Authoritarian Ireland and the Secular Apocalypse

Book Review of Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

by Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin / May 3rd, 2024

In his book, How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe, Thomas Cahill shows how the Irish monks maintained European culture during the dark ages when Rome was sacked by Visigoths and its empire collapsed. In the subsequent chaos and illiteracy, symbolism took over from analysis. Cahill writes:

The intellectual disciplines of distinction, definition, and dialectic that had once been the glory of men like Augustine were unobtainable by readers of the Dark Ages, whose apprehension of the world was simple and immediate, framed by myth and magic. A man no longer subordinated one thought to another with mathematical precision; instead, he apprehended similarities and balances, types and paradigms, parallels and symbols. It was a world not of thoughts, but images. Even the “Romans” at Whitby presented their point of view in the new way. They did not argue, for genuine intellectual disputation was beyond them. They held up pictures for the mind – one set of bones versus another. (p. 204)

One thousand years later as the symbolism of the Dark ages and medievalism waned, a new movement arose to replace it: Romanticism. In the Romanticist outlook, passion and intuition determined our understanding of the world combined with themes of isolation and loneliness, and a delight in horror and threat. Beauty became about strong emotional responses and not about form. The Romanticists rejected Enlightenment Era artists who, like the Irish monks, were interested in ideas and thoughts, and who used them to depict and critique social relations.

Dockers (1934) by Maurice MacGonigal

Unfortunately, Romanticism is a movement that is not only dominant in the production of culture but is also favoured by the institutions of commendation. One such institution is the Booker Prize for literature, and a good example is the 2023 winner, Prophet Song, a dystopian novel by the Irish author Paul Lynch:

The novel depicts the struggles of the Stack family, including Eilish Stack, a mother of four who is trying to save her family as the Republic of Ireland slips into totalitarianism. The narrative is told unconventionally, with no paragraph breaks.

As we always love to reference James Joyce here in Ireland, we could argue that this paragraphless state of Prophet Song is influenced by the Molly Bloom soliloquy at the end of Ulysses, which was radical for its time in having no punctuation. (Indeed, Eilish Stack’s daughter is called Molly).

Furthermore the style of Prophet Song, in general, is similar to Molly Bloom’s stream of consciousness in that we get, merged together, Eilish’s thoughts, worries and utterances.

Throughout the novel we also get, in a staccato rhythm, brief descriptions of the coercive actions of the state as it faces the growing opposition of a resistance movement that strengthens and spreads countrywide.

Communicating With Prisoners (1924) by Jack Butler Yeats (1871–1957)

From the off, the dark terror commences with knocking at her door which reveals two men ‘almost faceless in the dark'(p. 1). The increasingly fascisitic Irish state is shown through the imprisonment of her trades’ union husband (p. 29), an Emergency Powers Act (p. 53), government controls on judiciary (p. 58), national service (p. 73), unmarked cars pulling up silently (p. 76), foreign media internet blackout (p. 175), and the government closing the schools (p. 183).

The rebels, on the other hand, are really not that much different. And this is the crux of the issue. There has always been a large gap between the Romantic heroes and working class heroes. In Romanticism the ‘resistance’ or ‘rebels’ are often ‘rejected by society’ with various combinations of introspection, wanderlust, melancholy, misanthropy, alienation, and isolation.

And even though “the worm is turning” (p. 147), and the armed insurrection growing (p. 130) the violence is abstracted into terrorism (p. 160), and Eilish “is overcome by loathing, seeing not men but shadows parading the day born from darkness, seeing how they have made an end of death by meeting it with death” (p. 202). The two opposing forces meld into one in the confusion as Eilish encounters “one checkpoint after another” with “different faces speaking the same commands” (p. 283). Her escape from the mystical terror across the border into the unknown dark countryside to the sea could have come directly from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s (1749–1832) The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). Goethe wrote: “From the forbidding mountain range across the barren plain untrodden by the foot of man, to the end of the unknown seas, the spirit of the Eternal Creator can be felt rejoicing over every grain of dust”, emphasising the fearful, the mysterious and the unsure.

We live in stark, dark times, surrounded by media that is saturated with the Romanticist gloop of horror, terror, fantasy, science fiction, romantic egoism, etc., that threatens to slow society down and trap us into infinite and endless imagination to the detriment of any progressive forms of social consciousness and societal change.

Yet in the language of the Prophet Song there are many connotations of Ireland’s centuries long struggle against British Imperialism and colonialism: Ireland’s War of Independence, the war against the might of the British Empire in the description of the military men on horses (p.190), state forces moving in on college green (the scene of rebellions going back to the 19th century) (p. 94), cycling before the curfew, crossing the border (p. 112), the harp emblem (p. 123), a stage set up at the old parliament (now the Bank of Ireland HQ) against emergency powers and calling “for all political prisoners to be released” (p. 87). However, Prophet Song is not about a popular rising continuing on from Ireland’s tradition of radical opposition to authoritarian state forces.

The Apocalypse tradition: Karl Bryullov, The Last Day of Pompeii, 1833, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

It is in the Romanticist tradition of a powerful figure (the Prophet) who cries for the lack of love and compassion in the world and, in the apocalyptic tradition, calls for people to change their ways to avoid the wrath of God and the end of the world. The secular version, the postmodernist ‘End of History’ thesis leaves no hope for those who do not benefit from neoliberalism. The Romanticist escape to Utopia, the remote, the exotic, and the unknown, is in stark contrast with the real lives of past leaders and activists of collectivist and communitarian movements who suffered, struggled, and died for real social change.

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Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin is an Irish artist, lecturer and writer. His artwork consists of paintings based on contemporary geopolitical themes as well as Irish history and cityscapes of Dublin. His blog of critical writing based on cinema, art and politics along with research on a database of Realist and Social Realist art from around the world can be viewed country by country here. Caoimhghin has just published his new book – Against Romanticism: From Enlightenment to Enfrightenment and the Culture of Slavery, which looks at philosophy, politics and the history of 10 different art forms arguing that Romanticism is dominating modern culture to the detriment of Enlightenment ideals. It is available on Amazon (amazon.co.uk) and the info page is here. Read other articles by Caoimhghin.

 

The Heat’s On Big Time!

by Robert Hunziker / May 3rd, 2024

“Nearly nineteen thousand (19,000) weather stations have notched record high temperatures since Jan. 1.” (Source: “Earth’s Record Hot Streak Might be a Sign of a New Climate Era”, The Washington Post, April 19, 2024).

A blistering start to the 2024 year is breaking all-time global temperature records of 2023 and bringing to the forefront a looming threat of Wet Bulb temperature concerns.

Even though summer ‘24 has not officially begun for the Northern Hemisphere (solstice June 20th), according to DW News (German public broadcast network) d/d April 25th, 2024, “Extreme Heat in Southeast Asia Leads to School Closures”:

Hundreds of millions of people across South and Southeast Asia are facing soaring temperatures and drought as a heatwave grips the region. Dozens have been killed by heatstroke in Thailand alone. Authorities in the capital Bangkok are warning their citizens of the ‘extremely dangerous’ conditions. Schools have been closed in the Philippines and Bangladesh for tens of millions of children and the daytime temperature in Myanmar has reached nearly 46 degrees Celsius. The UN has warned that deaths due to heatstroke were widely underreported, calling heat a ‘silent killer.

Throughout several regions:

Soaring heat and drought have been felt in recent weeks from India, which is carrying out the world’s largest election in temperatures that have risen above 40C, to the coffee plantations of Vietnam… Earlier this month, the United Nations Children’s Fund warned that more than 243 million children across East Asia and the Pacific are at risk of heat-related illnesses and death, as the region braces for an unusually hot summer… The prolonged heat wave already forced the Philippines to close some schools earlier this month, prompting a return to remote learning that became the norm during Covid, while the government urged people to save electricity as power plants were forced to shut down. (Source: “Southeast Asia Heat Wave Shuts down Schools, Stokes Power Demand“, Bloomberg News, April 28, 2024).

