Massive Explosion Rocks Russian Border City After Jet’s Accidental Bomb Release
Typically over the past many months headlines have featured stories of sporadic cross-border Ukrainian drone or rocket attacks that have impacted the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border.
But Kremlin authorities have revealed a disaster of a very different sort that occurred on Thursday when a Russian fighter jet lost its weapons payload over the city. The resultant massive explosion injured two women, and left a roughly 65-foot crater in the middle of a city street.
Apparently one or more missiles was inadvertently dropped from the aircraft. “During the flight of the Su-34 aircraft of the aerospace forces over the city of Belgorod, an abnormal descent of aviation ammunition has occurred,” the defense ministry said.
Russian military aircraft regularly fly over Belgorod while conducting missions across the border in Ukraine during the offensive which has stretched for well over a year.
As cited in the AFP, “Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the region of Belgorod, said the blast had sent a shock wave that damaged four apartments and four cars and downed power line poles.”
One of the civilians injured was hospitalized while another was treated at the scene.
The last major Ukrainian attack on Belgorod occurred in March, along with other border incursions and attacks. At the time, Russia said its defense measures intercepted at least three inbound Ukrainian rockets.
⚡️russian media published a video of an aerial bomb falling from an aircraft of the russian Air Force in Belgorod, as a result of which a huge crater was formed.
But during the major March attack, some projectiles made it through anti-air defenses, resulting in civilians being wounded. The Russian city of some 400,000 people lies a mere 25 miles from the Ukrainian border. Drone attacks on power substations have also occurred throughout the course of the war.
The House of Representatives passed a bill on April 20 that would prohibit taxpayer-funded institutions from allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s and girls’ sports in schools.
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, H.R. 734, introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), would amend Title IX to recognize sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
Title IX protects against sex discrimination in education.
The bill states that “it shall be a violation for a recipient of federal financial assistance who operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.”
Steube, on the House floor, said his bill is meant to ensure fairness in women’s sports.
“Congress in 1972 created Title IX to protect women’s sports, to enable women to have an equal playing field in athletics, and in worship to their trans idols, the [Biden] administration wants to flip that on its head. It’s insane,” he said.
“Parents do not want biological men in locker rooms with their daughters, nor do they believe it’s equitable a male can compete with women in female athletics.”
Some Democrats, however, described the measure as an attempt at bullying transgender students.
Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) said on the House floor: “This bill is about bullying children. Stop bullying children.”
“House Republicans are choosing to bully and belittle trans children,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.). “This is about attacking a small group of children, and it is shameful.”
The measure comes as the Biden administration has proposed a regulation that would largely prohibit bans on transgender sports participation.
Bill Unlikely to Move Forward
Despite the bill passing the GOP-controlled House, it is likely dead on arrival in the Senate. Even if the Democrat-controlled Senate were to take it up and pass it, the White House has said that President Joe Biden would veto it.
Feds Now Eyeing Multiple Felony Charges Against Hunter Biden; IRS Whistleblower Story Grows Legs
Update (04/21/2023): Several Hunter Biden stories have begun gaining traction in the last 24 hours, including a report by NBC News (so, ‘the narrative’) that federal prosecutors are eyeing charges on three tax crimes and a charge related to a gun purchase.
The possible charges are two misdemeanor counts for failure to file taxes, a single felony count of tax evasion related to a business expensefor one year of taxes, and the gun charge, also a potential felony.
NBC News does let us know that there’s “growing frustration” inside the FBI because both FBI and IRS investigators finished with their Hunter investigations around a year ago and nothing has been done.
The Washington Post previously reported that federal investigators believed they had gathered enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and a false statement related to a gun purchase.
The decision on which charges to file, if any, will be made by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed by President Donald Trump and retained by the Biden administration to continue the Hunter Biden investigation. There are no indications a final decision has been made, said the two sources familiar with the matter. -NBC News
In short – the DOJ is lagging on Hunter’s slap on the wrist.
We’re sure the above reporting was triggered by the IRS whistleblower – the guy in charge of the agency’s Hunter Biden investigation – who came forward earlier this week in a letter to lawmakers, accusing the DOJ of ‘mishandling’ the Hunter Biden case. What’s actually notable here is that the story is big enough that the NY Times can’t avoid reporting on it.
