Russia Confirms Toxic Cloud Of "Extremely High" Radiation; Source Remains A Mystery

One month after a mysterious radiation cloud was observed over Europe, whose source remained unknown last week speculation emerged that it may have been the result of a "nuclear accident" in Russia or Kazakhstan, on Tuesday Russian authorities on Tuesday confirmed the previous reports of a spike in radioactivity in the air over the Ural Mountains. In a statement, the Russian Meteorological Service said that it recorded the release of Ruthenium-106 in the southern Urals in late September and classified it as "extremely high contamination."

Earlier this month, France"s nuclear safety agency earlier this month said that it recorded a spike in radioactivity, and said that "the most plausible zone of release" of this radioactive material "lies between the Volga and the Urals" from a suspected accident involving nuclear fuel or the production of radioactive material. The agency noted, however, that it is impossible to determine the exact point of release given the available data. Luckily, it said the release of the isotope Ruthenium-106 posed no health or environmental risks to European countries.

France’s Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety published this graphic
to show radiation levels.

At the time, Russia"s state-controlled Rosatom corporation - the same company implicated in the Uranium One scandal - said in a statement that there had been no radiation leak from its facilities. That changed when the Russian meteorological service (Rosgidromet) reported that it had detected record levels of radiation in the villages located in Russia"s Ural region adjacent to Rosatom"s Mayak plant for spent nuclear fuel. Some calculated that the radiation exposure levels were up to 1,000x higher than the normal rate. 

This Part of Russia is Literally Exposed to 1000x the Normal Radiation Rate https://t.co/3YY5fjGM9S pic.twitter.com/AKbOJqUrhh

— News Cult (@News_Cult) November 21, 2017

Mayak, located in the Chelyabinsk region, issued a statement on Tuesday denying it was the source of contamination. The plant said it has not conducted any work on extracting Ruthenium-106 from spent nuclear fuel "for several years." Full statement below:

“The contamination of the atmosphere with ruthenium-106 isotope registered by Rosgidromet is not linked to the activity of Mayak. The measurements which Rosgidromet has released suggest that the dose people might have received is 20,000 times less than the allowed annual dose and presents no threat at all to health.”

Quoted by Sputnik, the Rosatom represtative stated that there were "no incidents or accidents at nuclear facilities in Russia". 

The Mayak nuclear processing plant, located in the Urals, has also come out with a statement saying that "atmospheric pollution with ruthenium-106 that was found by Rosgidromet is not connected to the work of Mayak," since the work on the separation of ruthenium-106 from spent nuclear fuel (and the production of ionizing radiation sources on its basis) has not been carried out for many years at the facility.

Earlier, Rosgidromet confirmed that the the monitoring systems have detected an increase in the concentration of ruthenium over several parts of Russia. However, according to the press release, the concetration does not exceed the maximum permissible concetrations. The head of Rosgidromet, however, said that the automatic monitoring system detected an increase in the concentration of Ru-106 not only in Russia, but also in neighboring countries such as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine. According to him, the concentration in Romania was 1.5-2 times higher than the concentration in Russia.

The exact source of the spike, however, remains a mystery, though IRSN suggested that the cause might be an accident.

Mayak has been responsible for at least two of Russia"s biggest radioactive accidents. In 2004 it was confirmed that waste was being dumped in the local river. Nuclear regulators say that no longer happens, but anti-nuclear activists say it"s impossible to tell given the level of state secrecy. Also on Tuesday, Greenpeace said that it would petition the Russian Prosecutor General"s office to investigate "a possible concealment of a radiation accident" and check whether public health was sufficiently protected.

Norway Removes Greenpeace Ship From Statoil Arctic Drill Site

Authored by Zainab Calcuttawala via OilPrice.com,

Norway’s coast guard has removed Greenpeace protestors from a safety zone near Statoil drilling operations in the Korpfjell field of the Barents Sea, according to a new report in the Maritime Executive.

The protestors used kayaks to infiltrate a 500-meter exclusion zone around the Songa Enabler on Thursday in order to attach a large globe to the rig. On it was a statement from environmentalists calling on Norway to end its drilling in the Arctic.

Statoil called the stunt “illegal and irresponsible” before summoning the authorities to remove the protestors’ vessel, Arctic Sunrise.

On the other hand, Greenpeace Norway argues the coast guard’s actions were unlawful.

“The Norwegian coast guard doesn’t have the right to board or remove our ship,” said Truls Gulowsen, head of the local branch of the environmental group.

“Protest at sea is an internationally recognized lawful use of the sea, related to the freedom of navigation. We are taking action against Arctic drilling in an area where our rights to protest are protected under international law. The Norwegian government cannot unjustifiably interfere with that right.”

