The combined 261 workers for Framatome Inc. and New AREVA is a shadow of the nearly 640 workers AREVA had here when it moved its North American headquarters here in 2013. Bizjournals.com

A fired-up civil society in South Africa will challenge any energy plan with a whiff of nuclear and Eskom’s financial and leadership woes are the final nail in the nuclear energy coffin, says Wayne Duvenage. Fin24.com

EDF Energy has claimed it could build a second new nuclear power station in Britain that would be 20% cheaper than the £20bn Hinkley Point C project under construction in Somerset. Theguardian.co.uk

The USA’s two main uranium producers yesterday filed a petition with the US Department of Commerce (DOC) seeking an investigation into the effects of uranium imports on US national security. Energy Fuels Inc and Ur-Energy are calling for a limit to imports that would reserve 25% of the US nuclear market for domestic uranium production. World-nuclear-news.org

 

                Brazil is one of only two countries in South American that has nuclear power generating electricity. The other country is Argentina. During the 1970s and 1980s when they were governed by a military junta, Brazil had a secret nuclear weapons program. The rule of the junta ended in 1985 and in 1990, Brazil officially ended their nuclear weapons program.

         The Angra Nuclear Power Plant is the only nuclear power plant in Brazil. It is located in the municipality of Angra dos Reis which is on the coastline of Rio de Janerio State. Two reactors were built there to provide power for Brazil.

         The first reactor, called Angra 1, was purchased from Westinghouse. Construction was started in 1976 but there were delays in construction and it was did not connected to the Brazilian grid until 1982. Angra 2 was connected to the grid in 2000. It was constructed with help from West Germany. Construction of a third reactor, Angra 3, was begun in 1984 but halted in 1986. Construction was started again in 2010 and stopped again in 2014. The Brazilian government has decided auctioned off the components of the reactor to private investors who they hope will complete the reactor by 2023. The Eletronuclear company owns and operates the Angra Nuclear Power Station. Currently the two operating reactors provide about three percent of the electricity for Brazil.

        Many of the workers in the Angra power plant live in compounds near the plant where security is handled by Eletronuclear. Last December, thieves blew up an ATM at the Mambucaba Condominium which is one of the workers compounds located about nine miles from the plant. Violent crime is increasing in Angra dos Reis and looting ATMs is a common activity for criminal.

        Last week, ten armed men took security guards hostage at the Praia Brava Condominum where the plant workers live. They robbed the guests at a private party and fled in a speed boat. The Praia Brava is located less than a mile from the Angra power plant.

         I have blogged before about the dangers posed by terrorists and soldiers to nuclear power plants. The taking of hostages and the use of modern weapons less than a mile from a nuclear power plant in Brazil raises the additional concern of threats to nuclear power plants by criminals.  

         Radioactive materials are worth a lot of money on the black market and thieves might be attempted to steal fuel rods from the nuclear power to sell to terrorists. The terrorists don’t have to have the sophistication to build nuclear bombs, just detonating a conventional explosive with radioactive materials packed around it would cause devastation and havoc in a major city. Another possible criminal move could be to break into a nuclear power plant, take the staff hostage and threaten to cause a meltdown unless a huge ransom is paid.

          I have said for a long time that security at most nuclear power plants is not really sufficient to stop a well-armed and highly motivated team.

Angra Nuclear Power Station:

Views are being sought on the creation of ecological areas and wetland habitats to help reduce the possible effects of constructing a planned new nuclear power station. Horizon Nuclear Power is consulting ahead of its main application to build £10bn Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey. Bbc.com

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he and the president of Kazakhstan are united in a shared determination to prevent North Korea from “threatening the world with nuclear devastation.” Therepublic.com

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) recent rejection of Secretary of Energy Rick Perry’s plan to force electricity customers across the country to pay billions of dollars to prop up uneconomic coal and nuclear plants is only the tip of the iceberg in the fossil fuel industry’s bailout efforts. Thehill.com

On Tuesday, Japan’s state broadcasting organization, NHK, sent out a terrifying mobile notification which read: “NHK news alert. North Korea likely to have launched missile. The government J alert: evacuate inside the building or underground.” Japanese residents only had a very brief time to contend with existential questions about how to spend their final moments; the apocalyptic warning was retracted minutes later, CNN reports. Theweek.com

