Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons einnews.com

First WHO–UNCCT joint training on radiological and nuclear safety who.int

Putin warned of ‘unbreakable bond’ with UK as US nuclear subs arrive in Scotland express.co.uk

Strong tides along UK coast could create electricity for less than cost of nuclear power news.sky.com

 

Ambient office = 68 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 134 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 135 nanosieverts per hour

Watermelon from Central Market = 75 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 68 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 59 nanosieverts per hour

     EuroFusion is a European consortium. It has just taken a crucial step in the quest for commercially viable nuclear fusion. The consortium just released a press statement announcing a five-year “conceptual design” phase for its DEMOnstration power plant (DEMO). Nuclear fusion scientists are starting design work on a European demonstration power station that they hope will finally enable net nuclear fusion energy. If successful, this will end our reliance of fossil fuels.
     Nuclear fusion is the reaction that powers our Sun and other stars. It occurs when two light atoms are smashed against each other to form the nucleus of a heavier element. A huge amount of energy is released in the process. The most popular experimental fusion reactor is called a tokamak. Tokamaks are donut shaped reactors that utilize powerful magnets to contain the burning plasmas required for the fusion reaction to take place. The DEMO is a tokamak.
     EuroFusion stated that DEMO’s conceptual design phase “charts a route of scientific and engineering research from the basic science of current devices, all the way to designing the demonstration fusion power plant DEMO, capable of net electricity production shortly after the middle of the century.” EuroFusion estimated the year 2054 for delivering commercial fusion energy.
     EuroFusion hopes to demonstrate the net production of from three hundred to five hundred megawatts of electricity. DEMO will also demonstrate new innovations such as the breeding of tritium and remote maintenance. Tritium breeding will permit operators to produce tritium fusion fuel on-site. That will be a crucial component for commercial fusion operations in the future.
      Prior to reaching the conceptual design phase, EuroFusion revealed the results of its pre-conceptual design phase which was carried out between 2014 and 2020. This phase covered several areas including power exhaust, tritium breeding and robust magnet design.
      Gianfranco Federici is the Head of the Fusion Technology Department at EuroFusion, and Tony Donné is the EuroFusion Program Manager. In the press statement, they wrote that, “the DEMO design and R&D activities in Europe are benefitting largely from the experience gained from the design, licensing, and construction of ITER.”
     However, they warned that work on facilities such as DEMO must start soon after ITER reveals its key findings in order to avoid a “brain drain” away from nuclear fusion research to other industries.
     ITER is the biggest nuclear fusion experiment in the World. It has been under construction in southern France since 2013. ITER is part of a collaboration between thirty-five nations including all of the European Union nations, China, India, Japan, Russia and the U.S. Its main goal is to show that nuclear fusion is safe and commercially viable. If it is successful, humanity will have harnessed a new way to reliably produce vast amounts of energy without damaging the Earth.
     At least a dozen other fusion research projects are currently being carried out by nations and private companies. Some of these projects estimate that they will have a prototype for a commercial nuclear fusion reactor by 2030. Since DEMO is slated to be completed by 2054, it may very well be too little, too late.

First WHO–UNCCT joint training on radiological and nuclear safety who.int

Rapid construction of Chinese SMR containment shell continues world-nuclear-news.org

Why has North Korea stopped boasting about its missile tests? Washingtonpost.com

Sizewell C: Decision on nuclear power plant delayed bbc.com

Ambient office = 67 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 107 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Tomato from Central Market = 82 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 101 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 91 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 107 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Red onion from Central Market = 92 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 98 nanosieverts per hour

BWXT Canada wins key contract from Bruce Power world-nuclear-news.org

France to nationalize EDF, search under way for new boss world-nuclear-news.org

U.S. veterans rescue American scientist living in Ukraine spectrumlocalnews.com

Permit applications submitted for new Dutch research reactor world-nuclear-news.org

First used fuel placed in Garoña storage facility world-nuclear-news.org

South Korea plans 30% nuclear share by 2030 neimagazine.com

Israel to Ask Biden to Strengthen anti-Iran Regional Alliance Amid Nuclear Talks Haaretz.com

Putin stages drills with Yars nuclear missiles capable of reaching UK metro.co.uk

Ambient office = 129 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 156 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 57 nanosieverts per hour

Red bell pepper from Central Market = 56 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 89 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     Moreover, the French nuclear arsenal just isn’t adequate for the job of protecting Europe. France has about three hundred nuclear warheads. If a major war broke out in Europe, an enemy like Russia which possesses thousands of warheads might be able to destroy the French arsenal in a pre-emptive first strike. Deterrence only works if swift and thorough retaliation is assured.
     In addition, French nuclear weapons are the wrong type. They are strategic which means that each warhead is capable of causing many Hiroshima’s worth of devastation. They are only meant to be used in a total-war scenario to utterly destroy entire cities in the homeland of the enemy.
     If Russia were to escalate a war in Eastern Europe such as the current Ukrainian war, it would employ tactical nuclear weapons. These are smaller warheads that can be deployed at short ranges to frighten an enemy into submission or to win specific battles. It is just not thinkable for France or anyone else to retaliate for a limited tactical nuclear strike by going directly to strategic retaliation and nuclear Armageddon.
     The conclusion to be drawn from this analysis is that all Western nuclear powers must add more tactical nuclear weapons to their arsenals, to keep up with Russia and become capable of flexible responses to its agressions. The European Union, led by Germany and France, could collaborate on this effort. Even if that came to pass, the Europeans would still have to resolve the old questions about command structure.
     Alternatively, countries like Germany could develop their own nuclear warheads. However, in order for Germany to do that, it would have to first withdraw from the international treaty against nuclear proliferation and the agreement that allowed its reunification. In addition, Germany would have to turn its entire post-war political culture upside down. Many of its current leaders grew up protesting against the stationing U.S. missiles and nuclear warheads in general.
     For the time being, the most realistic answer to Russian aggression is to retain and patch the U.S. nuclear umbrella. The only language understood by Russia and China is more U.S. tactical nukes, in more places and deliverable in more ways. Following this course of action is probably the only way to slow the pace of other countries, allies or enemies, going nuclear. However, the entire U.S. political class, on both sides of the aisle must underwrite the U.S. commitment to its allies regardless of whether Trump or another like him comes to power in the U.S.
     Unfortunately, no conclusion could be more depressing. It amounts to entering a new tactical nuclear arms race. It goes in the opposite direction of  the vision behinds the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, signed by eighty-six non-nuclear countries and meant to ban these horrible weapons altogether. Instead of eliminating all nuclear weapons, we’d have to look for new ways of deterring their use. Putin is to blame for all of this. He attacked Ukraine twenty eight years after Russia guaranteed Ukraine’s security in return for Ukraine giving up its own arsenal of Soviet-era nuclear weapons. He broke the long term taboo against threatening nuclear escalation in conventional warfare. In all these ways. The European Union must prepare for its own self-defense.
Emblem of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces: