UK

Nostalgia: Strikes and protests nothing new as we look back at demos in Colchester


Macaully Moffat

Colchester Evening Gazette

Sun, 26 March 2023

Arrest - police deal with protestors in Wivenhoe in 1984 (Image: N/A)

STRIKES and demonstrations have become part of our daily lives.

From doctors and nurses to teachers and railway workers, they have become widespread as workers protest against real loss fall in wages and highlight concerns about working conditions.

However, these are not a new phenomenon and have always been part of history.


In Colchester and North Essex, there have been some major strikes and demonstrations.

In April 1984, protestors in Wivenhoe clashed with police during miners' strikes that flared up across the UK.

Gazette: Removed - a protestor being dragged away in Winvehoe

Removed - a protestor being dragged away in Winvehoe (Image: N/A)

It was of major industrial action to prevent colliery closures with picket lines and demonstrations led by Arthur Scargill, president of the National Union of Mineworkers.

Gazette: Keeping watch - there was a high police presence in Wivenhoe during the miners' strike

Keeping watch - there was a high police presence in Wivenhoe during the miners' strike (Image: N/A)

North Essex became a focal point when miners started picketing the dock gates at Wivenhoe - one of five privately-owned ports along the River Colne estuary.

Gazette: Group - police pictured at Wivenhoe Port in 1984

Group - police pictured at Wivenhoe Port in 1984 (Image: N/A)

Freighters carrying coal had begun to unload and the aim of the pickets was to turn back lorries sent to collect it.

Gazette: Brawl - protestors in Wivenhoe clashed with police during the miners' strikes

Brawl - protestors in Wivenhoe clashed with police during the miners' strikes (Image: N/A)

The miners’ strikes eventually ended on March 3, 1985, nearly a year after it had begun.

In 1990, residents marched and fought in Colchester High Street against the unpopular Poll Tax.

Gazette: Demo - protestors making their thoughts known on the Poll Tax

Demo - protestors making their thoughts known on the Poll Tax (Image: N/A)

The Poll Tax – or community tax – was first unveiled by former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher in 1990.

It was a change in the way the levy, used to fund councils, was worked out.

Gazette: Fight - protestors clash with police during the Poll Tax rally

Fight - protestors clash with police during the Poll Tax rally (Image: N/A)

Instead of being based on a home’s value, the tax was worked out according to the number of adults living in a property.

It became a priority in the Conservative manifesto for the 1979 elections and was introduced in England and Wales from 1990.

Gazette: Tackle - one protestor is taken down during the Poll Tax rally in Colchester

Tackle - one protestor is taken down during the Poll Tax rally in Colchester (Image: N/A)

But opponents said the tax – which was the same for a mansion as a bedsit – was a tax on the poor and they took to the streets to protest.

Gazette: Rise up - protestors climbed onto the Castle Park gates to make their feelings known

Rise up - protestors climbed onto the Castle Park gates to make their feelings known (Image: N/A)

Colchester was transformed in March and May from a shopping centre to the epicentre of running battles between the police and protesters voicing their opposition to the unpopular tax.

Protestors scaled the Castle Park gates, carried placards through the main precincts and shouted anti-Government chants.

Gazette: Protest - people from all walks of life took part in the rally

Protest - people from all walks of life took part in the rally (Image: N/A)

The opposition never abated and, in 1993, the Government relented and introduced the council tax which has been in place ever since.

UK
Health Secretary accused of ‘trying to pinch pennies’ in junior doctors pay row


Lucas Cumiskey, PA
Sun, 26 March 2023

The co-chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA) junior doctors committee has accused the Health Secretary of “trying to pinch pennies” after fresh strikes were announced in a row over pay.

On Sunday, Dr Robert Laurenson apologised for the disruption further walkouts will cause but said he does not think they will put patients’ lives at risk.

It comes after the BMA announced on Thursday that a 96-hour walkout will take place for shifts starting between 6.59am on Tuesday April 11 and 6.59am on Saturday April 15, as it claimed that Cabinet minister Steve Barclay has failed to make any “credible offer”.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has been accused of ‘trying to pinch pennies’ over junior doctors’ pay (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

Dr Laurenson told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “We have a healthcare crisis at the moment, we have 500 excess deaths, 500 British people dying needlessly a week in winter, and we’re trying to address real healthcare crises.

“And so we’re trying to approach this from a perspective of doctors looking after patients and wanting to deliver high-quality healthcare, and Mr Barclay is just trying to pinch pennies.

“I think, if you were to ask the ordinary person on the street would they be happy to pay a doctor, 7pm on a Friday night, £19 an hour, I think you’d get a resounding ‘Yes, that’s reasonable’.”

