Nukewatch

Working for a nuclear-free future since 1979

  • Issues
    • Weekly Column
    • Counterfeit Reactor Parts
    • Depleted Uranium
    • Direct Action
    • Lake Superior Barrels
    • Environmental Justice
    • Nuclear Power
      • Chernobyl
      • Fukushima
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • On The Bright Side
    • Radiation Exposure
    • Radioactive Waste
    • Renewable Energy
    • Uranium Mining
    • US Bombs Out of Germany
  • Quarterly Newsletter
    • Quarterly Newsletter
    • Newsletter Archives
  • Resources
    • Nuclear Heartland Book
    • Fact Sheets
    • Reports, Studies & Publications
      • The New Nuclear Weapons: $1.74 Trillion for H-bomb Profiteers and Fake Cleanups
      • Nuclear Power: Dead In the Water It Poisoned
      • Thorium Fuel’s Advantages as Mythical as Thor
      • Greenpeace on Fukushima 2016
      • Drinking Water at Risk: Toxic Military Wastes Haunt Lake Superior
    • Nukewatch in the News
    • Links
    • Videos
  • About
    • About Nukewatch
    • Contact Us
  • Get Involved
    • Action Alerts!
    • Calendar
    • Workshops
  • Donate

January 22, 2023 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Dangerous Nuclear Fantasies: Bill Gates and Techno-fix Delusions

Melted core of Experimental Breeder molten sodium reactor, Idaho, Nov. 29, 1955. In 2018, TerraPower reached a cooperation agreement with China’s National Nuclear Corporation to form a joint venture to co-develop the Traveling Wave Reactor, which is also a liquid sodium-cooled reactor like the failed one above. (Reddit)

Editor’s note: The excerpts below, edited for space, are reprinted from the article by M.V. Ramana and Cassandra Jeffery in the Sept/Oct 2022 issue of Against the Current. To read the full article with footnotes visit https://againstthecurrent.org/atc220/bill-gates-and-techno-fix-delusions/.

Bill Gates and TerraPower
[Bill Gates’ firm] TerraPower was founded in 2006, and Gates continues to serve as Chairman of the Board. The company has funded the development of three different nuclear reactor designs through a mix of venture capitalist investments from fellow billionaires, engineering and manufacturing corporations in the energy and military sector, and government grants. The company has research and development partnerships with the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex, both of which design and test nuclear weapons. In 2010, the company received $35 million from venture capital firms to develop the first of its “Traveling Wave” reactor[s] (TWR). In 2016, the firm received a $40 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE), followed by another $80 million in 2020, and $8.5 million in 2022. In 2021, [DOE’s] Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations … set aside $2.5 billion for nuclear projects and some of this funding will subsidize the TerraPower nuclear project. [Though TerraPower’s financial records are not available], government support [seems to] add up to nearly as much as private investment and almost certainly more than Gates has personally invested.

Technical Problems

TerraPower has three different reactor designs: the Natrium reactor; the molten chloride fast reactor; and the TWR. All of them are based on old reactor designs vexed with major problems. As its name suggests, the [molten chloride fast] reactor uses nuclear materials dissolved in molten chemical salts … so the inside of the reactor will be a chemically corrosive and highly radioactive environment. The last one to be built [in Oakridge, Tennessee] … operated intermittently from 1965 to 1969, and [was] interrupted [by] 225 [shutdowns] in those four years, only 58 [of which] were planned. Both the TWR and the Natrium use molten sodium … to transport the intense heat produced by the nuclear fission … such reactors have had numerous accidents: on November 29, 1955, the Experimental Breeder Reactor in Idaho had a partial core meltdown; in October 1966, the Fermi-1 fast reactor in Michigan suffered a partial core meltdown; in Japan, the [abandoned] Monju reactor suffered a series of accidents, produced almost no electricity [and was abandoned] after an expenditure of at least $8.5 billion.

The use of molten sodium makes reactors susceptible to serious fires, because the material burns if exposed to air. Almost all sodium-cooled reactors constructed around the world have experienced sodium leaks, likely because of chemical interactions between sodium and the stainless steel used in various components. Having to deal with all these volatile properties and safety concerns naturally drives up the construction costs of fast reactors, rendering them substantially more expensive than common thermal reactors. Sodium-cooled reactors … operat[e] at dismally low rates compared to standard reactors, the [fuel] load factor … for the Prototype Fast Reactor in the United Kingdom was 27%; France’s Superphenix reactor managed a mere 7.9%. The typical US reactor operates with a load factor of more than 90%.

