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France to Scale Back Nuclear Reactor Fleet

By John LaForge

Nukewatch Quarterly Winter 2018-19

French President Emmanuel Macron said Nov. 27, 2018 that France would reduce its share of electricity produced by nuclear reactors from 72 percent today to 50 percent by 2035, “rather than the total phasing out planned by neighbor Germany.” Belgium, Germany, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan and Switzerland have all committed to phasing-out their nuclear power programs. In 2017, South Korea announced a halt to its nuclear power expansion. During the 2017 presidential election campaign, President Moon Jae-in said, “We will abandon the development policy centered on nuclear power plants and exit the era of nuclear energy.” President Moon—noting the 3-reactor catastrophe of March 2011, in Fukushima, Japan, which was centered about 730 miles from Seoul—said plans for new power reactors would be cancelled and that existing units would not be operated beyond their design life. He also said that the earthquake resistance of South Korea’s operating reactors—reportedly “reinforced” since the Fukushima meltdowns in 2011—would be re-examined.

—Reuters, Nov. 27, 2018; AFP, Nov. 26, 2018; World Nuclear News online, June 19, 2017

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Plutonium Factory Workers’ Comp Law Brings US Justice Dept. Threat

By John LaForge

Nukewatch Quarterly Winter 2018-19

The Trump justice department is threatening to sue the state of Washington to block enforcement of a new state law that helps employees who were sickened by their work at the Hanford Reservation, a former nuclear weapons production site. The Justice Dept. told Gov. Jay Inslee that the new law which allows compensation for illnesses, violates the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution because it “purports to directly regulate” the federal government. The letter to Inslee reportedly warns of legal action if a settlement isn’t reached by Nov. 30, 2018.

For decades, Hanford made plutonium for nuclear weapons and thousands of workers are now engaged in the perilous work of cleaning up the resulting radioactive waste, near Richland, Washington. Under the new workers’ comp statute, some cancers and other illnesses are assumed to be from chemical or radiological exposures at Hanford. State Attorney General Bob Ferguson told the press he would look forward to defending the law if the federal government filed a suit. “Hanford workers deserve to be compensated for the health issues caused by their dangerous work,” Ferguson said. Hanford Challenge, a nuclear watchdog group, and the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters, Local Union 598, both backed passage of the law.

—AP, Lewiston Tribune, Nov. 29; and The Columbian, Nov. 28, 2018

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$1,280 Each for Air Force Coffee Cup

By John LaForge

Nukewatch Quarterly Winter 2018-19

The US Air Force has been using metal cups that cost taxpayers $1,280 each. Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson asking about the pricey “hot cups” that come with a plug-in heat element but have handles that keep breaking off. Sen. Grassley heard that the service was being charged more than $1,200 apiece to replace broken cups. “How many cups have been purchased by the Air Force during this time frame and what is the total cost of these purchases?” Secretary Wilson replied Oct 17, writing: “The item [cup] in question is a specially manufactured electronic water heater that plugs into aircraft systems…. The Air Force has purchased 391 of these items since 2016 at a total cost of $326,785.” Sec. Wilson’s letter admitted that Grassley was “right to be concerned about the high costs of spare parts.” Dan Grazier, at the Project on Government Oversight, told Air Force Times that the exorbitant spending on coffee cups is just the latest example. “Right now we’re talking about $1,200 on a coffee mug and two weeks ago we were talking about $10,000 toilet seat covers, and it just adds up,” he said.

—Business Insider online, Oct. 22; Air Force Times, Oct. 23, & July 9, 2018.

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England Dumps Rad Sludge in Welsh Waters

By Kelly Lundeen

Nukewatch Quarterly Winter 2018-19

A plan to continue dumping some 330,000 tons of contaminated mud was approved by the Welsh Assembly on Oct. 10, 2018 following its inadequate testing for radioactivity. The sludge is being dredged from England’s Hinkley Point C reactor construction site, loaded onto a barge, often at night, and taken across the Bristol Channel into Welsh waters, where it is dumped. The first round of dumping ended in October, and will resume in January 2019. The Welsh Assembly’s decision relied on data from a study verified by Natural Resources Wales that stated, “The material tested did not have unacceptable levels of chemicals or [radioactive] materials and was suitable for disposal at sea.”

However the material tested was only skimmed from the top two inches of sediments. Past discharges of radionuclides (radioactive materials) from Hinkley Point would have been found in higher concentrations at deeper levels. Moreover, the tests did not look for uranium, plutonium or about 90% of other radionuclides potentially present. Not surprisingly, the tests found that the mud “poses no threat to human health or the environment,” and therefore was not classified as radioactive and not subject to international treaties prohibiting such dumping. The question is begged: If the mud poses no threat, why don’t the English dump it in their waters?

—Beyond Nuclear International, Oct. 15, 2018; Natural Resources Wales, Updated Oct. 9, 2018; Wales Online, Aug. 16, 2018.

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US Mass Murder School

By John LaForge

Nukewatch Quarterly Winter 2018-19

While the UN General Assembly moves toward banning nuclear weapons, nuclear-armed states led by the USA continue teaching the unthinkable. Planning and training for thermonuclear mass destruction is done at the Defense Nuclear Weapons School on Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. Two courses are illustrative:

1) “Theater Nuclear Operations.” Synopsis: The Theater Nuclear Operations Course (TNOC) is a 4.5-day course that provides training for planners, support staff, targeteers, and staff nuclear planners for joint operations and targeting. The course provides an overview of nuclear weapon design, capabilities, and effects as well as US nuclear policy, and joint nuclear doctrine….

Objectives:

• Understand both US and NATO Nuclear Policy

• Understand the US nuclear planning and execution process…

• Understand the targeting effects of nuclear weapon employment…

• Apply the Theater Nuclear Planning process as part of an end-of-course [end-of-world?] exercise. Course Classification: TOP SECRET//RESTRICTED DATA.

2) “Integrated Munitions Effects Assessment-2” Synopsis: A 5-day course that provides … proficiency in importing and creating target models, developing attack plans using conventional or nuclear weapons, performing consequence assessment to WMD [weapons of mass destruction] scenarios….

Objectives:

• Import, edit, and modify target sites…

• Calculate probabilistic attacks…

• Develop attack plans using … nuclear weapons

• Defend… estimates of attack plan options. Course Classification: SECRET.

—See all the course offerings at Air Force Nuclear College, at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency: and dtra.kirtland.J10.mbx.dnwsregistrar@mail.mil

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