He added: “We’re very happy to get around the table. So, next week will mark six months since we started our formal trade dispute, and Mr Barclay has only come to the table twice.

“It’s really very difficult to be able to talk to someone who doesn’t even want to invite us in, and indeed on Wednesday he left the room.

“He asked us what we would like to talk about, we presented our opening position on what we think would constitute full power restoration and how we’d like to work with him.

“But he didn’t ask us any further questions.”

On demands for a 35% pay rise, Dr Laurenson said: “So, doctors have lost 26.1% over the last 15 years in real terms and what we’re asking for is for that to be restored. So we’re asking for it to go back to a cost-neutral point of view from 2008, and what that looks like is about a £5 to £10 an hour increase.

“At the moment doctors start on £14 an hour and we’re just asking for that to be restored to £19 an hour.”

Asked if their pay demands are too high, he said: “So, I think £1 billion for 75,000 junior doctors, to be able to try and treat the massive workforce crisis and to be able to deliver high-quality care so that people this country, I think that’s value for money.”

He added: “This strike action, yes, it causes disruption and I’m sorry for that, but it just demonstrates that we have 9,000 vacancies in secondary care, we have 6,000 fewer GPs, and it’s very difficult for patients to access healthcare that they deserve.”

On Thursday, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Further strikes will risk patient safety and cause further disruption.

“The Health and Social Care Secretary met the BMA’s junior doctors committee yesterday in the hope of beginning constructive talks to resolve the current dispute.

“The BMA placed a pre-condition on these talks of a 35% pay rise. That is unreasonable.

“Our door remains open to constructive conversations, as we have had with other health unions, to find a realistic way forward which balances rewarding junior doctors for their hard work while being fair to the taxpayer.”

The BMA later denied it had placed a pre-condition on talks of a 35% pay rise.

UK

Heathrow talks break down ahead of airport security staff strike

Simon Calder
Sun, 26 March 2023 

Go slow? Passengers at London Heathrow Terminal 5, home of British Airways (Simon Calder)

The prospect of disruption for airline passengers flying from Heathrow Terminal 5 over the Easter holidays has increased.

Airport bosses say talks aiming to avert a walk-out by around 1,400 security staff belonging to the Unite union have broken down.

The strike is due to begin on Friday 31 March and continue until Easter Sunday, 9 April.


Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Workers at Heathrow airport are on poverty wages while the chief executive and senior managers enjoy huge salaries. It is the airport’s workers who are fundamental to its success and they deserve a fair pay increase.

“Our members are simply unable to make ends meet due to the low wages paid by Heathrow. They are being forced to take strike action due to need not greed.”

No future negotiations are scheduled before the strike begins, and Heathrow’s management says talks can resume only if the stoppage is suspended.

Heathrow says the security staff have been given a 10 per cent pay rise plus “further enhancements”.

Most of the workers who are planning to walk out are employed as security officers at Terminal 5. A smaller number work for the airport’s Campus Security team, who operate control posts that give vehicles access to the airfield.

The action is timed to coincide with the normal summer schedule of expansion, which begins on Sunday 26 March, and the start of the school Easter holidays. The walk-out is planned to continue until Easter Sunday.

Passengers on British Airways, which has a monopoly of flights from Terminal 5, are likely to be worst affected. The Independent has asked BA to comment.

A spokesperson for the airport said: ”We will not let these unnecessary strikes impact the hard-earned holidays of our passengers. Our contingency plans will keep the airport operating as normal throughout.

“We are doing everything we can to minimise the impact of this irresponsible action by Unite.

“We are deploying 1,000 additional colleagues and the entire management team who will be in the terminals providing assistance to passengers over the busy Easter getaway.”

Airlines are being asked if they will voluntarily limit the number of passengers: by offering flexible re-booking to customers due to travel during the strike, and by stopping sales of seats on flights departing Heathrow even though there is capacity available.

Pope extends sexual abuse law to include lay leaders








Reuters
Sat, March 25, 2023

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis on Saturday updated rules on dealing with sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, expanding their scope to include lay Catholic leaders and spelling out that both minors and adults can be victims.

The pope issued a landmark decree in 2019 making it obligatory for all priests and members of religious orders to report any suspicions of abuse, and holding bishops directly accountable for any abuse they commit themselves or cover-up.

The provisions were initially introduced on a temporary basis, but on Saturday the Vatican said they would become definitive from April 30 and include additional elements aimed at strengthening the fight against abuse within the Church.

