Nord Stream 2: possible legal obstacles after completion

 In a very interesting paper Prof. Alan Riley explains that the contentious pipeline "Nord Stream 2" might not be operational even after constructional completion. The project may face legal counteraction.

Quote:

"However, even if a deal is not possible and Nord Stream 2 is technically completed despite the threat of US sanctions, it is far from clear that the pipeline can enter into operation any time soon. There is the prospect of a significant EU law battle at least over the application of the liberalization provisions of the Gas Directive 2009"

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://huri.harvard.edu/files/huri/files/riley_-_nord_stream_2.pdf?m=1618864282

Nuclear waste: France and Germany find agreement on taking back containers

 Source: WELT

Germany has agreed with France on a new way to take back castors containing highly radioactive nuclear waste. According to a joint information paper from the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Environment Ministry, three to five containers with highly radioactive nuclear waste are to be returned from La Hague, France, to the Philippsburg interim storage facility in Baden-Württemberg by 2024. This would complete the return of all nuclear waste that Germany has to take back from France. According to the ministries, the agreement should be decided in plenary this Thursday.

The original plan provided for the return of 157 containers with medium-level radioactive material from the French plant in La Hague. Five castor casks with medium-level radioactive waste were originally intended to be returned to the Philippsburg interim storage facility and 152 casks with medium-level metal residues from refurbished fuel assemblies to the Ahaus interim storage facility in North Rhine-Westphalia.

EU: Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will hit Russia and Turkey

 German newspaper WELT reports on the planned green house gas tariffs on goods from non-EU-member states:

Climate protection is currently well received by voters; At the geopolitical level, however, ambitious climate policy doesn't just make friends. This applies above all to the currently discussed climate tariff for products that are produced in countries with less stringent climate regulations than Europe.

The so-called CO2 border adjustment is intended to make imported products that are more harmful to the climate overseas than in Europe more expensive at the borders of the EU. The climate protection wall around the continent could thus ensure that European producers, with their higher energy costs, can remain competitive on their home market. Stricter climate rules and rising energy prices should be possible without endangering jobs, for example in the energy-intensive steel industry.

Nord Stream 2: Putin's bizarre statements at the SPIEF

 German newspaper BILD has compiled to most bizarre assertions of Putin at the SPIEF:

Lies have short legs - especially when you are the president of the largest country in the world and listen carefully to a critic from near and far.

At the Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg, Russia's ruler Vladimir Putin gave his eagerly awaited speech on Friday. Particularly important from a German point of view: its inlets to the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2 - and the associated dwindling gas flows through Ukraine.

What Putin delivered was a mixture of half-truths and announcements that exposed his earlier promises and treaty signings as lies. Also and especially to Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel personally, whose word supposedly carries so much weight with Russia's autocratic leader.

Claim 1: Nord Stream 2 tube completed

Putin's claim that the first strand of Nord Stream 2 was as good as finished caused the greatest excitement. Putin proudly announced: "Two and a half hours ago the laying of the first pipeline of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was successfully completed."

Now all that remains to be done is to “lift and weld parts of the pipe on the Russian side. That is all, ”said Putin.

EU: Commission approves German support for cogenerated electricity

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, the prolongation and modification of an existing German scheme to support the production of electricity from new, modernised and retrofitted highly efficient cogeneration (‘CHP') plants (except coal and lignite-fired CHP). The scheme (‘Kraft-Wärme-Kopplungsgesetz' – ‘KWKG 2020'), which is approved until 2026, will further promote energy efficiency, lead to a better integration of cogenerated power into the German electricity market and lower CO2 emissions, without unduly distorting competition.

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “The German scheme will promote energy efficiency and contribute to further reductions in CO2 emissions, in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal. Compared to the existing German scheme to support cogenerated electricity, the new scheme introduces new features which aim at further ensuring the competitiveness of the tenders through which the support will be granted, as well as at keeping electricity prices low for consumers and incentivising cogeneration plants to operate at times of higher electricity demand, that is when it's needed the most.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_2842

China: a listing of failing chinese technology

 Legal Insurrection writes: 

The Chinese mishandling of infectious agents is merely one in a long list of potentially deadly scientific missteps. There have been several news stories in the last few weeks and months that show disturbing and potentially catastrophic failures of many engineering projects.

Last year, experts questioned the massive Three Gorges Dam’s safety, warning that it could collapse at any moment due to summer rains. Unfortunately, we do not know if anyone resolved the engineering issues associated with that structure with the summer rainy season approaching.

More recently, officials evacuated and closed the 1,167-feet SEG Plaza in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen as the skyscraper began to wobble.

The Shenzhen government said on its microblog that no additional swaying had been detected since Tuesday, when the moving building caused objects on desks in the building to move and workers were evacuated from the tower.

Panicked pedestrians could be seen fleeing the area after the rocking began in videos shared to social media. Several nearby buildings were also evacuated, as police and fire crews sealed off the surrounding area.  

“Based on an analysis, any seismic event has been ruled out as a possible cause,” the Shenzhen government said, adding that the building’s infrastructure, windows and other architectural features appeared undamaged and there were no signs of cracks in the surrounding streets.

You can read the rest of this piece via the below link:

https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/05/a-disturbing-review-of-stolen-and-failing-chinese-technology/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-disturbing-review-of-stolen-and-failing-chinese-technology

 

EU: state of affairs of the ITER fusion reactor

 ITER is a unique project, aiming to build the world’s largest fusion machine. By fostering innovation and international collaboration, the project creates economic growth and job opportunities, while putting the EU in the lead of global fusion research. 

The construction work started in 2007 in Cadarache, in the south of France, on a 42 hectare site that today hosts the tokamak, several buildings, infrastructure and power supplies. ITER is one of the most complex engineering projects in history, as it will require millions of components to assemble the giant reactor that will weigh 23,000 tonnes.

The project stems from the ITER agreement, which was signed by 7 partners in 2006: China, Euratom (represented by the European Commission), India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the USA.  Together, they govern the ITER Organization, which is responsible for constructing and managing the project, and they all pool financial and scientific resources to it. Each partner has a domestic agency that manages its contributions; the EU’s agency is called Fusion for Energy and is located in Barcelona, Spain.

In addition to the ITER activities, the EU is also supporting fusion research, education and training activities through the EUROfusion consortium funded by the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025.

The (near) fusion future

ITER aims to produce 10 times more fusion power than the heating power put into the plasma, making it the key experimental step between today’s research machines and tomorrow’s fusion power plants.

2020 marked an important step with the start of the 5-year assembly phase of the tokamak. The next big milestone will be in 2025, by which time ITER is expected to create its first super-heated plasma. This should reach full power by 2035, with the aim of demonstrating that more energy can be taken out than is put in. 

Even though ITER itself will not produce electricity – it is rather intended to prove that large-scale fusion is possible – it represents a giant step in the creation of fusion energy, and will drive the transition from research to reality.

In addition to the progress on the European site, later this year, the EU and Japan will inaugurate the fusion reactor JT-60SA, located in Naka, Japan. It will be the largest tokamak in operation, until ITER is operational. JT-60SA has been designed and built jointly by Japan and Europe under the “Broader Approach” agreement. Its specific properties are its capability to produce long-pulse plasmas. Its main missions are to support exploitation of ITER (scheduled to start in 2025) and to contribute to the design of the EU’s next generation fusion reactor, DEMO.

You can read the rest of the very interesting article via the below link:

https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/focus-fusion-power-and-iter-project-2021-maj-17_en