LLAW’s All Things Nuclear #555, Thursday (02/29/2024)
“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”
PG&E’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on Avila Beach near San Luis Obispo, CA
LLAW’s COMMENTS, Thursday (02/29/2024)
Final Part of the Prologue to “El Nuclear Diablo”, a dystopian novel:
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These last several days we have followed spring’s warming north along the western United States and British Columbia coasts by yacht. Any boat is ripe for the pickings of choice at any deserted marina, which would likely be most all of them, although two of our crew also happen to be the legal owners of our schooner, which offers us all some conscience relief.
California, Oregon, and Washington (other than the governmental delayed shutdown of the Diablo Canyon plant, have long been devoid of operational nuclear power plants with the exception of Washington’s inland Richmond plant (known as the “Columbia River Generating Station”), which, unlike Diablo Canyon was, is not in the process of closing, leaving it to eventually be the only functional nuclear power generation facility anywhere in the entire Pacific Northwest or anywhere else along the western Pacific coastline from the Aleutians to Tierra del Fuego. We very soon will be looking forward to scientific help from the governmental and corporate professionals in specialized expertise in eastern Washington who are still to this day handling and cleaning up the fallout from the infamous Hanford plutonium military arms manufacturing disaster that has contaminated wide swaths of earth and the Columbia River for decades. Oregon has not had an operating nuclear power plant since the mid-1990s when their only facility, near Mt. St. Helens, developed structural cracks forcing the plant to close, and British Columbia has, quite honorably, never built one. Alaska’s only nuclear facility was shut down more than fifty years ago, and today it uses diesel engines to generate steam. Juneau is the closest downwind haven from nuclear airborne protection and freedom from contamination that the climate and geography can offer, along with the fortunate absence of nearby previously operational nuclear power facilities, providing at least a temporary refuge from the eastern Asian Pacific together with the clusters of endangered nuclear plants in the central and eastern United States, eastern Canada, and European soon-to- become providers of world-wide extinction level atmospheric conditions.
Some of the oceanographers, atmospheric scientists and meteorologists who were already stationed here in Juneau are trying to determine the predicted world-wide safe zones and timelines, comparing Juneau’s and its surrounding weather patterns and wind history elsewhere around the United States and around the world. They have long understood the favorable high-altitude wind currents from the north and southeast creating wind havoc among the treacherous three-thousand+ foot mountain ranges rising from sea level, providing conditions that hopefully will carry airborne radiation far above and around us for a few months at least, giving us critical time to figure out just where the world’s few survivors will need to migrate and congregate. We know, too, that global communications will be inadequate to the point of probable futility, possibly requiring some of us to travel, sometimes long distances afoot, to gather these groups together and guide them to new promising safelands.
Our future could turn out to be very much like an extended encore and final Mad Max film, although, ironically, Australia has no nuclear energy power plants, which they banned officially in 1998. But true isolated tribalism will return everywhere to the few of us who are left to make our way on a mostly neutered and dead planet that will eventually consume Australia as well, although it may be the last bastion of life along with New Zealand, whose leaders have also banned nuclear reactors save for the joint U.S. military/Australia world-wide espionage Pine Ridge project near Alice Springs. Yet this death threat by inept and by nature outclassed human hands meddling with something akin to the power of the sun will eventually be a significant part of their survival story, if they are so fortunate, as well as our own.
A new way of life in a desolate lonesome world does not normally make for a pretty picture — nor a heart-warming romantic adventure tale. But still…so long as there is hope there is a story and an untold story has its own future… ~llaw (Spring, 2026)
End Prologue
“El Nuclear Diablo”, Chapter 1 will begin, serialized, on “LLAWs’ All Things Nuclear” on the evening of Thursday, March 14th. Reminders will be plentiful . . . ~llaw
ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:
There are 6 categories (including a bonus category at the end for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity that also play an important role in humanity’s lives) as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links to the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:
All Things Nuclear
Nuclear Power
Nuclear War
Nuclear Power Emergencies
Nuclear War Threats
Yellowstone Caldera (There are three Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in tonight’s Post.)
Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.
A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (per above). If a category heading does not appear, it means there was no news reported from this category today. There are three Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available tonight.