Abuse scandals have shredded the Vatican's reputation in many countries and have been a major challenge for Pope Francis, who has passed a series of measures over the past 10 years aimed at holding the Church hierarchy accountable.

Critics say the results have been mixed and have accused Francis of being reluctant to defrock abusive prelates.

The new norms now encompass leaders of Vatican-sanctioned organisations that are run by lay people, not just priests, following numerous allegations in recent years against lay leaders, who have been accused of abusing their positions to sexually exploit those in their charge.

Whereas the original rules covered sexual acts targeting "minors and vulnerable persons", the new version provides a wider definition of victims, referring to crimes committed "with a minor or with a person who habitually has an imperfect use of reason or with a vulnerable adult".

The Vatican said Church members had an obligation to report cases of violence against religious women by clerics, as well as cases of harassment of adult seminarians or novices.

BishopAccountability.org, a not-for-profit organisation looking to document the abuses within the Roman Catholic Church, said the revision was "a big disappointment" and fell short of the "extensive revamping" the policy against the abuses would have required.

The policy "remains self-policing packaged as accountability", said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, adding bishops remained in charge of investigating allegations against fellow bishops.

The updated provisions have been unveiled a month after the Roman Catholic religious order of Jesuits said that accusations of sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse against one of its most prominent members were highly credible.

About 25 people, mostly former nuns, have accused Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, 69, a well-known religious artist of various forms of abuse, either when he was a spiritual director of a community of nuns in his native Slovenia about 30 years ago, or after he moved to Rome to pursue his career as an artist.

Rupnik has not spoken publicly of the accusations, which have rattled the worldwide order, of which the pope is a member.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Additional reporting by Valentina Za; editing by Clelia Oziel and Jason Neely)

Netanyahu fires defense minister, sparking mass protests

Story by The Canadian Press • Today

JERUSALEM (AP) — Tens of thousands of Israelis poured into the streets of cities across the country on Sunday night in a spontaneous outburst of anger after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly fired his defense minister for challenging the Israeli leader's judicial overhaul plan.


Netanyahu fires defense minister, sparking mass protests© Provided by The Canadian Press

Protesters in Tel Aviv blocked a main highway and lit a large bonfire, while police scuffled with protesters who gathered outside Netanyahu's private home in Jerusalem.

The unrest deepened a monthslong crisis over Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the judiciary, which has sparked mass protests, alarmed business leaders and former security chiefs and drawn concern from the United States and other close allies.

Netanyahu's dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signaled that the prime minister and his allies will barrel ahead this week with the overhaul plan. Gallant had been the first senior member of the ruling Likud party to speak out against it, saying the deep divisions were threatening to weaken the military.

In a brief statement, Netanyahu’s office said late Sunday the prime minister had dismissed Gallant. Netanyahu later tweeted “we must all stand strong against refusal.”

Tens of thousands of Israelis poured into the streets in protest after Netanyahu's announcement, blocking Tel Aviv's main artery, transforming the Ayalon highway into a sea of blue-and-white Israeli flags and lighting a large bonfire in the middle of the road.

Demonstrations took place in Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, where thousands of people gathered outside Netanyahu's private residence. Police scuffled with protesters and sprayed the crowd with a water cannon.

Inon Aizik, 27, said he came to demonstrate outside Netanyahu’s private residence in central Jerusalem because “bad things are happening in this country,” referring to the judicial overhaul as “a quick legislative blitz.”

Netanyahu's decision came less than a day after Gallant, a former senior general, called for a pause in the controversial legislation until after next month’s Independence Day holidays, citing the turmoil in the ranks of the military.

Gallant had voiced concerns that the divisions in society were hurting morale in the military and emboldening Israel’s enemies. “I see how the source of our strength is being eroded,” Gallant said.

While several other Likud members had indicated they might follow Gallant, the party quickly closed ranks on Sunday, clearing the way for his dismissal.

Galit Distal Atbaryan, Netanyahu’s public diplomacy minister, said that Netanyahu summoned Gallant to his office and told him “that he doesn’t have any faith in him anymore and therefore he is fired.”

Gallant tweeted shortly after the announcement that “the security of the state of Israel always was and will always remain my life mission.”

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that Gallant’s dismissal "harms national security and ignores warnings of all defense officials.”




Related video: Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu In U.K Amid Protests Back Home | Focus On Israel's Anti-Govt Protests (CNBCTV18)






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Avi Dichter, a former chief of the Shin Bet security agency, is expected to replace him. Dichter had reportedly flirted with joining Gallant but instead announced Sunday he was backing the prime minister.