“Japan Launches New Alert System as Heat Stroke Deaths Rise”, JapanToday, April 25, 2024: “When the alert is issued, municipalities will open designated facilities such as libraries and community centers to residents as ‘cooling shelters.’ The system will be in effect through Oct 23 this year…The nation’s average temperature in the summer of 2023 was the highest since the Japan Meteorological agency began recording comparable data in 1898.

The Wet Bulb Temperature Peril

The Wet Bulb temperature effect is a killer that is unfortunately gaining new respect.

New research suggests that with Wet Bulb temperature above 31.5C the body can no longer cool itself and without air conditioning death follows. (Source: “Policy Watch: Countries Slow to Wake up to the Mounting Deaths from Heat Stress“, Reuters, March 18, 2024).

In that regard, Wet Bulb temperature (which was formerly calcuated to be 35C or approximately 95°F/100% humidity) based upon new research can now occur at 31.5C in a range of temperature/humidity configurations: 87°F/100% humidity to 100°F/60% humidity. This means the Wet Bulb temperature barrier is lower and more of a threat than previously thought.

For an interesting, yet gruesome, aside about the risks of human death caused by Wet Bulb temperatures, Andrew Forrest, founder of Australian mining giant Fortescue, attended COP28 in Dubai last year to press politicians to take the Wet Bulb threat seriously:

If our bodies can’t release the heat, then our bodies turn into ovens and they start to cook – our blood, our organs, and, of course, the proteins which our lives depend on. They basically can never come back, it’s like cooking an egg,” he told The Ethical Corporation. “That is what is going to make increasingly large parts of the world beyond the limits of human survival. (Ibid.)

Human migration, an ongoing worldwide phenomenon, is but one symptom of this devastating risk to human life.

According to EU Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), March 2024 was the 10th straight month of record global heat at 1.68°C hotter than an average March between years 1850-1900, which is a reference period for pre-industrial.

For perspective of too much heat, if monthly all-time record heat is continued year-by-year the final result is Venus, aka: “Earth’s Twin” or “Earth’s Sister Planet.” According to NASA, Venus formed in the same inner part of the solar system as Earth out of the same materials and similar in size but, over time, with a different atmosphere. Venus has a thick carbon dioxide -CO2- atmosphere that has a powerful greenhouse effect resulting in scorching temperatures over 900°F or hot enough to melt lead.

Here on Earth, with one eye on Venus, climate scientists have warned about global warming for decades; however, those warnings have been low and not taken seriously enough. But with fossil fuel CO2 emissions now at full blast, in fact, quadrupling, as oil and gas companies crank up production, given enough time, the entire planet turns into a gigantic heat ball right before everybody’s eyes. Hello Venus.

At the Paris 2015 climate conference, delegates from around the world agreed that measures had to be taken to hold global average temperatures under 1.5°C above pre-industrial or suffer challenging consequences. At the time, nobody thought the 1.5C limit would be hit as early as 2024 and before global implementation of effective mitigation measures to reduce CO2 emissions, which measures, by the way, are a big farce, as CO2 emissions steadfastly increase by the year, and now accelerating, in the face of every mitigation measure adopted to date. Moreover, the often-discussed hopeful lifeline Carbon Capture & Sequestration unfortunately is not a viable solution. Al Gore calls it “a fraud” and for good reason.

Meanwhile, the outlook for global warming is bleak. (It should be noted that the IPCC calculates the 1.5C barrier on a decadal basis, but so what? It’s a big problem right now.)

In January 2024 AP News carried the following article: “Earth Shattered Global Heat Record in ’23 and it’s Flirting with Warming Limit European Agency Says”:

On average, global temperatures in 2023 were 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.66 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than pre-industrial times. If annual averages reach above 1.5 degrees Celsius, the effects of global warming could become irreversible, climate scientists say.

Humanity has pushed the planet to a limit that climate scientists warned about for decades; e.g., Dr. James Hansen, former head of NASA Space Studies, in 1988 warned the US Senate that human influence was changing the chemistry of the atmosphere that would bring global warming. He was spot on. (“Global Warming Has Begun, Expert Tells Senate”, The New York Times, June 24, 1988).

