China's Taishan Nuclear Reactor Shut Down For "Maintenance" Amid Fears Of Radiation Leak Cover-Up

Weeks ago the Chinese government sought to downplay - but also admitted - an incident at Taishan nuclear plant near Hong Kong which involved damage to fuel rods, also amid wider suspicions of a radiation leak, mainly being spotlighted by entities based outside the country - most notably the French company that part owns and assists in operating the site which warned of an "imminent radiological threat".

Now adding to these suspicions of a much more serious incident than what China admitted, Taishan's operator has announced Friday that one of Taishan's reactors has been shut down for "maintenance". The Chinese government had dismissed what it called a "common" problem, citing no need for concern, while the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) on Friday issued a statement saying the reactor is "completely under control". This after as CNN reported in mid-June the French operator took the very unusual step of reaching out to the US government for help: While US officials have deemed the situation does not currently pose a severe safety threat to workers at the plant or Chinese public, it is unusual that a foreign company would unilaterally reach out to the American government for help when its Chinese state-owned partner is yet to acknowledge a problem exists. The scenario could put the US in a complicated situation should the leak continue or become more severe without being fixed. Obviously this all suggested a potential serious cover-up in progress which further appeared to pit the French operator against Chinese authorities overseeing the plant. BBC in its latest reporting Friday referenced this internal conflict now leading to the Unit 1 shutdown at Taishan.

Referencing the French firm, BBC writes: EDF later said a problem with fuel rods had led to the build-up of gases, which had to be released into the atmosphere. Fuel rods are sealed metal tubes which hold nuclear materials used to fuel the nuclear reactor. Last week an EDF spokesperson told CNN the French company would shut the plant down if it could. They said the decision lay with the Chinese operator. The situation at Taishan was "not an emergency" but nevertheless a "serious situation", the spokesperson added. But now this statement: "After lengthy conversations between French and Chinese technical personnel, Taishan Nuclear Power Plant... decided to shut down Unit 1 for maintenance," China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) said.

Taishan Nuclear Power Plant back in the headlines. The French partner blew the whistle in June, and is again leaking to the international media about their concerns. Major CYA ongoing here. A shutdown would be bad. A meltdown would be Fukushima-level impact or greater. https://t.co/VAT6rgnYPy pic.twitter.com/Bx5er6TU2E — HUNTSMAN 🇺🇸 (@man_integrated) July 24, 2021

The type of reactor the Tiashan facility has, the EPR, is somewhat experimental as it's the first operational one in the world as has been dubbed the "future" of nuclear energy reactors as it's supposed to be safer and more powerful. However, as one 2020 headline in Popular Mechanics emphasized, "France's revolutionary nuclear reactor is a leaky, expensive mess." All of this potentially points to a more severe problem at the site than what's being publicly acknowledged. Referencing the initial EDF letter sent to the US Department of Energy in June, one regional report says the Chinese may be covering up a growing radiation leak. EDF had previously spelled out that if the reactor were located in France, it would without doubt shut it down - but that this was the decision of the Chinese government.

EDF says that based on latest data it would shut down the Taishan No. 1 nuclear reactor if it was in France, but that it's not its decision. It's held an extraordinary board meeting with its China JV after a report of a possible radiation leak last month https://t.co/TDtQcrraYJ pic.twitter.com/XwISah2AFY — David Sheppard (@OilSheppard) July 22, 2021

"In the letter, the French power company reportedly accused the Chinese safety authority of raising the acceptable level of radiation outside the power plant, a report denied by the Chinese government. While the ministry of ecology and environment admitted the power plant had five broken fuel rods, it said no radioactivity leaked," according to Hindustan Times.

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/chinas-taishan-nuclear-reactor-shut-down-maintenance-amid-fears-radiation-leak-cover

Harris to visit Singapore and Vietnam as US courts Southeast Asia

August trip by VP follows Defense Secretary Austin's tour to underscore engagement.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Singapore and Vietnam in August, the White House said Friday, as Washington seeks to bolster ties with the two key Asia-Pacific partners.

This will mark the first time an American vice president visits Vietnam. Harris will meet with leaders to discuss issues ranging from regional security to climate change to the coronavirus pandemic. Harris aims to "strengthen relationships and expand economic cooperation with two critical Indo-Pacific partners of the United States," the White House said in a statement.

By putting in face time with leaders even as infections rise, the U.S. seeks to demonstrate its commitment to the region amid a tug of war with China. The trip will follow Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's Southeast Asia tour wrapping up Friday. "I am delighted to welcome Vice President Harris on her first official visit to Singapore," Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a statement. "I look forward to our discussions on strengthening bilateral cooperation and working together on global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change." This will mark Harris' second overseas trip as vice president. The first, to Guatemala and Mexico, focused on addressing illegal immigration at the U.S.'s southern border. A strong showing in the Asia visit could burnish her foreign policy credentials, now viewed as a weak point for a figure seen as a potential presidential candidate.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Harris-to-visit-Singapore-and-Vietnam-as-US-courts-Southeast-Asia

>>77516

SAM939 USAF C-32A on descent for JBA from Bangor, ME flybys

BOXER84 USAF C-40C in behind dat from Atlanta int'l depart

>>77450 pb UniCredit chief upbeat on Monte dei Paschi deal as takeover talks start

Monte dei Paschi capital wiped out in EU banking stress test

All of Monte dei Paschi’s capital was wiped out in a European Union stress test of banks on Friday as the Italian lender headed for government-sponsored merger talks with domestic peer UniCredit, whose own score fell short of the sector’s aggregate performance.

The exercise by the European Banking Authority showed that EU banks took a 265 billion euro ($314.7 billion) hit in a test of their resilience to economic shocks, which still left them with two-thirds of their buffers intact. The EBA tested the resilience of 50 top lenders to economic shocks, though there is no formal pass or fail mark. The banks account for 70% of EU banking assets. Under the harshest scenario spanning three years to 2023, which baked in a prolonged fallout from COVID, the aggregate core ratio of capital to risk-weighted assets fell by nearly 500 basis points, pushing the ratio down to 10.2% from 15%. Monte dei Paschi, however, ended the test with a core capital ratio of minus 0.1% under the adverse scenario, the worst performer. UniCredit came in at 9.59%. Monte dei Paschi said it would have had a core ratio of 6.6% after its proposed 2.5 billion euro capital increase. The bank had also fared worst in the EU’s stress test five years ago, in a sign of how deep-rooted problems at the world’s oldest bank have yet to be sorted out.

None of the other Italian banks tested - Mediobanca, Banco BPM and Intesa Sanpaolo - reached the 10% sector aggregate though several were very close. HSBC’s French arm was the next worse performer after Monte dei Paschi, with a score of 5.91%. HSBC agreed last month to sell it to Cerberus-backed My Money Group. Sweden’s banks were all above 10%, with Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken at 17.4% Investment banks Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale, in the midst of turnarounds, both performed below average under the adverse scenario, with scores of 7.56% and 7.73%, respectively. BNP Paribas came in at 8.28%, with Commerzbank at 8.52%. “This outcome is all the more encouraging because the strong profit growth we delivered in the first half of 2021 is not reflected in this exercise,” said Deutsche’s chief financial officer, James von Moltke. Just one of four Spanish banks tested, Bankinter, was above 10%.

The results of the tests, which were delayed from last year due to COVID-19, are seen as critical to banks resuming dividend payouts, which were barred during the pandemic in order to conserve capital. “Since the start of COVID, there has been a problem of visibility of banks’ relative asset quality. This stress test will increase transparency across the industry,” said Javier Garcia, a partner at consultants Oliver Wyman. The ECB’s separate test of 51 medium-sized lenders not part of the EBA exercise showed an average fall in capital from 18.1% at the start of the test to 11.3% at the end.

Three of Greece’s top banks were among those whose capital levels fell below 8% by the end of the ECB test, as well as Portugal’s Novo Banco, Bank of Cyprus, Italy’s Carige and Banque Internationale Luxembourg. After an ECB ban on dividends last year, which is set to be lifted, some banks this week have already begun guiding shareholders on dividends, and Garcia said this could not have been done without the lenders having emerged unscathed from the stress test. More domestic focused banks suffered bigger hits to capital in the test compared with their cross-border peers. The overall result is seen by EU regulators as being in line with stress tests by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England. Although there was no pass or fail mark in the EU test, the results will be used by the bank’s supervisor, which is the European Central Bank in the euro zone, to determine capital requirements.