So far, the government maintains that it acted within its rights when it removed the ship due to the clear establishment of the exclusion zone.

To this claim, the group retorts:

“While Greenpeace recognizes that Norway has the right to establish a safety zone around a fixed offshore installation, there should also be room to exercise the right to protest in a safe and peaceful manner.”

Environmentalists continue to protest drilling in the Arctic and the potential opening of the Lofoten islands to exploration.

Greenpeace is suing Norway in a trial set to begin in November, arguing that “granting licenses to open a new oil frontier breaches the Norwegian Constitutional right to a healthy and safe environment for current and future generations and contravenes the Paris Agreement.”

Iron Ore Tumbles As China Steel-Producing Hub Found Lying About Production Cuts

Very much like the self-imposed output cut by OPEC and non-OPEC members which successfully boosted the price of crude over $50 even if global crude inventories "inexplicably" continue to hit new all time highs, one of the main reasons why commodity metal prices have seen a dramatic increase in prices over the past year has been China"s solemn vow to cut back on overcapacity and excess production. In 2016, China’s state council set out plans to eliminate 100 -150 million tonnes of steel capacity in a bid to restructure the economy from one driven by government-led infrastructure investment and exports to a more consumption and services-oriented model. Last January, the hub of China"s steel production -  the northern province of Hebei - announced it would cut output to ease pollution and help curb oversupply. Hebei said it planned to reduce steel output by 8 million metric tons in 2016, its Governor Zhang told local lawmakers, while Iron ore production would be cut by 10 million tons.

More than one year later, it appears that Governor Zhang lied about Hebei"s intentions, and according to a provincial notice by the Chinese province, it has emerged that China"s compliance with its own mandatory production cuts has been "problematic."

A steel factory in Wu"an, Hebei province

According to Reuters, the same Hebei province, China"s biggest steel-producing area, launched a probe into steel overproduction in the city of Tangshan "amid concerns that firms have continued to raise output despite mandatory capacity cuts."

Tangshan is the heartland of Chinese steel production. The city is home to the headquarters of the state-owned Tangsteel Group, which in 2006 merged with other companies to form Hebei Steel Group, the second-largest steel producer in the world. Located around 100 miles east of the capital Beijing, Tangshan is on the frontline of the country"s "war on pollution", and was seventh on the list of China"s ten smoggiest cities in the first two months of this year.

Hebei was ordered by China"s central government to investigate firms in Tangshan that have "restricted but not cut production, restricted production but not actually cut emissions, and cut capacity but actually increased output," the provincial dated March 25 said, and circulated by traders on Monday.

Cited by Reuters, an industry source based in Tangshan confirmed the veracity of the document, but said it was unclear whether the new round of inspections would have any immediate impact on production or prices. The document was issued by a special provincial policy team responsible for restructuring the steel industry. It said Hebei has already established an inspection team and Tangshan must begin its own investigations immediately.

The FT adds, that the notice, sent on Saturday, cites orders from President Xi Jinping and Zhang Gaoli, the vice-premier, for Tangshan to investigate the problem of falsely reported plant closures and rising steel output.

Tangshan produces around 90 million tonnes of steel a year, more than the whole of the United States. While China has pledged to slash steel capacity by between 100 million and 150 million tonnes over the 2016-2020 period to shore up prices and ease sector debts, there have been lingering suspicions that this may have been a ruse to push commodity prices higher, boosting cash flows of overindebted domestic producers, who employs millions of low-skilled workers and whose mass defaults could result in widespread social unrest.

The FT confirms as much:

local authorities have dragged their feet on implementing orders to shut down steel mills because doing so would potentially eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs.

“The local government will always want to protect its own industries because company officials get promotions based on growth,” says Scott Laprise, the founder of steel research firm LTH Consulting. “No one gets a promotion because they lost jobs and their local economy did poorly.”

In addition to the cuts noted above, at the start of the year, Tangshan promised to shut a further 8.6 million tonnes of annual crude steel capacity in 2017. It pledged to make cuts of 40 million tonnes over the 2013-2017 period and had already shut 31.9 million tonnes by the end of last year. Hebei promised to cut crude steel capacity to less than 200 million tonnes a year in the province by the end of 2020, down from 286 million tonnes in 2013. It aims to shut 15.6 million tonnes in 2017.

However, in light of the recent revelation, it appears that local producers did not take the directives too seriously, and may have simply been stockpiling the excess production.

As Reuters adds, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has routinely named and shamed municipal governments in Hebei for failing to implement pollution rules; so far it has failed to achieve the desired result.

Of course, if one province is reneging on its production cut agreement, why not more?

