Belgian-Dutch partnership for nuclear new build

17 March 2023

Belgian engineering firm Tractebel has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Netherlands' NRG-Pallas to collaborate in providing engineering services for the construction of large nuclear power plants in the Netherlands.

From left to right: Joost van den Broek, Director Consultancy & Services and Bertholt Leeftink, CEO, NRG-Pallas, Anick van Calste, Philippe Van Toeye, CEO, and Denis Dumont, Chief Global Nuclear Officer, Tractebel (Image: Tractebel)

The MoU was signed at the Embassy of Belgium in The Hague in the presence of the Belgian Ambassador Anick van Calster on the sidelines of the Belgium-Netherlands Nuclear Summit.

Nuclear power currently has a small role in the Dutch electricity supply, with the 485 MWe (net) Borssele pressurised water reactor providing about 3% of total generation. The plant has been in operation since 1973 and is scheduled to close in 2033.

In December 2021, the Netherlands' new coalition government placed nuclear power at the heart of its climate and energy policy. Based on preliminary plans, two new reactors will be completed around 2035 and each will have a capacity of 1000-1650 MWe. The two reactors would provide 9-13% of the Netherlands' electricity production in 2035. The cabinet announced in December 2022 that it currently sees Borssele as the most suitable location for the construction of the new reactors.

"Both firms have the capabilities and skills to support the conception, specification, design, licensing, operation, life-time extension and decommissioning of nuclear installations," Tractebel and NRG-Pallas said in a joint statement. "Jointly, Tractebel and NRG-Pallas form the ideal team to provide the requisite engineering services that will contribute to the nuclear new build programme in the Netherlands."

Tractebel - part of France's Engie Group - has more than 60 years of experience in nuclear engineering and acts as Owner's Engineer for the planned Pallas research reactor in the Netherlands. It has also contributed to the construction of nuclear power plants worldwide, including in Sweden, the UK, South Africa and Brazil.

The Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) is a leader in research into new nuclear technologies. NRG has more than 50 years of experience testing nuclear fuels, carrying out nuclear-technological research in various fields, including trial irradiations on nuclear materials and nuclear fuels, post-irradiation experiments, inspection methods, and high-quality simulations of behaviour displayed by nuclear components and reactors.

The Foundation Preparation Pallas-reactor was founded in 2013 and is responsible for obtaining a licensable design, obtaining private investors and constructing and operating the Pallas multifunctional research reactor. This will replace NRG's aging High Flux Reactor in Petten, the Netherlands.

NRG and Foundation Preparation Pallas-reactor formed a "personal union" in 2020, when they agreed to share the same executive board and supervisory board. The move was aimed at helping with the development of medical isotopes at the Petten site and the realisation of the new Pallas reactor.

"I am convinced that cooperation is a key element in realising such an ambitious project, said NRG-Pallas CEO Bertholt Leeftink. "Tractebel has an excellent track record in the field of nuclear engineering. Together, with our competences in nuclear consultancy and our experience as a project management organisation, Tractebel and NRG-Pallas form a complete set of capabilities. From the initial feasibility study towards contract management and operational readiness Tractebel and NRG-Pallas possess a full capacity to facilitate the ambitious plan of the Dutch government".

"Joining forces with major Dutch nuclear players will give our company the opportunity to contribute further to nuclear new-build initiatives in the country," said Denis Dumont, Chief Officer Global Nuclear, Tractebel. "We are convinced that summoning our multidisciplinary expertise with NRG-Pallas' skills and extensive local market knowledge will be key to successfully delivering new nuclear projects in the Netherlands".

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 Ansaldo Nucleare contracted for Cernavoda 1 refurb work

17 March 2023

Italy's Ansaldo Nucleare has signed a contract with Canada's SNC-Lavalin for the supply of engineering services for plant life extension of unit 1 at Romania's Cernavoda nuclear power plant. The project is one of the preparatory activities for modernisation awarded by Romania's nuclear energy company Nuclearelectrica to SNC-Lavalin.

The Cernavoda plant (Image: Ansaldo Nucleare)

As the original designer, Ansaldo Nucleare will be responsible for Balance of Plant work: the engineering and collection of information and data at this stage in the project will permit correct definition of the work required to extend the unit's operation.

The company said that, following the recent Condition Assessment and Design Modification contracts, this new contract represents "another step in Ansaldo Nucleare's historic partnership with Romania: the Genoese company has contributed to the completion and entry into service of units 1 and 2 at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant over the past 30 years and is now laying the foundations for future development of Romania's nuclear programme". It added: "Past experience and close collaboration with all the players involved opens up the path to future projects such as construction of units 3 and 4 at the power plant."

