Spain’s 1.0 GW nuclear plant at Vandellos is not expected to return in the coming days, according to a spokesman for the plant, which was taken offline for an unscheduled halt Friday. platts.com

Police in France have used tear gas on environmentalists protesting against plans to store nuclear waste near a town in the northeast.  Aljazeera.com

India and Vietnam have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen their cooperation in nuclear energy. The agreement was one of three MoUs signed during Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang’s visit to India. World-nuclear-news.org

Roving jellyfish and seaweed have long been unwanted guests at Scotland’s last two nuclear power stations. Now the marine algae have hit again, forcing one of the plants to partially power down despite freezing temperatures pushing up demand for electricity. Theguardian.com

 

 

              The European Union is a political and economic union with twenty-eight member states, most of which are located in Europe. “The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardized system of laws that apply in all member states. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital within the internal market, enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development.” Wikipedia

      The EU has the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union that work on legislation for the Union. The European Commission is the executive branch responsible for the management of the EU (EC). It also has the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) that adjudicated legal disputes between the member nations.

       Some nations in the EU such as the U.K. and France are committed to nuclear power while other members such as Luxembourg and Austria are strongly opposed to the use of nuclear power in the EU. In 2015, Austria filed a law suit in the ECJ against the decision of the European Commission to allow new UK state subsidies for the Hinkley Point C project. The Commission said that the construction of new nuclear power reactors at the Hinkley Point power plant would be a “objective for common interest of the members of the EU.”  Luxembourg supported Austria in the suit which should be decided sometime this summer.

       Now Austria is mounting a legal challenge to the Commission’s support for an expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary with construction contracted to the Russian company Rosatom. Once again, Luxembourg is supporting Austria in the ECJ. The two EU members want to gather more EU members into an alliance to counterbalance what they see as blank approval by the EC of state subsidies for nuclear power plant projects in the EU.

       Some member nations in the EU see the Hungarian project as an example of the Hungarian Prime Minister moving closer to Russia in economic matters. The Commission gave final approval for the project a year ago after Budapest promised to “limit distortions in competition.”

        Austria’s minister for sustainability, agriculture and tourism said, “I am very pleased that Luxembourg is joining the complainants with regards to the extension of the Paks nuclear plant and is joining us in court proceedings. This strengthens our position. Further action will be taken at European level. It is important that no one invests public money into nuclear energy, because it is certainly the wrong way if they want to achieve climate protection goals.”

      With respect to an anti-nuclear alliance, the Austrian minister said, “We have great hopes for the new German coalition. In the coalition agreement, they also say that no state aid should be granted to build nuclear power plants. On Wednesday, I’ll meet Frau [Barbara] Hendricks [German minister for environment and nuclear safety] in Berlin and we will talk about this topic.”

       The Luxembourg minister of the environment said that the two countries wanted to stop the “renaissance of nuclear energy”. She went on to say, “It is important that no one invests public money into nuclear energy, because it is certainly the wrong way if they want to achieve climate protection goals.”

       The head of the European Commission said last year that the EC would publish a “communication” on the future of the Euroatom treaty by the summer of 2018. Hopefully, the EU will be able to work out a nuclear policy that is more acceptable to all EU members.

Members of the European Union:

 

A national anti-nuclear group is trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its objection to DTE Energy’s license to build a Fermi 3 nuclear plant at some point in the future if the utility ever so chooses to do so. Toledoblade.com

China is developing technologies to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, state media reported on Wednesday, as Beijing pushes forward with an ambitious military modernization program. Ndtv.com

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a damning report into a contract to clean up the Magnox nuclear reactor and research sites. The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was accused of failing in both the procurement and management of the contract, which was awarded to the wrong bidder after an “overly complex” procurement process. Eadt.co.uk

A French court on Tuesday sentenced two Greenpeace activists to a minimum of two months in jail for breaking into a nuclear power plant and setting off fireworks last year. Thelocal.fr

 

 

Wood has secured a framework agreement to provide technical assistance for a project to build a new nuclear power station in the UK. Effective immediately, the company is supporting General Nuclear System Limited (GNS), a joint venture between China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) and EDF Energy, as it seeks preliminary regulatory assessment of the UKHPR1000 reactor proposed for Bradwell in Essex. Powermag.com

