The United Arab Emirates became the first Arab country to open a nuclear power plant last weekend, on August 1. It is the third regional power to do so after fellow Middle Eastern arch-rivals Israel and Iran. But unlike Israel, who has a yet-to-be-known amount of nuclear weapons, and Iran, whose uranium enrichment program is demonstrably perilous to the Middle East, Emiratis haved vowed to only use their nuclear power for energy purposes.

Why is the UAE Building Up its Nuclear Power Program?

Purportedly built to diminish its dependence on oil and gas, the Emirates’ new nuclear program is expected to provide a quarter of the country’s electricity, while its oil and gas exports account for about a quarter of its gross domestic product. However, its four nuclear power units, which were designed by a South Korean firm, have yet to start running, Emiratis said.

Regional powers such as Qatar and Iran, reacted to the UAE’s move by deeming it a threat to the stability of the Middle East. While Doha fears that Emiratis are bolstering their regional hegemony with the new nuclear program, Iran saw in it a novel menace added to that of Israel. Although the United Arab Emirates and Israel have yet to normalize diplomatic ties — despite covert efforts — their shared enmity toward Iran and alliance with the United States appears to have only been growing over the past years.

Qatar and Iran Condemn UAE’s Nuclear Program

In a letter sent by Qatar to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (a UN watchdog) last year, Doha expressed its concerns about its neighboring country’s nuclear program and called on the organization to establish a framework for nuclear security in the region.

“Qatar believes that the lack of any international cooperation with neighboring states regarding disaster planning, health and safety and the protection of the environment pose a serious threat to the stability of the region and its environment,” the letter read.

Qatar, whose ties with the United Arab Emirates have been strained in the last decade over accusations that Qatar supported terrorism in Syria and other conflicted neighboring countries, said that a radioactive plume from an accidental discharge could reach Doha within 13 hours. Qatar also feared that a radiation leak would have a devastating effect on the whole region’s water supply.

The Emirati Perspective

The United Arab Emirates, however, argued that its Barakah nuclear plant, based in Al Gharbiya region that borders Qatar and Saudi Arabia, conforms to the international standards, including those of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “We proudly witness the start of Barakah nuclear power plant operations, in alignment with the highest international safety standards,” Mohammed bin Zayed, the United Arab Emirates’ de facto ruler, tweeted the day of the opening of Barakah.

The nuclear power plant was set to launch on 2017, after a deal with the United States in 2009. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are likely to follow suit, after similar deals with the United States.

Inflaming Middle Eastern Tensions?

Many observers and analysts see in such projects the risk of flaring up tensions between the Middle East’s major actors, not least Iran and its regional proxies, such as the Houthi rebels in Yemen – who claimed an attack against the Barak plant while it was still under construction in 2017. But such plans would not come to be realized without the United States’ explicit support, and thus fall in line with the US foreign policy in the Middle East and the already existing geopolitical settings there.

While Egypt is also planning to build a plant with four nuclear reactors, Saudi Arabia aims at establishing the region’s most significant one, with a plant that would bear as many as 17 reactors.

But none of the Arab countries would use their programs to develop nuclear weapons, as required by the United States, which urged the Saudis and Emiratis to sign safeguard agreements that would allow intrusive inspections. Thus, Israel would remain the only regional country believed to have access to nuclear weapons (with few to no inspections at all), while Iran persists in attempts to achieve the same with its uranium enrichment program despite sanctions and international condemnation.

L'articolo Why the UAE’s New Nuclear Program Won’t Change Much in the Middle East proviene da InsideOver.

Whoever has experienced the horror of atomic explosions will never forget it. As the personal accounts collected in this report show. Read the full report here

L'articolo We, survivors of the atomic bomb proviene da InsideOver.

What is the legacy of a nuclear test site? Contaminated soil for the next 24,000 years. This is what brought Semipalatinsk to its knees. Read the full report here

L'articolo The crime of nuclear testing proviene da InsideOver.

L'articolo Chernobyl, the last liquidators proviene da InsideOver.

Reportage / Society 27.04.2020

The Semipalatinsk Test Site

The road to Semipalatinsk-21 is a long strip of black asphalt pitted with potholes, almost craters, surrounded by endless steppes and villages in the midst of nowhere. There are no road signs indicating Semipalatinsk-21, because the city does not exist….

