It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, September 11, 2021
NUCLEAR AS GREEN ENERGY GIVES IT A NEW LEASE ON LIFE
Site analysis proposed for Puerto Rico
09 September 2021
Consideration of small modular reactors (SMRs) for the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico is advancing to the second stage. Having concluded such a deployment was feasible, the Nuclear Alternative Project (NAP) is now looking at siting requirements. Speaking at World Nuclear Association's Annual Symposium yesterday, Eddie Guerra of NAP said the results of a study currently underway "will help to move the discussion how the sites will fit and how they will align with the minigrids already planned."
Potential sites on Puerto Rico, as identified by the Nuclear Alternative Project (Image: NAP)
Speaking at World Nuclear Association's Annual Symposium yesterday, Eddie Guerra of NAP said the results of a study currently underway "will help to move the discussion how the sites will fit and how they will align with the minigrids already planned."
It follows a conclusion made in a NAP study last year that SMRs are feasible in the Puerto Rican context. The assessment was made according to International Atomic Energy Agency criteria.
Key to the analysis is Puerto Rico's energy strategy, which is to rebuild from the damage of 2017's Hurricane Maria in a more resilient way by creating a web of microgrids. Some 3000 MWe of the island's 3247 MWe of operable power units will be replaced by 2025, with solar expected to take an ever-increasing share of generation.
However, the dynamics of island grids are challenging for solar. Puerto Rico has a steady level of demand at around 2500 MWe, with peaks of around 3000 MWe. Last year's NAP feasibility study said only nuclear reactors can complement the intermittency of renewable power sources with zero-emission baseload power generation. At the same time, a high degree of flexibility to load follow would be required from any units joining a solar-dominated grid.
Despite being relatively small and separate from the continental USA (of which it is an unincorporated territory), Puerto Rico has a GDP of USD104 billion, which is higher than several states, including Hawaii, New Hampshire and Idaho. Almost half of this comes from manufacturing, but energy prices remain high - around 19 cents per kWh whereas the price in most US states is in the range of 9-11 cents per kWh, according to figures Guerra presented.
Last year's feasibility study identified main demand centres, manufacturing hubs and potential partners, Geurra said, adding that this information feeds into the ongoing site analysis alongside geologic information and other kinds of existing infrastructure.
Applying the requirements of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NAP has so far identified two potential sites. One lies on the island's north coast near an industrial hub; the other on its east coast at the former Roosevelt Roads Naval Station. Guerra said the ongoing study "aims to develop a list of suitable sites with ranking and plant parameter envelopes for Puerto Rico."
Island needs
Guerra noted that the NAP team has been contacted by other small and island nations keen to share information the potential use of SMRs, with Singapore, Cyprus, Tasmania in Australia, Bahrain and Indonesia facing similar challenges to Puerto Rico, particularly the profile of high and year-long baseload demand. In addition they need to decarbonise, end their reliance on imported fossil fuels, and increase resilience while managing the intermittency of rapidly growing renewable generation, he said.
Researched and written by World Nuclear News
NUCLEAR AS GREEN ENERGY GIVES IT A NEW LEASE ON LIFE
Chemical giant looks to nuclear heat to decarbonise
10 September 2021
Polish chemical producer Ciech will consider nuclear technologies to replace coal burnt for power and process heat in its plants. Ciech has signed a Letter of Intent to cooperate with Synthos Green Energy, which is already working with GE-Hitachi and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation.
Inside the Janikowo plant (Image: Ciech)
"Clean, emission-free nuclear energy may become an important element of the strategy of achieving ambitious climate goals by our group, as well as an important factor increasing the competitiveness of Ciech in the long term," said Dawid Jakubowicz, chairman of Ciech's management board. In May the company noted nuclear could play a role in its decarbonisation in its ESG (environment, social and governance) report, which foresaw the end of coal-burning in 2033, and carbon neutrality in 2040.
Ciech said it is considering nuclear to replace coal at its plants producing soda ash (sodium carbonate), which has applications ranging from the manufacture of glass and bricks, to domestic soap and food additives. The company is the second largest producer of soda ash in the EU, with large, energy-intensive plants at Inowrocław and Janikowo. They currently burn coal in combined heat and power plants that provide steam for process heat.
The Letter of Intent announced yesterday will enable Ciech to "thoroughly analyse the use of small and micro modular reactor technology" by cooperating with Synthos Green Energy. As a subsidiary of the Synthos chemical group, it has already made agreements with GE-Hitachi towards potential deployment of its BWRX-300, and with Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation regarding its Micro Modular Reactor. Both the reactor designs can produce process heat, at 100-200°C and at 630°C, respectively.
Ciech and Synthos said they will "define the possibility of building small or micromodular nuclear reactors on the premises of Ciech's production plants and they will analyse possible models of energy supply under mutual agreements."
"The first Generation IV reactor is to be launched in Canada in 2025, the next units will be built in the USA. If the licensing process in Poland runs correctly, there is nothing to prevent the Generation IV reactors from being commissioned at Ciech plants before the end of the decade," said Rafał Kasprów, chairman of Synthos Green Energy.
Synthos is a large chemicals group based in Poland. It has taken a leading role in the pursuit of nuclear energy in the country, particularly in the industrial sector, through Synthos Green Energy. Earlier this month it signed an agreement to explore construction of six BWRX-300 units at the Pątnów coal-fired power plant with the plant's owner, ZE PAK. In June Synthos began cooperation with Polish state petrochemical firm PKN Orlen to cooperate on small and modular reactors. It has been working with GE-Hitachi since October 2020 and with Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation since November 2020.
Researched and written by World Nuclear News
NUCLEAR AS GREEN ENERGY GIVES IT A NEW LEASE ON LIFE
US DOE building a bridge to bankability for nuclear
10 September 2021
The private sector must be prepared to provide the funds needed to take new and innovative reactor technologies from the first deployment stage to wide-scale commercial operation, Jigar Shah, director of the Loans Program Office (LPO) at the US Department of Energy, said yesterday during World Nuclear Association's Annual Symposium. He said the LPO is developing the business models needed to deploy new nuclear.
Jigar Shah speaking yesterday
Shah said the Biden-Harris Administration has committed to decarbonising the electric power sector by 2035 and, as part of this effort, the USA must rely on all available sources of clean energy, including nuclear power.
"The nuclear sector in the USA enjoys a robust track record in terms of annual operations, as measured by reliability, safety and zero-carbon generation," he said. Shah noted nuclear power currently accounts for half of USA's carbon-free electricity generation, representing nearly 20% of the country's total electricity generation.
However, he said the pace of nuclear new builds has slowed considerably compared with other clean energy sources. "Some of this slowdown over the past decade is attributable to the great recession and the attendant loss of electricity demand growth, the rise of fracking and the increased supply of cheap natural gas. And lastly, the unfortunate accident at Fukushima. For the nuclear sector taken together, this really amounts to a near-perfect storm."
Current options inappropriate
Shah said current nuclear power plant options are seen as "too large for the market, too costly on an overnight basis per kilowatt or too expensive on a levelised cost of energy basis compared to alternatives, too long to construct and, taken collectively altogether, as too risky by the capital markets.
"However, I think we all recognise an expansion of nuclear power will be critical to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 and there is an urgent need to bring new clean energy technologies to market."
The Biden-Harris Administration, Shah said, has put a focus on scaling up commercial deployment of the next generation of nuclear power technology, including smaller and more flexible advanced reactor designs and on the advanced fuels that will be needed to operate them. "With these new innovative technologies (such as small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors), when combined with innovations in manufacturing, product delivery models and innovations in financing led by the LPO, utilities and other potential buyers of nuclear power plants can once again begin to order new units for deployment."
He added, "In addition to new, technically-ready designs, we need to consider how government and private industry can work together on new approaches - both technically and from a business execution approach."
About 40 technology developers are "striving" to develop new, innovative reactor design concepts. In October 2020, the DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy announced two awardees - TerraPower and X-energy - to receive USD80 million each of initial cost-shared funding to build an advanced reactor demonstration plant that can be operational within seven years. "These plants are of commercial scale and must be connected to the grid, providing commercially viable power to customers by 2027," Shah said.
Bridge to bankability
"But more needs to be done than just a technology-push approach," he said. "That's where the Loans Program Office can come in to not only use the 10,000 scientists at the DOE and the national laboratories to validate the technology, but also to stand up the next generation of business models needed to deploy new nuclear. What we call that is 'building a bridge to bankability' for new nuclear."
Shah said innovative reactor technologies firstly need to be identified that can be approved by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to operate safely and achieve the economic viability to be competitive with other clean energy sources. "We have several designs going through the NRC process now, four of which we believe will have full approval by 2027."
