannot avoid invoking significant future advances in recycling technology that will require some time yet to materialize. While degrowth writers might rush to cite material efficiency gains and recycling improvements as evidence that they also do support technological solutions, this ultimately amounts to drawing the same tired, arbitrary boundaries around “good” and “bad” technologies.

Indeed, the act of mining new metals itself has produced immeasurable good throughout ancient and modern human history and is hardly inherently sinful. The key metric for society to manage is not the quantity of metals pulled out of the ground, but rather the tonnage of moved earth, the change in water quality, the amount of airborne dust and carbon, and the fair sharing of the profound benefits to civilization that those metals produce. Good governance and technological advances can improve all of these metrics.

The point of highlighting differences in mining footprints between energy sources is not that we should build only nuclear energy, that we should limit the amount of energy we consume, or that we should restrict the quantity of renewables we build. Instead, we should continue to use all the tools at our disposal to meet future energy needs with fewer and fewer minerals and environmental impacts. The foundation for this approach is the ability to imagine how technologies can continue to advance individually and in concert. Mounting support for nuclear power in many parts of the world is one of many promising signs that such thinking is already gaining momentum.

Seaver Wang

Seaver Wang is Co-Director of the Climate and Energy team.

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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, (05/23/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Russia is practicing nuclear drills near the border with Ukraine – Delaware Public Media

Delaware Public Media

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:30 PM … Russia is practicing nuclear drills near the border with Ukraine … Russia is carrying out drills with …

The surprising similarities between North Korea and Taiwan – Ep. 343 – YouTube

YouTube

… all things DPRK — from news to extended … all things DPRK … Would Russia risk its partnership with China over using nuclear weapons in Ukraine? | …

A song praising North’s leader Kim Jong Un is a surprise viral hit – Delaware Public Media

Delaware Public Media

About Us · Annual Report 2023 · People … All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:30 PM … nuclear crisis and the Fukushima earthquake and nuclear disaster.

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Belarus ratifies updates to nuclear power plant agreement with Russia

World Nuclear News

… nuclear power plant. The Belarusian nuclear power plant, built at Ostrovets (Image: Rosatom). According to the official Belta news agency, the …

It’s Settled, More Nuclear Energy Means Less Mining – The Breakthrough Institute

The Breakthrough Institute

For decades, the environmental movement has lumped nuclear energy with fossil fuels as a mining-intensive, environmentally destructive …

What Is Nuclear Energy? – Nuclear Energy Institute

China’s Rapid Nuclear Expansion Is Threatening U.S. Dominance in the Sector | OilPrice.com

Oil Price

China’s rapid expansion in nuclear energy production raises concerns about geopolitical competition, the safety of floating reactors, …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Ukrainian power engineers restore Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant power supply line

pravda.com.ua

… emergency diesel generators and safety systems. Their failure threatens to cause an emergency. Background: Earlier, it was reported that one of …

US are training Kyiv to respond any possible nuclear emergency or even an attack

London Loves Business

… nuclear power plants remaining under its control, protect its critical infrastructure, particularly the electric grid, provide situational …

France successfully tests a modernized missile that can carry a nuclear warhead | УНН

unn.ua

… nuclear missile from a Rafale strategic air … nuclear deterrent. … Ukraine imposes power supply restrictions, emergency assistance from the EU is …

Nuclear War

NEW

Macron Risking Nuclear War? France’s New Missile Test Just Hours After Russia Nuke Drills

YouTube

Just a day after Russia began its tactical nuclear weapon drills, France conducted its own test of a new nuclear-capable missile, …

Russia’s Stationing A Nuclear ASAT In Orbit Could Spark Next World War – Forbes

Forbes

Russia’s development of a nuclear-tipped ASAT could ultimately spark a great-power conflict, say defense experts across U.S. universities, …

Russia rehearses nuclear attack on Ukraine – but censors its own warheads – Yahoo

Yahoo

Russia is rehearsing a nuclear attack on Ukraine, broadcasting footage of military drills close to the border between the two countries.

