Up In Flames.

Fire!

The ATLANTIC CARTIER is a Swedish owned Ro-ro/container carrier which was built during 1985.

At present it is in port at Hamburg, and was scheduled to be sailing on to Antwerp.

But . . . .

On May 1st the ship became seriously damaged as it went up in flames.

The ships cargo included 9 tons uranium hexafluoride ( UF6 ),
which was destined for the Areva owned uranium-enriching plant at Lingen, Lower Saxony.

Also included in the cargo were four tonnes of explosives, and 180 tons of flammable ethanol.

Explosions and Toxic Clouds.

If the ship had exploded, then a cloud  of the uranium hexafluoride might of been released in to the atmosphere.

Here is a quote from  wikipedia which will give you some idea as to what would of happen next:-

‘ When UF6 is exposed to moist air, it reacts with the water in the air to produce UO2F2 (uranyl fluoride) and HF (hydrogen fluoride) both of which are highly corrosive and toxic. ’

One can only speculate about just what else might of happened next – ? ? ?

As you might imagine there has been a lot of concerns about this issue both within Hamburg, and throughout the world.

It will be very interesting to read the inquiry report as to just how this accident came about, and just why the boat was allowed to carry such a mixture of dangerous materials.

On the High Seas – – –

In the meanwhile: –

Here is a link to the International Maritime Organisation ( IMO ) resolution upon  INTERNATIONAL MARITIME DANGEROUS GOODS.

While I’m left wondering just how many ships with such a dangerous mixture of highly dangerous cargoes are currently to be found sailing upon the high seas, and just which ports they visit on a regular basis ?

Looking To Find A Nukiller Waste Train.

Many towns in Britain have nukiller waste passing through them via the railways.

Finding out just when they go through any town has been a very time consuming and costly process – up until now.

One way of finding out has been by purchasing a copy of Freightmaster.

Now you can look up some of the same information via Realtime Trains.

This is a really useful online resource, especially as it gives an exact set of times and towns which these trains go through.

If your uncertain as to which ones to look at on your search,
then they will code as ZZ ,
and are run by DRS ( Direct Rail Services ).

New Guards At Springfields.

Here is a news story about one of the key plants in the nukiller fuel cycle.

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) are about to be withdraw from the Springfields site at Salwick near Preston.

The plant is one in which nukiller fuel rods and other key reactor items are assembled.

What is not so clear at present is just who will provide ‘security’ at the plant once the CNC have been withdrawn.

Will it be the local constabulary ?
or
A private company like G4S ?

Only time will tell.

Small Change For The Bank Please.

Some years ago I was in a shop on Green Lane, Harringay.

While I was in the process of waiting to pay for my goods a woman came to the counter and asked if she could change a £20 note for some small change.

The shop keeper did this, and the woman went back next door to her place of Employment.

Nothing so remarkable you might think,  except for just one fact.

She worked in a branch of the Bank of Cyprus.

I’ll make no further comment.

Associating With Armed Guards.

BIMCO is an International shipping association which exists to facilitate the commercial operations of its membership organisations.

BIMCO is now about to offer an associate membership to private
maritime security companies which achieve the International
Standards Organisation’s PAS 28007.

The good news is that the UK Chamber of Shipping has rejected the
idea of having private security firms as a part of the organisation.

Policing Cumbia

There are a lot of changes going on around Cumbrian,
and the Windscale / Sellafield nukiller plant.

Cumbria Constabulary, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary have just launched the Sellafield Policing Unit.

This new police unit has been created
‘to specifically deal with conventional policing issues that occur
in and around the Sellafield’.

The new unit will consist of 17 police officers:
Eight of which will be based at the plant and the rest at
Whitehaven Police Station.

Exactly who this new unit will report to,
and just how  it will operate in practice,
is something which will need to be monitored from now on.

The creation of this new unit raises some interesting questions about police accountability, and other civil liberty issues.

An Anarchist Perspective On Plebgate.

This morning I had one of those most enlightening conversations
which I tend to have with members of the Met Police Diplomatic
Protection Group.

