Commentary, dot joining by Mathew Carr
Oct. 11, 2021 — LONDON: A nuclear-power-generation module that does not need refueling for 35 years. That’s about half a human lifetime. Little maintenance needed in that period?
Sounds like a weapons-grade way to help solve the climate crisis, right?
But, is it plausible?
Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is asking this very question. The answer he’s getting is “yes” — but in a long time.
On Sept. 29, Turnbull addressed the country’s National Press Club. Here are the relevant bits:
He gave a small, important science lesson: In its natural state, uranium is 99% made up of a stable isotope U238, the unstable radioactive isotope U235 is only about 0.7%. The more U235, the more radiation, reactivity and energy. Highly enriched Uranium (HEU) has a concentration of 20% or more U235. Low-enriched uranium (LEU) as used in nuclear power stations is typically between 2-5%.
Then, later in the speech: Following the AUKUS announcement (a security deal involving submarines, Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. that peeved the French), Turnbull “was advised by the (Australian) Government that the work I had commenced on nuclear options continued and it had been concluded that Australia could use the modular HEU reactors currently deployed in the UK Astute and US Virginia class submarines which, because of their HEU fuel, do not require replacement during the 35 year life of the sub. This, it is contended, means that Australia could have a nuclear-powered submarine without any need to maintain, service or refuel the nuclear reactor.
“This is very different advice to that given to the Government as recently as three years ago. It sounds too good to be true; Australia would have submarines powered by nuclear reactors running on weapons grade uranium. And we would not need to have any of our own nuclear facilities or expertise?
“Is it credible to have a hands-off plug and play nuclear reactor filled with weapons grade uranium and not inspect it for 35 years? The US and UK will know for sure in about thirty years. And until then if something does go wrong, both nations have extensive nuclear facilities and expertise to deal with it.“
You’re probably thinking … 30 years? We are meant to be at global net zero by then. Bit too little, too late, isn’t it?
Let’s assume development of this technology for civil use can be safely brought forward somewhat and modified — eg for factory and city electricity generation, massive container ships and even trains and trucks and unpack some of the intrigue.
Spies
Breaking news in the past few hours (as of early Monday morning London time).
A US navy nuclear engineer and his wife have been charged with trying to sell nuclear secrets to what they thought was a foreign state: BBC report
Jonathan Toebbe and his wife Diana were arrested in West Virginia on Saturday, the Justice Department announced.
They allegedly tried to sell nuclear submarine design data, hidden in a peanut butter sandwich, to someone they thought represented another country.
In fact, it was an undercover FBI agent.
You can read the rest at note 2, but this bit is too cool for you to miss out:
Peanut Butter & Submarines
In June this year, Jonathan and Diana Toebbe travelled to West Virginia to drop off the (secret atomic) data.
With Diana acting as a lookout, Jonathan “placed an SD (secure digital) card concealed within half a peanut butter sandwich” at a determined location, the affidavit said.
(So, the nature of the data isn’t completely clear. The report says that on the memory card was restricted data “related to submarine nuclear reactors”.)
Aliens
The riskiest part of my writing today is also the most fun — but I do think the mainstream media needs to be joining these dots and investigating.
The news on submarines above reminded me of some work by my fellow Australian journalist Ross Coulthart, who’s published a book on UFOs –Unexplained Flying Objects or Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP). He’s credible to me, having worked for 60 minutes and on many investigations over many years to uncover information about the subject.
In the podcast about two weeks ago at note 3, he said:
“I do think there is active disinformation going on at the moment, even now, from forces in American intelligence who — they’re not trying to suppress so much as they used to — they just trying to control. Because what’s happening at the moment I think is a decision has been made inside the U.S. government, that, yes, we’re now at a stage where we have to admit that there is a real phenomenon, we have to admit that there is an anomalous phenomena that is real.
[Coulthart speaking partly as if he’s second guessing the U.S. government] “Yeah, we can’t deny any more. [There are] too many sensor systems, too many phased-array radar systems are now installed on different aircraft, too many high-quality video systems — too many data points are picking it up.”
…
“I don’t think they want us to know anything about alleged crash recoveries, or any of the other, more extraordinary claims that have been made over the years by people like [Philip] Corso [author of “The day after Roswell.]
“It’s almost like what they’re trying to do is present a scenario, to the American and international public where the American government can in a few years time go: ‘Guys, look what we’ve discovered. This is amazing, there really is a real phenomenon.
At one hour and 11 minutes into the podcast, he says this: “I do believe by the way, that the United States has recovered what it believes is non-human technology. There, I said it.“
For a credible guy, who’s spent years looking into it, this seems like a very important line.
And a linkage to the submarines and nuclear tech is also there. Some of these craft have been behaving as if they are protecting the earth against nuclear disaster, according to Coultard and his reporting.
I plan to do more research and I’m reaching out to you readers for comments, but to wrap up I want to say this:
If the U.S., or anyone, is hiding technical innovations (human or otherwise), now might be the time to disclose them, ahead of the Glasgow climate conference, so the Paris rulebook being developed there is mindful of all possible climate solutions.
That would be the right and kind thing to do.
(More to come)
- Turnbull’s speech: https://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/address-to-the-national-press-club-september-2021
- BBC story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58863678
- Ross Coultard video podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM3kxeU_oDE and https://twitter.com/rosscoulthart/status/1441914663717855233?s=20
- Tweet:
5. Book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/in-plain-sight/ross-coulthart/9781460759066
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