Netanyahu’s government is pushing ahead for a parliamentary vote this week on a centerpiece of the overhaul — a law that would give the governing coalition the final say over all judicial appointments. It also seeks to pass laws that would grant parliament the authority to override Supreme Court decisions with a basic majority and limit judicial review of laws.

Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore a balance between the judicial and executive branches and rein in what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.

But critics say the constellation of laws will remove the checks and balances in Israel’s democratic system and concentrate power in the hands of the governing coalition. They also say that Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, has a conflict of interest.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets over the past three months to demonstrate against the plan in the largest demonstrations in the country's 75-year history.

Leaders of Israel’s vibrant high-tech industry have said the changes will scare away investors, former top security officials have spoken out against the plan and key allies, including the United States and Germany, have voiced concerns.

In recent weeks discontent has even surged from within Israel’s army – the most popular and respected institution among Israel’s Jewish majority. A growing number of Israeli reservists, including fighter pilots, have threatened to withdraw from voluntary duty in the past weeks.

Israel's military is facing a surge in fighting in the occupied West Bank, threats from Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group and concerns that archenemy Iran is close to developing a nuclear-weapons capability.

Violence both in Israel and the occupied West Bank has escalated over the past few weeks to heights unseen in years.

Manuel Trajtenberg, head of an influential Israeli think tank, the Institute for National Security Studies, said that “Netanyahu can dismiss his defense minister, he cannot dismiss the warnings he heard from Gallant.”

Meanwhile, an Israeli good governance group on Sunday asked the country’s Supreme Court to punish Netanyahu for allegedly violating a conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with the country’s judiciary while he is on trial for corruption.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a fierce opponent of the overhaul, asked the court to force Netanyahu to obey the law and sanction him either with a fine or prison time for not doing so. It said he was not above the law.

“A prime minister who doesn’t obey the court and the provisions of the law is privileged and an anarchist,” said Eliad Shraga, the head of the group, echoing language used by Netanyahu and his allies against protesters opposed to the overhaul. “The prime minister will be forced to bow his head before the law and comply with the provisions of the law.”

The prime minister responded saying the appeal should be dismissed and said that the Supreme Court didn’t have grounds to intervene.

Netanyahu is barred by the country’s attorney general from directly dealing with his government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary, based on a conflict of interest agreement he is bound to, and which the Supreme Court acknowledged in a ruling over Netanyahu’s fitness to serve while on trial for corruption. Instead, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close confidant of Netanyahu, is spearheading the overhaul.

But on Thursday, after parliament passed a law making it harder to remove a sitting prime minister, Netanyahu said he was unshackled from the attorney general’s decision and vowed to wade into the crisis and “mend the rift” in the nation. That declaration prompted the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, to warn that Netanyahu was breaking his conflict of interest agreement.

The fast-paced legal and political developments have catapulted Israel into uncharted territory and toward a burgeoning constitutional crisis, said Guy Lurie, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.

“We are at the start of a constitutional crisis in the sense that there is a disagreement over the source of authority and legitimacy of different governing bodies,” he said.

Netanyahu is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate affairs involving wealthy associates and powerful media moguls. He denies wrongdoing and dismisses critics who say he will try to seek an escape route from the charges through the legal overhaul. —— Associated Press journalist Tia Goldenberg contributed from Tel Aviv.

Ilan Ben Zion, The Associated Press

As deadly fungus expected to hit bats in Alberta, experts call for public to be on the lookout

Story by Lisa Johnson •   Edmonton Journal

Yesterday 

A little brown myotis bat in hibernation. 

Photo by Jason Headley/Supplied© Provided by Edmonton Journal

As a fungus that has devastated bat colonies around North America is expected to infect bats in Alberta soon, experts are calling on Albertans to be on the lookout and help protect key habitats.

While the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome was found in guano, or bat droppings, in southeast Alberta last summer, the disease hasn’t yet been confirmed in bats. Most people don’t often see the nocturnal mammals, but they perform important ecological work by eating things like mosquitoes and agricultural pests.

Scott McBurney is a wildlife pathologist with the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative in Atlantic Canada, at the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island. White-nose syndrome emerged in Eastern Canada in the late 2000s.

McBurney told Postmedia it’s likely Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia will see a “huge population collapse” of their bat species.

However, McBurney pointed to the importance of regular surveillance by wildlife professionals at winter hibernation sites. He also pointed to the work of citizen scientists, where in P.E.I., they helped report dead bats on the landscape, allowing researchers to map the progress of white-nose syndrome and come up with important mitigation or recovery efforts.