"We are particularly proud to be a part of this project, demonstrating the faith our partners have in us and our abilities," said Ansaldo Nucleare CEO Riccardo Casale. "As in the past, Ansaldo Nucleare will act as head of the Italian industry in Romania, bringing to the project not only its own contribution but the high-tech services and products of Italy's entire nuclear industry."

Earlier this month, SNC-Lavalin subsidiary Candu Energy signed a two-year USD65 million agreement with Nuclearelectrica to conduct pre-project work for the lifetime extension of Cernavoda unit 1. The work is expected to include long lead and front-end engineering services for the plant, which has two CANDU units which currently supply 20% of Romania's electricity. As well as Ansaldo Nucleare, other supporting organisations include Sargent and Lundy, CITON, and GE Steam Power, who are expected to supply engineering services associated with the refurbishment of unit 1.

The refurbishment of the first 650 MWe pressurised heavy-water reactor, which was commissioned in 1996, is intended to extend its operating life for a further 30 years, to 2060. Unit 2 entered commercial operation in 2007.

The unit 1 refurbishment project began in 2017 and is currently in the second of three phases. This phase, due to last from February 2022 to 2026, covers providing the financial resources, negotiating and granting engineering, procurement and construction contracts, assessing, preparing and scheduling the activities to be carried and obtaining all the authorisations and approvals necessary to start the project. The third phase, scheduled for 2027 to 2029, starts with the shutdown of unit 1 and includes all the work required on it and its recommissioning.

"The refurbishment of unit 1 will continue to bring multiple benefits to Romania: clean, affordable, and safe energy, preserving high quality jobs, as well as creating new ones, investments in the community, an important contribution to local and national budget, as well as projects for the local supply chain, as part of our vision to create a sustainable future for the next generations," said Nuclearelectrica CEO Cosmin Ghita.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

More progress towards US uranium production restarts

16 March 2023

Uranium production will resume at the Alta Mesa processing plant in early 2024, enCore Energy has announced, making it the company's second producing location following resumption of uranium production at the South Texas Rosita plant which is scheduled for later this year. Meanwhile, supply chain issues have meant a slight delay to the restart of commercial production at Peninsula Energy's Lance project.

Alta Mesa is in located in the South Texas region (Image: enCore)

enCore announced its formal production decision for the resumption of uranium processing at Alta Mesa - which has been on standby since 2013 - on 15 March. The processing plant can reach commercial production levels with limited required capital, from funds on hand, within an estimated 10 months, the company said.

The fully licensed and constructed in-situ leach (ISL) uranium project and central processing facility has a total operating capacity of 1.5 million pounds U3O8 (577 tU) per year. Alta Mesa historically produced nearly 5 million lbs of U3O8 between 2005 and 2013, when full production was curtailed as a result of low uranium prices at the time.

Work already under way at the Texas plant includes the construction of equipment staging areas and drill pads in the fully permitted production authorisation area where initial production will take place. Development drilling, production and injection well installation will start this month, the company said. Its technical staff are identifying equipment maintenance and limited repair needs at the processing plant's ion exchange system, uranium precipitation, drying and packaging circuits in order to restart production.

enCore began initial assessment work on the restart in November 2022 ahead of the closing of its acquisition of Alta Mesa earlier this year, CEO Paul Goranson said. "It is an exciting time at enCore. Our 2023 startup of production at Rosita and now, the decision to proceed at Alta Mesa, will bring a reliable domestic low carbon energy source to South Texas and the United States when it is most needed," he added.

The Alta Mesa project consists of two uranium properties, Alta Mesa and Mesteña Grande, with total measured and indicated resources of 3.41 million pounds U3O8 and inferred resources of 16.79 million pounds.

The company's three fully licensed ISL facilities - Alta Mesa, Rosita and Kingsville Dome, all of which are in Texas - have a combined potential processing capacity of 3.6 million pounds of uranium per year.

Lance set for mid-year restart

Meanwhile, Peninsula Energy said commercial production at its Lance ISL project in Wyoming is now not expected until the middle of this year due to "modest delays" in the delivery of "certain long lead-time items". Commercial production had been pencilled in to begin during the present quarter.

Lance last produced uranium in July 2019. The company made a financial investment decision in November to return to operations using a low-pH recovery process. It will be the first low-pH ISL uranium operation in the USA.