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Opinion | Putin’s visit to China brings new cold war – and nuclear threat – ever closer

South China Morning Post

Putin’s visit to China brings new cold war – and nuclear threat – ever closer. This month’s high-level diplomatic visits offer a glimpse into how …

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s main power line down for hours, no safety threat | Reuters

Reuters

… dangers to nuclear safety and security” from the Russia-Ukraine war. … nuclear safety and security risks confronting the site. Coming soon: Get the …

Russia’s Stationing A Nuclear ASAT In Orbit Could Spark Next World War – Forbes

Forbes

… threatened Putin’s grasp on power, have been followed by his escalating threats on nuclear strikes. “Russia’s activities and rhetoric indicate …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Superintendent of Valles Caldera looks to make preserve more accessible – YouTube

YouTube

Superintendent of Valles Caldera … The Valles Caldera National Preserve: New Mexico’s Crown Jewel … Yellowstone National Park is CLOSED, Plastic Sales …

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“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 23, 2024

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Wednesday, (05/22/2024)

This article, posted below, may be the most ridiculous article and governmental advice about how to survive a “nuclear strike” that I have ever seen anywhere, ever. Perhaps it is a satirical cynical joke?

If not, I guess the British government has no idea what a nuclear ‘strike’ would do to you and your home or your surroundings. And stocking up for three days? How absurd! And a cell phone charger? Flooding roads? Why would you even need a cell phone at all? Wind-up radio? It goes on as though a nuclear ‘strike’ would be no more serious than, say, a Covid-like pandemic or a cyber-attack. Perhaps required reading for the British government should be Annie Jacobsen’s new book, “Nuclear War: A Scenario”. (I didn’t bother to click on the Brit Government’s new website, prepare.campaign.gov.uk,) ~llaw

Brits given chilling government warning on exact items they need at home to survive nuclear strike

A new website has been launched by the Government setting out guidance for the public to prepare for emergencies like another pandemic, a mass cyberattack or nuclear war.

Households have been told what they need to stock up on to survive a nuclear attack

By

Sophie HuskissonPolitical Correspondent

• 10:10, 22 May 2024

Households should stock up on tinned food, bottled water and a battery-powered or wind radio to prepare for a national emergency.

The Government on Wednesday launched a new website, prepare.campaign.gov.uk, which sets out guidance for the public to prepare for crises. Flooding is warned to be the most common risk for the public, with other emergencies to prepare for including anything from another pandemic to a mass cyberattack that cuts off the internet. Extreme cases could include a nuclear attack in Europe or a volcanic eruption in another country sweeping clouds of highly toxic sulphur dioxide to the UK.

The website provides a document that members of the public can download and fill out to help them prepare a plan for situations where they have no electricity, phone, or internet connection. It recommends having three days worth of supplies. Among items the website says people should stock up on, it lists spare batteries for torches and radios, or a portable power bank for charging your mobile phone. It also suggests keeping a first aid kit, wet wipes, hand sanitiser and baby supplies like nappies and formula in the cupboard.

The list also includes non-perishable food that does not need cooking, such as tinned meat, fruit or vegetables, as well as a tin opener. It adds: “Don’t forget food for pets.” The advise says a minimum of 2.5-3 litres of drinking water per person per day is recommended by the World Health Organisation for survival, adding that 10 litres per person per day will make you “more comfortable” by also providing for basic cooking and hygiene needs.

Ministers want people to prepare for emergencies like flooding.

If an emergency is outside the home, the guidance recommends you stay in, close all windows and doors if necessary, and tune into any national and local news and other trusted sources, such as your local emergency services social media accounts. If the emergency is inside the home then the advice is: Get out, stay out and ring 999.

Among other recommendations to prepare for emergencies, the Government urges people to set a reminder in your phone or make a note on your calendar to check your smoke alarms at least once a month. The guidance also suggests writing down important phone numbers on paper such as the number to report a power cut (105) and the numbers of anyone you might want to contact in an emergency.

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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, Wednesday, (05/22/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

All things considered, it raises an important … 〰️ ℹ️ More Info: Nuclear Samurai’s latest … every Monday and my Discover Art series every Thursday.

Ambitious plan to restart nuclear plant creates cheerleaders and critics – MLive.com

MLive.com

… things, such as reactor vessel embrittlement, can be repaired at all. … every aspect of the nuclear industry. Lawsuits about siting nuclear …

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Maps AI’s Rapid Advance – Noema Magazine

Noema Magazine

An example would be that an agent can read all of chemistry, learn something about it, have a bunch of hypotheses about the chemistry, run some tests …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Wylfa chosen for new nuclear power station – BBC

BBC

Wylfa on Anglesey has been chosen as the preferred site for a large-scale nuclear power plant, the UK government said.

Nuclear power: Wylfa on Anglesey chosen as site for new plant – BBC News

BBC

The UK government names Wylfa, on Anglesey, as its preferred site for a new nuclear power station.

Large-scale nuclear power station planned for Anglesey in Wales – The Guardian

The Guardian

Wylfa on Anglesey (Ynys Môn) has been named as the preferred site for the UK’s third major nuclear power plant in a generation, coming after EDF’s …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEW

The survival kit ministers want Brits to prepare in case of emergencies | Daily Mail Online

Daily Mail

And the UK is continuing to feel the effects of severe weather, including flooding, power cuts, heatwaves and droughts. Now, Deputy Prime Minister …

Brits given chilling government warning on exact items they need at home to survive nuclear strike

The Mirror

… emergencies like another pandemic, a mass cyberattack or nuclear war. … powered or wind radio to prepare for a national emergency. … power bank for …

UAE delegation takes part in 4th International Conference on Nuclear Security

wam.ae

… Emergencies, Crisis and Disasters Management Centre – Abu Dhabi and Nawah Energy Company. Al Kaabi delivered the UAE National Statement in which …

Nuclear War

NEW

Putin orders nuclear weapons drill as Kyiv’s forces ‘inflict maximum casualties’ | The Independent

The Independent

Ukraine and its Western allies say Putin has repeatedly dangled the threat of nuclear war in Europe since he invaded Ukraine in 2022. The Kremlin …

Russia begins nuclear drills following West’s remarks suggesting possible deepening role in Ukraine

AP News

… war in Ukraine. It was the first time Russia has publicly announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, although its strategic nuclear …

Ukraine war live updates: Russia launches tactical nuclear weapons drills, warning the West …

CNBC

This is CNBC’s live blog tracking developments on the war in Ukraine. See below for the latest updates. Russia’s latest non-strategic nuclear …

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Russia begins exercises for battlefield nuclear weapons, pointing to Western ‘threats‘

The Hill

Russia begins exercises for battlefield nuclear weapons, pointing to Western ‘threats … Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly threatened the …

Russia Starts Tactical Nuclear Drills, in a Warning to Ukraine’s Allies – The New York Times

The New York Times

Moscow has said the exercise is a response to “provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials.”

U.S. says Russia launched a space weapon in the path of an American satellite – NBC News

NBC News

… war, threatening to unleash Russia’s powerful nuclear arsenal if its existence is threatened. … threats of certain Western officials regarding the …

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

Is Yellowstone Overrated? As A Disaster Movie Subject, Maybe… – National Parks Traveler

National Parks Traveler

Editor’s note: Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

Living with wildlife instead of living a wild life | Opinion | paintsvilleherald.com

The Paintsville Herald

… Yellowstone caldera. Even though it was the middle of May, there was still quite a bit of snow on the Jenny Lake Trail and the Taggart Lake loop …

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 22, 2024

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Tuesday, (05/21/2024)

This article insinuates that the threat of actual nuclear war is more clear than ever, considering that the idea of ‘deterrence’ is a shallow or even hollow threat. It is likely that at this point no nuclear armed country, especially North Korea, would honor the specific deterrent of the ‘non-first-use’ policy, which North Korea abandoned in 2022. And actual ‘first use’ would no doubt be the beginning of the end.

Words, promises, and agreements or doctrines mean nothing to all nuclear armed governments, yet ‘deterrence’ (the idea of fear of each other) is the only flimsy hope we have that a nuclear bomb or two will not be directed at one of the other nuclear armed countries, instantly beginning the holocaust of World War III, from which there will be no victor. WWIII would be the beginning of the 6th Extinction . . . ~llaw

North Korea Reacts to ‘Nuclear Threat’ From US

Published May 20, 2024 at 2:27 PM EDTUpdated May 21, 2024 at 4:14 AM EDT

01:10

China Harbors Russian North Korea Arms Ship, Images Show

By Micah McCartney

China News Reporter

North Korea has accused the United States of a “dangerous act” and of hypocrisy following a recent subcritical nuclear test.

“The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will not allow a strategic imbalance and security vacuum to be created on the Korean peninsula,” North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday, using the country’s official name.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced last week it had successfully carried out the subcritical experiment, which did not trigger a fissile chain reaction, at the Nevada National Security Site.

The agency said it plans to increase the frequency of these tests to gather more data on nuclear weapons materials, without needing to return to explosive testing. The U.S.’s last known nuclear explosion test was in 1992, and the country has since adhered to a moratorium.

The U.S., as the country that has carried out the most nuclear tests, “has no right to comment on anyone’s threat of nuclear war,” the North Korean statement said.

The ministry also pointed out the U.S. had deployed nuclear-capable submarines to South Korea last year, for the first time in decades, and is planning “an actual nuclear operation exercise” with Seoul in August.

North Korea previously warned of a “catastrophic aftermath” if the planned joint military exercises, designed to simulate a response to Pyongyang’s potential use of a nuclear weapon, proceed.

• US Spy Plane Sweeps North Korean Border

Newsweek reached out to the North Korean embassy in Beijing, China, outside of office hours with a written request for comment.

North Korea, which has conducted six nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017, has threatened a seventh and in 2022 updated its nuclear doctrine to abandon its non-first-use policy.

The country has also upped the frequency of its ballistic missile tests in recent months, including those it says can be equipped with nuclear warheads.

The international community remains concerned about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. have repeatedly called for stronger international measures and enforcement of United Nations Security Council sanctions meant to curb Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs.

Analysts have suggested North Korean leader Kim Jong Un views his nuclear arsenal as essential to deterring foreign intervention and strengthening his bargaining power.

Tokyo, Seoul, and Washington have agreed to enhance their trilateral cooperation to counter North Korea’s threats.

In his memoir, released Saturday, former South Korean President Moon Jae-in recounted how Kim had “sincerely explained his commitment to denuclearization” during their first summit in 2018.

Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of National Unification, told NK News that Kim’s statements were likely aimed at manipulation while continuing to advance his nuclear capabilities

Update 5/21/24, 4:00 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional context.

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, Tuesday, (05/21/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

What could be next for Iran after President Raisi’s death | New Hampshire Public Radio

NHPR

Jordan-Marie Smith is a producer with NPR’s All Things Considered. Sarah Handel. [Copyright 2024 NPR].

What could be next for Iran after President Raisi’s death – NPR

NPR

What could be next for Iran after President Raisi’s death. May 20, 20244:48 PM ET. Heard on All Things Considered … nuclear program or the direction …

Nuclear energy could be a climate hero, but meltdown fears linger – MLive.com

MLive.com

… things at the atomic level. … “Today, many people that are fearful about climate change look at nuclear … All rights reserved (About Us). The material …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Nuclear energy could be a climate hero, but meltdown fears linger – MLive.com

MLive.com

Nestled in the Berrien County dunes along Lake Michigan, the Cook Nuclear Plant has been quietly kicking out enough power to electrify about 2.18 …

Slovakia and South Korea discuss cooperation on new nuclear

World Nuclear News

The Slovak Republic government is aiming to develop details of proposals for a new nuclear power unit at Bohunice by October – with South Korea, …

French, Russia, Chinese firms vie to build Ghana’s first nuclear power plant – Reuters

Reuters

Ghana will select by December a company to build its first nuclear power plant from contenders including France’s EDF, U.S.-based NuScale Power …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Nuclear energy could be a climate hero, but meltdown fears linger – MLive.com

MLive.com

The recommended evacuation zone for the Cook power plant in the event of nuclear emergency. (Cook power plant). A nuclear emergency has never occurred …

NH Nuclear Plant Explosion Likely Affects These MA Cities – Live 95.9

Live 95.9

Six municipalities in Massachusetts would be affected if there were to be an emergency situation at the nuclear power plant in Seabrook, NH. The plant …

Belarus attending IAEA conference in Vienna – BELTA

BELTA

… Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor) led by its head Olga Lugovskaya is taking part in the international conference on nuclear … nuclear power plant.