Now, 36 years later, there are politicians at the highest levels of government in Washington, D.C. who still deny the reality of human-caused global warming. Canada’s National Observer has taken notice: “Climate Denial in American Politics” d/d March 28, 2024:

Climate denial is a sinister movement that denies the science of climate change that has infiltrated deep within American politics and is still thriving today. The widespread oppression of science in America is a rarity in modern history — with the exceptions of Germany and Russia during the 1930s — and has never been seen before in a democracy to this extent.

Sinister! Germany 1930s! Some words stick with you.

The environment and energy portfolios of Trump’s administration appeared to be puppets under the control of the “oiligarchs” — the powerful among the energy-industrial complex. As an American election looms later this year, the thought of another Trump presidency sends shivers down the spines of many in the scientific community… This alternate reality is built on alternate facts and alternate science (i.e., fake). We have been too tolerant for too long of this deviant behaviour by elected officials; the time to vote these politicians out of office is long overdue. (Ibid.)

According to CO2.Earth: “A reminder that our world is pushing the planet’s thermostat beyond safe levels at 350 ppm CO2, and that more people are needed to combine our ingenuity and resources to keep the present overshoot brief”:

April 26, 2024        428.59 ppm

April 26, 2023        424.34 ppm

April 26, 1974         333.20 ppm

Good luck with that because the last time CO2 was at a safe level was 50 years ago. The only way to return to 350 is to cut CO2 emissions, but CO2 emissions have never been so robust.

 When it comes to knowledge about climate change, Americans are embarrassingly ignorant:

If you live in the U.S. and happen to get most of your news from national broadcast channels ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox… During the record-smashing year of 2023, these four TV stations spent less than 1% of their news time addressing climate change.” (Source: “Here’s What Record-Breaking Temperatures Looked Like Around the Globe, Yale Climate Connections, April 29, 2024).

 One year ago, the favorite web site for the White House and lawmakers, The Hill article said:

When it comes to the ‘wet bulb temperature’ nearly all of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas are under ‘extreme threat. (Source: “Extreme Threat”: Large Swathe of Southern US at Dangerous ‘Wet Bulb Temperature’”, The Hill, June 29, 2023).

How are the congressional delegations and state politicos from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas doing with the climate change/global warming issue?Facebook

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Robert Hunziker (MA, economic history, DePaul University) is a freelance writer and environmental journalist whose articles have been translated into foreign languages and appeared in over 50 journals, magazines, and sites worldwide. He can be contacted at: rlhunziker@gmail.com. Read other articles by Robert.

Veterans to Biden:

 US Law Says No Weapons to Nations with A-Bombs if They’ve Not Signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. That Means Israel

by Dissident Voice Communications / May 3rd, 2024

In a letter 18 April to President Biden and top members of his administration, Veterans For Peace cited existing federal law that gives the President “…no discretion whatsoever to allow any military assistance of any form to be delivered to Israel,” based on that country’s “serial violations of the Symington-Glenn Amendments, codified at 22 U.S.C. § 2799aa.”

The letter cites a lengthy list of credible reports that Israel has possessed nuclear weapons for decades. Because Israel has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), the Symington-Glenn Amendments to the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976, which allow no presidential discretion, goes into effect, including:

• termination of assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act, except for humanitarian assistance or food or other agricultural commodities;
• termination of defense sales and licensing of Munitions List exports;
• termination of foreign military financing;
• denial of U.S. government credit, credit guarantees, or other financial assistance (except for medical and humanitarian assistance and agricultural exports from the United States);
• U.S. government opposition to any loan or financial or technical assistance from international financial institutions (IFIs);
• prohibition of any loan or credit from U.S. banks to the foreign government (except for the purchase of food or other agricultural commodities); and
• prohibition under the Export Administration Act of exports to that state of specific goods and technology licensed by the Commerce Department (except for food and other agricultural commodities).