Managing Director and CEO Wayne Heili said the project has been delivering "remarkable results" despite the supply chain issues. "The current inflationary economic environment and very real supply-chain constraints, in combination with an unusually difficult Wyoming winter, have presented challenges but the team has demonstrated their professional capability and resolve," he said. "Despite encountering some delivery delays that are outside of our control, the team continues to complete the transition construction work on a short timeline and within the projected capital framework."
 

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

BWRX-300 completes Phases 1 & 2 of Canadian pre-licensing review

15 March 2023

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has completed a combined Phases 1 and 2 vendor design review (VDR) of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy's BWRX-300 small modular reactor. The regulator said that no fundamental barriers to licensing were identified during the review.

A rendering of a plant based on the BWRX-300 (Image: GEH)

The VDR is an optional service provided by the CNSC to provide an assessment of a nuclear power plant design based on a vendor's reactor technology. It is not a required part of the licensing process for a new nuclear power plant but aims to verify the acceptability of a design with respect to Canadian nuclear regulatory requirements and expectations, providing early feedback during the design process.

The CNSC entered into an agreement with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) on 11 December 2019, to conduct a combined Phases 1 and 2 pre-licensing VDR of the BWRX-300 reactor. The purpose of the combined Phases 1 and 2 VDR was to determine whether GEH understands CNSC regulatory requirements and the extent to which the reactor design meets those requirements. Phase 3 of the VDR allows the vendor to follow-up on certain aspects of Phase 2 findings by seeking more information from the CNSC about a Phase 2 topic and/or asking the CNSC to review activities taken by the vendor towards the reactor's design readiness, following the completion of Phase 2.

In 2020, GEH made its first submittal to the CNSC for its review of the BWRX-300 design. Since then, the company has made submittals addressing 19 VDR focus areas that included general plant description, control system and facilities, research and development, and design process.

During this three-year review, the CNSC examined more than 200 documents, attended technical presentations, participated in a week-long evaluation, and sent questions across the focus areas.

"CNSC staff concluded from this information that GEH understands and has correctly interpreted the intent of regulatory requirements for the design of nuclear power plants in Canada," CNSC said. "CNSC staff did not identify any fundamental barriers to licensing. However, the review did reveal some technical areas that need further development in order for GEH to better demonstrate adherence to CNSC requirements."

These include that additional information is needed on the sharing of components across defence lines; further detail is required on severe accident analysis and the corresponding engineered features credited for mitigation; more in-depth information supporting radiation protection, human factors, decommissioning, and fire protection is needed in order for the CNSC to determine how these programmes will meet CNSC requirements; and it must be demonstrated that the BWRX-300 design meets the requirement for two separate, independent and diverse means of reactor shutdown, or else an alternative approach, with justification, is needed. The CNSC also said further information is needed on restricting radionuclide release during fuel handling activities; further information is needed on the protective measures for workers in the event of an out-of-core criticality accident; and a BWRX-300 safety analysis needs to be conducted in accordance with procedures, detailing the technical steps.

"The BWRX-300 is the first SMR technology to have completed two phases of the CNSC’s VDR process,” noted Sean Sexstone, Executive Vice President, Advanced Nuclear, GEH. "The successful completion of these phases and the feedback that we have received on our SMR design are important steps in the deployment of this technology."

The BWRX-300 is a 300 MWe water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety systems. It leverages the design and licensing basis of GEH's ESBWR boiling water reactor, which has been certified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and is the tenth evolution of GE's first boiling water reactor design.

The CNSC and NRC are collaborating on reviews of SMRs such as the BWRX-300 and last month the CNSC and Poland's National Atomic Energy Agency agreed to cooperate in the review of SMR technologies including the BWRX-300.

Last month, Estonia's Fermi Energia selected the BWRX-300 for potential deployment in the Baltic country by the early 2030s. It will now sign a project development and preliminary works contract with GEH.

In January, it was announced that GEH, Ontario Power Generation (OPG), SNC-Lavalin and Aecon have signed a contract for the deployment of a BWRX-300 SMR at OPG's Darlington site. In August last year, Tennessee Valley Authority began planning and preliminary licensing for potential deployment of a BWRX-300 at the Clinch River Site in Tennessee. Canada's SaskPower announced in June 2022 that it selected the BWRX-300 for potential deployment in Saskatchewan in the mid-2030s.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Michigan expands civil rights protections to LGBTQ community
By Darryl Coote


Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer poses with legislation she signed to expand protections to the state's LGBTQ community. 

Photo courtesy of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer/Facebook

March 17 (UPI) -- Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed legislation to amend the state's discrimination law to expand civil rights protections to members of the LGBTQ community.

