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☆ Ukraine war live updates: Wagner leader says his forces will leave Bakhmut; Bill Clinton says he foreshadowed Russian invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Prigozhin lambasted Russian defense officials in a video where he stood surrounded by the dead bodies of Russian troops, blaming the officials for the deaths of the men. Sergey Lavrov once again pinned Wednesday's attempted drone attack on the Kremlin on the United States and Kyiv, saying that any self-respecting country should stop communicating with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at this point. Ukraine says the drone attack was staged by Russia. Meanwhile, Russian officials have warned that high water levels at a dam near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant could threaten the plant, which is Europe's largest of its kind. A rupture of the dam would create "functional problems for the operation of the plant and risks for nuclear safety," a Russian nuclear energy advisor said.

☆ Engineers reduce risk of dam bursting near Russian-held Ukraine nuclear plant, TASS reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 5 (Reuters) - Engineers have reduced the risk of a dam bursting and damaging a large Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine, a senior Russian official was quoted as saying by TASS news agency on Friday. "As we anticipated, a technical solution to the problem has been found," Karchaa told TASS, quoting regional officials in Kherson region, where the dam is located. "A gate of the Kakhovka hydropower plant has been opened and repair works have begun at the Kakhovka canal. He had earlier told TASS that a possible breach of the dam owing to high water levels could flood the cable line for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant further east and cause nuclear safety risks. Russian troops seized the plant, Europe's largest nuclear station, as they invaded parts of Ukraine last year.

☆ Russia says high waters threaten dam near Ukrainian nuclear plant - Tass
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Record high water levels could overwhelm a major dam in southern Ukraine and damage parts of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, a Russian official told Tass agency on Thursday. "This (would create) functional problems for the operation of the plant and risks for nuclear safety," he told Tass. Last November, after Russian forces withdrew from the nearby southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, satellite imagery showed significant new damage to the dam. Russian troops took over the plant as they invaded parts of Ukraine last year. It is at the centre of a nuclear security crisis due to near-constant shelling in its vicinity which Kyiv and Moscow blame on each other.

☆ Opinion: Nuclear power is a vital part of climate change solution
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Opinion Don Lincoln | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Last week, Germany closed its last three nuclear power plants, becoming nuclear free for the first time in 62 years. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, many countries began phasing out nuclear power plants, citing issues of nuclear safety and long-term storage of nuclear waste. Would not generating that power from carbon-free nuclear power plants be preferable? In the US, the regulatory process involved in building a nuclear power plant is slow and obstructive. In addition, modern nuclear power plant designs generate less waste than earlier designs and further improvements should be pursued.

☆ Japan nuclear disaster: Fukushima's fishing industry fears Tokyo's next move may finish it off
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Emiko Jozuka Krystina Shveda Junko Ogura Marc Stewart Daniel Campisi | Emiko Jozuka | Krystina Shveda | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Ocean currents have since dispersed the contaminated water enough that radioactive Cesium is nearly undetectable in fish from Fukushima prefecture. A year before the 2011 disaster, government data shows Fukushima’s coastal fishing industry landed catches worth around $69 million. At the same time, ground and rainwater have leaked in, creating more radioactive wastewater that now needs to be stored and treated. This isotope is radioactive tritium, and the scientific community is divided on the risk its dissemination carries. He argues TEPCO should build more storage tanks to allow for the decay of the radioactive tritium, which has a half-life of 12.3 years.

☆ Germany has shut down its last three nuclear power plants, and some climate scientists are aghast
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

16 April 2023, Baden-Württemberg, Neckarwestheim: The Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant. The era of commercial power generation with nuclear power plants in Germany came to an end on Saturday with the separation of the Isar 2, Neckarwestheim and Emsland nuclear power plants from the power grid. Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty ImagesAs of Sunday, April 16, Germany is no longer producing any electricity from nuclear power plants. With the separation of the Isar 2, Neckarwestheim and Emsland nuclear power plants from the power grid, the era of commercial power generation with nuclear power plants in Germany came to an end on Saturday. Nuclear energy is also often more expensive than wind and solar power, Quaschning said, adding, "there are no longer any real advantages with nuclear energy."