“That was a huge piece, because there’s no way any of us that are either hired by the government or within universities or other scientists can be the boots on the ground all over the place all the time,” he said.

People can also help by building bat boxes or other bat-friendly habitats on private property, or being careful to remove bats from buildings with the help of pest control operators at the right time in the fall without harming vulnerable pups, he said.

“Anybody and everybody can partake in these things.”

‘People can play a really big role’

Lisa Wilkinson, senior species at risk biologist at Alberta Fish and Wildlife and the provincial bat specialist, said it’s important for residents across the province to better understand bats and their importance to the ecosystem.

“We know we can’t stop this disease from decimating our population, so the best thing we can do is maintain the best environment,” said Wilkinson, noting that it’s easier for bat populations to recover if they have good, safe places to roost and forage for insects.

“People can play a really big role,” said Wilkinson.

Wilkinson said the government is going to continue to support the Alberta Community Bat Program, which offers information and resources on its website, www.albertabats.ca , and helps collect guano for testing. Wilkinson said it’s important to focus on surveillance, outreach and education.

“We’re probably in the early stages, so it will take a year or two for the fungus to be in hibernation areas, for it to grow and reach a capacity where it’s really going to start to infect the bats. We may see bats this year with white-nose syndrome.”

In the spring, provincial officials will be looking to catch and release some bats on their summer route in southeastern Alberta to try to detect traces of the fungus, and investigating two primary hibernation caves.

Wilkinson said she’s also keeping a close eye on a project piloting probiotic treatments that could slow or prevent the spread of the fungus.

“If some of these solutions such as the probiotic seem to be successful, and if they will work in our situation and the places where we can apply them, we’re absolutely going to do that,” she said, adding that there may come a need for more resources to expand the government’s work.

McBurney noted that while various treatments are being tried, “in all reality, there has been no silver bullet found yet.”

In Western Canada, McBurney suggested that it’s possible the dispersed population of bats that live beyond well-known large caves and mines, which are more common in Eastern Canada, might help slow the spread of the disease.

“Maybe they’ll be spared from white-nose. I don’t know. Maybe I’m really clutching at straws and rooting for the bats here — but it’s a possibility,” he said.

Related
Opinion: Who is minding Alberta’s fish and wildlife?

'Cloaked in so much secrecy': Staffing split will hurt Alberta fish and wildlife management, critics say

Wilkinson agreed. “If there’s bats that winter in cracks and crevices in small numbers, it might slow the spread,” she said, adding by the same token, it makes bats harder to track.

Deni Cameron works in agronomy and has been aiming to raise public awareness about how losing bats in Alberta will impact the ecosystem, noting that without them to eat and control insects, farmers will be forced to use more insecticides, affecting important species like bees.

“Insecticides are indiscriminate. They’re going to kill the good bugs and the bad bugs,” said Cameron, adding that she’d like to see more public awareness campaigns, resources, and boots on the ground from the Alberta government.

The province has been participating in the North American Bat Monitoring Program’s acoustic research that helps detect bat activity levels since 2015, and is now also working on a recovery plan with biologists and stakeholders, Wilkinson said.

It’s also working to update its communications efforts.

‘The first sign’: early emergence from hibernation

Jamie Rothenburger, University of Calgary associate professor in Veterinary Medicine and co-regional director of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative in the Alberta region, said bats infected with the syndrome could have a fluffy white coating on their nose, feet or wings.

With the fungus, bats can be forced out of their hibernation earlier than usual.

“The first sign is actually seeing bats out flying at the wrong time of year, like when it’s still winter. Then, there’s nothing for them to eat. So of course, they’re out of hibernation, they have reduced fat stores, and they often die of dehydration and starvation,” said Rothenburger.

“This is the most severe infectious disease we’ve ever had affecting wildlife in Canada,” she said, noting in some parts of North America 90 to 95 per cent of bat populations were lost.

She said some research suggests that in areas where there is white-nose syndrome, the loss of bats has led to an increase in insecticide and fungicide use.

“At a larger ecological scale, often we don’t fully appreciate all the things that a species does for us until it’s gone.”

Some bats can live more than 30 years, but they generally only have one pup each year, making it difficult to reverse population decline.

In Alberta, it is illegal to enter a cave where bats are hibernating between Sept. 1 and April 30. For those exploring caves, the provincial government also encourages the careful disinfection of equipment because while people aren’t known to be susceptible to the fungus, they can spread it around.

The Little Brown myotis bat, the Northern Long-eared Bat, and the Tri-coloured bat are listed as endangered species in Canada.