Alessandro Tesei

Pierpaolo Mittica

Everything was secret. Everything was kept hidden. As Roman Vassilenko, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister confirms. He receives us in his office, in the capital Nur-Sultan, to tell us about this tragic burden that Kazakhstan has had to bear ever since the Soviet Union collapsed. “In 1991 Kazakhstan inherited the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site from the Soviet Union. The President of Kazakhstan Nur-Sultan Nazarbayev decided to shut it down on 29 August 1991. For many decades the effects of the atomic weapons tests were not known to the inhabitants and the local government. Everything was hidden, veiled with secrecy, during the Soviet period.

The test site covered an area of 18,500 square kilometres, but the contamination was detected in an area covering 300,000 square kilometres (comparable to the area of Germany). Much of the soil remains seriously contaminated and cannot be touched for the next 24,000 years. Villages such as Znamenka, Sarzhal and Kaynar, which are practically on the edge of the site, were never evacuated and the population still lives on with the consequences of the contamination. But even bigger towns like Kurchatov and especially Semey, with its 320,000 inhabitants, located less than 100 kilometers from the site, were regularly contaminated by radioactive winds.

In terms of damage to human health, according to various estimates, today there are currently 200,000 people living on highly contaminated soil. They suffer from a sharp rise in the frequency of tumours, congenital deformations and, of course, all the other related pathologies caused by radiation.

L'articolo The Semipalatinsk Test Site proviene da InsideOver.

Reportage / Society 26.04.2020

Chernobyl, the Wound is Still Open

On 26 April 1986, the so-called “liquidators” were sent from all over the Soviet Union to the Chernobyl nuclear station in Ukraine, to contain the disaster and liquidate the consequences of the accident. Between 1986 and 1988 600,000 people were…

Alessandro Tesei

Pierpaolo Mittica

On 26 April 1986, the so-called “liquidators” were sent from all over the Soviet Union to the Chernobyl nuclear station in Ukraine, to contain the disaster and liquidate the consequences of the accident. Between 1986 and 1988 600,000 people were sent over alongside the 60,000 men provided by Kazakhstan. Of these, only 3,000 are alive today. A small Chernobyl museum in Semey pays homage to these forgotten heroes.

It was set up by Kazakhstan’s association of Chernobyl liquidators in order not to forget the tragedy. Further, Chernobyl liquidators in Kazakhstan are twice the victims of radiations suffering not only those of Chernobyl but also of the Semipalatinsk bombing site.

“At the time nobody knew anything because what had happened was immediately clamped with secrecy. I only came to know of it after 9 May. At the time I was serving in the army and all of us militaries were sent down there. Or rather, not just the military, but also specialized civilian units. I took part in the operation in 1988 when I was sent to Chernobyl for three months. I was in Chernobyl for 83 consecutive days. We lived 3 – 15 kilometers from the nuclear power plant.

In the village of Znamenka, one of the most badly hit by the Semipalatinsk bomb site fall out we are welcomed by the village mayor, Abusana Karsakbaev, who was also a Chernobyl liquidator himself.

L'articolo Chernobyl, the Wound is Still Open proviene da InsideOver.

The atomic age officially began on 6 August 1945 with the explosion of the first nuclear device for military purposes: the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Of course, everything had begun long before, with the discovery of nuclear fission in 1938 and the development of the first atomic bomb in the United States’ Los Alamos laboratories which was secretly detonated in the 16 July 1945 “Trinity test” at the Alamogordo bombing range in New Mexico. Since then, nuclear power, rather than a resource, has become a nightmare for humanity, what with the development of nuclear armaments and the construction of nuclear plants.

By dropping two atomic bombs on Japan, on Hiroshima on 6 August and on the city of Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, the United States besides causing some 250,00 deaths, put an end to the Second World War and marked the start of two historical events: the atomic age and the Cold War.

The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States began immediately following the end of the Second World, around 1947, and ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, when Mikhail Gorbačëv and George H. W. Bush declared the end of a period of tensions at the Malta summit on 3 December 1989. The Cold War years left an indelible mark on the entire world.

During this period the two super powers developed nuclear weapons in order to gain an advantage over the other. The Cold War was waged on the development of nuclear weapons: both parties hoped that their mere existence would be a strong enough deterrent to avoid an outright war.

However, the advancement of nuclear weapons brought with it another horrendous legacy in both countries: the Semipalatinsk bombing range in Kazakhstan, and the Nevada Test Site in the United States where 456 and 1021 nuclear warheads were tested respectively.

As well as contamination caused by the nuclear experiments, another type of contamination evolved at the same time: contamination caused by accidents at civil nuclear power stations. Building atomic warheads required fissionable materials like plutonium, and such materials could only be produced in nuclear plants. On 8 December 1953 the United States president delivered a speech at the United Nations General Assembly by the title “Atoms for peace”. The speech aimed to convince humanity of the need for nuclear plants, presenting them as “civilian nuclear stations” for the production of energy to be used by mankind. Disregarding the risks and issues that these would quickly cause as well as the nuclear accidents and their consequences, of which Chernobyl was a prime example.