That may indeed be the case: one month ago, Greenpeace said that China"s active steel capacity actually rose by 35 million tonnes in 2016 after the high-profile closure program focused mainly on shutting plants that had already been idled. Additionally, production of crude steel in 2016 actually rose about 1% from the year before, to 808m tonnes, according to preliminary data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

"The steel industry"s capacity reduction targets need to be upgraded to reductions in actual production - only then will we see real improvements in air quality," said Lauri Myllyvirta, senior global campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia.

The problem is that just like with OPEC, there is no credible way of enforcing capacity cuts.

"Local governments will report back and simply say certain companies eliminated capacity or were closed or went bankrupt,” said LTH Consulting"s Laprise. “No one is checking what is supposedly already closed and what is actually closed.”

Excess production notwithstanding, China"s jawboning alone, and stated commitment to removing overcapacity, has managed to send prices of core commodities such as iron ore soaring as shown in the chart below.

Should it be confirmed that China was merely jawboning about removing excess supply then the appreciating commodity complex, a core driver of the global reflation trade which in recent months appears to have plateaued may soon see prices tumbling, in the process launching the latest deflationary wave to emerge out of China, and putting an end to the "global coordinated recovery" as so many analysts have called it in recent months.

It may already be happening: prices of iron ore, the key material used in steel production, tumbled fell 6.7% on Monday as inventories of the commodity at China’s ports rose. The fall brings the price to its lowest since January 10, down nearly 18% from its peak in March.

"Traders Got It Wrong Before The Election, And Continue To Get It Wrong Today"

In light of the only thing that matters for markets (that would be Donald Trump for those who have slept through the past three months), here are some salient thoughts from the latest weekend notes by One River Asset Management"s Eric Peters, whose uncanny ability to put a unique spin on events in third person continues to impress.

Beep Beep: “The world got caught in its own trap,” said Roadrunner, the market’s biggest equity volatility trader. “Traders got it wrong before the election, and continue to get it wrong today.” The VIX touched 10.50. “You see the tweets, the media battle, illegal voters, conspiracy theories, Mexican feuds, European taunts, border walls, fake news, and lies,” said Roadrunner, looking left, right, up. “But be careful what you watch. There is only one thing that doesn’t lie, and that’s the price,” he said. “Look where the price is, what it’s telling us.” 

“VIX tells you that there’s someone in charge who’s not a madman,” continued Roadrunner. “He speaks and acts like he’s crazy, but the market is wiser than all of us, it’s smarter than everyone combined.” He paused, contemplating our new surroundings. “Barnum and Bailey closed just ahead of the inauguration. How could they compete with this circus?” The wall is a show. Our world is now theatre. We’re all extras. “Of course at some point vol will explode, but for the moment the market is saying maybe America First will work.”

“Dollar rally doesn’t seem close to done,” said Roadrunner. “As rates head higher, they’ll hurt equities.” It won’t be Goldilocks forever. “When vols fall to these levels it’s because people got too long and slowly get squeezed out.” We’ve begun to see the first signs of animal spirits returning, but not of the intensity to signal a bull market high. Volatility is cheap, pretty much everywhere, though of course it can always go lower, for a time.

“What I’d like to see is a scramble for S&P calls before I get really bearish,” said Roadrunner, and darted off.

Next follows an interlude on human hypocricy:

“My wife screamed today, hysterical,” he said. “Said she’s giving a ton of money to Greenpeace. So I asked why? Said she’s going to help anyone that opposes this man. I almost asked how that’ll help, but knew better than to argue. I left for work, then a biz dinner. Told the story, and turns out I’m not alone. Everyone’s wives are wearing pink hats. They took buses to the DC March. They’re excited, angry, outraged. And I dare not tell her that no matter how much she gives to Greenpeace, we’re richer, because this man made us a fortune on our bank stocks.”

Finally, some observations on why this time may be different:

“Complete garbage,” cried the professor from Edinburgh University. “I’m appalled by what’s being published in Science,” he continued. You see, some Ivy League nerd claims to have created a miraculous super-conducting material. “It’s the first time solid metallic hydrogen has existed on Earth,” boasted the pioneering Harvard scientist. He’d inserted hydrogen atoms into a synthetic diamond anvil at a pressure of 495 gigapascals; which any moron knows is equivalent to bench-pressing 5mm earth atmospheres. Do that at -270 Celsius and magical things happen – Presto! - hydrogen atoms share electrons, creating a crystal lattice, just like a metal. But the Edinburgh propeller-heads are skeptical. They demand more proof. Rightly so. These kinds of breakthroughs are rare, they transform the economy, society. And they’re happening more often now than ever before.