The disclosure fed claims by congressional Republicans that a Justice Department run by the president’s political appointees could not be trusted to make a decision about his son based on the facts and law.
The letter said the client had information that would contradict sworn testimony to Congress from a senior political appointee, an apparent reference to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who has offered assurances that the U.S. attorney in Delaware, David C. Weiss, who was appointed by President Donald J. Trump, would be free to run the investigation.
In response, Hunter Biden’s criminal defense lawyer, Christopher Clark, fired back on Thursday, claiming that the I.R.S. supervisor broke the law by disclosing confidential taxpayer information and called on the Justice Department to investigate the supervisor. Mr. Clark said that the only way it was known that the supervisor’s complaints could be linked to the Hunter Biden investigation would be if the supervisor or his lawyer disclosed it, either of which, he said, would have been improper. -NY Times
“It is a felony for an I.R.S. agent to improperly disclose information about an ongoing tax investigation,” said Biden’s lawyer. “The I.R.S. has incredible power, and abusing that power by targeting, embarrassing or disclosing information about a private citizen’s tax matters undermines Americans’ faith in the federal government.”
“Unfortunately, that is what has happened and is happening here in an attempt to harm my client. It appears this I.R.S. agent has committed a crime, and had denied my client protections that are his right.”
Yes, just a private citizen whose family the CCP definitely doesn’t have any leverage over while orchestrating a controlled demolition of the west. No ‘Trump Tower’ implications to report on, right entire MSM? We digress.
* * *
In what should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, an IRS supervisor has stepped forward to blow the whistle on the Biden administration for improperly handling the criminal investigation into the President’s son, Hunter Biden.
In a Tuesday letter sent to Congress by a “career Internal Revenue Service criminal supervisory special agent,’ the whistleblower claims to have information that would contradict sworn testimony by a “senior political appointee,” as well as a “failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case,” according to the Wall Street Journal, citing the letter.
What’s more, the supervisor says he has evidence showing “preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected.”
According to the report, the supervisor has been overseeing an “ongoing and sensitive investigation of a high-profile, controversial subject since early 2020,” which insiders say is Hunter Biden.
Hunter Biden is facing a criminal investigation related to his taxes and whether he made a false statement in connection with a gun purchase. When he said in December 2020 that his tax matters were under investigation, Hunter Biden said he was “confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately.”
Investigators have believed for months they had enough evidence to indict the younger Mr. Biden, the Journal and other news outlets have reported. Prosecutors have also weighed whether Hunter Biden’s well-documented drug addiction would present a defense against a potential criminal tax case, the Journal previously reported. He hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing. -WSJ
Mark Lytle, a lawyer for the IRS agent, said in the Tuesday letter addressed to both Republican and Democratic leaders on the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, that his client is seeking whistleblower protections in exchange for his information.
“Despite serious risks of retaliation, my client is offering to provide you with information necessary to exercise your constitutional oversight function and wishes to make the disclosures in a nonpartisan manner to the leadership of the relevant committees on both sides of the political aisle,” reads the letter, signed by Lytle, who claims that the employee previously disclosed the information internally at the IRS and to the DOJ inspector general.
US Attorney David Weiss, the top federal prosecutor in Delaware under the Biden administration, has been leading the DOJ’s investigation of Hunter. According to AG Merrick Garland, Weiss has broad authority to pursue charges.
“He has been advised he is not to be denied anything he needs,” Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 1. “I have not heard anything from that office to suggest that they are not able to do everything the U.S. attorney wants to do.“
You know I can’t help but notice a lack of journalistic interest in this breaking story, based on retweets and quote tweets. https://t.co/x8BdjLTJyw
“Break The Chain”: Why A “Painful Recession” Is Required To Crush Inflation Expectations
By Michael Every of Rabobank
The persistence of inflation continues to confound economists and policy makers, as the significant supply shocks that sparked this wave have now largely faded. Therefore, it was not surprising that the accounts of the last ECB meeting, released yesterday, revealed an increasing divergence of views on the inflation outlook. While there is general agreement on the root cause of inflation, it is still hotly debated why inflation proves so persistent. Indeed, in the ECB accounts, we suddenly find that “an important question for the forecasting of inflation was whether firms would continue with the same pricing strategy or would accept lower profit margins in the period ahead.” Watch this space as the earnings season really gets going.