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Pentagon leak suspect, 21, to appear in court; Ukraine making withdrawals in Bakhmut, UK says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The suspect, Jack Teixeira, will appear in court Friday. Ukrainian forces are withdrawing from some positions in the eastern city of Bakhmut under heavy Russian fire, Britain's Ministry of Defense reported. Ukraine has for months refused to give up on its defense of Bakhmut, despite both sides suffering heavy casualties and the city being entirely destroyed. Kyiv says that conceding Bakhmut would give Russia a major access route to much more of eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi reiterated calls for relevant parties to establish a security perimeter around Ukraine's embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, warning "we are living on borrowed time when it comes to nuclear safety and security at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant."

☆ Russia is again the president of the UN Security Council. Last time Russia held the position it invaded Ukraine.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Sarah Al-Arshani | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia was the president of the UN Security Council when it invaded Ukraine last February. The last time that Russia held the position of president — in February 2022 — it invaded Ukraine, the BBC noted. The UN Security Council is made up of 15 members, 10 of which are voted in for two-year stints. Russia's term as Security Council president comes less than two weeks after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin's arrest. Ukraine's presidential adviser, Mykhaylo Podolyak, called Russia's presidency of the Security Council another "rape of international law."

☆ Zelenskiy to IAEA: Russia holds nuclear plant hostage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Dan Peleschuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The president met Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on Monday at the Dnipro hydroelectric power station - northeast of the Zaporizhzhia plant. Russian officials say they want to connect the Zaporizhzhia plant to the Russian grid. Russia said last month the construction of protective structures for key facilities at the Zaporizhzhia plant were nearing completion. "Holding a nuclear power station hostage for more than a year - this is surely the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of European or worldwide nuclear power," Zelenskiy said. Last week, the Ukrainian military warned that Avdiivka, a smaller town 90 km (55 miles) farther south, could become a "second Bakhmut" as Russia turns its attention there.

☆ Strikes hit French nuclear output, disrupt EDF maintenance plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Forrest Crellin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoPARIS, March 24 (Reuters) - Strikes in France are impacting maintenance plans at EDF's (EDF.PA) nuclear plants, curbing production just as the utility hoped to rebound from a 34-year output low last year. At least 14 nuclear reactors in EDF's fleet of 56 have suffered some delay affecting their maintenance plans, data from the CGT union showed. For EDF that has meant nuclear power output in 2023 even lower than last year when it had swathes of reactors offline for repairs and checks for stress corrosion cracks. EDF declined to comment on the impact of the strikes on its maintenance plans. French nuclear safety watchdog ASN requested EDF revise its maintenance program due to new cracks discovered this month in some reactors.

☆ Sheltering miles from a nuclear blast may not be enough to survive unless you know where to hide, new calculations show
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Rupendra Brahambhatt | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Scientists simulated a nuclear explosion about 37 times more powerful than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is the first study that shows the impact that nuclear shockwaves could have on humans indoors. Nuclear war is a terrifying thought, but for a team of researchers at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, it's top of mind. An illustration of the shockwave of a 750-kt nuclear bomb 10 seconds after detonation. The team simulated a nuclear explosion from a 750-kiloton atomic bomb.

☆ How do you lose a radioactive capsule? Australian investigators are wondering too
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Brisbane, Australia CNN —The discovery of a tiny lost radioactive capsule beside a remote highway in Western Australia raises many questions – not least how it escaped layers of radiation-proof packaging loaded onto a moving truck. Under the Radiation Safety Act 1975, only specially trained and licensed operators can package radioactive substances, but different rules apply to contractors hired to transport it, Steen said. “Any transport company can transport radioactive material provided they have got the license to do so,” she said. Staff from the National Emergency Management Agency, the Australian Nuclear and Science Technology Organization and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency also took part. This time, it traveled in a convoy of enclosed white vehicles – with big stickers warning of the presence of a radioactive substance.

☆ A UK nuclear submarine had its broken bolts fixed with superglue, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The British Navy launched a probe after finding a " defect" in a nuclear submarine, The Sun reported. Broken bolts on HMS Vanguard's reactor chamber were glued on instead of replaced, the report said. A Royal Navy source told The Sun that the discovery was a "disgrace." Nuclear standards are never compromised." A spokesperson for both the Royal Navy and Babcock did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Australia’s Nuclear Safety Agency Joins the Hunt for Missing Radioactive Capsule
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Rhiannon Hoyle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ADELAIDE, Australia—Authorities intensified their search for a missing capsule containing radioactive material in Australia’s far west, deploying car-mounted detection equipment for the first time as they began to retrace a truck’s nearly 900-mile journey across the Outback. The capsule, which is less than a third of an inch long and contains Cesium-137, is believed to have fallen from a truck somewhere between Rio Tinto PLC’s Gudai-Darri mine and Perth, the capital of Western Australia. An initial search using hand-held radiation monitors failed to find the capsule, which was discovered to be missing on Jan. 25, prompting a public health alert.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said on Monday that it would take five days to retrace the road train's route. Authorities suspect vibrations from the road train caused the screws and a bolt from the gauge to come loose, and then the capsule fell out. A member of the Incident Management Team coordinates the search for a radioactive capsule that was lost in transit by a contractor hired by Rio Tinto, at the Emergency Services Complex in Cockburn, Australia, in this undated handout photo. Department of Fire and Emergency Services/Handout via REUTERSCenturion said in a statement that the capsule was dislodged from equipment contained in a crate. "The equipment can detect radiation emitted by the missing capsule and is currently being used around the Perth metropolitan area and outskirts."

☆ Explainer: How did a radioactive capsule go missing in Australia and how dangerous is it?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Australian authorities are mounting an extensive search for a tiny radioactive capsule believed to have fallen out of a road train - a truck with multiple trailers - that travelled 1,400 km (870 miles) in Western Australia. When it was unpacked on Jan. 25, it was found broken apart, with one of its four mounting bolts as well as screws and the capsule missing. Authorities suspect vibrations from the road train caused the gauge to break apart and the capsule fell out. The road train travelled from the mine in the state's remote Kimberley region and arrived at a storage facility in the suburbs of Perth on Jan. 16. The search involves at least five other government agencies including the Department of Defence, the police, the Australian Nuclear and Science Technology Organisation and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.

☆ Australia’s nuclear safety agency joins hunt for radioactive capsule
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Melanie Burton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MELBOURNE, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Australia’s nuclear safety agency said on Tuesday it had joined the hunt for a radioactive capsule missing in the west of the country. Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) is working with the Western Australian government to locate the capsule, it said in a statement. The capsule, believed to have fallen from a truck, was part of a gauge used to measure the density of iron ore feed which had been entrusted to a specialist contractor to transport. The loss may have occurred up to two weeks ago. Reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne Editing by Alasdair PalOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Blasts near Ukraine nuclear plant, says UN watchdog; Russia calls it provocation
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 26 (Reuters) - The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog on Thursday reported powerful explosions near Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and renewed calls for a security zone around the plant. Russian forces seized the plant in early March, soon after invading neighbouring Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of firing around it near the front lines, prompting the IAEA to place experts at all of Ukraine's five nuclear stations. Grossi, who visited Ukraine last week, said IAEA monitors routinely reported explosions near the plant. On the other, they are again sowing doubt in Western public opinion that somehow Russia cannot cope with upholding nuclear safety."

☆ U.S. approves design for NuScale small modular nuclear reactor
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Timothy Gardner | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Nuscale Power Corp FollowWASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear power regulator has certified the design for the NuScale Power Corp's (SMR.N) small modular reactor, the first such approval in the country for the next generation technology. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval, published in the Federal Register late on Thursday, clears a hurdle for NuScale. The company plans to build a demonstration small modular reactor (SMR) power plant at the Idaho National Laboratory. The U.S. Department of Energy has provided more than $600 million since 2014 to support the design, licensing and siting of NuScale's power plant and other small modular reactors. "SMRs are no longer an abstract concept," said Kathryn Huff, assistant secretary for nuclear energy at the Energy Department.