The letter states, “The President may not waive the cutoff of the above aid and exports under the Glenn Amendment where there has been a nuclear weapons detonation, or the offending state has received a nuclear explosive device. Congress would have to enact new legislation authorizing the President to waive some or all of these sanctions.”

VFP National Director, Mike Ferner, said, “Israel’s possession of The Bomb and the U.S.’ refusal to take appropriate action is yet another example of how the Madmen Arsonists – the Raytheons, Boeings, General Dynamics – actually govern our country and determine policy. The law is quite simple – Does Israel have an unregulated nuclear weapons arsenal? Yes, it does.  Is Israel a signatory to the NPT? No, it isn’t. So, the question to Biden is, ‘will you obey the law or the Madmen?’”

Ferner added, “This election year our members will ask their Congressional representatives, ‘Will you hold hearings to enforce existing law, or let the Madmen Arsonists continue to run our country?’”

Highlights of the letter:

• Senator John Glenn was prompted to seek a change in the law because of a reported theft of 100 kg of highly enriched uranium from an NRC vendor in 1968, later traced to the Dimona reactor complex in Israel. (pg. 3)
• Repeated CIA assessments and remarks of Colin Powell in 2016 that the U.S. knew Israel had at least 200 warheads at that time. (pgs. 4-9)
• Israel prosecuted and jailed Mordecai Vanunu for his courageous whistleblowing disclosure in the 1980’s that Israel has The Bomb. (pg. 7)
• Benjamin Netanyahu was identified by the FBI as being directly involved in an Israeli smuggling operation in the 1980’s that successfully stole 800 krytrons, a prized device used for triggers in nuclear weapons. (pg. 7)
• The Symington-Glenn amendment has been implemented by previous administrations. (pg. 4)
• What the President must do (pg. 10)
• Contrary to other instances where the Biden administration is allowed to ignore aid limitations, this one may be litigable in court. (pg. 10)

Veterans For Peace members across the U.S. are telling their members of Congress to vote NO on any more weapons for Israel and hold hearings to hold the Biden administration accountable  They have participated in numerous protests and acts of civil disobedience to highlight Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine.

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Dissident Voice Communications (DVC) is a non-profit meta-company in the public interest (well, depends on which public), we aim to challenge the hegemony of Big Media by communicating... all sorts of stuff. Read other articles by Dissident Voice Communications.

 

This Day in Anarchist History: The Haymarket Affair

by subMedia / May 4th, 2024

Have you heard the story of why we celebrate May Day?

In Chicago in 1886 police murdered two people at a general strike for an 8 hour work day. A rally for revenge on May 4^thled to a riot when a bomb was thrown at the police. Several cops and protesters were killed in the ensuing gunfire and many more were injured.

The state then began rounding up known dissidents and sentenced most of them to death even though many of those arrested weren’t even there.

For over a century anarchists around the world have been avenging the Haymarket Martyrs through strikes, pickets and clandestine attacks.

 

Kazatomprom issues quarterly update

03 May 2024

The Kazakh national atomic company's first quarter uranium production saw a slight year-on-year increase but its guidance metrics remain unchanged. Kazatomprom's first quarter trading announcement also included an update on plans for a new sulphuric acid plant.

(Image: Kazatomprom)

Production for the quarter was 5077 tU (100% basis), up from 4744 tU for the same period in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 7%. The company reiterated that its production guidance for 2024 of 21,000-22,500 tU (100% basis) remains unchanged but noted that "sanctions pressure due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and limited access to some key materials are not known" and "as a result, annual production volumes may differ from internal expectations".

The company said it does not anticipate any effect on Kazatomprom from an act prohibiting the import of Russian enriched uranium products into the USA which was passed by the US Senate this week and is now to be signed into law, since its primary business is the production of natural uranium. "Whether shipped by Kazatomprom or its JV partners, Kazakh-origin uranium retains its origin until its arrival at a conversion facility," the company noted.