In our view, March’s mini banking crisis was not severe enough to derail the global tightening cycle. The effort to restore inflation-fighting credibility will therefore persist, with central banks continuing to press forward in spite of those who argue that reducing consumer demand during a supply shock is inefficient. However, these blunt and general measures have yet to bear fruit, and it remains uncertain when they will: despite rapid evolution in mainstream thinking on inflation (… as this is suddenly being required again), economists have yet to produce a model that accurately measures the cumulative impact of the sequence of rate increases seen thus far, let alone one that fully captures the intricate internal dynamics of inflation.
The terms of trade shock that occurred in 2021 and 2022 has made many European and other countries that rely on commodity imports poorer, leading to squeezed real incomes for workers and firms. However, the question of how to allocate these losses lies at the heart of a conflict. According to the traditional story, if both sides try to unilaterally offset their losses, it could trigger successive wage and price increases, risking inflation to become entrenched at a higher rate. The fact that input prices are slowing or reversing, while wage growth is rising and “inflation momentum is remaining high” for all components excluding energy, indicates there is a risk of an increasingly broad-based entrenchment. For instance, the UK this week showed rising wages and stubbornly high services inflation, which only solidifies our long-held call for a 25bp hike to 4.50% at the Bank of England’s May meeting, despite plenty of other calls for an early pause.
Rather than the knee-jerk reaction of blaming low unemployment and “too tight” labor markets for the persistence of inflation, falsely implying that workers are the dominant force in this distributional conflict, it is worth noting that an increasing number of politicians and central bankers are becoming more receptive to the notion that a “rise in profits is playing an important role” in driving inflation.
This coincides with a growing popular interest in the terms “excuseflation” and “greedflation”, which suggest that companies are using external cost shocks as an excuse to price-gouge customers and bring in fatter profit margins. After all, consumers are constantly bombarded with news of rising costs for transportation, energy, and agricultural commodities, as well as increasing labour costs, and they have become resigned to the idea that sudden price increases of 5, 10 or 20 percent are reasonable. However, in many cases, the actual cost of producing the product or services may not have been affected as much by these shocks, and some key input prices are now even falling. Yesterday’s reports of a -2.6% month-over-month drop in German producer prices or of the slowest rate of South Korean PPI inflation in more than two years are telling examples, but have received much less attention in the press.
When consumers start to believe that further propagation of last years’ price shocks is no longer fair, which is bound to happen absent any new and obvious inflationary shocks, they may begin to rebel against corporate pricing power. This could trigger increased political involvement aimed at curbing such power one way or another, especially in a scenario in which the labor market weakens and consumer frustration mounts. On that note, yesterday’s data showed a 22% year-over-year increase in US continuing jobless claims due to rising layoffs and slower hiring.
Most consumers are already either adjusting their consumption volumes or opting for lower-priced private label goods or cheaper services to make up for the loss in real income. This morning, UK retail sales posted another -0.9% month-over-month fall, with sales volumes now down 1.6% relative to their average level of 2019. Despite this trend, companies that prioritise “price over volume” are still being handsomely rewarded by shareholders. However, companies that try to pursue a “volume over price” strategy, like Tesla, are being punished by investors, even though increasing market share now is as an investment in future market/pricing power.
When conflict arises, such power can come in handy. In the April 12 Global Daily, we highlighted this paper by Lorenzoni and Werning, which offers another conflict-perspective on inflation. They decompose wage and price inflation into an “adjustment” and a “conflict” component. The adjustment component only produces transitory effects and cannot generate sustained inflation. In contrast, the conflict component can generate persistent inflation in both prices and wages. This is especially true when prices and wages are set at fairly long, staggered intervals and firms raise prices not just to stay ahead of competitors, but also to catch up with increases in others’ prices since their own last price raise. The same applies for workers, who don’t want to see their own wages falling behind relative to those of others. While this eventually leads to a stalemate in relative prices and wages, with no one benefiting, the changes in prices driven by this conflict result in sustained inflation in all prices. Please note that this can easily occur without having an “overheated economy” or “too much money chasing too few goods”, as long as there is an initial shock in a systemically significant industry that sets off such a dangerous chain of events.
