☢️ Micro nuclear reactors are being built that can deliver 5MW of power for up to 100 months, producing a staggering 1.2 petawatt-hours of energy

Nuclear power is increasingly being recognized for its potential to revolutionize energy supply in data centers, a necessity as artificial intelligence continues to drive demand.

Companies like Oracle and Microsoft have both begun investigating nuclear energy (as has former Microsoft chairman Bill Gates), with Microsoft inking an agreement to purchase power from the infamous Three Mile Island reactor.

Micro nuclear reactors are also set to provide clean, safe, and reliable energy to meet the increasing demands of data centers and other industries. We previously wrote how Nano Nuclear Energy is on track to have its first commercial microreactors ready by the early 2030s, with prototypes expected as soon as 2027.

Now, details have surfaced about Westinghouse's eVinci microreactor, after the company revealed it had submitted its Preliminary Safety Design Report (PSDR) to the Department of Energy’s National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) and in doing so is the first reactor developer to reach this milestone.

“The completion of the PSDR for the eVinci test reactor is an important step toward enabling a micro reactor developer to perform a test in our DOME facility,” said Brad Tomer, acting director of NRIC.

“As a national DOE program and part of INL, the nation’s nuclear energy research laboratory, NRIC is committed to working with private companies such as Westinghouse to perform testing and accelerate the development of advanced nuclear technologies that will provide clean energy solutions for the US.”

🔗 https://www.techradar.com/pro/micro-nuclear-reactors-are-being-built-that-can-deliver-5mw-of-power-for-up-to-100-months-producing-a-staggering-1-2-petawatt-hours-of-energy

🇮🇹❌🇮🇱 Italy imposed full arms embargo on Israel over Gaza ground op

The Italian government blocked all new arms deals with the Jewish state just weeks after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday, the local ANSA news agency reported.

“After the start of [Israeli military] operations in Gaza, the government immediately suspended all new export licenses, and all agreements signed after October 7th were not implemented,” the Italian leader stated during a debate at Italy’s Senate ahead of Thursday’s European Council summit.

Meloni told lawmakers that licenses authorized before Oct. 7 are being “analyzed on a case-by-case basis by the competent authority at the foreign ministry.”

“We have blocked everything,” the Italian premier declared, noting that the policies of her government are “much more restrictive than that applied by our partners—France, Germany and the United Kingdom.”

🔗 https://www.jns.org/meloni-italy-imposed-full-arms-embargo-on-israel-over-gaza-ground-op/

🇺🇦🇷🇺 Vladimir Zelensky's victory plan presented to the Ukrainian Parliament yesterday:

🔸 Invitation to join NATO

🔸 More weapons faster with no restrictions on their use

🔸 Non-nuclear deterrence

🔸 Strategic economic potential. Ukraine proposes partners from the European Union and U.S. sign a special agreement on common use of Ukraine’s critical resources, like lithium, gas, titanium and others, and produce energy together in the future.

🔸 Post-war perspectives. Ukraine would bolster European security thanks to its battle-hardened military. Zelensky proposed that Ukrainian units could potentially replace American contingents in NATO military bases.

📝: Zelensky's victory plan looks like it was written by some middle-level staffer in the Pentagon. The plan being implemented entirely depends on the will of Ukraine's Western allies who are always fighting amongst themselves whether doing this or that for Kiev is "going too far".

This lack of consistency and hesitation amongst NATO members has severely impaired Ukraine's defensive abilities and this has frustrated many in Kiev but Zelensky still places his country's faith in the same hands in which he placed it in April of 2022 when he called off peace negotiations with Russia.

Zelensky has no real intentions to end the bloodshed knowing all too well that once the war ends he will be held responsible for the disaster in which he brought Ukraine in.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/volodymyr-zelenskyy-presents-his-victory-plan-to-ukraine-parliament-war-vladimir-putin/

🇰🇷❌🇰🇵❗️ — South Korean forces on Yeonpyeong Island have been placed on alert as unusual movements have been detected at North Korean coastal artillery positions.

➡️ There has also been a sudden withdrawal of Chinese fishing boats from the waters near the island.

➡️ Days ago, South Korean media reported that, exactly as reported by North Korean State Media KCNA, as of 8:00 PM on the 13th, it had switched eight artillery brigades in forward areas to a “fire standby” posture.