Whitmer signed the legislation Thursday that adds the LGBTQ community as a protected class to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976.

"It is a new day in Michigan," she said during a press conference Thursday before signing bipartisan Senate Bill 4, which passed the Senate 23-18 and then the House 64-45 earlier this month to expand the landmark legislation.

The bill specifically codifies protections from housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identify or expression.

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"In other words, it ensures that no one can be fired from their job or evicted from their home because of who they are or who they love," the Democratic governor said. "This day has been a long time coming. You can say, to quote one of our own, Detroit native Lizzo, 'It is about damn time!'"

Gretchen, whose daughter, Sherry, is gay and who was present at the press conference, added that the issue is personal to her, and that her family and those she works with are freer today than yesterday because of the signing of the law.

"Getting this done is the right thing to do. But it is also good economics because bigotry is bad for business," she said. "States with restrictive laws are losing talent and businesses, and we want to tell all of them, come to Michigan. You'll be respected and protected under the law."

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Former state Rep. Mel Larsen, who helped author the bill that bears his name, said during the press conference that the landmark legislation's intent was "that every citizen of Michigan has a right to be protected."

"For all of us sitting in this room, the biggest, best thing I can say to you is we're on this Earth to move the pendulum a little bit in our lifetime, and if we do, by God, we've done something," he said.

Human Rights Watch, the United States' largest LGBTQ civil rights organization, celebrated the bill's signing, stating that it was the product of more than 40 years of advocacy in the state, and is a "repudiation" against Republican lawmakers nationwide seeking to pass bills that restrict the rights of the minority community.

"This is an incredible and historic day for LGBTQ+ people, for the people of Michigan and for all Americans across our nation," Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. "The passage of the ELCRA amendment is a beacon of hope for those fighting for their rights. In states like Tennessee or Florida or Oklahoma, this is a reminder that when we come together as one we can and we will build a better future for everyone, including for LGBTQ+ people."

Michigan passed and enacted the amendment as Republican lawmakers attempt to pass bills advocates and human rights activists describe as anti-LGBTQ legislation.

The American Civil Liberties Union says it is tracking 421 such bills across the country.

According to Human Rights Watch, with Michigan amending its Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act on Thursday, 28 states lack laws that explicitly protect LGBTQ people from discrimination.

British teachers pause strike as 'intensive' pay talks with government get underway

By Paul Godfrey

British teaching unions on Friday announced they would pause a national strike as they enter "intensive" talks with the government. 

Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA-EFE

March 17 (UPI) -- British teachers suspended a wave of strikes in order to enter into "intensive" talks with the government Friday aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over pay, the four main unions and the education department said.

"In order for talks to begin and, we hope, reach a successful conclusion, the NEU has confirmed it will create a period of calm for two weeks during which time they have said no further strike dates will be announced," a joint statement from the two sides said.

The negotiations, focusing on pay, conditions and reducing teachers' workloads, are anticipated to run through the weekend.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has been in a standoff with the National Education Union and three other teachers' unions fuelling a series of strikes involving up to 200,000 teachers -- most recently on Thursday -- that forced up to 85% of schools to close.

However, the higher education sector complained of being excluded from the talks.

"As the Education Secretary enters into negotiations, college unions, staff and college leaders all stand on the sidelines looking in, with no mechanism to negotiate," said Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes.

"Pay in colleges is just as important, particularly now that colleges are part of the public sector. With college lecturers paid around $9,000 to $10,000 less than their counterparts in schools, a better pay award for schools will widen what is already an unacceptable gap. Poor pay is now holding back colleges from offering training and skills because they cannot recruit and retain people to teach," Hughes said.

"The irony is that this is most acute in the areas of the labor market which have the biggest skills shortages, and in which employers cannot recruit people. Better pay for college lecturers would unleash capacity to meet the wider labor market needs."

He said that if the government is serious about prioritizing jobs and opportunities, then the education secretary needed to negotiate with colleges as a matter of urgency.

Friday's talks come one day after the government offered a 5% pay rise for the financial year beginning in April to National Health Service nurses, midwives, ambulance paramedics and ancillary staff, plus a one-off additional cash payment for the current year

Health unions have recommended their members should accept the deal.

The government, which says the money will not come out of clinical budgets, has yet to explain how it will fund the $5.85 billion in total that the two-phase raise will cost.

Progress on a bitter dispute with doctors, who are seeking a 25% pay rise, also appeared imminent Friday with Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab saying that a similar offer to the nurses' was on the table and that he hoped the British Medical Association would resume talks with Health Secretary Steve Barclay.