South Korea will closely work with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to begin operation of the Middle Eastern nation’s first nuclear power plant and seek ways to enter new markets, Seoul’s energy ministry said Tuesday. English.yonhapnews.com.kr

A drone developed in the UK with radiation-mapping capabilities will be deployed deep inside the damaged and contaminated reactor building of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. The highly technical drone, called RISER which stands for Remote Intelligence Survey Equipment for Radiation, is developed by Blue Bear from Bedford. The software comes from Cockermouth-based Createc. Dronedj.com

Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) in Lithuania has announced the removal of the last used fuel assembly from the reactor of unit 2. Some of the used fuel was removed from the reactor after its final closure in 2009, but the remainder was left pending the launch of an Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility (ISFSF). World-nuclear-news.org

 

 

 

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Monday for a new global effort to get rid of nuclear weapons, drawing a cautious response from envoys of atomic-armed powers at odds for decades over nuclear disarmament. Usnews.com

European allies, pressed by President Donald Trump’s administration to impose tough new sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program, are digging in against moves that would effectively void the 2015 nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic. Bloomberg.com

Some members of the Board of Public Utilities voiced doubt about a possible investment in a small-scale nuclear power project Wednesday during a meeting with the Department of Public Utilities. Lamonitor.com

Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) aims to become an innovative global energy and technology company, according to its president, Tomoaki Kobayakawa. He stressed the company will continue providing strong support for the restoration of Fukushima. World-nuclear-news.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 2 (Please read Part 1 first)

       The U.S. had a nuclear missile engine under development in the 1960s called Project Pluto. They did some development work and testing but ultimate abandoned the project. The engine was so “dirty” that it would have left a trail of nuclear fallout as it flew. This was a serious problem if you wanted to launch it from inside the U.S. or you wanted to fly it over any friendly country. The same problems might plague any Russian nuclear engine.

        Putin also talked about a new cruise missile powered by a miniature nuclear engine with a basically unlimited range that could be launched from a Russian nuclear bomber. As he said with respect to some other nuclear missiles in his speech, this one is supposed to have an unlimited range and the ability to evade any existing antimissile defense system. The same issues with respect to nuclear engines detailed above would also apply to this cruise missile. One question that could be important is the question of how much each of the nuclear engines would cost. Obviously, the cost would be much greater than the cost of conventional engines. This could limit the number of these missiles that could be practically deployed even if the nuclear engine to power them really exists.

        The RS-28 Sarmat is a liquid-fueled super heavy intercontinental ballistic missile that carries ten to twenty-four nuclear warheads. This missile is under development at the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau. Estimated weight of the Sarmat is over a hundred tons. It has a payload of ten tons which would allow it to carry ten heavy warheads, fifteen lighter warheads or as many as twenty-four hypersonic glide vehicles. The range of the Sarmat is about six thousand miles. This is an upgraded version of the Satan ICBM that the Russians already have in their arsenal. A non-nuclear-powered version will be deployable around 2020.

       Putin said in his speech that the Kinzhal is a new hypersonic cruise missile launched from an aircraft. (An aircraft is considered hypersonic if it travels at about ten times the speed of sound or around six thousand miles per hour.) It is a low to medium altitude all weather short-range missile system. It is designed for attacking airplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles, precision guided munitions, unmanned air vehicles and short range ballistic threats. Putin claims that it has the ability to fly at an extremely low altitude and avoid missile defense systems by maneuvering around their detection zones. It is said to have a range of about one thousand miles. Putin claims that this missile is already deployed in the Southern Military District in Southern Russia.

       The Status-6 is an unmanned underwater drone that could could cruise undetected into a port and explode in a multi-megaton blast that would destroying everything for miles. It is supposed to be much faster than any existing underwater craft. Stories of such a weapon have been floating around for years. The problem is that there is no certainty that it even exists. As they say, if something sounds too good (or bad) to be true, it probably does not.

        Non-Russian nuclear weapons experts questioned the presentation of these nuclear weapons as new developments. Some say that Putin was just repackaging and rebranding some existing weapons for publicity. There are also questions about the accuracy of the presented specifications.

RS-28 Sarmat missile: