No Nukes News: A horror story

[Angela Bischoff]

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Dec. 3, 2018The World

☢ 'A horror story': history of Chernobyl nuclear disaster wins Baillie Gifford prize “Today, with global warming there is an attempt to bring it (nuclear power) back as a solution to the problems we have with climate, and the lesson that I learned from looking at Chernobyl is that yes it is the cleanest energy as long as nothing happens. Once it happens, it is the dirtiest energy in the world.”

☢ France turns to wind and solar as it plans to exit coal, and phase down nuclear French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will close all its coal plants by 2022, shutter 14 nuclear reactors by 2035 and invest massively in wind and solar. Why now you ask? “Nobody knows the total cost for nuclear energy. I was minister for industry and I could not tell you.”

☢ Effects of suspected radiation exposure seen in Fukushima wild monkeys Researchers studying wild Japanese macaques living in northeastern Japan's Fukushima Prefecture found fewer cells that become blood in the bone marrow along with the delayed growth of fetuses after the 2011 nuclear crisis, possibly due to radiation exposure.

☢ California Wildfire Likely Spread Nuclear Contamination From Toxic Site The incredibly destructive Woolsey Fire in southern California may have released large amounts of radiation and toxins into the air after burning through a former rocket engine testing site where a partial nuclear meltdown took place nearly six decades ago. More here and here and here.

☢ Vietnam abandons plan for first nuclear power plants Vietnam’s National Assembly voted to abandon plans to build two multi-billion-dollar nuclear power plants after officials cited lower demand forecasts, rising costs and safety concerns.

☢ Nuclear Power Will Not Save Us From Climate Change "Technological fundamentalism" is the mistaken belief that technologies like nuclear power will save us from climate change. But the "new" reactor designs won't be any cheaper than the costly current ones, unless regulators allow safety shortcuts, risking disaster.

☢ More Nuclear Energy Is Not The Solution To Our Climate Crisis Bailing out old, financially shaky nuclear plants is a short-sighted response to a huge challenge that requires much bigger, much more transformative thinking.

☢ Saudis Want a U.S. Nuclear Deal. Can They Be Trusted Not to Build a Bomb?  India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea clandestinely developed nuclear weapons using their nuclear power infrastructure. In fact, the Saudi government provided the financing for Pakistan to secretly build its own nuclear arms.

☢ Smallest patients have highest risk from radiation accidents, doctors warn Infants, children and teens smaller size and developing bodies make them more susceptible to radiation poisoning and more likely to develop medical issues including cancers.

☢ Saskatchewan sues federal government over cost to clean up abandoned uranium mine The estimated cost of clean up was $24.6 million over 17 years but has now ballooned to an estimated $280 million. The mine supplied refined uranium yellowcake for U.S. atomic weapons.Ontario

☢ Ford government needs to get into high gear on EVs  The auto industry has been the engine of Ontario’s economy for over 100 years. We cannot afford to lose our auto industry and its good jobs. To grow and protect our economy, Premier Ford must develop a strategy to ensure that Ontario rapidly becomes a world leader in the production and use of EVs and other low-carbon technologies.

☢ Premier Legault says Quebec is 'open for business,' as he headed to U.S. and Ontario He argued it made more sense and would be less costly for ON to buy QC’s power than spend billions re-tooling aging nuclear plants.

☢ Partner with Quebec to choose low-cost energy solutions “I’m calling on Premier Ford to cancel expensive plans to rebuild outdated nuclear plants when Quebec has low cost water power available. The Liberals failed to choose low cost energy solutions, and the Ford government should not make the same mistake.” - Green Party of Ontario Leader, Mike SchreinerRenewables and Conservation

☼ Spain wants to phase out coal plants without hurting miners The country is ensuring that the over 1,000 coal miners will be able to transition into new jobs in renewables and environmental restoration. We must do the same thing when we phase out our high cost, risky nukes in favour of conservation, water power from QC and made-in-ON green energy.  Indeed we could make every Pickering nuclear worker a millionaire and still save $5 billion just by replacing Pickering with water power from QC.

☼ Solar and Wind Now the Cheapest Power Source Says BloombergNEF Unsubsidised solar and onshore wind are now the cheapest source of new bulk power in all major economies except Japan thanks to falling technology costs.

☼ Green jobs boost: China leads way as renewable energy employment set to top 28 million by 2050 Last year, global renewable energy employment reached 10.3 million, a 5.3% increase on the previous year.

☼ Solar + Storage Minigrids Are Electrifying Towns Across The Philippines

☼ Solar, Wind, Storage Becoming ‘Default Choice’ for U.S. Utilities “You can call it evolution—you can call it industrial revolution.”Take Action!

☢ Petition to Premier Ford To grow and protect our economy, Premier Ford must develop a strategy to ensure that Ontario rapidly becomes a world leader in the production and use of EVs and other low-carbon technologies.

☢ Canadian Government must protect our rivers from radioactive waste Please sign the petition to protect the Ottawa and Winnipeg Rivers currently threatened by three Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ (CNL’s) nuclear waste dump proposals.

☢ Calling Citizen Scientists for Radiation Collection Project We’re looking for citizen radiation monitors. A 1-day workshop to build bGeigie Nano radiation sensors will take place in January 2019, location T.B.A. (likely Oshawa or Toronto). We're looking both for keen workshop participants interested in contributing to citizen science, and for funders whose support can help make the workshop possible for those who can't afford it. For more info see here. If interested in the workshop (either as a participant, or as a funder), please contact mcneill.janet at gmail.com

☢ Sign our petitions to Close Pickering and to Buy Quebec Power. And share them with your friends. Watch our 2 min. video here.Events

☢ War is Not Green: Climate and Environmental Impacts of Canadian Militarism Mon. Dec. 3, 7 - 8 p.m. University College, U of T, 15 King's College Circle, Room 140 (TBC) with Tamara Lorincz is a PhD student in Global Governance at the Balsillie School for International Affairs (Wilfrid Laurier University).

☢  The Anthropocene – special exhibit On till Jan 6th, 2019 at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, and at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa until Feb. 24, 2019. A major new contemporary art exhibition that tells the story of human impact on the Earth through film, photography, and new experiential technologies. Includes nuclear waste.
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