"We were ready to talk months ago. Our formal dispute started over 150 days ago and, again, that is just what I mean in that it is disappointing it has taken Steve Barclay so long to get to the negotiating table," said BMA junior doctors' committee co-chair Vivek Trivedi.

"So far we haven't arranged a time for this afternoon but there has been some correspondence between our offices so it does look like we'll be able to set something up in the near future."

OUTLAW HEADING THE BALL
Elite soccer players have higher risk of dementia, study shows
By Cara Murez, HealthDay News

A study of more than 6,000 players found they had an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Francisco Guasco/EPA-EFE

It's well-established that American football players can suffer significant brain impacts as they age.

Now, new research shows that elite European soccer players are also more likely than the average person to develop dementia.
Men in the Swedish top soccer division between 1924 and 2019 were 1.5 times more likely to develop neurodegenerative disease than those in a control group.

The study of more than 6,000 players found they had an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

They did not, however, have any increased risk for motor neuron disease, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease). And they had even lower risk of Parkinson's disease than a control group matched by age, sex and region.

Unlike their outfield counterparts, goalkeepers did not have an increased risk of dementia. This supports the theory that heading the ball increases the risk, according to the report published Thursday in The Lancet Public Health.

"Goalkeepers rarely head the ball, unlike outfield players, but are exposed to similar environments and lifestyles during their [soccer] careers and perhaps also after retirement," said Dr. Peter Ueda, an assistant professor at Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

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"It has been hypothesized that repetitive mild head trauma sustained through heading the ball is the reason [soccer] players are at increased risk, and it could be that the difference in neurodegenerative disease risk between these two types of players supports this theory," Ueda added in a journal news release.

About 9% of the elite Swedish soccer players were diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease compared to 6% of the control group, the investigators found. Most participants were still alive when data collection ended, so the lifetime risk for both groups is likely to be higher.

About 8% of the soccer players were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias compared to 5% of the control group, the researchers reported.

RELATED Study: Head injury of any kind doubles mortality rate in adults

An earlier study from Scotland suggested that soccer players were 3.5 times more likely to develop neurodegenerative disease. This prompted moves to reduce heading in younger players for some European soccer organizations.

"While the risk increase in our study is slightly smaller than in the previous study from Scotland, it confirms that elite footballers have a greater risk of neurodegenerative disease later in life," Ueda noted. "As there are growing calls from within the sport for greater measures to protect brain health, our study adds to the limited evidence-base and can be used to guide decisions on how to manage these risks."

Overall death rates during the study period were slightly lower among the elite soccer players compared to the control group, about 40% versus 42%.

The lower death rate among soccer players indicates that their overall health was better than that of the general population, likely because they are physically fit from playing, said Dr. Björn Pasternak, a senior researcher at Karolinska Institute.

"Physical activity is associated with a lower risk of dementia, so it could be hypothesized that the potential risks from head impacts are being somewhat offset by having good physical fitness," Pasternak said. "Good physical fitness may also be the reason behind the lower risk of Parkinson's disease."

The study authors said they were not certain whether the findings could be generalized to players today.

Most players in the study who were old enough to have developed one of these conditions played elite soccer during the mid-20th century, not recently.

Soccer has undergone changes since then that may affect the risk of neurodegenerative disease, such as switching from leather to synthetic balls. Leather balls soaked up water, making them heavier.

Style of play, training and equipment have also changed.

On the other hand, training and playing more intensely at younger ages, as is more common now, may increase risk. It's not certain whether the findings can be generalized to female elite players, amateur players or youth players.

More information

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons has more on sports-related head injury.

Copyright © 2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

U.S. State Department announces more than $170 million in aid for Venezuela crisis

By Patrick Hilsman

The U.S. State Department has announced more than $170 million in aid to confront the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says safeguards are in place to prevent the aid from being diverted by the regime of of Nicholas Maduro (pictured giving a speech in Caracas in December 2020). File Photo by Rayner Pena/EPA-EFE

March 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department announced an additional $140 million in humanitarian assistance and $31 million in development funds for Venezuelans in their home country and in the diaspora.

"The assistance makes good on the Los Angeles Declaration commitment to support countries hosting large populations of displaced migrants and refugees. Our assistance supports most vulnerable Venezuelans with their critical needs," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press release Friday.

The Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection is a 2022 agreement to help promote safe and human immigration conditions.

Of the funding, $56 million will come from the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and $115 million will come from U.S. Agency for International Development.