It reiterated that the recent severe floods in western and northern regions of Kazakhstan had not affected its uranium mining, processing and transportation activities to date and all Kazatomprom enterprises continue to operate without any disruptions. It said it "continues to monitor the situation around the floods in Kazakhstan, and contributes to restoring vital infrastructure and supporting affected communities".

In 2023, Kazatomprom set up a partnership enterprise, Taiqonyr Qyshqyl Zauyty LLP (TQZ) to implement a project to build a new sulphuric acid plant, but said it now expects the completion of the construction and the start of production at the TQZ plant to be postponed from 2026 to 2027 due to "restructuring procedures and delays in the timing of approval of project design documentation". TQZ is partnering with Italian firm Ballestra which will be responsible for the project's design, equipment procurement and technical support.

Akkuyu nuclear plant's first airlock gateway installed

03 May 2024

The 7-metre diameter and 14-metres long cylindrical chamber has an airlock system allowing the moving of material or equipment into and out of the heart of the first unit at Turkey's new Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant.

(Image: Rosatom)

The 260-tonne structure was installed using a caterpillar crane. It will allow the delivery of equipment for the operation and maintenance of the reactor compartment, such as the upper reactor unit, reactor coolant pump, primary circuit pipelines and steam generators.

Once the unit is in operation, used and fresh fuel and other equipment can pass through it, with the doors at either end able to maintain an airlock system to ensure the reactor compartment remains sealed.

(Image: Rosatom)

Sergei Butckikh, first deputy CEO of Akkuyu NPP, said the installation meant they were "one step closer to the completion" of the first unit and it was "a result of well-coordinated and labour-intensive work of Russian and Turkish specialists" working in the Akkuyu project team.

Akkuyu, in the southern Mersin province, is Turkey's first nuclear power plant. Rosatom is building four VVER-1200 reactors, under a so-called BOO (build-own-operate) model. According to the terms of the Intergovernmental Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey, the commissioning of the first power unit of the nuclear power plant must take place within seven years from receipt of all permits for the construction of the unit.

The licence for the construction of the first unit was issued in 2018, with construction work beginning that year. Nuclear fuel was delivered to the site in April 2023. Turkey's Nuclear Regulatory Agency issued permission for the unit to be commissioned in December, and in February it was announced that the reactor compartment had been prepared for controlled assembly of the reactor - and the generator stator had also been installed in its pre-design position.

The aim is for the unit to begin supplying Turkey's energy system in 2025. When the 4800 MWe plant is completed it is expected to meet about 10% of Turkey's electricity needs, with the aim that all four units will be operational by the end of 2028.

Holtec sets up maintenance and modification subsidiary

02 May 2024

US company Holtec International has established a wholly-owned subsidiary aiming to "energise the presently placid business sector of modification and maintenance", with the initial project being the restart of the Palisades plant.

Palisades (Holtec)

Holtec Maintenance & Modification International (HMI) is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is being headed by Christopher Bakken. In its statement announcing the move, Holtec International said the new company's mission was "to meet the time-critical maintenance and modification needs of the world’s operating nuclear power plants with assured performance certainty".

It added: "To provide maximum value to its clients, HMI is poised to introduce cutting edge technologies such as AI-aided preventive maintenance and robot-led crew radiation dose reduction methods at its clients’ plants ... we believe the HMI management model will bring about a vastly improved control of operating costs of nuclear plants and ensure heightened plant reliability, which will support the expected renaissance in nuclear generation around the world."

HMI will operate under its parent company's programmes on nuclear quality assurance, environmental protection, personnel safety assurance, corporate governance and supply management "but will be otherwise autonomous". It will work with Holtec’s Nuclear Power Division "to provide replacement components and systems - reverse engineered as necessary to replace obsolescent items - to meet target outage schedules".

As well as its initial work on the project to restart the 840 MWe Palisades plant, Holtec says that "discussions with other clients in the USA and overseas are under way".

Rick Springman, Holtec’s President of Global Clean Energy Opportunities, said: "With the launch of HMI, we can now provide an integrated capability to meet the operating needs of the scores of SMR-300 plants that we hope to be building in the US and around the world."