Alberta may have to return $130M in unspent federal funding for oil and gas well cleanup

Story by Kyle Bakx • Friday

The Alberta government may have to return $130 million in leftover funding to the federal government after not spending the money to clean up old oil and gas wells.

The cash is part of the federal government's $1.7-billion program in 2020 aimed at addressing the environmental risk of the aging oil and gas infrastructure, while also providing jobs to the beleaguered energy services sector after the pandemic began and oil prices crashed.

The federal money was divided between B.C. ($120 million), Alberta ($1 billion) and Saskatchewan ($400 million). Alberta's Orphan Well Association received a $200-million loan to support the cleanup of wells left over when companies go bankrupt.

Initially, Alberta's program ran into problems as government staff were overwhelmed by a flood of applications. Eventually, tens of thousands of projects were approved to use up all of the federal funding.

Alberta requesting funds stay in province

However, some of the money has still not been spent as some of the approved cleanup work was not completed. The government did not provide a specific reason why.

CBC News has learned Alberta is expected to return about $130 million, which the provincial government has confirmed as a fair estimate.


An aerial view as a well pipe is pulled up out of the ground during the decommissioning of a old natural gas well in Alberta in 2020.© Kyle Bakx/CBC

In total, after almost three years since the funding was announced, Alberta approved 37,589 applications, although 3,445 of those were not completed, according to the government's website.

Final invoices from oilfield service companies are still being received.

"A few other ministers and I have written to the federal government to keep the left-over funds here in Alberta. We are still awaiting a response," wrote Energy Minister Pete Guthrie in an emailed statement.

According to the Alberta Energy Regulator, the province still has tens of thousands of inactive oil and gas wells, which pose an environmental risk because of the potential soil and water contamination, in addition to the release of methane gases.

First Nations lobby for left over funds

Last week, officials with the Indian Resource Council (IRC), which represents more than 100 First Nations with oil and gas reserves, met with the province's environment and energy ministers to lobby for the $130 million to be spent on the continued remediation of wells on First Nation land.

"It's a challenge," said Stephen Buffalo, president of the IRC, pointing out how the federal funding included a clause that required the provinces to follow a specific timeline and noted that any unspent money had to be returned.



Indian Resource Council president Stephen Buffalo said the group met with the province's environment and energy ministers to lobby for the $130 million to be spent on the continued remediation of wells on First Nation land.© Kyle Bakx/CBC

As part of Alberta's program, the government allocated more than $100 million for cleanup projects for First Nations.

"It was very beneficial and very positive. So, we're doing what we can to keep that program going," said Buffalo, noting that about 350 community members received skills training.

Removing the aging wells and pipelines can free up land for First Nations to use for housing and other purposes, he said.

"Our community land mass is not getting any bigger, but their populations are," Buffalo said. "So we have to start looking at protecting the land, cleaning the land, so we can use it for the needs of our communities."



More than a dozen oilfield workers work in the middle of a farmer's field to decommission an old natural gas well in 2019.© Kyle Bakx/CBC

To date, the federal government says that more than 7,135 full-time jobs in B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan have been supported, and over 49,000 wells have been addressed.

"The Department of Finance is in contact with all participating provinces as they wind down their respective well closure programming," said spokesperson Benoit Mayrand, in an email, about whether the federal government will allow Alberta to keep the leftover funds.

Saskatchewan's Accelerated Site Closure Program wrapped up last week and spokesperson Natosha Lipinski said, "We are confident that all $400 million in program funding has been spent in the province in support of Saskatchewan businesses and workers. No program dollars will be returned to the federal government."

About 8,800 wells were reclaimed, in addition to some pipelines and other infrastructure, Lipinski said.

A B.C. government spokesperson said the province will release final numbers for its well cleanup program in the coming weeks.

UK-Japanese partnership to develop fusion materials

23 March 2023

A collaboration agreement has been signed between Japan's Kyoto Fusioneering (KF) and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to develop fusion related technologies. The first project under the collaboration will be the development of a 'fusion-grade' silicon carbide composite system.

A specimen of 'fusion grade' silicon carbide composite made by KF in Japan being handed over to UKAEA for experimentation (Image: UKAEA/KF)

"The collaboration reaffirms the strategic partnership between the United Kingdom and Japan and is based on a mutual commitment to deliver sustainable, commercial fusion energy for generations to come," the partners said.

KF and UKAEA said that as a first step they will develop a silicon carbide composite system (SiC/SiC) suitable for use as a structural material inside a fusion machine and to understand its stability under simulated fusion conditions.

The use of SiC/SiC composites within the breeder blanket of a fusion machine will increase the efficiency and commercial viability of fusion power stations by providing a material that operates at high temperatures and is resistant to neutron damage, they noted.