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"The United States is the largest single donor for the response to the Venezuela regional crisis," Blinken said, adding that "this brings total U.S. assistance to more than $2.8 billion since 2017, including more than $2.5 billion in humanitarian assistance and $387 million in development assistance."

Blinken emphasized that safeguards are in place to prevent aid being hijacked by the far-left Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro.

"The United States works trusted organizations to deliver assistance to ensure it is not diverted to the Maduro regime," he said.

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Human Rights Watch accuses the Maduro regime of extrajudicial killings, torture, political repression, and the use of excessive force against protestors.

In 2022, a U.N. fact-finding mission found that the Maduro regime was carrying out "crimes against humanity," in its repression of political dissent.

The U.S. government eased sanctions against the Venezuelan government in 2022 in an effort to control oil prices after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Election conspiracy movement grinds on as 2024 approaches

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY

1 of 15
Clay Parikn talks about variables in security during an Election Conspiracy Forum Saturday, March 11, 2023, in Franklin, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)


FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) — One by one, the presenters inside the crowded hotel ballroom shared their computer screens and promised to show how easy it is to hack into voting systems across the U.S.

Drawing gasps from the crowd, they highlighted theoretical vulnerabilities and problems from past elections. But instead of tailoring their efforts to improve election security, they argued that all voting machines should be eliminated — a message that was wrapped in conspiracies about elections being rigged to favor certain candidates.

“We are at war. The only thing that’s not flying right now is bullets,” said Mark Finchem, a Republican candidate for secretary of state in Arizona last year who continues to contest his loss and was the final speaker of the daylong conference.

Finchem was among a group of Republican candidates running for governor, secretary of state or state attorney who disputed the outcome of the 2020 election and who lost in a clean sweep last November in important political battleground states, including Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Yet deep distrust about U.S. elections persists among Republicans, skepticism fueled by former President Donald Trump’s false claims and by allies who have been traveling the country meeting with community groups and holding forums like the one recently just outside Nashville, attended by some 250 people.

As the nation barrels toward the next presidential election, the election conspiracy movement that mushroomed after the last one shows no signs of slowing down. Millions have been convinced that any election in which their preferred candidate loses has been somehow rigged against them, a belief that has fed efforts among conservatives to ditch voting machines and to halt or delay certification of election results.

“Voters who know the truth about our elections have faith in them,” said Liz Iacobucci, election security program manager with the voter advocacy group Common Cause. “But the people who have been led into disbelief — those people can be led into other things, like Jan. 6.”

Trump, running for the White House for the third time, has signaled that the 2020 election will remain an integral part of his 2024 presidential bid. In a recent call with reporters about a new book, Trump pointed to polls that show a sizable number of people believe the 2020 election was stolen, even though there is no such evidence.

“I’m an election denier,” Trump said. “You’ve got a lot of election deniers in this country and they’re not happy about what’s happened.”

There has been no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines in the U.S., and multiple reviews in the battleground states where Trump disputed his loss confirmed the election results were accurate. State and local election officials have spent more than two years explaining the many layers of protection that surround voting systems, and last year’s midterm election was largely uneventful.

Trump allies such as MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn remain prominent voices calling for a ban on voting machines. They want hand-marked paper ballots counted individually without the aid of machines by poll workers in the nearly 180,000 voting precincts across the country.

“We all have the same agenda, to get our elections fair and transparent and where they can’t be hacked,” said Lindell, who recently announced plans to form what he calls an “election crime bureau” to bring his myriad legal, cybersecurity and legislative efforts under one organization.

In an interview, Lindell said he has spent $40 million since the 2020 election investigating fraud claims and supporting efforts to ban voting machines. He said he is taking out loans to continue to fund the work.

During an “America First Forum” held last month in South Carolina, Flynn told those gathered at a Charleston hotel that they were fighting not only Democrats but fellow Republicans who are dismissive of their concerns about the 2020 election.

“Our Republican Party, they want to move on,” Flynn said via video conference. “And frankly, the American people are not going to move on.”

An investigation by the AP and the PBS series “Frontline” last year examined how Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, was traveling the country spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and vaccines as he builds a movement based on Christian nationalist ideas. He relies in part on groups such as The America Project and America’s Future.

The America Project was launched in 2021 by Patrick Byrne, founder of Overstock.com. Byrne said elections remain a top priority for the group, though it also will focus on border issues. Asked how much he’s planning to spend ahead of the 2024 election, Byrne told the AP, “There is no budget.”

“I have no children, no wife,” he said. “There’s no point in me saving it for anything.”