☆ French nuclear waste agency applies for new storage site
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, Jan 17 (Reuters) - France's national agency for managing nuclear waste has applied to the ministry of ecological transition for the creation of a project for the long-term storage of high-level radioactive waste, the agency said on Tuesday. Construction could begin as soon as 2027 if the French nuclear safety authority approves the application. Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands are also examining the construction of long-term high-level radioactive waste storage sites. Andra, the nuclear waste treatment agency, said this latest application for the storage site did not include the six new EPR nuclear reactors currently under consideration for construction by French power giant EDF (EDF.PA), citing the lack of a final decision to embark on the new build. Pierre-Marie Abadie, director general for Andra, said that the agency has in the past published a report saying waste from six new nuclear reactors could be encompassed in the future storage project "without difficulty."

☆ Explainer: What is Zelenskiy's 10-point peace plan?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Dec 28 (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been vigorously promoting his 10-point peace plan, discussing it with U.S. President Joe Biden among others, and urging world leaders to hold a Global Peace Summit based on it. Here is an explainer on the plan and world reaction:WHAT IS ZELENSKIY'S 10-POINT PEACE PLAN? WHAT IS ZELENSKIY'S GLOBAL PEACE SUMMIT PROPOSAL? In December, Zelenskiy urged the leaders of the Group of Seven nations to support his Global Peace Summit idea in winter that would focus on the peace plan "as a whole or some specific points in particular". But response to Zelenskiy's peace plan and his proposed peace summit has been more cautious.

☆ Top Putin aide visits Ukraine's Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, Dec 28 (Reuters) - One of President Vladimir Putin's most powerful Kremlin aides has visited the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in a part of southern Ukraine Russia says it has annexed, a Moscow-installed official in the region said. "Sergei Kiriyenko visited the nuclear power plant — he checked the safety of the facility and the working conditions of Rosatom employees," Rogov said on Telegram. Special Russian military units guard the facility and Russian nuclear specialists are on site. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 water-cooled and water-moderated reactors containing Uranium 235, which has a half-life of more than 700 million years. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has proposed the establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the plant.

☆ Kyiv says Russian 'kamikaze' drone flies over South Ukraine nuclear plant
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The Ukrainian atomic energy agency accused Russia on Monday of flouting nuclear safety by sending a "kamikaze" drone over part of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant in the Mykolaiv region just after midnight. "This is an absolutely unacceptable violation of nuclear and radiation safety," Energoatom wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Invading Russian forces currently occupy another Ukrainian nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia complex, Europe's largest, near front lines in Ukraine's southeast. Talks are ongoing to establish a safety zone around the plant. In October, President Vladimir Putin issued a decree transferring the Zaporizhzhia plant from Energoatom to a subsidiary of Rosatom, a move Kyiv said amounted to theft.

CNN —President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on Sunday to discuss Russia’s invasion and recent US efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses. The package announced last week includes weapons and artillery rounds, as well as equipment to help Ukraine boost its air defense. Biden also highlighted the $53 million package announced late last month to support Ukraine’s electrical system as it faces a barrage of attacks from Russia, according to the White House statement. He presented a 10-point peace plan to end Russia’s invasion in a video speech to G20 leaders in Bali last month. Biden welcomed his “stated openness to a just peace based on fundamental principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter,” the White House said Sunday.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest news: Shelters promised as bleak winter looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

POWER SUPPLIES* The head of Ukraine's national power grid operator said the damage dealt to power-generating facilities by Russian missile attacks was "colossal" but he dismissed the need to evacuate civilians. * The Kremlin said no substantive progress had been made towards creating a security zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. [1/4] Light is seen inside an apartment in a residential building during a power cut amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine November 20, 2022. * Russian shelling hit a humanitarian aid distribution centre in Orihiv, a town in southeastern Ukraine, killing a volunteer and wounding two women, the regional governor said. * Disbursement of $4.5 billion in U.S. economic aid for Ukraine will begin in the coming weeks, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

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