This chain only breaks when the various players in the economy are forced to accept the outcome. This task has been left to the central bank, which entails slowing down the economy to compel some firms to accept lower prices given wages and other prices, and workers to accept lower wages given prices and other wages. As the horse has already bolted, there is stillmorework to do. A painful recession is probably required to ensure that the actual price increases fall short of expectations and that inflationary momentum gets wrung out of the system. This remains a highly inefficient way to deal with what is in essence a distributional conflict, but do you think there is enough trust or cooperation in today’s economy to find any other solution?
US Manufacturing & Services PMIs Unexpectedly Soared In Flash April Survey, Inflation Resurgent
After mixed ‘soft’ regional survey data (Empire Fed spike, Philly Fed puke) and a general slide in the overall macro surprise index, expectations were for a decline in S&P Global’s PMI data in preliminary April data. However, just to baffle everyone with bullshit, both manufacturing and services jumped higher in early April data with the forfmer back into expansion territory (somehow)…
US Manufacturing at 11-month high – prints 50.4 (expansion) in flash April vs 49.2 prior, well ahead of the drop to 49.0 expected.
US Services at 6-month high – prints 53.7 (expansion) in flash April vs 52.6 prior, well ahead of the drop to 51.5 expected.
Source: Bloomberg
That is the first expansionary print for manufacturing since Oct 2022.
The headline S&P Global Flash US PMI Composite Output Index registered 53.5 in April, up from 52.3 in March, to signal the quickest upturn in business activity since May 2022.
New orders at US firms increased at the sharpest rate for 11 months in April as new client wins, improved customer confidence and successful marketing strategies drove the uptick.
“The latest survey adds to signs that business activity has regained growth momentum after contracting over the seven months to January. The latest reading is indicative of GDP growing at an annualized rate of just over 2%.
“Growth is also reassuringly broad-based, led by services thanks to a post-pandemic shift in spending away from goods, though goods producers are also reporting signs of demand picking up again.
“Jobs growth has accelerated alongside the resurgence of demand, aided by reports of vacancies being more easily filled, reflecting improved supply of candidates and higher wages.
“However, the upturn in demand has also been accompanied by a rekindling of price pressures. Average prices charged for goods and services rose in April at the sharpest rate since September of last year, the rate of inflation having now accelerated for three successive months. This increase helps explain why core inflation has proven stubbornly elevated at 5.6% and points to a possible upturn – or at least some stickiness – in consumer price inflation.”
Economic strength and resurging inflation – this is terrible news for the ‘pivot’-hopers.
Louisville Shooter’s Manifesto Details His Intent To Push Gun Control
Submitted by BlueApples,
Copycat crimes are motivated by the narcissistic aims of those desperately seeking attention who live life entirely without it otherwise. That may explain why so many mass shooters have followed in the footsteps of Brenton Tarrant, who attacked the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Center in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019 whilst live streaming his murder spree via Facebook. In addition to broadcasting his mass murder, Tarrant also published an online manifesto, shedding light on the fractured psyche of a broken man whose life’s work amounted to the murder of 51 innocent people.
It should come as no surprise that Connor Sturgeon, the 25-year-old mass shooter of the Old National Bank in Louisville Kentucky, who decided to livestream his own heinous crime via Instragram would take another page out of Tarrant’s book by authoring his own manifesto. Unlike Tarrant before him though, the rationale behind Stugeon’s mass shooting didn’t paint the picture of the prototypical villain that gun control advocates point to in their attempts to exploit tragedy to attack the second amendment. Instead, Sturgeon’s manifesto showed that the shooting was intended to push a gun control agenda itself.
According to an exclusive report from The Daily Mail, Sturgeon outlined the basis behind his decision to gun down his colleagues at the Old National Bank in downtown Louisville on April 10th. The three key tenants of the manifesto were to realize Sturgeon’s suicidal ideation and in doing so highlight America’s mental health crisis and put a spotlight on how easy it is to obtain a firearm in his home state of Kentucky. Under Kentucky state law, residents with mental health disorders, violent misdemeanor convictions, and restraining orders against them for domestic abuse are not prohibited from purchasing a firearm. Sturgeon’s mass shooting was meant to bring that policy making into focus following the purchase of the AR-15 assault rifle he used to kill five and injure eight before being killed himself in a firefight with police.