Recently filed tax forms do not detail where the group’s $7.7 million in revenue came from that year, but Byrne and Michael Flynn’s brother, Joseph Flynn, told the AP that most of it came from Byrne himself. The group reported giving $2.75 million to Cyber Ninjas for a partisan and much-criticized review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes Phoenix.

Michael Flynn is now focused on the nonprofit group he leads, America’s Future, and other projects, according to his brother. That group reported raising $2.3 million in 2021 and paying out $1.2 million in grants, including just under $1 million to Cyber Ninjas.

Others who have been central in the effort to raise doubts about the accuracy of elections also have been active this year. Among them is Douglas Frank, an Ohio math and science educator, who said on his social media account that he met with various groups in six states in January, seven states in February and planned to be in eight states in March.

At the Tennessee forum, Kathy Harms, one of the event organizers, took the stage to talk about why she is fighting to get rid of voting machines.

“I don’t do this for me. I would rather just be a grandmother at home,” said Harms, who lives in the county where the conference was held. “I have granddaughters I do this for because I want them to have what I have. I don’t want a banana republic.”

Presentations by people who work in information technology claimed election officials have little security knowledge or experience.

One of them, Mark Cook, walked attendees through the voting process, pointing out potential threats and playing a video he said was of an “Iranian whistleblower” accessing U.S. voter registration data to fraudulently request and submit military ballots.

Cook said the video had some “real components to it” and “could be legitimate.” He did not mention that an influx of duplicate military ballots would be readily apparent because election workers log each person who casts a ballot, meaning a second ballot that appears to be cast by the same person would be caught.

“There are thousands of ways to exploit these systems,” Cook said, dismissing security steps taken by election officials as a “shell game” and “smoke and mirrors to distract us.”

Election officials acknowledge that vulnerabilities exist, but say multiple defenses are in place to thwart attempted manipulation or detect malicious activity.

“Election officials and their partners understand that the goal isn’t to create a perfect election system, but one that ensures that any attack on the election system doesn’t exceed the ability to detect and recover from it.” said David Levine, a former local election official who is now a fellow with the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

Among those listening to the presentations at the Tennessee conference was Luann Adler, a retired educator and school administrator who said she has lost confidence in elections after reading articles and watching videos online about voting machines. She has been advocating in her community to ban voting machines and limit voting to a single day.

Serving as a poll worker last year, Adler said, she did not observe any problems. Still, the experience did not change her mind.

“As we have seen today, a machine can be manipulated,” Adler said. “I’m not pointing the finger at any individual or any community as being nefarious, but I don’t trust the machine.”

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Associated Press writers Michelle R. Smith in Providence, Rhode Island; Nicholas Riccardi in Denver; and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

WHEN PRAYER IS NOT ENOUGH

2nd Vatican official says pope OK’d ransom payments for nun

By NICOLE WINFIELD

People crowd St. Peter's Square at the Vatican as Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. A second high-ranking Holy See official told a Vatican court on Friday, March 17, 2023, that Pope Francis had authorized spending hundreds of thousands of euros in ransom payments to try to free a nun who was kidnapped by al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali.. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, FIle)


VATICAN CITY (AP) — A second high-ranking Holy See official told a Vatican court on Friday that Pope Francis had authorized spending hundreds of thousands of euros in ransom payments to try to free a nun who was kidnapped by al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali.

Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, the Holy See’s No. 3, told the Vatican tribunal that he had sought, and received Francis’ approval to wire the money soon after he took up his duties as the “substitute” in the secretariat of state in late 2018.

Pena Parra was answering questions for a second day Friday after being called by defense attorneys representing the 10 people on trial for a host of alleged financial crimes.

One tangent of the Vatican trial concerns 575,000 euros wired from the Vatican’s Swiss Bank account to a Slovenian-based front company owned by Cecilia Marogna, a self-styled security analyst who was hired in 2016 by Pena Parra’s predecessor, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, as an outside consultant.

Becciu told the court last year that he had sought Marogna’s advice in 2017 following the kidnapping of Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which has bankrolled its insurgency by kidnapping Westerners. During her captivity in Mali, the group periodically showed Narvaez on video asking for the Vatican’s help.

Becciu told the court that Francis had authorized spending up to 1 million euros to free the Colombian nun. Becciu said he and Marogna had travelled to London to meet with, and subsequently hire, the British security firm Inkerman to find Narvaez and secure her freedom. She was ultimately released in October 2021.