Systemic Problems and Corruption

The [industrial lobby group] Nuclear Energy Institute [pushed] the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act [of 2019]. Publicly endorsed by Gates, the law makes it easier for “next-generation advanced reactors” of the sort that TerraPower promotes, to be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In the case of TerraPower, tens of millions of federal tax dollars have been donated to TerraPower without taxpayers ever being given an opportunity to provide or deny their informed consent.
The public — especially near sites [of] new reactor[s], areas where uranium will be mined and processed, and wherever the radioactive waste will go — will be subject to environmental contamination, paying far more than just a financial cost. Further, this obsession with nuclear power … diverts attention from the larger systemic drivers of the climate crisis: unabated capitalism and its need for never-ending economic growth. Pushing the nuclear agenda furthers the falsehood that … climate change can be solved using one more technology from the same toolbox. “Those most responsible for creating the problem [of climate change] will see to it that they profit from the solution,” wrote Arundhati Roy. People like Gates exemplify that observation.

Filed Under: Environment, Newsletter Archives, Nuclear Power, Quarterly Newsletter

January 22, 2023 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Elementary School Contaminated by Nuclear Weapons Production

By Bob Mayberry

The US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) returned yet again to a Missouri elementary school in November to test for radioactivity on the playgrounds and in the classrooms. In 2018 and 2019, the Corps “identified an area of low-level radioactive contamination” in a heavily wooded area on the edge of the Jane Elementary School property in northern St. Louis. The school serves mostly Black students and sits in the flood plain of Coldwater Creek, contaminated during the 1940s and 1950s when waste from uranium processing for nuclear weapons was dumped nearby. For twenty-plus years, the Corps has been cleaning up the creek and testing for radioactive contamination in the area, but never within 300 feet of the school.
The 2018 tests, revealing low-level contamination nearby, prompted parents to request tests inside school buildings. The Corps declined. Community pressure finally compelled school officials to order third-party testing. According to a report released in October, the Boston Chemical Data Corp. discovered 22 times the expected levels of radioactive isotopes on the playground and more than 12 times expected levels in the gymnasium, resulting in the school’s shutdown in late October. The company found radioactive lead-210, thorium-230, polonium-210, and radium-226 “far in excess” of what the analysts expected.

Jana Elementary School in Florissant, Missouri, sits by Coldwater Creek, a waterway contaminated by improperly stored radioactive waste. Photo Credit: CNN

Corps program manager Phil Moser disagreed with the Boston Chemical findings, claiming the report was not consistent with “accepted evaluation techniques,” but promised the agency would reevaluate Boston Chemical’s report and methods. At the urging of local lawmakers, the Corps has agreed to conduct new tests at Jane Elementary School.

—The Guardian, Nov. 2; Huffington Post, Smithsonian, and NBC News, Oct. 18; Associated Press, and St. Louis Post Dispatch, Oct. 17, 2022

Filed Under: Environment, Newsletter Archives, Quarterly Newsletter, Radiation Exposure

January 22, 2023 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Governor Vetoes Bill to Halt Radioactive Wastewater Dumping in Cape Cod Bay

Protesters gathered in front of Plymouth Town Hall before a public meeting Monday on Holtec Corp.’s plans for decommissioning the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant.MATTHEW J. LEE/GLOBE STAFF
By Matt Jahnke

Holtec International, the current owner tasked with decommissioning the Pilgrim nuclear reactor in Plymouth, Massachusetts, plans on dumping 1.1 million gallons of radioactive wastewater into Cape Cod Bay. The plan has met with fierce opposition from local activists, environmentalists, fishermen, and the restaurant and tourism industries. Furthermore, State Senators Susan Moran and Julian Cyr received unanimous approval from the State House and Senate for their proposed amendment — vetoed by Governor Charlie Baker on November 10 — to delay dumping for two years in order to form a commission to investigate potential economic and environmental impacts of the contaminated wastewater. Holtec appears poised to move ahead, maintaining it is legally allowed to do so, now with a clear signal from the governor that he will not stand in the way. Sen. Moran responded to the governor’s veto, saying, “At no time did anyone ever relay concerns with this important amendment. I am eager to press the administration for an explanation…. I will be refiling [the bill] at the earliest opportunity.” US Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, and US Rep. Bill Keating have called on Holtec to respond to a June 17 letter from the Environmental Protection Agency reminding Holtec that any dumping in the bay would violate federal regulations and Holtec’s permits, and could result in civil, judicial, and administrative penalties.