The conversation took place while I was picketing outside of the Japanese Embassy.

We talked about the long term effects of nukiller power.

All very much of a scary set of issues.

I also got to chat with him about the Plebgate issue,
and  both agreed that the whole thing is very much blown up out of all proportion.

One point I did make to him on this issue: –
As an anarchist my sympathies are very much with the police.

I’ve always found members of the Met Police Diplomatic
Protection group to be very polite to me,
and why should they be any different while on duty at Downing Street?

Yet here is the bottom line: –

Plebgate revolves around the conduct of a tory politician,
&
who’s ever going to believe the word of  any former Conservative chief whip?

I of course think that there is nothing wrong with being called a pleb,  or one of the people,  but elitist politicians do have a tendency to forget the people whom they are supposed to be
representing.

Enough said for now – – – – .

A Little Long Term Thinking

Problems Solved.

I keep hearing people being very pessimistic about our future
prospects due to climate change,
and yet there are still many things which we can all do in order to
stop this ecological disaster from completely destroying us all.

Yet it’s not so long ago that we all faced other ecological
problems which are no longer with us.

– We no longer have cadmium used in plastic toys.

– Tin soldiers are a thing of the past.

– A ‘Pea Souper’ is now just an historical expression.

– Drums of low lever nukiller waste are no longer dumped in to the Atlantic.

– We no longer build our homes with cancer causing asbestos.

– There is now an international ban on the use of  PCBs
[ polychlorinated biphenyl ].

&

– We no longer discharge untreated sewage in to many rivers throughout the world.

Problems Still To Be Solved.

That’s a good record so far, but we still have a lot more to do.

Though the task list might be a short one it could we a while
before we complete these tasks: –

– Reafforestation.

– Stopping over population.

– No longer using climate changing fuels.

&

– Closing  down the Nukiller power industry.

Yet it is the longer term which we really do need to be thinking about.

Starting with the decades and still working on the same issues for centuries to come.

One of the major problems with Nukiller power is that it takes
many decades to decommission these plants.

The current and future problem being that it will take between
100 & 120 years before all the existing fuel rods are cool enough
to move. That’s not my line, but what we have been told by those
who run these plants.

Then all the highly radioactive & chemically complex waste will
need to be stored: –

– Not just centuries, but many thousands of years to come.

So far there have been many ideas put forward about how to deal with this waste,
but no realistic solutions are in sight.

27013

If dealing with this waste was ever to be added to the electricity
fuel bill which we all pay for,
then it would equate to a life after life mortgage for many many
generations to come.

It would be like asking the average taxpayer to contribute to the
building of the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, Stone Henge,
Wells Cathedral, and for that debt to continue until the year 27013.

The year 27013 being based upon the half life of plutonium,
but of course it will still be very dangerous for a lot longer than that.

Now this is were the really scary issue kicks in.

Most current anti-nukiller campaigning centres around stopping new plants being built,
and the current ones closed down.

Yet that is just the start of our long term problems.

We need to be thinking and campaigning upon just what will happen to these plants in the long term.

That is why we will need to all think about a 120 year anti-nukiller campaigning strategy,
and we need to do it now.

Though there are still a lot more nukiller ‘accidents’ waiting to happen.

While we still have the continuing disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima to resolve.

There are very few people who are capable of doing any long term thinking,
never mind thinking in to centuries to come,
yet that is just what we all need to start doing right now.

The Power of Wind Power In Our Cities.

Anyone who has ever held a smiling sun flag or anti-nukiller-power banner will know just what the wind can do.

Here is proof of just what we can do with such a power.

UK windfarms now generate enough power to light and heat more than 3 million homes.

Now if only that power could be used to power vertical windturbines on our city street, and combined it with solar panels , then we would never need to pay for street lighting ever again.

Just think of the savings which would be made on public expenditure this way,  and how that money might be better used for social care or libraries.

Such projects could also kick start local economies,
& be an ideal form of co-operative employment.