In the wake of the shooting, Stugeon’s family revealed that the shooter had been struggling with mental health problems ranging from anxiety to depression which required him to be medicated. His family expressed fears that Sturgeon developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy following a head injury he sustained during a high school basketball game. However, the extent of CTE in its victims is typically not measurable until a postmortem examination of their brain. The Sturgeon’s family attorney, Peter Palmer, revealed that the shooter’s brain had been tested for CTE during his autopsy but that results would not be conclusive for six to eight weeks.
While the prescription regimen Sturgeon was taking has not been disclosed, other mass shooters in recent years have been revealed to have been taking selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, including James Eagan Holmes, culprit behind a murder spree at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado on July 20th, 2012. SSRIs are prescribed as an anti-depressant due to a mechanism of action that blocks the receptors meant to reabsorb serotonin in order to increase the level of the neurotransmitter in those taking the drugs.
SSRIs are prescribed for a range of mental illnesses from major depressive disorder to anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, et al. Despite being commonplace for doctors to prescribe SSRIs to those suffering these mental illnesses, a litany of side effects have brought about doubts in the efficacy of the drugs. Side effects like suicidal ideation and the onset of manic episodes have been factors affecting the decision making of mass shooters like Sturgeon, who himself disclosed his own intention to commit suicide in his thirteen-page manifesto.
In addition to his underlying mental illness, Sturgeon’s manifesto detailed his political ideals as another crucial factor influencing him to commit the shooting. The coalescence of his mental health problems with a clear political agenda mirrors that of Audrey Hale, the transgender killer behind the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tennessee on March 27th, 2023. Hale, like Sturgeon, authored her own manifesto detailing the motives behind their crime. While Nashville police have assured the public that the manifesto will be made public, it has yet to be. Sturgeon’s has not been either, at least not accessibly, as so far its release has been limited to The Daily Mail’s review of the manifesto alone. Despite that lack of transparency, the motives behind Hale’s shooting have been claimed to stem from the treatment she was enrolled in to address her gender dysphoria, which appears to have instigated a lethal degree of spite as her diametrically opposed political position to her counselor’s and parents’ views on transgenderism appears to have been a key motive leading to the shooting.
In the wake of Hale’s shooting, transgender advocates took to the Tennessee Statehouse under the guise of a demonstration aimed at promoting gun control. Their protest shows how boisterous calls for gun control have been used to obfuscate more complex social and political issues which those in disagreement contend will not go away simply by restricting the Second Amendment. In the instance of Sturgeon’s manifesto, his aim to commit a mass shooting was done in part to give political allies of his a vehicle to push reactionary gun control legislation. This creates a paradox in which the advancement of gun control measures would simultaneously cater to the whims of a mass shooter, showing the futility of policy making which would embolden violent criminals more than it would protect the public against them.
Continental Shift: The World’s Biggest Economies Over Time
According to data from the IMF,four out of the top 6 countries in the world by size of PPP GDP in 2028 will be in Asia, relegating European economies to lower ranks.
While China had been the posterchild of market growth for much of the 21st century, the country is now tackling an ageing population, which will put a damper on consumption. Indonesia, together with the Philippines and Malaysia, are expected to grow their labor forces significantly in the years to come, contributing to a rise in average disposable incomes, according to the World Economic Forum.
Asian multinationals, like China’s Huawei and India’s Tata, have already emerged in this century and more are expected to appear on the global scene.
But rapid growth in Asia also comes with its own set of problems, like a quickly growing divide between rural and urban incomes, environmental degradation as well as the new challenge of population decline.
Kiev received the Patriot air defense system from the US and Germany, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov confirmed on Twitter. While Kiev will only receive a limited number of advanced interceptors, Reznikov said Ukraine had realized its “dream.”
“Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine.” He tweeted Wednesday, “Our air defenders have mastered them as fast as they could.” Reznikov went on to thank the US, Germany and the Netherlands for keeping their pledge to transfer Patriots to Ukraine.
Reznikov said the air defense systems fulfilled a dream that he was told was impossible. “Do you know how to visualize a dream?” He continued, “During my visit to the US in August 2021…I first told our partners, ‘We need the Patriots.’ Our country’s liberty and independence are under threat. And what did we hear? It’s impossible!”
Deutsche Welle, a German outlet, reports Ukraine will only receive one launcher from each the US and Germany. The Netherlands is sending missiles and spare parts.
Last month, the Pentagon claimed that 65 Ukrainian soldiers training in the US had become proficient on the platform ahead of schedule, allowing Washington to ship the missile defense system to Kiev earlier than expected.
A German defense official said that Germany and the US also provided training during a NATO exercise in an unnamed country.
Reznikov’s praise for the Patriots may be overhyped. The limited number of systems will only provide Ukraine with a small area of coverage from Russian attacks. While Patriot systems are capable of targeting planes, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, it is inefficient against drones. Patriot missiles cost $4 million each, and drones are cheap to produce.
Disqualified Ultra-Marathoner Apologizes For Cheating With Car
A top Scottish ultra-marathoner who was disqualified from a race for using a car apologized on Wednesday, blaming jet lag and “miscommunication” for her decision to cheat (after which she still came in 3rd).
Joasia Zakrzewski, 47, traveled 2.5 miles during the GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool race in northwest England on April 7, for which she faces disciplinary action from UK Athletics. She told the BBC that her leg began to feel sore around the halfway mark of the 50-mile race, and took a friend up on his offer for a ride to the next checkpoint ‘to tell marshals she was pulling out.’
Except, she kept running – in what she says was a “non-competitive way,” after marshals told her she “will hate yourself if you stop,” the Globe and Mail reports.
“I was tired and jet-lagged and felt sick,” she told the BBC, calling herself an “idiot.”
“I hold my hands up, I should have handed them back and not had pictures done but I was feeling unwell and spaced out and not thinking clearly.”
She apologized to fellow runner Mel Sykes, who has since been awarded third place.
“I would never purposefully cheat and this was not a target race,” Zakrzewski said, “but I don’t want to make excuses.”
Wayne Drinkwater, the director of the GB Ultras race, said Zakrzewski’s conduct was “very disappointing” and the matter was with the Trail Running Association and U.K. Athletics.
An ultra-marathon is a race longer than a marathon. -Globe and Mail
“The issue has been investigated and, having reviewed the data from our race tracking system, GPX data, statements provided from our event team, other competitors and from the participant herself, we can confirm that a runner has now been disqualified from the event having taken vehicle transport during part of the route,” GB Ultras race director Wayne Drinkwater told the BBC. “The matter is now with the TRA (Trail Running Association) and, in turn, UK Athletics (UKA) as the regulatory bodies.”
Zakrezewski, a medical doctor from Dumfries who now lives in Australia, has raced for Scotland and Britain in long distance events.
France’s power prices for early 2024 are double the German prices for next winter as the huge French nuclear fleet continues to show signs of weak output and availability.
The French power price for the first quarter of 2024 was at $455 (416 euros) per megawatt-hour (MWh) on Wednesday.
That’s more than double the price for the same period in Germany, where the power price was at $185 (169 euros) per MWh for early 2024, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
France has had troubles at many of its nuclear reactors, half of which have been shut down for repairs and maintenance at several times over the past year.
Germany, meanwhile, took its last three nuclear power plants offline on Saturday, ending more than six decades of commercial nuclear energy use. Germany ended the nuclear power era despite continued concerns about energy security and energy supply after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the end of pipeline natural gas deliveries from Russia, which was the largest gas supplier to Europe’s biggest economy before the war.
In France, concerns about the operations at France’s large nuclear power fleet resurfaced last month after the French nuclear safety authority, ASN, told energy giant and large nuclear reactor operator EDF to review its program of reactor checks, following the finding of another crack at a nuclear power plant.
This led to an 8% one-day surge in French power prices for next year, the biggest jump since the end of January.
For much of last year, France’s nuclear power generation was well below capacity, as more than half of the country’s reactors were offline at one point in the autumn due to repairs or maintenance.
At the moment, French nuclear power plants are producing 17.5% less than the average output rate for 2020 and 2021. That’s down from 23% last year, so there is some progress, but concerns remain.