 

— Old Colony Memorial, Nov. 17; Provincetown Independent, Nov. 9; and Markey, Warren, Keating, Letter to Holtec, Nov. 2, 2022

Filed Under: Environment, Newsletter Archives, Nuclear Power, Quarterly Newsletter, Radioactive Waste

January 22, 2023 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Nuclear Bomb Profiteers Create Their Market

By John LaForge

According to a recent news release from “ResearchandMarkets.com,” worldwide sales of nuclear bombs and missiles is a growth market expanding by leaps and bounds. The report, “Nuclear Bombs and Missiles Market,” claims the field was worth $72.64 billion in 2020, and will reach $126.34 billion by 2030, “growing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.4%.” While the United States “dominated the global nuclear bombs and missiles market share in 2020,” this year the Asia-Pacific dominates, followed by Europe, North America and Latin America, Middle East and Africa. The report reads like the profiteers’ version of recent research by Don’t Bank on the Bomb, a project of PAX in The Netherlands that tracks nuclear weapons funding.
Sounding upbeat, the report says donations to “think tanks” from the weapons industry result in white papers about the urgent need for new weapons. It describes the corruption without irony: “Think tanks are research and analytical bodies that demonstrate future needs and reasons to have nuclear arsenals. … Twelve think tanks across the globe have disclosed funding of [$]5.5 million to [$]10.2 million in 2020 from corporate giants who are manufacturing nuclear weapons.” The cynicism extends to the current war in Ukraine, as the report shamelessly says: “Factors such as the rise in geopolitical conflicts … are expected to support the nuclear bombs and missiles market growth.” “Key market players” named in the document are familiar: Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Boeing, Airbus, and BAE. — PR Newswire, News from Research and Markets, Sept. 20, 2022

Lockheed Martin stock plunged by 5.5 percent, and its capitalization decreased by more than $7 billion, after a fake Twitter account posted this faux announcement.

Economic Times, Sept. 12, 2022

Filed Under: Military Spending, Newsletter Archives, Nuclear Weapons, Quarterly Newsletter, War

January 22, 2023 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

“Fallout”: Investigative Series on Cancer Connection to Nuclear Weapons Production

By Lindsay Potter

Over two years in the making, Cincinnati, Ohio’s TV station WKRC Local 12 has produced a 12-part investigative series on radioactive contamination from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) near Piketon, Ohio. The giant complex processed uranium for nuclear weapons for decades. The hard-hitting news reports are available online and come with startling headlines including, “Was [Mr.] Farmer’s cancer death connected to PORTS?” “Kids dying and middle school closed,” “Pike county tops state with ‘alarming’ cancer rates,” “Is radiation on our doorstep?,” “Scientists concerned with radioactive fallout from America’s nuclear plants,” “The cancer connection to Cold War plants,” and “Researcher connects radioactive contamination to PORTS.”
WKRC pitches the series online noting: “Our Local 12 Investigation has revealed children dying from rare cancers, air monitors around PORTS capturing dangerous radioactive particles, and confirmation from scientists that PORTS is causing the contamination…” — To see all 12 segments in the series “Fallout,” go to: https://local12.com/news/investigates/congressman-demands-answers-to-questions-raised-in-local-12s-fallout-investigation-cincinnati-duane-pohlman-pike-county-radiation-investigate-radiactive-dangers-contamination# 

PhotoCredit:https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/06/30/lawsuit-residents-near-portsmouth-plant-have-been-sacrificial-lambs/1611619001/

Filed Under: Environment, Newsletter Archives, Nuclear Weapons, Quarterly Newsletter, Radiation Exposure, Radioactive Waste

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 162
  • Next Page »

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Subscribe

Donate

Facebook

Categories

  • B61 Bombs in Europe
  • Chernobyl
  • Counterfeit Reactor Parts
  • Depleted Uranium
  • Direct Action
  • Environment
  • Environmental Justice
  • Fukushima
  • Lake Superior Barrels
  • Military Spending
  • Newsletter Archives
  • North Korea
  • Nuclear Power
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Office News
  • On The Bright Side
  • Photo Gallery
  • Quarterly Newsletter
  • Radiation Exposure
  • Radioactive Waste
  • Renewable Energy
  • Sulfide Mining
  • Through the Prism of Nonviolence
  • Uncategorized
  • Uranium Mining
  • US Bombs Out of Germany
  • War
  • Weekly Column

Contact Us

(715) 472-4185
nukewatch1@lakeland.ws

Address:
740A Round Lake Road
Luck, Wisconsin 54853
USA

Donate To Nukewatch

News & Information on Nuclear Weapons,
Power, Waste & Nonviolent Resistance

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

© 2023 · Nukewatch