➡️ These eight artillery brigades were ordered to be fully armed, and it is known that over 700 170mm long-range artillery pieces, 240mm multiple rocket launchers, 300mm multiple rocket launchers, and the North Korean version of the KTSSM (tactical surface-to-surface guided weapon) “Hwasong-11Ra” are deployed.

➡️ This means that 700 long-range artillery pieces and multiple rocket launchers are armed and aimed at our military and key facilities, and can be used immediately if necessary.

➡️ On this day, North Korea’s coastal artillery was also captured in the open in the West Sea border area.

#BREAKING

🥇📈🚀GOLD spot reach a fresh new All Time High over $2714/oz!

@FelipeChannel

🇧🇷🤡🌹🙏 — The Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) stated that “nobody was more left-wing than Jesus Christ”

🤝 The new gesture to Christians occurred on the night of this Thursday (17) during a rally in support of the left-wing candidate, Luiz Caetano, and his vice, Pastor Déa (PSB), in Camaçari, in the state of Bahia

“I am very proud to see Caetano get a running mate, a black woman, a pastor. There is nothing more extraordinary than this union of two left-wing parties. We are not afraid to say that we are left-wing, because nobody was more left-wing than Jesus Christ. Nobody”

⁉️ At the beginning of the speech, Lula recalled the impeachment process faced by President Dilma Rousseff (PT) in 2016. He stressed that Dilma was targeted by the “men of the country” who could not accept a woman in the presidency.

💬 “They not only impeached Dilma after an invented lie, but they also invented that I committed corruption to get me out of the electoral race,” concluded the president.

Source 🖇

🇮🇱❌🇮🇷❗️ — British Media The Times reports that the State of Israel is planning, in its first wave of Strikes inside Iranian territory, to eliminate the military and civilian leadership of the Islamic Republic, with strikes being focused on:

🇮🇷 Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
👮‍♂️ IRGC's Basij (Paramilitary Volunteer militias that serve on the roles of Internal security, law enforcement and moral policing for the Islamic Republic)
🏛 Civilian power structures

➡️ The Final Goal of this first volley would be to encourage and incentive a new uprising inside Iran and overthrow the Islamic Republic

#BREAKING

🥇📈🚀GOLD spot reach again a new All Time High over $2720/oz!

@FelipeChannel

#BREAKING

🥈📈🚀 SILVER spot reach $33/oz, the higher level in over 11 years!

@FelipeChannel

🇵🇱🇪🇺 Poland gets the EU to admit that the right to asylum can be denied if a security risk can be proven!

EU leaders on Thursday rallied behind Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s threat to temporarily ban asylum for those coming from Russia or Belarus, warning Moscow not to weaponize migrant flows to destabilize European countries.

“Russia and Belarus, or any other country, cannot be allowed to abuse our values, including the right to asylum, and to undermine our democracies,” read a statement from the European Union’s 27 leaders following their meeting in Brussels.

The statement was a win for Tusk, who last week announced that Poland would temporarily suspend asylum rights for migrants headed to his country via its border with Belarus. The influx, he said, had been orchestrated by Russia as part of “hybrid warfare” tactics designed to destabilize Poland.

“Exceptional situations require appropriate measures,” the statement went on.

Tusk wanted the EU to back the idea that a country can invoke security reasons as justification for suspending asylum rights — and he got it.

“I have just come from a meeting with all the most important leaders and what I wanted to achieve, I achieved,” Tusk told journalists.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-prime-minister-donald-tusk-eu-asylum-ban-russia-belarus-migration-security/

🇵🇱🤝🏳️‍🌈 Poland's Donald Tusk plans to legalise civil partnerships soon which would act as a de-facto recognition of gay marriage.

🔗 https://www.pap.pl/en/news/bills-introducing-same-sex-civil-partnerships-poland-govt-agenda

🇨🇺⚡️📉 — Cuban netizens report a nationwide energy blackout, as the power grid of the Socialist nation once again faults

🇨🇺⚡️📉 — 🖥 Network data show a significant decline in internet traffic in Cuba; the incident is attributed a power outage due to the shutdown of Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant per the Ministry of Energy.

NetBlocks (@netblocks) 🖇

🇨🇺⚡️📉 — 🖥 A complete disconnection of the national electricity system has resulted in a significant Internet disruption in Cuba. Starting just after 11:00 local (15:00 UTC), traffic dropped by nearly two-thirds.

Cloudflare Radar (@CloudflareRadar) 🖇