Nuclear War

NEWS

Zelensky’s New Request For Nuclear War? Despite Putin’s Threats, Ukraine Wants NATO …

YouTube

… -out nuclear war. Watch the full video for more. INTERNATIONAL NEWS #Russia #NATO #USA #Europe #EuropeanUnion #VladimirPutin #JoeBiden …

North Korea Reacts to ‘Nuclear Threat’ From US – Newsweek

Newsweek

The U.S., as the country that has carried out the most nuclear tests, “has no right to comment on anyone’s threat of nuclear war,” the North Korean …

Russia says it starts nuclear military drills – Reuters

Reuters

… nuclear weapons” in the Southern Military … Israel and Hamas at War · Japan · Middle East … nuclear weapons” in the Southern Military District, the …

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Zelensky’s New Request For Nuclear War? Despite Putin’s Threats, Ukraine Wants NATO …

YouTube

Zelensky’s New Request For Nuclear War? Despite Putin’s Threats, Ukraine Wants NATO Armies To Hit… · Comments167.

North Korea Reacts to ‘Nuclear Threat‘ From US – Newsweek

Newsweek

The U.S., as the country that has carried out the most nuclear tests, “has no right to comment on anyone’s threat of nuclear war,” the North Korean …

Why Russia Keeps Rattling the Nuclear Saber – CSIS

CSIS

… nuclear risks to the highest level since the end of the Cold War. How … nuclear threats, and deploy nuclear weapons to Belarus with impunity.

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 21, 2024

1

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LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Monday, (05/20/2024)

This well-written and researched article accentuates and corroborates my constant drumming about why such technologies as AI and others that can negatively affect ‘all things nuclear, which’ needs to be shut down and removed from human existence. ~llaw

Emerging Technologies Accentuate the Already Very Serious Threat of Nuclear Weapons

in World

by Bharat Dogra

20/05/2024

While very serious life-threatening conditions have existed at the planetary level for several decades due to the accumulation of nuclear weapons, a number of emerging technologies are aggravating this danger in several serious and complex ways. The Arms Control Association and author Michael T. Clare have made a very important contribution to the understanding of this grave danger in the form of their very timely report titled ‘ Assessing the Dangers—Emerging Military Technologies and Nuclear (In) Stability’.

This report says, “Increasingly in recent years, the major powers have sought to exploit advanced technologies— artificial intelligence (AI), autonomy, cyber, and hypersonic, among others—for military purposes, with potentially far-ranging, dangerous consequences. Similar to what occurred when chemical and nuclear technologies were first applied to warfare, many analysts believe that the military utilization of AI and other such “emerging technologies” will revolutionize warfare, making obsolete the weapons and the strategies of the past. In accordance with this outlook, the U.S. Department of Defence is allocating ever increasing sums to research on these technologies and their application to military use, as are the militaries of the other major powers. But even as the U.S. military and those of other countries accelerate the exploitation of new technologies for military use, many analysts have cautioned against proceeding with such haste until more is known about the inadvertent and hazardous consequences of doing so. Analysts worry, for example, that AI-enabled systems may fail in unpredictable ways, causing unintended human slaughter or uncontrolled escalation.”

More specifically this report warns, “Of particular concern to arms control analysts is the potential impact of emerging technologies on “strategic stability,” or a condition in which nuclear armed states eschew the first use of nuclear weapons in a crisis. The introduction of weapons employing AI and other emerging technologies could endanger strategic stability by blurring the distinction between conventional and nuclear attack, leading to the premature use of nuclear weapons.”

On the positive side, this report informs us that arms control advocates and citizen activists in many countries have sought to slow the weaponization of AI and other emerging technologies or to impose limits of various sorts on their battlefield employment. To give an example, state parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) have considered proposals to ban the development and the deployment of lethal autonomous weapons systems—or “killer robots,” as they are termed by critics.