Stress tests, now held every two years in the EU, were introduced annually in the aftermath of the global financial crisis over a decade ago, which forced taxpayers to bail out undercapitalised banks. At the outset, pass or fail results were used to plug capital gaps, but as lenders became sufficiently capitalised, supervisors ditched the thresholds and have used the exercise to spot vulnerabilities and shape supervision. Friday’s test was the first that did not include UK lenders due to Britain leaving the EU last December.

https://www.reuters.com/article/eu-banks-stresstest/update-4-monte-dei-paschi-capital-wiped-out-in-eu-banking-stress-test-idUSL1N2P61X2

>>77525

dhey trying to shoe horn MDP into somewhere but I don't think there is any place big enough any moar.

Like wut they tried to do with DB and Commerzbank.

Italian Gov't stuck wif it for nao.

>>77525

>>77526

can see them doing something along the lines of 2008 where the CB sucks it up and spins out whatever 'good' stuff is left and warehouse the rest ala Maiden Lane from 2008.

Germany too

TITAN25 USAF E-4B Nightwatch inbound from Manila, P.I. depart from Ninoy Aquino Int'l Airport earlier today.

Got a topping of the tanks off Japan earlier too..

Philippines’ Duterte Retains Pact Allowing US War Exercises

The president has formally retracted his earlier letter announcing the termination of the Philippines-U.S. Visiting Forces Agreement.

The Philippines will keep having large-scale combat exercises with the United States after President Rodrigo Duterte retracted his decision to terminate a key defense pact in a move that may antagonize an increasingly belligerent China.

Duterte’s decision was announced Friday by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a joint news conference with visiting U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin in Manila. It was a step back from the Philippine leader’s stunning vow early in his term to distance himself from Washington as he tried to rebuild frayed ties with China over years of territorial rifts in the South China Sea. “The president decided to recall or retract the termination letter for the VFA,” Lorenzana told reporters after an hour-long meeting with Austin, referring to the Visiting Forces Agreement. “There is no termination letter pending and we are back on track.” Austin thanked Duterte for the decision, which he said would further bolster the two nations’ 70-year treaty alliance. “Our countries face a range of challenges, from the climate crises to the pandemic and, as we do, a strong, resilient U.S.-Philippine alliance will remain vital to the security, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific,” Austin said. “A fully restored VFA will help us achieve that goal together.” Terminating the pact would have been a major blow to the United States’ oldest alliance in Asia, as Washington squares with Beijing on a range of issues, including trade, human rights, and China’s behavior in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety.

The U.S. military presence in the region is seen as a counterbalance to China, which has used force to assert claims to vast areas of the disputed South China Sea, including the construction of artificial islands equipped with airstrips and military installations. China has ignored and continues to defy a 2016 international arbitration ruling that invalidated its historic basis. China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan have been locked in the territorial standoff for decades. The United States doesn’t lay any claim to the busy waterway and has sailed Navy warships close to Chinese-claimed islands on so-called freedom of navigation operations in a challenge to Beijing. Beijing has warned Washington to stay away from what it describes as a purely Asian dispute.

In a speech in Singapore on Tuesday, Austin said that Beijing’s claim to the South China Sea “has no basis in international law” and “treads on the sovereignty of states in the region.” He said the U.S. supports the region’s coastal states in upholding their rights under international law, and is committed to its defense treaty obligations with Japan and the Philippines. Duterte notified the U.S. government in February 2020 that the Philippines intended to abrogate the 1998 agreement, which allows large numbers of American forces to join combat training with Philippine troops and sets legal terms for their temporary stay. The pact’s termination would have taken effect after 180 days, but Duterte has repeatedly delayed the decision. While it was pending, the U.S. and Philippine militaries proceeded with plans for combat and disaster-response exercises but canceled larger drills last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. and Philippine forces engage in about 300 activities each year, including the Balikatan, or shoulder-to-shoulder, exercises, which involve thousands of troops in land, sea, and air drills that often include live fire. The exercises have sparked Chinese protests when they were held on the periphery of the sea Beijing claims as its own.

The Balikatan exercises resumed last April but were considerably scaled down due to continuing COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns. A Philippine military official told The Associated Press that the United States continued to provide intelligence and satellite and aircraft surveillance photos of Chinese activities in the South China Sea despite Duterte’s earlier threat to abrogate the VFA. The U.S. images have helped the Philippines to become aware of encroachments and lodge diplomatic protests, said the military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authority to speak publicly.

moar

https://thediplomat.com/2021/07/philippines-duterte-retains-pact-allowing-us-war-exercises/

>>76898 pb

SAM755 USAF G5 departed Fairchild AFB, Spokane se after a ground stop-inbound from JB Lewis McChord earlier

Arrived at McChord on Weds. early a noon local

>>77547

good here

need eye break

back later