In memory of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima 80 years ago on Aug. 6, 1945, Ghasson Shahrour, a medical expert at the Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, wrote that “we cannot stop future Hiroshimas if we’ve allowed today’s Gazas to burn.”
“Every August 6, the world is asked to pause—for memory, for reflection, for conscience,” Shahrour wrote. “We remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki: two cities reduced to ash in seconds. Tens of thousands lost. Generations marked by invisible wounds… But when I look at Gaza today, I ask: Did we ever truly listen?” He added, “Let this Hiroshima Day be not only a memorial to the past, but a mirror to the present—and a call to action.”
Events for the 80th anniversary of the Trinity Test, Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be taking place Saturday, Aug. 9, listed here.
The Navy announced Thursday it is soliciting prototypes that “modernize energy infrastructure” that can power Navy and Marine Corps installations.
“America’s Navy needs energy systems that meet high operational demands and resist disruption,” Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said on X. I’m calling on innovative industry partners to deliver advanced nuclear reactors and next-generation systems that keep our missions powered anytime, anywhere.”
Full information is available on the Navy’s website.
The National Nuclear Security Administration said in July the RadSecure 100 Initiative gave 100 communities security from radiological terrorism, according to a press release.
The Office of Radiological Security is within NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation and has secured 100 metropolitan areas “from San Francisco to Houston to Indianapolis to New York,” the release said.
To complete the initiative, the Office had to complete tasks such as replacing devices that use radioactive sources like cesium-137, as part of the Cesium Irradiator Replacement Project within RadSecure 100. While radioactive materials can be helpful for treating cancer, if stolen by adversarial actors the materials can pose a risk such as for building a “dirty bomb,” or a combination of radioactive and conventionally explosive material, the release said.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a license amendment for Urenco USA’s enrichment facility in New Mexico, the agency said on LinkedIn Thursday.
The approval allows Urenco to produce higher-enriched uranium-235 to fuel advanced reactors.
“We first gave Urenco permission to start making higher-enriched U-235 last December,” the post said. “Our most recent approval lifts the final interim controls, allowing Urenco to use their entire enrichment process.”
Mark Sautman, the acting deputy technical director of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has retired after 31 years with the agency.
“I was really fortunate to spend 26 of those years as a resident inspector at the Savannah River Site, Hanford and Rocky Flats,” Sautman said July 31 on his LinkedIn page.
Commanders of the United Kingdom’s nuclear submarine fleet were given a handwritten letter by the Prime Minister on steps to take if World War III breaks out and the country’s leadership is taken out.
The “letters of last resort,” as they are called according to publication Express UK, are torn up and rewritten with each prime minister change. The letter tells the commanders of the Trident submarines, the sole component of U.K.’s sea-based nuclear deterrent, what to do if a nuclear attack of pandemic takes out British leadership.
The U.K.’s submarine-launched ballistic missile system is deployed among four Vanguard-class submarines, with each sub carrying up to 40 Trident D5 warheads.
Italy’s right-wing government is planning to develop nuclear power through next-generation nuclear technologies such as small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors, according to an article by Politico.
At the end of July, Italy’s Environment and Energy Security Ministry announced that a law drafted that outlines a plan to start producing nuclear energy again is ready to be sent to parliament, Politico said. If approved, the first nuclear power plants could start operating by late 2020s or early 2030s.
“We have chosen to restart the development of nuclear power, making a bet on mini-reactors that are safe and clean sources of energy,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a speech earlier this year, 35 years after Italy’s last nuclear power plant closed.
Obituary
Thomas Wayne Jenkins, a Marine Corp and Army veteran who worked at the Y-12 National Security Complex for 20 years, died of cancer at age 53 on Aug. 1, according to an online obituary.
Jenkins lived in Caryville, Tenn., and died at home. He is survived by several friends and family.