Secondly, the way nuclear power plants are constructed needs to be completely rethought "so that we are building airplanes and not airports", he added. "Airplanes are very complicated, with a very detailed and long supply chain, but they can repeat their design consistently - that leads to lower costs, higher quality and a faster roll-out with the same learning curve benefit that we have seen in other clean energy technologies."
He said the public-private partnership needs to be kickstarted, such as the DOE is doing through the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program and then through loan guarantees providing the finance necessary to prepare the supply chain and make the first few new deployments.
"Lastly, we need to recognise that we need a roll-out USD100 billion to be able to achieve the economic cost points that we hope for nuclear technology," Shah said.
"This can't be just a continuous first-of-a-kind deployment. That really won't accomplish the mission. Our goal at LPO is to work with sectors on early commercial deployments, develop the right business models and a commercial operating history, then let the private sector come in with the real money to allow the technology to reach scale."
Referring to the interest already shown by several countries around the world in deploying SMRs and microreactors, Shah said: "We really do believe that we can get USD100 billion of commercial interest, which is what will be required to reach the cost points that we all need them to reach to be able to be part of the 2050 solution."
Researched and written by World Nuclear News
CANADIAN INVESTMENT FUND SPROTT BOUGHT PHYSICAL URANIUM IN A LARGE QUANTITY BETTING ON 'GREEN' NUCLEAR POWER
Investment funds change the shape of uranium market
10 September 2021
Investment funds are shaping the uranium spot market leading to an unprecedented level of demand. How those funds will affect the availability of secondary supplies of uranium to consumers remains to be seen, and the spot market should not be seen as a reliable source for significant purchases of uranium ore in the long term, according to speakers and panellists at World Nuclear Association Annual Symposium 2021.
L-R: Munro, Lichtenwald, Rizvi and Batyrbayev
These trends were highlighted in a panel discussion following the launch of the latest edition of World Nuclear Association's Nuclear Fuel Report on 8 September and also by Kazatomprom Chief Operating Officer Askar Batyrbayev in a high-level session the next day.
"One thing that's certainly in full gear in the uranium end of the fuel cycle right now is the role of investment funds, and new vehicles that have been set up to raise funds to accumulate for the long term or sequester U3O8 holdings," panel chair Brandon Munro, CEO of Bannerman Resources, said, before inviting panellists to discus the role such funds are now playing and how they might develop in the future.
The Sprott Physical Uranium Trust began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in July and this week has reached USD1 billion in assets, with uranium holdings of 24,274,212 pounds U3O8 (9337 tU). Matt Lichtenwald, manager, market research at Cameco, identified Sprott as a main factor in the "run" experienced by the uranium price over recent weeks.
"Some of the numbers are astonishing … it's been quite amazing to see," he said. The constant "bid pressure" resulting from Sprott's activity is something that the uranium market has not previously experienced, and will help with price discovery by giving investors a broader view of both the supply and demand side of the market, he said. "What that will lead to is, hopefully, a true equilibrium to what the uranium price should be, based on [actual] costs", he said.
There has, in general, been an increasing trend of funds participating in the market over recent years, and this is creating a balance in the market, he said. This is leading to a more balanced future and a healthier market going forward.
Shaping the spot market
The Nuclear Fuel Report does not attempt to forecast or estimate what secondary demand could emerge, Munro pointed out.
Riaz Rizvi, a partner at Rice Capital Partners and former chief commercial officer for Kazatomprom, added that the Fuel Report does not consider what amount of material might in future be considered as "strategic" by governments or by commercial players.
"Really, the big story here is how funds are shaping the spot market," he said. "This is an unprecedented level of demand in the spot market - something we haven't really seen before - and what the report does is assume that there is a lot of commercial inventory which is going to fill a gap that already exists between primary and secondary supply versus demand."
Rizvi said he did not "feel strongly" that "a lot of material" would come out of such funds. "That is not what they are designed to do. And when you look around at the rest of the uranium market in terms of commercial inventory, the [World Nuclear Association] report shows that those numbers are going down fairly significantly," he said.
"So when you start to look at it, the impact that these funds have could be very significant in terms of the dynamics of the negotiations between utilities and producers," he said. The "constant bid" for spot market material being driven by the "ever-increasing appetite of investors looking at the fundamentals of our industry" essentially withdrew material that, in the past, could have been used to meet short-term utility demand. "That's going to be harder to do going forward: it's a big, big shift in the way that our industry operates," he said.
Market shift
The spot market became the main avenue of purchase for many uranium market players in 2020 and 2021, when mining companies' response to the COVID pandemic led to some 20 million pounds of U3O8 being "left in ground" Batyrbayev said. "COVID catalysed a transformation of the uranium market and marked a shift from a surplus environment to a deficit one," he said.
Lost production was primarily compensated by increased inventory drawdown but at the same time COVID had exposed the fragility of the spot market, he said. The past two years have seen an increased diversity of buyers on the spot market, with major and junior suppliers entering market in addition to the traditional utilities and traders. These, as well as the entrance of financial players, have contributed to firm "unconventional" demand, he said.
A key question, he said, is whether such interest is an isolated occurrence for the current period, or the forerunner for a much larger demand trend with more new players such as banks and investors entering the market.
Meanwhile, traditional uranium demand remains robust, and growing interest in nuclear in the long term will need more supplies, and the current price environment does not allow for covering future requirements considering the high capital expenditures and long lead times to develop new uranium projects," he said. Multiple factors are in play, including as expiring long term contracts, increasing demand from financial players, and the need to replenish strategic inventories. "Given both conventional and unconventional demand, there might not be enough supply for everybody," he said.
Given the current market fundamentals, he said, Kazatomprom has decided to maintain its 2023 production at a similar level to 2022 which is 20% lower than licensed nominal capacity. Supply chain disruptions as a result of COVID - including shortages of certain production materials and delays to exploration and development works - could result in the decrease in the company's 2021 production being more than 20%, he said.
All of Kazatomprom's supply for 2021 is "guaranteed" to customers and for the first time in many years the company has not needed to sell on the spot market, Batyrbayev said.
"To ensure timely deliveries to our customers, Kazatomprom at times was and will be a buyer on the spot market. However we see that the spot market, due to its fragility and volatility, is not a reliable source for significant purchases of uranium ore. That leaves a question on the security of supply in the long term."
Researched and written by World Nuclear News
News Bites
Uranium price explosion is just the beginning; "You ain't seen nothing yet" says Rick Rule
David Lin David Lin
Friday September 10, 2021
(Kitco News) - The uranium market has been plagued by illiquidity, but with the advent of metal-backed funds, like the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust Fund (SRUUF), the problem of liquidity is alleviated, said Rick Rule, director of Sprott.
The Trust was launched in the summer, following the re-organization of the Uranium Participation Corp., and the price of uranium subsequently rose from $30/lb to above $40/lb on Friday.
Rule told David Lin, anchor for Kitco News, said that the current price is still cheap, especially when considering that most uranium producers in North America can't yet restart operations even with $40/lb. Operations have been suspended due to a combination of uneconomical uranium prices and COVID-19.
"Sprott is going to make an application to list that trust on the New York stock exchange, where the overwhelming majority of the volume that [investors] enjoy in their precious metals trusts occurs. If that happens in terms of inflows into the trust, if the material is available to buy in the spot market quote, then you ain't see nothing yet,' he said.
Uranium trust pits ambitious investors against nuclear power industry
A Canadian investment fund almost singlehandedly launched uranium spot prices into orbit with a buying spree that has put the nuclear power industry on alert.
The spot uranium price for deliveries this month leapt 30.8% over 30 days to $39.75/lb as of 1 p.m. on Sept. 7 — a steep rise for a commodity market that previously saw years of sagging prices, according to data from S&P Global Platts. Market analysts credited Sprott Asset Management LP, a uranium trust formed in July to buy up low-cost uranium on the spot market and hold it for the long-term, for jolting the market with a wave of purchases.
The nuclear power industry, which largely buys fuel on long-term contracts, is not panicking as it can absorb even a one-third increase in price, but the industry is wary that the fund could continue to push up fuel costs.
For Sprott, this is all part of the plan.
"We're just a conduit for investors to express their view, right?" Sprott CEO John Ciampaglia told S&P Global Market Intelligence. "Our job is [to] go out and buy more pounds. If that has a knock-on effect on the price, then I guess indirectly we've got that influence on price discovery."
Big fish, small pond
The thesis Sprott provided to investors was simple: If they were given funding, they would purchase material out of a spot market that was flooded with excess supply following the 2011 nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan.
Between Sept. 2 and Sept. 7, the trust acquired more than 3 million pounds of uranium on the spot market. As of Sept. 7, the trust held 24 million pounds at a market value of more than US$1 billion.
Sprott's Ciampaglia said the investment outfit learned the power of a single market catalyst during the "meme stock" boom earlier in the year. Retail investors made a coordinated purchase of stock in game seller GameStop and sent the stock price soaring despite no change in the fundamentals of the stock. A silver trust held by Sprott benefited when retail investors moved from specific equities to silver-focused market offerings.
The relatively small size of the uranium market could mean an unpredictable level of explosivity if the investor audience broadened, Ciampaglia said.
"You just can't predict how explosive it could be," Ciampaglia said.
The uranium trust benefited from market conditions improving in nuclear energy, as the world moves toward lower carbon energy sources, said Scott Melbye, executive vice president of U.S.-based miner Uranium Energy Corp. However the "correlation" between the trust's buying activity and the rising price is undeniable, Melbye said.
"Sprott coming in has really been the tipping point. It's been very significant."
Nuclear power is watching
After the Fukushima disaster, nuclear power plant operators experienced lower contracting prices. That trend lasted until the coronavirus pandemic knocked major sources of uranium offline, creating a supply shock that drove up prices and incentivized new investment in the space, though that upward trend calmed when the Sprott uranium trust arrived in July.
Power companies with nuclear reactors said they are not worried about price increases resulting from the trust's buying activity — at least not yet.
The fuel cost associated with nuclear energy is far lower than for coal and natural gas generators, so nuclear plants are "relatively insensitive" to a "bump in the spot price," American Nuclear Society president Steve Nesbit told S&P Global Market Intelligence. For nuclear utilities to feel the pain, prices would need to be an "order of magnitude" larger, even twice as high, Nesbit said.
"It takes a while for it to sink in," Nesbit said.
Utilities are monitoring buying activity by the trust, but "it's nothing that's worrying them at this point," Nima Ashkeboussi, senior director of fuel and radiation safety programs at the Nuclear Energy Institute, said.
"Their views [of Sprott] are still forming. They're watching it very closely," Ashkeboussi said.
Analysts see hard times ahead
Ciampaglia said the fund hoped to drive up the price of uranium, but high nuclear fuel costs in the long run could hurt nuclear power's competitiveness against cheaper forms of renewable power. And the industry already faces a declining market for its product going forward: Nuclear power capacity is expected to shrink by more than 20 GW through 2050, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The entire global nuclear sector could be constrained from future growth, Morningstar analyst Travis Miller said. While nuclear fuel typically makes up a relatively small percentage of utilities' operational costs, a long-term shift in uranium producers' favor could create an issue for any company looking to expand its nuclear fleet, especially in the face of falling renewable power costs.
If uranium prices continue to rise, that puts nuclear power at a competitive disadvantage to other carbon-free sources of energy, Miller said.
"There's a delicate balance here because in the long-run more supply should lead to lower, more stable prices," Miller added. "But in the short-run, higher prices to bring on that supply is going to be a headwind."
S&P Global Platts and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.
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A masked protester occupies a tree house in the path of the Trans Mountain expansion in Burnaby. Protesters say they fear being removed from their year-long treetop sites after crews erected fences and cut trees in their vicinity. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)
Activists aiming to stop the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in Burnaby say they fear being removed against their will after crews put up fencing and cut down trees in their vicinity on Tuesday and Wednesday.
For more than a year, protesters have been occupying treetops in the Brunette River Conservation Area, which sits on the path of the planned expansion to the existing 1,150-kilometre pipeline.
They say recent moves from Trans Mountain leave them worried their treetop vigil might be coming to an end.
"They're sending a lot of workers on the ground to fence off these trees and to have them very isolated from our supporters that bring us food and bring in supplies every day," said Timothée Govare, who has spent more than 100 days in the tree houses as part of the protest.
Govare says workers have also been cutting down trees a few metres from the protesters, and that he anticipates they will use heavy machinery in the coming days to "extract" them.
"I think they're prepping for a siege. I think they will use their cherry-picker and get us out of here before we run out of food," he said.
This comes on the heels of police enforcement at the Fairy Creek blockade in Vancouver Island, where protesters continue to experience what they describe as aggressive enforcement tactics, including the use of pepper spray.
Blue fencing is seen around the treetops occupied by protesters. Govare says he fears they will be removed from their sites in the next few days. (Submitted by Timothée Govare)
A spokesperson for Trans Mountain said the fencing was put up to ensure safety of workers and communities.
"To accommodate construction and the safe operation of the new pipeline, forestry crews are required to clear land and remove trees located along the pipeline right-of-way and temporary workspace," said the spokesperson.
"Trans Mountain respects the right to peaceful, lawful expressions of opinions. There is a B.C. Supreme Court injunction in place that prevents the blocking or obstructing of access to Trans Mountain's work sites and work areas throughout British Columbia."
Construction delays and activist resistance
The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion aims to substantially increase the amount of crude and refined oil flowing from Alberta to B.C.'s coast, from the current 300,000 barrels to 890,000 barrels per day.
It has faced numerous setbacks that have delayed construction and significant resistance from Indigenous groups and environmental activists.
The Canadian government purchased the pipeline from oil giant Kinder Morgan in 2018 for $4.5 billion. In February 2020, it was revealed that the project's total cost had soared to $12.6 billion.
"With so many construction delays over the past year, the cost of the pipeline has almost certainly increased," the report reads.
Workers at the Trans Mountain expansion site in Brunette River Conservation Area in Burnaby use heavy machinery to clear trees on Sept. 09 2021. (Submitted by Timothée Govare)
According to the report, the cost may exceed $20 billion with the delays. It called for the next federal government to provide a transparent cost analysis of the project.
"It's so important that we take action as citizens because our politicians are saying that they're doing actions about the climate crisis. Yet they are not," said Govare.
"This is criminal negligence because we know that climate change is killing people."
DIAS: Conservatives won't advance union rights in this country
Author of the article: Jerry Dias
Jerry Dias is national president of Unifor. Publishing date: Sep 09, 2021 •
Conservative Party leader Erin O'Toole speaks during a caucus meeting in Ottawa, June 23, 2021.
PHOTO BY BLAIR GABLE /REUTERS
Canada’s federal parties are trying, very hard, to win the support of union members this election. It makes sense.
There are around 5 million card-carrying union members in Canada, making up roughly 30 percent of the working population. Union members are well versed in democracy, practiced through union and workplace elections.
Union stewards are political leaders, in their own right. They campaign for their jobs and earn the privilege to represent the interests of co-workers, not unlike those running for a seat in Parliament. You can typically count on union members – and their families – to show up on election day to vote.
What makes this year’s election different is how desperately the traditionally anti-union Conservatives, led by Erin O’Toole, are trying to win these votes.
Most of those in Conservative ranks cut their political teeth by attacking unions. The party itself spent decades trying to dismantle unions rights and punish labour organizations from engaging in politics – leaving that terrain, exclusively, to corporate lobby groups.
Many in the Conservative e-suite, Erin O’Toole especially, are old hands of the Stephen Harper era.
The Harper Conservatives represented the darkest period for unions in recent memory. They presided over the most anti-union, anti-worker Parliament seen in generations
The Harper government went so far as to legislate fines against unions fighting for pay equity, made it harder for laid-off workers to access unemployment benefits, restricted union members’ right to strike, cut back on pension payments for retired workers and tried to discourage unionization. The list goes on.
This blatant attack on workers might explain why the Conservative Party finds itself lost in the political wilderness.
Despite all this baggage, the O’Toole Conservatives are now desperate to link arms and sing ‘Solidarity Forever’ (if you are a political staffer taking notes at Conservative Party headquarters, this is a union song usually sung on picket lines).
After spending years building a political brand attacking unions and union members, all of a sudden, O’Toole and the Conservatives love us, and desperately want our vote.
It wasn’t that long ago O’Toole promised a crowd of supporters that, if elected party boss, he’d be Jerry Dias’ “worst nightmare”. At first, I took it as a compliment. Now I find it an awkward way to play political footsie.
So please excuse me for not believing that this modern crop of corporate Conservatives will deliver on their worker friendly promises. They simply do not have what it takes to advance union rights in this country.
Take a read of their platform to see why: They are promising better unemployment benefits, but only when our economy is in crisis. They are pretending that expanding publicly funded tax credits is the same as giving workers a pay increase.
They are proposing to have workers sit on federal boards of directors, but conveniently fail to explain how those workers are selected. They want to sit down and talk with unions about better labour laws, but only for bad employers – as if unions are a punishment, not a path to worker empowerment.
Is it any wonder they continue to support laws that allow employers to use scabs?
What makes me laugh the hardest is that O’Toole is pitching Canadian workers on his desire to negotiate fairer trade deals.
Either O’Toole has a bad case of amnesia, or he was asleep while serving as Harper’s trade secretary, but he’s partly responsible for pulling Canada into some of the worst, most anti-worker, trade and investment pacts ever crafted. That includes binding us to terrible deals with China and Korea.
The good thing is that I know union members, and they pay very close attention to detail. They’re not prone to getting duped by false promises. Not by a political party with the sketchiest of track records.
They know a Conservative con-job when they see one.
Egypt: New ruling on hymen repair stirs up controversy A new religious decree in Egypt allows hymen repair for more women than before. While it has been welcomed by rights activists and women's organizations, some critics fear that it might lure women into premarital sex.
A new religious law in Egypt allows hymen repair in some cases
During a recent live Facebook broadcast in Arabic, Dr Ahmed Mamdouh, director of the Sharia Research Department of Egypt's highest religious authority, the Dar al-Ifta, said that "in some cases, patching is required and legitimate for a girl who has been raped or deceived and wants to repent and turn a new page."
This new fatwa — the name given in Arabic to legal decrees or opinions handed down by leading Islamic religious figures — was issued on August 30. It expands his ruling from a 2015 study in which he opposed hymen repair in the case of "promiscuous" women, a stance based on a 2007 fatwa issued by Sheikh Ali Gomaa.
While Mamdouh didn't give any examples of further explicit limitations or exceptions, he did point out that "there are some cases in which it is forbidden by Sharia to carry out the procedure of hymen repair."
Mamdouh's ruling came in response to the question by an obstetrician on whether hymen reconstruction surgery is permissible in Islam.
Virginity is still linked with family honor in Islam, and brides are expected to bleed during their wedding night
Between criticism and hate speech
Only moments after his words, first comments below the Facebook broadcast were published. The majority of the commentators were critical and argued that hymen repair, also called hymen reconstruction surgery or hymenoplasty, might make sex out of wedlock more attractive for women since they would be able resort to a "quick fix" before marriage.
"There have been people who upheld this fatwa and others who saw it as inconsistent with the conditional credibility of completing marriage," Habiba Abdelaal, fellow of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy and an expert on sexual and gender-based violence in Egypt, told DW.
According to executive Egyptian law, neither performing such an operation nor receiving one is considered illegal. Prices in private and public clinics start from €1,000 (around $1,200). However, having an intact hymen is still closely linked to purity and morality in the perception of many in Egypt.
"In Egypt, family honor is still linked to female virginity. Mothers continue to devote a great deal of mental energy to instilling in their daughters the fear of a ruptured hymen, warning them away from anything that might compromise that vital membrane, such as masturbation or the ubiquitous water hose found in bathrooms across the Arab world," she added.
Professor Amna Nosseir of Cairo's prestigious Al-Azhar University, which is affiliated with Dar al-Ifta, welcomes the fact that Mamdouh's ruling allows the surgery for women in certain difficult situations.
She told the online magazine Al-Monitor that "exposing or scandalizing girls or women who have been raped or were lured into engaging in premarital sex is harmful as it leaves them with no hope."
"When they are shunned by their families or society, they are left out in the cold and are not given an opportunity to seek decent lives. The [hymen reconstruction] surgery may give them a second chance and they may move on to become wives and mothers," she said.
Women's rights support or simply a workaround?
A second reason for the urgency of the latest ruling on hymen repair is the increase of unregistered marriages, called "urfi." Divorcees from these marriages lack any right to alimony and regularly resort to hymen surgery so they can remarry without bringing shame on their family.
Women's rights activists in Egypt appreciate the new ruling despite the controversy on social media
Religious scholars in Egypt, meanwhile, disagree over whether a woman is morally obliged to tell the future husband about such a surgery.
According to the report on Al-Monitor, a call was made to the Dar-al-Ifta hotline that prompted the answer that girls do not need to inform their future husband, as it may past "a pall on the marriage."
However, other religious scholars disagree and argue that honesty and truthfulness are the basis for a successful marriage. A myriad of fatwas and satellite sheikhs
In Egypt, executive law is divided from religious law, and fatwas are officially issued by the Dar al-Ifta authority.
However, in the past, many so-called satellite sheikhs have published uncontrolled fatwas, often on sexuality and relationships. Some of them have addressed rather unconventional topics, such as men breastfeeding from women, or part-time marriages.