The Self-Cooled Yuryo Lithium Lead Advanced (SCYLLA) blanket developed by KF is compatible with the lithium-lead based coolant and fuel breeding fluids.

Examination of irradiated composites can only be carried out in a suitable active testing facility and KF has looked to UKAEA's Materials Research Facility (MRF) for support.

New post-irradiation examination methods are being developed by UKAEA to understand the changes in microstructural properties of the SiC/SiC samples caused by radiation damage. As a fibre-reinforced composite, some novel methods need to be used to extract useful material properties.

Under the new agreement, KF will accelerate the development of critical plant components catered to the needs of other fusion companies around the world.

KF already has several contracts awarded by UKAEA to provide its expertise and services, most notably being appointed in August 2022 as a member of the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) Interim Engineering Delivery Partner consortium. KF was also selected as a Tier 1 supplier in 2021 under the UKAEA Tritium Engineering Framework for the STEP fuel cycle.

"The several contracts we have with UKAEA have demonstrated the win-win relationship that can create new value for the society and fusion research and fusion industry," said Kyoto Fusioneering CEO Taka Nagao. "Kyoto Fusioneering will continue to build on our successful technology collaboration to help achieve industrialisation of fusion energy.

"The development of a 'fusion-grade' silicon carbide composite system is not only a huge advancement to the realisation of commercial fusion, but also yet another advantage of the blanket system, which is so important in our collective battle against climate change."

"This collaboration agreement builds on our existing relationship," added UKAEA CEO Ian Chapman. "Putting fusion electricity on the grid requires finding and integrating solutions to several major challenges and we will be working with Kyoto Fusioneering on finding solutions to some of those challenges."

UKAEA has signed several agreements over the past few months to collaborate on the development of fusion technology. These include a strategic research partnership with the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory to better understand the performance and behaviour of materials required for use in future commercial fusion power plants. UKAEA also signed a five-year framework agreement with Tokamak Energy for closer collaboration "on developing spherical tokamaks as a route to commercial fusion energy". It also signed agreements with the University of Sheffield and the University of Birmingham to collaborate on fusion R&D.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

IAEA launches global water resources initiative

24 March 2023

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has launched the Global Water Analysis Laboratory Network to help countries generate their own chemical, biological and isotopic water data and develop tailored water management strategies. 

The IAEA's Grossi, centre, and the FAO's Lifeng Li, right, discussed water action at the UN 2023 Water Conference (Image: UN Photo/Paulo Figueiras)

The Global Water Analysis Laboratory Network (GloWAL) is intended to enable independent data generation in developing countries and reduce technical gaps with developed countries, strengthen water management through training fellowships and exchanges of staff and make water resource management "more sustainable and consequential".

The network will encourage partnerships in regional sub-networks in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific and Central Asia. It was launched at the UN 2023 Water Conference, and is targeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), on Clean Water and Sanitation. The IAEA said that  "laboratories that can generate reliable data in a timely manner are the cornerstone of any country's capacity to better understand and manage their water resources".

The IAEA said isotope hydrology "works on the basis of the composite of water molecules and their isotopic properties, and the combination of these water molecules, which give a water sample a unique ‘fingerprint’ ... analysts can measure isotope ratios to track the flow of water and its travel time. Stable isotopic tracers can be used to determine water quality, while unstable (radioactive) tracers can be used to track water movement".

An example of where the network could help, given by IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi, was that of Tajikistan, which would host a GloWAL laboratory that would be able to monitor the state of glaciers which provide much of the region's freshwater: "Glacier degradation is a very serious problem and by doing this we are giving them the ability to see how fast the glaciers and snowcaps can be regenerated and how to perhaps better manage the run-off water, because, of course, if it is melting, there will be less of it."

Construction work is currently under way on the IAEA Isotope Hydrology Laboratory in Vienna, Austria, which will provide more capacity support for the network and help member states develop more efficient analytical methods.

The launch event also included officials and experts from El Salvador, Germany, Moldova, Namibia, Pakistan, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Switzerland, Tajikistan and the USA, plus other UN bodies, the World Bank Group, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education and the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre.

The impact of climate change means some areas are becoming wetter - and some drier - and pollutants and contaminants can also add to the pressures on water supplies. The IAEA says: "With water data, policymakers can make informed decisions on siting agricultural activities and urban planning, based on sustainability and quality of bulk water supply."

Grossi said that in addition to "promises and descriptions of how dire and severe the situation is, it is important that we take concrete steps together, in order to start redressing the situation and put SDG 6 back on track".

Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General from the partnering World Meteorological Organization, said: ​"We have to improve our understanding of the hydrological cycle. Our recommendation is that countries establish weather stations at the shared locations in the GloWAL network, for a better picture of what is happening through hydrological measurements."

Lifeng Li, director, land and water division at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said it "believes that agriculture can contribute to a more water- and food-secure world in the future" citing the example of larger countries like China and the USA where more efficient and sustainable water and land management practices have led to increased yields from less water, as well as initiatives for reusing and recycling water.

The IAEA said "sustainable financing is a key accelerator" for GloWAL so "welcomes support and collaboration from international financial institutions, governments, the private sector as well as public-private partnerships".

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

DOE issues first Commercial Liftoff reports

23 March 2023

Waiting until the mid-2030s to deploy advanced nuclear at scale in the USA could lead to missing decarbonisation targets as well as having serious supply chain implications, according to a newly released report from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Pathways to Commercial Liftoff programme.

Jennifer Granholm sees a demonstration of X-energy's 3-D virtual reality plant at the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit recently (Image: X-energy's Twitter)

Pathways to Commercial Liftoff - announced by last month by US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm - aims to provide public and private sector capital allocators with a perspective as to how and when various technologies could reach full-scale commercial adoption. The first Liftoff Reports - designed as "living documents" to be updated as the commercialisation outlook on each technology evolves - on clean hydrogen, advanced nuclear, and long duration energy storage, were published on 21 March.

The reports found that cumulative investments must increase from around USD40 billion to USD300 billion by 2030 across the hydrogen, nuclear, and long duration energy storage sectors, with continued acceleration until 2050, to stay on track to realise long-term decarbonisation targets.

According to DOE, advanced nuclear is widely regarded as a clean, firm power source that can reliably complement widespread renewable energy buildout and is key to reaching US decarbonisation goals, as well as having the potential to create long-term, high-paying jobs and deliver new economic opportunities. However, obstacles identified by the report include increasing the deployment of mature technologies and building efficient and timely delivery models.

US domestic nuclear capacity has the potential to scale up from around 100 GWe today to around 300 GWe by 2050 - but there is currently a "commercial stalemate between potential customers and investments in the nuclear industrial base needed for deployment", the Advanced Nuclear Liftoff Report notes. "Utilities and other potential customers recognise the need for nuclear power, but perceived risks of uncontrolled cost overrun and project abandonment have limited committed orders for new reactors."

Rapidly scaling the nuclear industrial base would enable nearer-term decarbonisation and increase capital efficiency, it says: if deployment starts by 2030, ramping annual deployment to 13 GW by 2040 would provide 200 GW by 2050. A five-year delay in scaling the industrial base would require an annual deployment of over 20 GW per year to achieve the same 200 GW deployment and could result in as much as a 50% increase in the capital required.

Path to commercialisation

The report suggests a pathway to commercial scale for advanced nuclear in the USA with three overlapping stages of committed orderbook generation, project delivery, and industrialisation. A committed orderbook - for example signed contracts for 5-10 deployments of at least one reactor design by 2025 - will be needed to catalyse commercial liftoff. Once a "critical mass of demand" is established, delivering the first commercial projects reasonably on time and on budget will become the most important challenge As momentum builds, the industrial base, including workforce, supply chain, and licensing, will need to be scaled up.

The buildout would need around USD700 billion or more from private and public sources, but the report also notes that - as of January 2023 - although US customers have indicated their interest in building nuclear through memoranda of understanding or letters of intent, there were as yet no committed orders for new nuclear reactors in the USA.

Reaching 200 GW of new nuclear capacity in the USA by 2050 will require "deliberate action by both the public and private sectors", the report says. Potential solutions suggested in the report include the pooling of private sector demand to spread the risk - for example through the formation of a consortium of companies committing to 5-10 or more reactors, which could help de-risk the initial builds by sharing costs and potential overruns - or the bulk construction of reactors by a developer who then leases reactors or sells the sell the power through a power purchase agreement to end-users.

Insights

According to the DOE, the Liftoff Reports contain insights and takeaways developed through extensive stakeholder engagement, system-level modelling and project-level financial modelling and are intended are a resource intended to inform decision making across industry, investors, and the broader stakeholder community, but do not reflect DOE official policy or strategic plans.

"As we combat the climate crisis and race towards an equitable clean energy future, public and private partnerships will be more important and critical than ever before," Granholm said. "The Liftoff reports will help drive engagement between government and industry to unlock exciting new opportunities and ensure America is the global leader in the next generation of clean energy technologies."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News