 

Part 2 of 2 Parts (Pease read Part 1 first)

       The bottom line is that the Trump administration wants to spend a lot of money to build more nuclear weapons. Considering that we and the Russians already have enough nuclear warheads to end human civilization many times over, their request for more of these weapons would appear to be primarily motivated by political and economic considerations. Political because they believe that having more weapons will make the U.S. appear more powerful. Economic because defense contractors will make billions of dollars building the new weapons. One thing their request for more nuclear weapons is not is good military policy.   

         Another change from the previous NPR is the fact that the new draft of the NPR makes scant reference to the critical role that diplomacy should play in nuclear strategy. No one can “win” a nuclear war. The best nuclear strategy is to prevent a nuclear war. Unfortunately, the nation’s diplomatic corps have been decimated by the Trump administration with many critical diplomatic posts going unfilled for more than a year.

       The new draft NPR also makes no mention of Article VI of the U.N. Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons although it does make vague references to reduction on nuclear weapons in the U.S. from Cold War levels. The U.S. has signed this treaty which obligates it to work on nuclear disarmament. If the U.S. proceeds with a major investment in the creation of new nuclear weapons, other signatories of the treaty may decide that the U.S. is not really serious about disarmament. This could reduce their commitment to disarmament.  

        The U.S., while not a signatory of Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, did voice strong support for the work of the Treaty organization in the last NPR. The new NPR states that the U.S. will not resume nuclear testing unless it is deemed necessary, what ever that means.

        The draft NPR does affirm the U.S. support for NATO. However, Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO in his speeches and tweets. He has said that other NATO nations are not paying their fair share for the security that NATO provides.

        There has been great concern that Trump is erratic and juvenile. People are afraid that he might capriciously order a nuclear strike against a perceived adversary. After all, the U.S. president has the sole authority to order the use of nuclear weapons. The draft NPR tries to reassure readers that “Any U.S. decision to employ nuclear weapons would follow a deliberative process.” The truth of the matter is that the Joint Chiefs would have about five minutes to try to talk the President out of using nuclear weapons. If he cannot be dissuaded from such action, then the entire U.S. military is bound by the Constitution to obey him.

        In any case, the new draft NPR primarily reflects the policies of Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford. It cannot be said to be the policy of Trump except in such broad strokes as “spend more money on more nukes.” Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail when it comes time for Congress to pass budgets for military hardware. 

The eyes of the world were on Hawaii last weekend, after an official mistakenly sent out an urgent message warning residents of impending nuclear disaster. But a very real nuclear threat was laid out on the Line of Control between India and Pakistan. Dailystar.co.uk

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has decided to postpone its session on nuclear attack preparedness next week. Much attention had been drawn to the timing of the agency’s session, which was publicized just days after President Trump touted the size of his nuclear button compared with North Korea’s. nytimes.com

We knew there was a big swell coming in, so when the alarm blared on my phone at 8 a.m., my first sleepy thought was that we were flooding and needed to evacuate. It’s the waves, I thought drowsily. Then I read the notice on my phone. “Emergency Alert BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” Denverpost.com

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday Moscow will not support attempts by Washington to modify the Iran nuclear deal, arguing such a move could also complicate diplomacy over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Reuters.com

Russian State Expert Examination Board (Glavgosexpertiza) has approved the operation of the floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov. The authority said on 9 December it had approved the project in Russia’s northernmost city of Pevek that is being funded by Rosenergoatom, the nuclear power plant operator subsidiary of Rosatom. World-nuclear-news.org

NATO supports the idea of a world without nuclear weapons, but doesn’t believe it can be achieved by imposing a ban through the United Nations convention on nuclear weapons, the military alliance’s top official said Sunday. Abcnews.com

Inside the country’s biggest nuclear power plant tear-down. Popsci.com

A foreign submarine spotted cruising through waters around disputed islands in the East China Sea last week was actually a Chinese nuclear missile attack submarine, Japan said on Monday. Newsweek.com