A rise in inofficial marriages and divorces leaves more and more women without any legal right to receive alimony
Despite the fact that such an unofficial ruling has been mockingly dubbed as a "fatty," which is short for fatwa, they still regularly stir up controversies.
In turn, Al-Azhar has been leading a campaign against the spread of uncontrolled fatwas in Egypt and has opened the Al-Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwas to serve as a platform for moderate them.
The affiliated superior body, Dar al-Ifta, publishes questions and fatwa answers online on their website and on Twitter, in English as well, to provide transparency on new rulings, such as the new hymen repair fatwa. Change only for some
Although the new ruling can be considered a success for women, it also highlights the limited gains of advocacy work for women's rights in Egypt in the past decade.
"I think this is not enough, as Egypt has other religious groups that also need protection. There should be clear and detailed laws and policies to protect Egyptian women, regardless of their religious affiliation, with sustainable and inclusive strategies," Habiba Abdelaal told DW.
Her wish is that the Egyptian community as a whole works on changing perceptions of women's rights and provides services to assist women: "I believe that this fatwa is a good start for creating more options for women and opening a channel for women to have the medical access and support they need for those surgeries and break the stigma and shame around them," she said.
With high vaccine rate, Denmark is first in EU to lift all COVID-19 restrictions
A vaccine passport app is seen on a mobile phone in Copenhagen, Denmark, on May 28.
File Photo by Signe Goldmann/EPA-EFE
Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Denmark on Friday lifted all of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions, due mainly to the fact that the country has a high vaccination rate.
Denmark introduced vaccine passports in March and officials said almost three-quarters of residents are fully vaccinated. Ninety-six percent of those over 65 are inoculated. In all, nearly 6 million Danes have received the shot.
On Saturday, Copenhagen will host its first concert attended by 50,000 since the pandemic started.
Health officials said low death rates mass vaccinations are the primary reasons the restrictions are going away.
"The vaccines and the great efforts of all of Denmark's citizens over such a long period are the foundation for why we are going strong," health minister Magnus Heunicke said this week, according to Politico.
Gert Tingaard, a politics professor at the University of Aarhus, said Denmark's sense of "social trust" helped drive down illness rates.
"It is striking that we in Denmark do not see a host of conspiracy theories and widespread panic spreading in the handling of the corona crisis," Tingaard wrote in an op-ed in Science Nordic.
"If you have low levels of trust regarding other people or the authorities, then more draconian laws are potentially required to contain the coronavirus."
Denmark is the first European Union nation to drop all restrictions. Sweden is poised to follow suit by the end of September.
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M BANK ROBBERY Wells Fargo fined $250M for 'unacceptable' response to 2018 settlement Regulators say there were significant deficiencies in the way the bank responded to a 2018 settlement that required it to pay back customers who were charged excessive and improper fees.
Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Wells Fargo Bank has been fined $250 million by U.S. regulators for not holding up its end of an agreement three years ago to pay back customers for excessive and inappropriate fees.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Thursday there were significant deficiencies in the way the bank responded to the 2018 settlement. Its penalty requires Wells Fargo to take corrective actions. "Wells Fargo has not met the requirements of the OCC's 2018 action against the bank. This is unacceptable," OCC Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said in a statement.
"In addition to the $250 million civil money penalty that we are assessing against Wells Fargo, today's action puts limits on the bank's future activities until existing problems in mortgage servicing are adequately addressed."
The OCC penalty will also restrict Wells Fargo's future activities until the issues are settled.
Wells Fargo agreed to the settlement after regulators found that the bank had charged excessive or improper fees for vehicle insurance and mortgage loans.
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said the bank is committed to addressing the problems
"Building an appropriate risk and control infrastructure has been and remains Wells Fargo's top priority," he said in a statement.
He said the bank is "managing multiple issues," including a 2016 consent order from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
"The work required is clear, and I remain confident in our ability to complete it," Scharf added. "The expiration of the CFPB's 2016 consent order is representative of progress we are making."
In 2017, Wells Fargo agreed to pay$142 million to settle a class-action suit that said bank employees opened about 2 million unauthorized checking and credit card accounts over a four-year period.
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Potential sites on Puerto Rico, as identified by the Nuclear Alternative Project (Image: NAP)
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Inside the Janikowo plant (Image: Ciech)
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