Holtec agreed to purchase Palisades from then-owner and operator Entergy in 2018, ahead of the scheduled closure, for decommissioning. The acquisition was completed in June 2022, within weeks of the reactor's closure, and at that time Holtec planned to complete the dismantling, decontamination, and remediation of the plant by 2041. But the company then announced plans to apply for federal funding to enable it to reopen the plant, with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer amongst those pledging support for the move. The State of Michigan's Fiscal Year 2024 budget, signed by Whitmer in mid-2023, provides USD150 million in funding towards the plant's restart. In March, the US Department of Energy Loan Programs Office conditionally committed up to USD1.52 billion for a loan guarantee to Holtec Palisades for its project to bring the Palisades plant back online. The aim is for Palisades to be back operating by the end of 2025.

Holtec has also said it intends to locate its first two small modular reactor (SMR) units at Palisades. It also has hopes for fleets of its 160 MWe SMRs elsewhere - in Europe in countries including Ukraine, the Czech Republic and the UK.

STEP components to undergo testing in Czech research reactor

02 May 2024

High temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes for use in the UK's prototype fusion power plant will be tested in a Czech research reactor following the signing of an agreement between the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and Research Centre Řež.

The LVR-15 research reactor (Image: CVŘ)

The UKAEA carries out fusion energy research on behalf of the UK government, overseeing the country's fusion programme, including the MAST Upgrade (Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak) experiment as well as hosting the recently closed Joint European Torus (JET) at Culham, which operated for scientists from around Europe. It is also developing its own fusion power plant design with plans to build a prototype known as STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) at West Burton in Nottinghamshire, which is due to begin operating by 2040.

Under a multi-year use of facility agreement, UKAEA and Research Centre Řež (CVŘ) will develop a first-of-a kind test rig - called Hi-CrIS (High neutron fluence Cryogenic Irradiation of Superconductors) - to provide data on the effect of a fusion-relevant neutron spectrum on superconducting properties of HTS tapes. These will be used in the STEP prototype plant to confine the fusion plasma which can reach temperatures ten times hotter than the core of the Sun (about 150 million degrees Celsius).

The rig, expected to be operational in 2026, will produce test results to help inform the design and lifespan of STEP's superconducting magnetic components. These components will operate under cryogenic temperatures, and will be subjected to a high flux of high energy neutrons due to their close proximity to the fusion plasma.

During the experiment, the samples will be irradiated with high energy neutrons using CVŘ's LVR-15 light water tank-type research reactor. They will then remain at -253°C whilst being transported and measured within the test rig setup.

The Hi-CrIS test rig will allow samples of HTS tapes to be cooled to the same cryogenic temperatures expected for STEP's superconducting magnets. Maintaining the sample temperature during irradiation, transportation and measurement is critical in understanding how the HTS tapes degrade within their operating environment.

How the STEP building may look (Image: UKAEA)

"We are excited to reach this agreement with CVŘ for building and operating a complex test rig using their LVR-15 research reactor," said Fiona Harden, STEP Hi-CrIS technical lead for UKAEA. "The objectives of Hi-CrIS are critical to fusion power plant design and this importance is recognised by our partner who has worked openly with us to put this agreement in place.

"We were delighted to host CVŘ representatives at UKAEA's Culham Campus, promoting the close collaborative approach of both UKAEA and CVŘ to reach our objective, whilst maximising many secondary benefits that this agreement will generate."

CVŘ Business Development Manager Marek Miklos: "Working in partnership with the STEP team is a fantastic opportunity to support the UK's world-leading programme to develop a prototype fusion energy plant. The Hi-CrIS testing rig will open lots of opportunities for further material studies for fusion applications."

UKAEA noted that in addition to testing superconductor components, Hi-CrIS could also enable alternative materials testing for the potential development of future fusion power plants.

The aim for the first phase of work on STEP is to produce a 'concept design' by the end of this year. The UK government is providing GBP220 million (USD227 million) of funding for this part. The next phase of work will include detailed engineering design, while all relevant permissions and consents to build the prototype are sought. The final phase is construction, with operations targeted to begin around 2040. The aim is to have a fully evolved design and approval to build by 2032, enabling construction to begin.