The atomic era had begun, and with it all its terrible consequences.

L'articolo Tales of the Atomic Age proviene da InsideOver.

On Friday (December 13), leaders of the European Union (EU), except Poland, reached a deal for being carbon neutral by 2050 in a summit in Brussels, meaning that the bloc’s 28 member countries must lower their carbon emissions from fossil fuel and seek alternatives to balance the remaining emissions.

The meeting in Brussels is the first summit after the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promoted the “Green Deal” (European Green Deal), a proposal aimed at transforming the EU economy and reaching climate neutrality in the middle of this century.

“Our goal is to reconcile the economy with our planet, to reconcile the way we produce, the way we consume with our planet, and to make it work with our people. The old-growth model is out of date and out of touch with our planet,” Von der Leyen, the former German defence minister, spoke following the adoption of the agreement.

What is in the deal?

The goal includes proposals to slash emission to 50 per cent of 1990 levels, or even lower by 2030. According to the bloc report in 2018, emissions within the organization has significantly dropped in the last two decades. Yet, the EU emissions still contribute 9.6 per cent to the annual global carbon emission.

The deal also introduces a new circular economy action plan which describes more detail on how to manufacture eco-friendly products that can be recycled and reused. The circular economy action plan will focus on carbon-intensive sectors such as cement, textiles, and steel.

Several Eastern nations want assurance

Poland, where 80% of the country’s electricity relies on coal, opposed the plan in a lengthy debate. The country’s Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, announced that his side has been exempt from the 2050 deadline for carbon neutrality.

“This rule that must also be included in the legislative process, the rule that Poland would be reaching climate neutrality at its own pace,” Morawiecki said as BBC quoted, adding that Brussels has provided financial assistance to the most affected region by fossil fuel reduction.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told journalists that Poland would have time until a summit in June 2020 to decide whether it would join the commitment to implementing the climate initiative.

There is no division of Europe into different parts, but there is a member state that still needs a bit more time,” Merkel added

Previously the Czech Republic raised its objection to the 2050 carbon neutrality. However, Prague finally agreed after the EU guaranteed that its member countries could use nuclear energy to curb emissions.

Under the deal, the EU provides a funding platform called €100bn Just Transition Mechanism, targeting the most vulnerable countries in transition to move to eco-friendly energy.

Does the deal show any progress?

As the UN climate talks in Madrid (known as COP 25) ended in disappointment, the EU achievement can be considered a decisive breakthrough.

However, green activists push for a higher emission target to 65 per cent by 2030. The plan will be adopted next summer, ahead of the 2020 Glasgow climate summit.

Timing is everything. Now EU member states have a big responsibility to agree on a much higher 2030 climate target at the European Council in June 2020,” Wendel Trio of the Climate Action Network told The Guardian.

The plan has its flaws too

Nothing is flawless in this world. The green deal is praised for focusing on workers’ protection (to anticipate job losses in the fossil fuel sector) and investment in renewable energy. Yet, the plan does not provide details on what energy mix the EU will count on, types of technologies deployed, and incentives for lowering emissions.

The rise of Green Parties across Europe may push the implementation of the deal. However, it is unlikely that Europe will implement the plant now given the stagnant growth and resistance to the policy that affects citizens’ lives (like the Yellow Vest rally that protested a fuel price hike in France last year and now they are protesting pension reforms). Despite the declining emissions, reaching the target set in the benchmark will be a long way to go.

Helen Mountford, vice president of climate and economics at the World Resources Institute, stated as Vox quoted: “The European Council can demonstrate leadership by adopting a more ambitious national climate commitment next year. This, in turn, would help open the door for more major economies to put forward ambitious climate plans in 2020.”

L'articolo Can the EU Green Deal Solve The Climate Problems? proviene da InsideOver.

Iran, a country with a population of over 80 million people is facing a new crisis which threatens to destabilize its government. In the face of numerous sanctions imposed by the United States, the locals are now stepping onto the streets to fight for their rights. The primary concern among those is the increase in fuel prices. Setting cars on fire, vandalizing shops and facing off against security officials, mainly the Revolutionary Guard Corps, has not come at an easy price. Many Iranians risk losing their lives but that is just the beginning.