Providing more details of these trends, tis report tells us that among the most prominent applications of emerging technologies to military use is the widespread introduction of autonomous weapons systems— devices that combine AI software with combat platforms of various sorts (ships, tanks, planes, and so on) to identify, track, and attack enemy targets on their own.

At present, each branch of the U.S. military, and the forces of the other major powers, are developing— and in some cases fielding—several families of autonomous combat systems, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), unmanned surface vessels (USVs), and unmanned undersea vessels (UUVs). Russian and Chinese forces are also developing and deploying unmanned systems with similar characteristics.

Coming to the problems created by this, the report says,” The development and the deployment of lethal autonomous weapons systems like these raise significant moral and legal challenges. To begin with, such devices are being empowered to employ lethal force against enemy targets, including human beings, without significant human oversight—moves that run counter to the widely-shared moral and religious principle that only humans can take the life of another human. Critics also contend that the weapons will never be able to abide by the laws of war and international humanitarian law, as spelled out in the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 and the Geneva Convention and 1949. These statutes require that warring parties distinguish between combatants and non-combatants when conducting military operations and employ only as much force as required to achieve a specific military objective.”

In recognition of these dangers, a concerted effort has been undertaken under the aegis of the CCW to adopt an additional protocol prohibiting the deployment of lethal autonomous weapons systems.

Regarding hypersonic weapons this report tells us that hypersonic weapons are usually defined as missiles than can travel at more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) and fly at lower altitudes than intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which also fly at hypersonic speeds. At present, the United States, China, Russia, and several other countries are engaged in the development and fielding of two types of hypersonic weapons (both of which may carry either nuclear or conventional warheads): hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs), unpowered projectiles that “glide” along the Earth’s outer atmosphere after being released from a booster rocket; and hypersonic cruise missiles (HCMs), which are powered by high-speed air-breathing engines, called “scramjets. All three major powers have explored similar types of hypersonic missiles.

Regarding the dangers related to this, the report tells us,” Analysts worry, for example, that the use of hypersonic weapons early in a conventional engagement to subdue an adversary’s critical assets could be interpreted as the prelude to a nuclear first-strike, and so prompt the target state to launch its own nuclear munitions if unsure of its attacker’s intentions.”

Coming to cyber-attack related threats this report tells us these range from cyber-espionage, or the theft of military secrets and technological data, to offensive actions intended to disable an enemy’s command, control, and communications (C3) systems, thereby degrading its ability to wage war successfully. Such operations might also be aimed at an adversary’s nuclear C3 (NC3) systems; in such a scenario, one side or the other—fearing that a nuclear exchange is imminent—could attempt to minimize its exposure to attack by disabling its adversary’s NC3 systems.

Analysts warn, this report says, that any cyber-attack on an adversary’s NC3 systems in the midst of a major crisis or conventional conflict could prove highly destabilizing. “Upon detecting interference in its critical command systems, the target state might well conclude that an adversary had launched a pre-emptive nuclear strike against it, and so might launch its own nuclear weapons rather than risk their loss to the other side.” The widespread integration of conventional with nuclear C3 compounds these dangers.

The major powers also plan, this report tells us, to rely increasingly on AIenabled battlefield decision-making systems to aid human commanders in processing vast amounts of data on enemy movements and identifying possible combat responses. The increased automation of battlefield decision making, especially given the likely integration of nuclear and conventional C3 systems, gives rise to numerous concerns. Many of these technologies are still in their infancy and prone to often unanticipated malfunctions.  

This import report concludes, “The drive to exploit emerging technologies for military use has accelerated at a much faster pace than efforts to assess the dangers they pose and to establish limits on their use. It is essential, then, to slow the pace of weaponizing these technologies, to carefully weigh the risks in doing so, and to adopt meaningful restraints on their military use.”

The following proposed action steps, derived from the toolbox developed by arms control advocates over many years of practice and experimentation, are suggested in this report to reduce risks..