You connect 7.48bln hungry humans, stand them atop the shoulders of giants, compress them into a shrinking planet, warm things up a few degrees, and magic happens. ISIS happens too. All sorts of unexpected things happen. Like quantum computing, the rise of robots, green energy, declining birth rates, shrinking labor forces, growing inequality, secular stagnation, rising nationalism, anti-globalism - a return to policies made famous in the 1930s, with utterly disastrous consequences. But these things we already know. Yet global equity markets continue to rise. Despite chants of America First, emerging market equities are inexplicably outperforming on the way up. The VIX index grinds to levels seen only during periods of supreme calm. Perhaps something else is happening here. Something less pernicious. Positive. It’s vital to keep an open mind. After all, it may be the first time solid metallic hydrogen has ever existed on Earth; and our countless other innovations, accelerating inexorably. “Complete garbage,” cry the economists, political scientists, appalled, with history firmly on their side.

But humanity has never experienced a time quite like our present.

And with that, here"s looking forward to tomorrow"s new all time highs in the S&P 500.

Trump Signs Executive Orders to Advance Dakota Access and Keystone Pipelines

January 24, 2017   |   admintam

(COMMONDREAMS) President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed executive orders advancing the controversial Keystone XL (KXL) and Dakota Access (DAPL) pipelines, prompting cries of outrage and vows of resistance from the Indigenous activists, climate campaigners, and countless others who have voiced opposition to these projects.

The Associated Press confirmed the orders had been signed after earlier reports citing anonymous officials indicated they were in the works.

Many environmental groups who fiercely fought against both projects were quick to condemn the move, declaring, as 350.org did, “We have no alternative but to resist.”

350.org co-founder Bill McKibben issued a statement declaring the moment “a dark day for reason.”

“More people sent comments against Dakota Access and Keystone XL to the government than any project in history. The world’s climate scientists and its Nobel laureates explained over and over why it was unwise and immoral,” McKibben said. “In one of his first actions as president, Donald Trump ignores all that in his eagerness to serve the oil industry. It’s a dark day for reason, but we will continue the fight.”

“Trump clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing,” agreed 350.org executive director May Boeve. “Indigenous peoples, landowners, and climate activists did everything in our power to stop Keystone XL and Dakota Access, and we’ll do it again. These orders will only reignite the widespread grassroots opposition to these pipelines and other dirty energy projects. Trump is about to meet the fossil fuel resistance head on.”

“This is not a done deal,” McKibben added. “People will mobilize again.”

CREDO Action deputy political director Josh Nelson also noted that “fierce grassroots activism has stopped these pipelines over and over again,” while David Turnbull, campaigns director at Oil Change International declared the pipelines “will never be completed.”

“Both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines will never be completed, no matter what President Trump and his oil-soaked cabinet try to do,” Turnbull said. “Trump’s first days in office saw massive opposition, marking the beginning of four years of resistance to his dangerous policies. We stopped Keystone XL and Dakota Access before and we’ll do it again. These are fights Trump and his bullies won’t win.”

As Greenpeace executive director Annie Leonard said, “A powerful alliance of Indigenous communities, ranchers, farmers, and climate activists stopped the Keystone and the Dakota Access pipelines the first time around, and the same alliances will come together to stop them again if Trump tries to raise them from the dead.”

“We all saw the incredible strength and courage of the water protectors at Standing Rock,” Leonard said, “and the people around the world who stood with them in solidarity. We’ll stand with them again if Trump tries to bring the Dakota Access Pipeline, or any other fossil fuel infrastructure project, back to life.”

“Instead of pushing bogus claims about the potential of pipelines to create jobs,” she continued, “Trump should focus his efforts on the clean energy sector where America’s future lives…Renewable energy is not only the future, but the only just economy for today. Keystone, the Dakota Access Pipeline, and fossil fuel infrastructure projects like them will only make billionaires richer and make the rest of us suffer.”

Leonard concluded with the promise, “We will resist this with all of our power and we will continue to build the future the world wants to see.”

As the news quickly spread, many took to Twitter to share their vows of resistance.

Tweets about #NODAPL OR #NoKXL

These pipelines are happening. DAPL is happening — unless you help us stop it.

This is no time to remain calm.

— Kelly Hayes (@MsKellyMHayes) January 24, 2017

Keystone XL is an even bigger scam than Trump University. Barely creates jobs and trashes the environment. Sad! #NoKXL #NoDAPL

— Jamie Henn (@Agent350) January 24, 2017

This fight isn’t over. Access to clean water is a human right #NoDAPL https://t.co/KDUm9byxak

— Christine (@tine9625) January 24, 2017

The executive orders are coming, which means the fight keeps going. #NoDAPL

— Sara M. Hefny (@saramhefny) January 24, 2017

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This article (Trump Signs Executive Orders to Advance Dakota Access and Keystone Pipelines) by Lauren McCauley originally appeared on CommonDreams.org and is licensed Creative Commons 3.0. The Anti-Media radio show airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org