In their indictment request, prosecutors alleged a double payment: They said some 500,000 British pounds, or the then-equivalent of 575,000 euros, had been sent to Inkerman’s Barklays Bank account for the operation. Separately, they listed nine payments from the Vatican’s Swiss Bank account totaling 575,000 euros sent to Marogna’s Logsic DOO company from Dec. 20, 2018 to July 8, 2019. Citing Slovenian bank records, prosecutors allege that Marogna used the money to buy high-end luxury items and go on vacation.

Both Becciu and Marogna are accused of embezzlement, charges they both deny.

Pena Parra, who replaced Becciu as “substitute,” told the court that he was confronted with the request for payment to the Slovenian account by his deputy, Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, who had been asked by Becciu to process the wire transfer. But Pena Parra said he couldn’t proceed without first securing the pope’s approval.

“I went to the pope. I asked for an audience and the Holy Father confirmed to me the destination of this money, which was for the question of the possible freedom of the Colombian nun kidnapped in Mali,” Pena Parra said under questioning by the tribunal president, Judge Giuseppe Pignatone.

Becciu, for his part, insisted in a spontaneous declaration to the court on Friday that Francis had approved the operation and was prepared to write a statement for Becciu’s defense to that effect when they spoke by telephone on July 19, 2021, days before the trial opened.

Prosecutors recently produced an exchange of letters between Becciu and Francis in the following days in which Francis refused to provide the statement. Becciu produced a letter Friday indicating Francis himself had asked Becciu to provide a draft statement, and the cardinal suggested that his subsequent refusal to sign off on it appeared to have been coached.

Pope sought to lose ‘as little as possible’ in London deal

March 16, 2023

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis gave clear indications to get out of a disastrous London real estate deal by saying the Vatican must “start over and lose as little money as possible,” an exit strategy that eventually involved paying off a broker 15 million euros, the Holy See’s No. 3 official told a court Thursday.

Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, the “substitute” in the secretariat of state, was the highest-ranking witness to be questioned by defense attorneys for 10 people on trial for alleged financial crimes involving the London property and related dealings. His testimony was eagerly sought by the defense, given that he oversaw the final phase of the London deal in 2018-2019 as well as the negotiations with the broker, Gianluigi Torzi.

Prosecutors have accused Torzi of extorting the Holy See for the 15 million euros in exchange for ownership of the building, charges he denies. The nine other defendants have similarly denied wrongdoing.

The crux of the London case rests on the passage of ownership of the London property to Torzi’s Gutt SA fund at the end of 2018 after the Vatican decided to prematurely exit another fund that had invested in it.

Pena Parra accused Torzi of deceiving the Vatican but he also identified his onetime deputy, Archbishop Alberto Perlasca, of having entered into the deal with Torzi without any approval or authority to sign contracts.

By the time Pena Parra first learned of the deal Nov. 22, 2018, Perlasca had already signed the contracts giving Torzi effective control of the property in the form of the 1,000 voting shares in Gutt, while the Vatican held 30,000 non-voting shares. The lawyer Perlasca engaged assured the Vatican the deal was in its interests, but the lawyer turned out to have ties to Torzi, Pena Parra said.

At a Dec. 22, 2018 meeting with the pope and two people external to the Vatican who had looked at the contracts, Pena Parra realized the Vatican had been duped and had acquired “empty boxes.”

Francis, he said, gave clear, general instructions how he wanted the disaster resolved: “Start over and lose as little money as possible,” Pena Parra quoted Francis as saying. “I realized that it was all a deception.”

Over the ensuing six months, Pena Parra and a team negotiated an exit strategy with Torzi after ruling out “riskier” legal action against him. After initially hoping to pay a maximum of 3 million euros, the Vatican received a proposal from Torzi’s lawyers for 25 million euros, reduced to 15 million, Pena Parra told the court.

“For me it was profoundly painful that we had to pay 15 million euros for this, but it was the only possibility,” he said. “We were forced into it. Torzi had all the power and we couldn’t do anything about it.”

“It really was a Via Crucis,” he said, referring to Christ’s final moments before his crucifixion.

Perlasca was initially a prime suspect in the investigation, but flipped in August 2020, started cooperating with prosecutors and became their star witness. He was never charged and is considered an injured party in the case.

The investigation was triggered after Pena Parra sought a 150 million euro loan from the Vatican bank to extinguish the mortgage on the property, considering the 1 million euro monthly mortgage payment too onerous. Initially the bank, known as IOR, agreed but by July 2019 refused and reported the whole deal as suspicious to Vatican prosecutors.

Pena Parra was still bitter with the bank Thursday, claiming the Holy See lost some six months in needless mortgage payments, since he quickly secured the loan from another Vatican office after the IOR delivered its negative verdict.