• Awareness-Building: Efforts to educate policymakers and the general public about the risks posed by the unregulated military use of emerging technologies.

• Track 2 and Track 1.5 Diplomacy: Discussions among scientists, engineers, and arms control experts from the major powers to identify the risks posed by emerging technologies and possible strategies for their control. “Track 2 diplomacy” of this sort can be expanded at some point to include governmental experts (“Track 1.5 diplomacy”).

• Unilateral and Joint Initiatives: Steps taken by the major powers on their own or among groups of like-minded states to reduce the risks associated with emerging technologies in the absence of formal arms control agreements to this end.

• Strategic Stability Talks: Discussions among senior officials of China, Russia, and the United States on the risks to strategic stability posed by the weaponization of certain emerging technologies and on joint measures to diminish these risks. These can be accompanied by confidence-building measures (CBMs), intended to build trust in implementing and verifying formal agreements in this area.

• Bilateral and Multilateral Arrangements: Once the leaders of the major powers come to appreciate the escalatory risks posed by the weaponization of emerging technologies, it may be possible for them to reach accord on bilateral and multilateral arrangements intended to minimize these risks.

One hopes that the warnings and recommendations presented in this report get wide attention of peace activists as well as policy makers.

Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Protecting Earth for Children, Earth without Borders and A Day in 2071.

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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, (05/20/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

DHS official: AI could exacerbate chemical and biological threats – FedScoop

FedScoop

That is usually summarized as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN). It’s all on the prevention and detection side. We’re really …

Iran’s president has died in a helicopter crash, state media reports – WMRA

WMRA

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:00 PM This … All Streams. News · WMRA … When he came into office, Raisi said Iran would continue to honor its …

Back to the Debate Stage – Yahoo

Yahoo

That’s the question we’re asking? Why wait as though we’re going to get an answer? Do your worst, Mitch. All right. The great thing about nuclear …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Why New York may be warming to new nuclear power – E&E News by POLITICO

E&E News

ALBANY, New York — Gov. Kathy Hochul has cracked the door open to the potential for new, small nuclear power plants as a way for the state to try …

First tier of El Dabaa unit 1’s inner containment completed – World Nuclear News

World Nuclear News

The completion of the first tier of the inner containment structure for the first unit at the El Dabaa nuclear power plant in Egypt is one of the …

How nuclear power plants produce electricity – YouTube

YouTube

Nuclear power plants are complex and extremely powerful uses of atomic fission, yet the actual electricity they produce comes from the simple …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEW

Salisbury requesting nearly $2 million to repair erosion before beaches open – CBS News

CBS News

He said this is about more than saving beachfront homes. “The beach protects Route 1A, which is an emergency route for the Seabrook Nuclear Power …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Kremlin says military will hold nuclear exercises in appropriate timeframe – Reuters

Reuters

Israel and Hamas at War · Japan · Middle East … Kremlin says military will hold nuclear exercises in appropriate timeframe … MOSCOW, May 20 (Reuters) …

UN watchdog warns on nuclear trafficking | United Nations News | Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera

The IAEA reports thousands of pieces of nuclear materiel have gone missing over last three decades … UN nuclear … Brinkmanship in the war in Ukraine …

U.S.-Russia Proxy War in Ukraine: New Escalations Lurch Further into Nuclear Danger Zone

revcom.us

… war, all the way up to nuclear war. The entire capitalist imperialist system that is driving this war and threatening even worse must be overthrown.

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

N. Korea slams U.S. subcritical nuclear test, vows measures to bolster nuclear deterrence

Yonhap News Agency

… nuclear threat, denouncing Washington for its recent subcritical nuclear test. … nuclear war threats from others. North Korea “will not tolerate the …

Emerging Technologies Accentuate The Already Very Serious Threat Of Nuclear Weapons

Countercurrents

Emerging Technologies Accentuate the Already Very Serious Threat of Nuclear Weapons … Coming to cyber-attack related threats this … Oppenheimer’s …

EU Statement as delivered at the International Conference on Nuclear Security (ICONS) on …

EEAS – European Union

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is causing unprecedented nuclear security threats … attack or threat of attack against nuclear facilities …