Iranians are suffering from what they call a crisis that has taken over their homeland. What they look for now in the face of dark sanctions and problems looming on the state is an uncertain future that might risk the lives of millions of citizens. However, the problems cannot only be blamed on the Iranian government since numerous issues need to be taken into account. Firstly, the biggest problem that Iran faces today could be linked to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The JCPOA is an agreement signed by Iran, China, France, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States. The 2015 agreement aimed to curb Iran’s nuclear activities and prevent the enrichment of uranium.

This was just the beginning as the United States and the United Nations planned to impose a multitude of sanctions if Iran refrained from keeping its commitments. These sanctions mainly targeted a range of Iranian diplomats and entities which included the government and the financial sectors. These weren’t the only planned sanctions; anyone trading with Iran would also be sanctioned under the demonic agenda set by the institutions. Iran has stated on several different occasions that its nuclear activities were not being run to produce nuclear weapons but were solely being used to develop nuclear energy. There might be a difference in opinion but the Iranian government has reiterated its stance regarding its nuclear activities on many different occasions.

Coming back to the country itself, we must realize that Iran is facing immense pressure from the international community to cut down on nuclear rejuvenations. Facing so many sanctions over time, it has embroiled the country’s economy in a complete meltdown. The protests that recently erupted across the country were due to some of the decisions the government took considering the hefty sanctions it was facing. The Iranian government sharply raised fuel prices which acted as a blowback since citizens took to the streets denouncing the move and called on the government to reverse its policies.

Iran is an extremely oil-rich country. Given the circumstances, the government should not have raised the prices but it was forced to do so since the economic problems took a turn for the worse. Sharp inflation in the country, basic rights in jeopardy and a bleak future led to mass protests. During these protests, the internet remained shut down as the government tried to peacefully quell the demonstrations. However, that brought more agony and anger as protesters torched numerous buildings, gas stations and everything and anything that came in their way.

The Iranian government dispatched the special Revolutionary Guard Corps to disperse protesters however, things turned violent. Amnesty International says at least 143 protesters have been killed in the disturbances. The number is yet to be confirmed by those in Tehran but sources say it could be much higher than expected. Considering the blockade of the internet, numerous conflicting reports have emerged stating that the guards converged on a more violent technique by shooting protesters. A country already facing a financial crunch, the protests added more costs and burden for the government.

The loss of lives, economic costs and people demanding their rights. Stories emerging from Iran give us a new perspective that people do want change and they need it immediately. Despite the rise in protests, the government did eventually manage to secure peace in the country. It said the protests were a ‘conspiracy’ designed by the United States to bring down the Iranian government. It may or may not be the case, since the United States has targeted Iranians through its ‘maximum pressure’ campaign, a move it says would cripple the Iranian economy and would subsequently leave the officials with no other option but to give in to American demands.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says ‘global arrogance’ against Iran would soon be quelled as he believes the Iranian people trust higher authorities to solve their problems. Modern-day problems require modern solutions and this is something which needs to be highlighted. The only solution to the chaos in the country would be mediation between the members of the JCPOA. Iran should also be willing to comply with international agreements and hopefully try to get the United States back on the negotiating table since it opted an exit in 2018. With France and Germany somewhat supporting Iran, a peaceful outcome could be calibrated where all sides benefit from one each other’s policies, regulations and cooperation.

L'articolo Iran’s Reluctance to Back Down in the Face of Crisis proviene da InsideOver.

Saudi Arabia’s nuclear ambitions continue to inch closer to realization. The U.S. Department of Energy revealed this week that the Trump Administration had approved a total of seven permits pertaining to the transfer of nuclear expertise to the Middle Eastern kingdom. The ties between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Riyadh counterpart, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have always raised eyebrows, but this time politicians from both parties are irked.

One reason is the timing of the permits, called 810 authorizations. The first was approved only two weeks following the murder of Washington Post journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi. Following international outcries, Mohammed bin Salman eventually accepted responsibility for the killing which took place at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, but continues to insist it was an accident. Only a few months before that event last October, the crown prince was on a world tour including two weeks in the U.S. courting business magnates and politicians alike.

During a stop at the White House last March, Trump and the Mohammed bin Salman discussed a host of issues including Iran and human rights, but mostly the business relationship between the kingdom and U.S. weapons manufacturers. $400 billion worth of purchases was pledged by Saudi Arabia, a staggering number that Trump boasted about during a press gathering. The president made a point to associate the arms with benefits to the U.S. economy.

“We’re talking about over 40,000 jobs in the United States,” Trump said.