The technical objectives of STEP are: to deliver predictable net electricity greater than 100 MW; to innovate to exploit fusion energy beyond electricity production; to ensure tritium self-sufficiency; to qualify materials and components under appropriate fusion conditions; and to develop a viable path to affordable lifecycle costs.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

Tackling microplastics in Antarctica using nuclear tech - Chile and IAEA sign MoU

03 May 2024

The International Atomic Energy Agency's NUTEC Plastics initiative uses nuclear and isotopic techniques to produce data on marine microplastics distribution and fight plastic pollution - it is one of the areas covered by Chile's new cooperation agreements with the agency.

(Image: IAEA)

The agreement came during a visit to the country by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and was signed by Chile's Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren - in a post on X Grossi said they would "study microplastic pollution in Antarctica, aiming to trace origins and impacts to develop strategies against it".

Grossi also signed an agreement with Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission on nuclear technology and lithium "aimed at harnessing nuclear technology to enhance lithium mining".

NUTEC Plastics

The IAEA's scheme was established in 2020 and uses a series of monitoring laboratories to use nuclear technology to sample and analyse microplastics - which are bits of plastic less than 5 millimetres in diameter - in the environment. There are more than 60 countries participating in monitoring of microplastics in the sea, and the goal is to equip more than 50 laboratories with the technology to form a global monitoring network.

The aim is to then be able to take action to bring in measures designed to reduce the sources of the pollution - at least 30 countries are involved in developing innovative recycling technology, including using irradiation to treat plastics and make them fit for reuse, or for a wider range of reuses. This process uses gamma and electron beam radiation technologies to modify certain types of plastic waste, breaking down plastic polymers judged not to be of sufficient quality into smaller components and then allowing them to be used to generate new plastic products.

The IAEA cites studies suggesting that only around 10% of plastic produced between 1950 and 2015 has been recycled, with the majority (about 60%) going to landfill, meaning action is imperative given estimates that there will be one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish within a few years.

Antarctica

Grossi visited an IAEA mission in Antarctica in January with Argentina's president to see the start of work there assessing the impact and scale of plastic pollution. The two-person IAEA research team spent a month assessing "the impact of microplastics by investigating its occurrence and distribution in seawater, lakes, sediments, sand, discharge water and animals of the Antarctic ecosystem near the Argentine Carlini scientific research station".

The IAEA said at the launch of its mission, "there is still almost no information available on where and how much microplastics arrive in the Antarctic and how much is taken up by Antarctic organisms. There is also very little data existing on the types of microplastics reaching this pristine area through ocean currents, atmospheric deposition and the presence of humans in the Antarctic".

It also said the "presence of microplastics can contribute to accelerating the ice-loss in Antarctica by reducing ice reflectivity, altering surface roughness, promoting microbial activity, acting as thermal insulators, and contributing to mechanical weakening of the ice structure".

Other agreements

The IAEA director general and the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission's Luis Huerta signed an agreement aimed at using nuclear technology to enhance the mining of lithium, which has applications in a range of energy sectors, including fusion and "paves the way for wider regional support from the IAEA".

There were also discussions with Chile's health minister about expanding cancer care via the IAEA's Rays of Hope: Cancer Care for All initiative.

Grossi said: "Nuclear science boosts Chile’s development in areas like health, food, security and environment. I look forward to furthering our collaboration."

Chile and nuclear

Chile does not have nuclear power, although there have been discussions about a nuclear energy programme being developed. The Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission has operated the RECH-1 research reactor since 1974. This reactor is located at La Reina Nuclear Centre in Santiago. It is a 5MW pool-type reactor using low-enriched uranium fuel assemblies, light water as moderator and coolant, and beryllium as reflector. The main use of the RECH-1 reactor is the production of radioisotopes, mainly for medicine. In addition, irradiation of samples is carried out for chemical analysis and geological material, for purposes of determining age and preparing radioactive tracers.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News