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bananas's JournalCumbria sticks it to the nuclear dump lobby - despite all the carrots on offer
Cumbria sticks it to the nuclear dump lobby – despite all the carrots on offer
Council's decision to turn down the hosting of huge underground nuclear waste depository is a body blow for government
Terry Macalister
The Guardian, Thursday 31 January 2013
Cumbria county council's decision to "dump the dump" by voting against a nuclear waste repository close to the Lake District has drilled a nasty great hole in the middle of the government's wider nuclear strategy.
Ministers had made clear that part of the agreement with the public over a new generation of atomic power stations would involve finding a safe and permanent home for the high-level waste created by the old ones.
Cumbria's decision is a body blow for government because though it may not necessarily have been the most geologically suitable spot, it certainly was the most politically suitable.
The "energy coast", as the region calls itself, is home to Sellafield, formerly Windscale, the largest nuclear complex in Europe with more than 5,000 well-paid jobs, as well as the nuclear submarine-building base at Barrow-in-Furness.
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Now, if an area steeped in a nuclear culture is not prepared to countenance a waste dump, then who will?
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Pakistan's nuclear bombs could be hijacked by radicals, claims scientist
Source: Press Trust of India
Increasing radicalisation within Pakistan's military could lead to its nuclear weapons being hijacked by radical Islamists, a Pakistani scientist has warned.
"Safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is of a major concern. The growing radicalisation within the military, given attacks on its own internal bases, could lead to these nuclear weapons being hijacked by radical Islamists," said Pervez Hoodbhoy, who was in London for the launch of his book 'Confronting the Bomb'.
The nuclear physicist and defence analyst estimated Pakistan's arsenal to be similar to India's, at around 120-130 warheads.
"Earlier, such weapons were seen just as a means of deterrence. The most dangerous development is the increasing search for fissile material as a new dimension of tactical nuclear war has entered the picture. This means the number of weapons will steadily increase," he said.
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Read more: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/pakistan-s-nuclear-bombs-could-be-hijacked-by-radicals-claims-scientist-325021
US carbon emissions fall to lowest levels since 1994
Source: Guardian
America's carbon dioxide emissions last year fell to their lowest levels since 1994, according to a new report.
Carbon dioxide emissions fell by 13% in the past five years, because of new energy-saving technologies and a doubling in the take-up of renewable energy, the report compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance for the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) said.
The reduction in climate pollution – even as Congress failed to act on climate change – brings America more than halfway towards Barack Obama's target of cutting emissions by 17% from 2005 levels over the next decade, the Bloomberg analysts said.
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Lisa Jacobson, president of the BCSE, said the Bloomberg findings exposed the conservative argument that acting on climate change would be a drag on the economy. Instead, carbon emissions declined even as GDP was going up, she noted.
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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/01/us-carbon-emissions-lowest-levels
Hagel's Call for Nuclear Disarmament Has Been Mainstream Since Reagan
Hagel's Call for Nuclear Disarmament Has Been Mainstream Since Reagan
By Joseph Cirincione
Jan 29 2013, 8:01 AM ET
He wants to decrease the size of our arsenal. But so do most security experts, on both sides of the aisle -- something opponents of his nomination have forgotten.
Among the many heresies imputed to Chuck Hagel is the belief that we can greatly reduce our nuclear arsenal. The former Nebraska senator's views, however, are hardly radical -- in fact, they are downright boring. They represent the consensus of such a long list of security experts from both political parties that it is hard to list them and still keep this article interesting.
Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma and several other key GOP leaders base their opposition to Hagel's nomination as secretary of defense in large part on the supposedly extreme policies he advanced. Inhofe said that while Hagel's military service was commendable, he has been "an outspoken supporter of nuclear disarmament" and "seeks a world free of nuclear weapons."
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Opponents of Hagel's appointment like to point to two people mentioned as alternatives to Hagel, former Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy and current Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. They will be far more open to big nuclear budgets and big arsenals, Hagel critics hope. Sorry: Both have long shared Hagel's views. They were part of a working group that drafted a plan in 2007 for reducing nuclear threats that included the recommendation that "the U.S. and the other NPT nuclear weapons states ... should commit themselves to the goal of a world without nuclear weapons and to pursuing practical steps that would lay the groundwork for moving toward that goal."
Their report also called for the rapid Senate approval of the nuclear test-ban treaty. It suggested the U.S. "explore means of increasing warning and reaction times including by lowering alert rates of their strategic systems," and consider "an operationally deployed force of fewer than 1,000 nuclear weapons." *
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Key nuclear adviser out
Source: Politico
President Obama's top advisor on arms control and weapons of mass destruction is leaving the administration and taking a post at Harvard.
Gary Samore has been appointed head of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the center announced.
Since 2009, he has been the principal adviser to Obama on nonproliferation and has coordinated strategy and programs on everything from stopping Iran's development of nuclear weapons to the securing of nuclear materials around the world. Samore was also the point person on Obama's 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Korea.
The White House did not respond to a message seeking more information about his departure. (See update below.)
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Read more: http://www.politico.com/politico44/2013/01/key-nuclear-adviser-out-155695.html?hp=r8
Georgia nuclear power plant could be Solyndra redux, report says
Georgia nuclear power plant could be Solyndra redux, report says
A report by two energy-consulting firms says the US government has not protected US taxpayers well enough against the risks of federal loan guarantees to a new nuclear power project.
By Mark Clayton, Staff writer / January 30, 2013
Construction of the first newly licensed US nuclear power plant in decades could become a "Solyndra-like" debacle thanks to billions in federal loan guarantees whose terms appear too weak to protect taxpayers, according to one group’s analysis of internal documents released by the US Department of Energy.
The two-reactor $14 billion Vogtle plant being built in Georgia is seen as a test of the US nuclear industry's planned "renaissance" with a new nuclear reactor design and updated construction processes all aimed at cutting time and costs.
But two Massachusetts-based energy-consulting firms, Earth Track and Synapse Energy Economics, say the $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees backing the project were crafted with excessively favorable financial terms for the recipient companies, weak federal oversight, and possible political interference in the loan-guarantee process.
The two firms analyzed hundreds of Energy Department e-mails and financial documents released earlier this month to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), a green-energy watchdog group that won access to them in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
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Nuclear expansion plan thwarted after Cumbria no vote to underground store
Source: Guardian
Plans to expand the UK's nuclear industry are in disarray after the only area to show interest in hosting an underground radioactive waste storage centre decided to thoroughly reject the idea.
Cumbria county council's cabinet voted by more than 2-1 to pull out of feasibility studies, following expert critiques of the fractured local geology and an international outcry over the threat to the western Lake District.
The decision is a major blow to government ambitions to build new nuclear power plants, with ministers accepting that the UK needs a credible and permanent solution to dealing with current and future waste. Green MP Caroline Lucas said the government's nuclear ambitions were now "completely derailed".
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Opinion in West Cumbria has been respectful of Sellafield's huge economic importance since the 1950s but public meetings were swayed by the strength of scepticism from geologists. The huge depot, covering an underground area the size of Workington, was also required to meet unprecedented standards, including a guarantee of no leaks for a million years.
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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/30/nuclear-expansion-thwarted-cumbria-no
"Why Are Military Helicopters Firing Machine Guns Over Houston and Miami?" - locked?
Why was that thread locked?
When did this place turn into www.ReaganDemocratsOnly.com ?
Tue Jan 29, 2013, 02:38 PM
Fire Walk With Me (35,278 posts)
Um, Why Are Military Helicopters Firing Machine Guns Over Houston and Miami?
This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by REP (a host of the General Discussion forum).
http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/joshua-holland/um-why-are-military-helicopters-firing-machine-guns-over-houston-and-miami
The sight of Army helicopters and the sound of gunfire created a lot of concern Monday afternoon in one Houston neighborhood.
SkyEye 13 HD was over the south side where at first look, it appeared there was a massive SWAT scene happening.We received a lot of phones calls, Tweets and Facebook posts from worried neighbors, wondering what was going on.
With military helicopters flying above her southeast Houston neighborhood, Frances Jerrals didn't know what to think.
"When you see this, you think the worst. When you hear this, you think the worst," Jerrals said.
(More text and two videos at the link.)
Hagel: Window closing on Iran and diplomacy
Source: Associated Press
Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel said the "window is closing" on Iran and the possibility of diplomacy if it continues to ignore international demands to end pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
In his first opportunity to express his opinions since President Barack Obama nominated him Jan. 7, Hagel addressed a range of issues, from Iraq and Afghanistan to women in combat, in a 112-page questionnaire for the Senate Armed Services Committee. The panel submitted the extensive questions to Hagel in advance of his confirmation hearing on Thursday.
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"If Iran continues to flout its international obligations, it should continue to face severe and growing consequences," Hagel said. "While there is time and space for diplomacy, backed by pressure, the window is closing. Iran needs to demonstrate it is prepared to negotiate seriously."
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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/hagel-window-closing-iran-diplomacy-170046922--politics.html
Obama, Kerry, and Hagel are going to make a great team!
I am confident they will be able to resolve this issue non-violently.
Remember - non-violence does not preclude property destruction:
The Berrigan Tradition
One cannot address the issue of nonviolence and property damage without acknowledging the Berrigan brothers and the Plowshares movement. Daniel and Philip Berrigan were influenced by the writings of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement. After participating in some rallies, marches and being arrested in protests against the Viet Nam war, the brothers Berrigan decided to take a bolder stand against the war. 14
On 17 May 1968, Daniel and Philip Berrigan along with seven others raided the Catonsville draft board. "First, they liberated about four hundred folders from a Selective Service office, drenched them with homemade napalm in an adjoining parking lot, then set them on fire. While the papers crackled, the protestors joined in prayer." 15 The "ultra resistance" was born. Their goal was to bring attention to the injustices of the Viet Nam War. 16 On 9 September 1980 a Plowshares group broke into a General Electric facility and destroyed the casing on nuclear war heads by hitting them with hammers and pouring blood over them. 17
The main argument used by the Berrigans and those who have taken up their cause is that some property has no right to exist and therefore damage done to this type of property is not violence. The movement maintains it is nonviolent because property not human life was harmed. 18 Examples of property that has no right to exist can be seen in things like nuclear arms or the ovens at Hitler’s concentration camps. The impact of the Berrigans can be seen in groups like the War Resisters League. In the 1986 War Resisters League Organizer’s Manual, the following is written about property damage:
"Some property has no right to exist (e.g., nuclear weapons, napalm, electric chairs). Other property, such as fences around nuclear power plants or military bases, while ‘neutral,’ serve only to protect facilities which are harming all of us. The concern is not their destruction, but how they are destroyed. No one has suggested blowing them up or indiscriminate property destruction, but a calm deliberate cutting of a fence with a minimum of hardware can gain entry into a site otherwise not accessible." 19
What is key to the quote above, and to this paper, is the distinc-tion in the types of property being destroyed. It is not indiscriminate. The targets of this type of property destruction are carefully selected and the attitude of those doing the destruction is spiritual.
Army drill scares residents on Houston's south side
Source: KTRK-TV
The sight of Army helicopters and the sound of gunfire created a lot of concern Monday afternoon in one Houston neighborhood.
We received a lot of phones calls, Tweets and Facebook posts from worried neighbors, wondering what was going on.
SkyEye 13 HD was over the south side where at first look, it appeared there was a massive SWAT scene happening.
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The U.S. Army along with other agencies took over the old Carnegie Vanguard High School near Scott and Airport. There were armed men in fatigues, plenty of weapons and what many thought were real live rounds
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Read more: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8971311
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