Whether that number is statistically accurate or not, there is no slowing down the flow of U.S. technology and expertise to Riyadh. Trump’s cozy business relationship with the kingdom has faced unprecedented scrutiny, not only on the suspicion of backdoor arrangements, but also due to both Khashoggi’s murder and Saudi involvement in the Yemen Civil War.

Both houses of Congress passed a historic War Powers Resolution in April to curtail U.S. involvement, legislation which Trump promptly vetoed.

While U.S. weapons sales were on the rise even before he assumed office – U.S. weapons exports rose 30 percent during 2013-2017 over the previous five-year duration – Trump has been emboldened by unchecked power. With his own party holding power in the Senate, veto power over any binding legislation that does happen to pass, and emergency powers that Republicans refuse to rein-in, Trump’s administration practically taunts any notion of corruption investigations with deals between Washington and Riyadh. Take for instance Westinghouse Electric Company: the nuclear company declared bankruptcy in 2017 yet the company that bought it out, Brookfield Asset Management, spent $1 billion to rent a Manhattan property owned by Jared Kushner.  Perhaps coincidentally, Trump met with the company in February.

Westinghouse’s bankruptcy was pinned on failed nuclear reactor deals in the United States. It just so happens there’s another place welcoming nuclear installations with open arms: Saudi Arabia.

In 2011, the late King Abdullah devised a plan to construct 16 reactors in the kingdom with the stated goal of using it to supply energy for his country. At that time, his country’s oil exports were steadily on the rise, hitting record highs for the decade, but Abdullah declared that the kingdom should use less and export more. While the plan was later downscaled to only two reactors, Riyadh has continued its pursuit.

Naturally this has furrowed some eyebrows across the international community because while nuclear energy can certainly power a nation, it can also lead to the development of nuclear weapons. According to Mohammed bin Salman, it is not a current goal of Saudi Arabia, but in the event that Iran develops its own nuclear weapons, Riyadh would do so as well.

Saudi Arabia’s advancement towards potentially becoming a nuclear state could certainly hinder any discussions with Iran. Trump recently cancelled the Iranian nuclear deal and imposed harsh sanctions that are beginning to cripple the Iranian economy. Thus far, diplomatic discussions have yet to resume, although Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani have both spoken publicly about their willingness to meet.

Surely when they do, the Washington’s relationship with Riyadh, a longtime adversary of Iran, will be called into question. A nuclear Saudi Arabia, should it go down that path, would make it the first Middle Eastern state to develop its own weapons. Presently, Israel is only thought to have the capability with no official determination. The closest neighbors possessing nuclear arms are India and Turkey, which is a part of NATO’s nuclear weapons sharing program enabling it to possess them, but not develop their own.

Mohammed bin Salman has not shied away from ambitious pursuits to transform his nation. At times these have been markedly positive, such as permitting women to drive and allowing cinemas. However, the manner by which he is pushing Saudi Arabia to regional dominance has the potential to harm even the economics of its neighbors. For instance, Riyadh rallied some of the gulf countries to end all relations with Qatar over its alleged support for the Muslim Brotherhood. In today’s world, Saudi Arabia has the power to accuse and punish other states for supporting terrorism, a sobering notion. With nuclear capabilities, it would have ultimate regional dominance and Trump seems perfectly content with this as long as the money continues to flow.

The U.S. Congress has limited options at its disposal to break up the Washington – Riyadh relationship, and Trump has proven he can circumvent just about anything it throws his way. While the 810 permits do not allow the transfer of equipment or technology, only expertise, it’s the first sign that the romance has entered a new stage and it has the power to disrupt Iranian negotiations and regional stability, to say nothing about the continuing humanitarian conflict in Yemen.

One form of recourse that House of Representatives might try is to place conditions within its annual national defense budget, or even refuse to pass the annual National Defense Authorization Act entirely. This military funding legislation must be renewed for the Department of Defense to continue operations.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi hasn’t publicly admitted to considering the option yet, but her spokesperson said that any options available to Congress would be considered to end U.S. involvement in Yemen. Until then, a group of seven senators from both parties will hold votes of disapproval for 22 individual weapons transactions with Saudi Arabia. Although the votes have no binding power, they will publicly rebuke the continued support of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican and staunch Trump supporter, has even added his support for the measure.

Saudi Arabia can obtain nuclear technology and know-how from a number of other states including China and Russia, so preventing it from obtaining the technology is perhaps impossible. It doesn’t have to be with U.S. support, however, and certainly not at a time when it is suffocating Iran for having a fully-IAEA compliant nuclear program.

L'articolo Nuclear Power Rising: Trump’s Relationship with Saudi Arabia Called into Question proviene da InsideOver.