(A reminder, just in case: When linked, the access to the media story will be underlined. If there is no link to a media story of interest you can still copy and paste the headline and lead line into your browser to find the article you are seeking. Hopefully this will never happen.)
TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS (02/29/2024):
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
Expanding wildfires force Texas nuclear facility to pause operations - Little Rock Public Radio
Little Rock Public Radio
Wildfires swept across the Texas Panhandle early Wednesday, prompting evacuations, cutting off power to thousands, and forcing at least the ...
Expanding wildfires force Texas nuclear facility to pause operations | KNKX Public Radio
KNKX
Rapidly moving Texas wildfires Tuesday prompted evacuations in small towns and shut down a nuclear facility as strong winds, dry grass and ...
One of the largest wildfires in Texas history still burning in the Texas Panhandle | KERA News
KERA News
Firefighting crews continue to battle the Smokehouse Creek fire in Hutchinson County. The wildfire has affected more than 500000 acres so far, ...
Nuclear Power
NEWS
House approves bipartisan bill aimed at bolstering nuclear energy | The Hill
The Hill
The House on Wednesday evening approved bipartisan legislation that aims to bolster nuclear energy. The vote was 365-36, with one additional ...
The Long-Awaited Nuclear-Energy Revival Shows Progress - National Review
National Review
There has been a resurgence in support for nuclear-energy development amidst growing concerns about the role of emissions in global climate ...
Duncan Delivers Major, Comprehensive, Bi-Partisan Nuclear Energy Reforms in the House
Jeff Duncan - House.gov
Washington, D.C. — After the House passed Rep. Jeff Duncan's Atomic Energy Advancement Act (H.R. 6544) that ensures efficient and predictable ...
NRC shares Clinton license renewal application online - American Nuclear Society - American Nuclear Society
Nuclear War
NEWS
Putin warns West of risk of nuclear war, says Moscow can strike Western targets | Reuters
Reuters
President Vladimir Putin told Western countries on Thursday they risked provoking a nuclear war if they sent troops to fight in Ukraine, ...
Putin warns of nuclear war in Ukraine | - Times of India - Times of India
Putin warns the West that sending troops to Ukraine risks a nuclear war - NBC News
NBC News
... stepped up his threats against Western countries Thursday, warning that if they send their own troops into Ukraine they risk global nuclear war.
Putin warns that sending Western troops to Ukraine risks a global nuclear war - AP News
AP News
Putin warns that sending Western troops to Ukraine risks a global nuclear war. Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his state-of-the-nation ...
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEW
USA is littered with nuclear sites that could face danger from natural disasters
USA Today
That could either impede regular or emergency maintenance. ... Eleven states are home to nuclear weapons, 28 to nuclear power plants and spent nuclear ...
Nuclear weapon factory forced to evacuate as Texas wildfires threaten plant
The Independent
... emergency arise on the plant site.” Pantex re-opened and resumed operations as normal on Wednesday morning. Pantex is about 17 miles (27.36 ...
Nuclear weapon factory forced to evacuate as Texas wildfires threaten plant - AOL.com
AOL.com
Officials implored them to turn on their cellphones' emergency alerts and be ready to evacuate immediately. They described some roads as having fire ...
Nuclear War Threats
NEW
Putin warns the West that sending troops to Ukraine risks a nuclear war - NBC News
NBC News
Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped up his threats against Western countries Thursday, warning that if they send their own troops into ...
Putin threatens West with nuclear weapons if troops come to Ukraine | The Hill
The Hill
But, Putin doubled down on his threats against any NATO action, saying ... The Russian leader has threatened to use nuclear weapons throughout the war ...
Sending troops to Ukraine would risk provoking nuclear war, Putin tells Nato - The Guardian
The Guardian
Putin spent a considerable portion of the address discussing Russia's population decline and the threat it poses to the country. Russia suffered two ...
Yellowstone Caldera
NEWS
RESIDENT ALIEN Recap: (S03E03) 141 Seconds - Geek Girl Authority
Geek Girl Authority
Instead, he expresses interest in the talking cartoon raccoon display, which informs visitors about Yellowstone's caldera. ... Yellowstone caldera again ...