David Dobrodt

Two interesting nuclear events occurred roughly two months ago: South Africa’s Energy Minister proclaimed that South Africa was seeking offers of up to 12 small nuclear reactors to add 2,500 gigawatts to its grid; and the United States’ International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) moved decisively to end the ban from the Obama Administration on financing nuclear power development projects abroad. IFDC was actually a new and better capitalized successor to the old Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and was created by bipartisan legislation pushed through by the Trump White House in 2018 (that’s right, bipartisan). DFC came to be referred to as “America’s development bank” by its head, long-time Jared-Kushner associate Adam Boehler. It has just taken on transport infrastructure projects in Serbia and Kosovo as part of the Trump Administration’s mediation effort between them.

                These two steps toward advanced nuclear reactors are now bearing fruit. NuScale Power LLC, the only company thus far to have NRC approval for its small modular reactor (SMR) design, has gotten a letter of intent for the 2500 MW project in South Africa from the U.S. DFC. {Neutron Bytes} reported Oct 18 DFC’s letter of intent to support Oregon-based NuScale in developing the 2,500 megawatts of power with its 60 megawatt SMR. Just days earlier, it reported, the U.S. Department of Energy committed $1.355 billion to Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems to keep it on track as NuScale’s first U.S. customer for its SMR. That 12-SMR plant will be built Idaho National Laboratory but provide power mostly to the Utah utilities, which were concerned about depressed electricity demand and therefore financing.

                The South African program is called the independent power producer (IPP) program, and its time scale is not yet definite. In a statement to Bloomberg News Oct. 16, NuScale said, “If successful, NuScale would be the first U.S. nuclear energy IPP on the continent and would help support energy resilience and security in one of Africa’s leading economies.” The letter of intent is not yet a funding commitment.

                At the same time Power Magazine reported Oct. 14 that two other American advanced nuclear design firms, TerraPower and X-energy, will each receive $80 million in initial federal funding under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) to build their two distinct advanced nuclear reactors and begin operating them within seven years. Bellevue, Washington–based TerraPower, founded by Bill Gates, will demonstrate the Natrium reactor, a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor that it unveiled last month as part of a consortium that includes GE Hitachi (GEH) and Bechtel. Maryland–based X-energy plans to deliver a commercial four-unit power plant based on its 80 MWe pebble-bed high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR), which can be scaled as a four-pack to 320 MWe. The DOE plans to invest $3.2 billion overall, with matching funds from industry, over the seven-year demonstration program, subject to future appropriations.

In a wide-ranging and very provocative dialogue with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, she opened by commenting that if Joe Biden is truly committed to “unity”, as he said in his Inauguration Address, he should adopt Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, “Development Is the New Name of Peace”, as his policy. This would require dropping “identity politics” and the Green New Deal — which he shows no sign of doing — in favor of the LaRouche movement’s plan to create 1.5 billion productive jobs, including developing a modern health system in every nation to address the COVID pandemic.

She also asked whether the paranoia shown by Hillary and Pelosi toward Russia and Trump voters makes them the “Q” twins; provided insights into the psy-war operation of “QAnon”, which she described as sharing common traits with the romantic movement, which was created by the oligarchy after the Napoleonic wars to destroy classical modes of thinking, in favor of dissociative emotions; and why she believes the disunity of the EU on the Green New Deal, and the disastrous effects it will have on industry, open the door to defeating it; and the implications of the discovery of new variants of COVID 19.

China’s manned space program is entering a new phase, which demands new skills from a new class of astronauts. Previously, only Air Force pilots could qualify. The purpose of the first manned flights was to test the hardware and the human element in space to prepare for longer missions of exploration. Having completed the first phase, during which the flight was 33 days, in the operational phase of a full-grown station, crew must now be prepared to work together for six months.

Of the 18 new trainees, 7 are pilots who will fly the vehicle, 7 are spaceflight engineers, responsible for controlling and managing the spacecraft; and the rest are payload specialists. The “payload” on especially the early missions where laboratories are being outfitted, will be scientific experiments and equipment. Space writer Andrew Jones, earlier this month outlined a broad range of research that will be carried out on the station, including astronomy, life science, space biology, materials, microgravity physics, “and more.”

China has not announced a definite date for the launch of “Tianhe” the core module. Earlier estimates have been that the station would be completed by 2023.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche urges Americans and concerned citizens world-wide to act on the recent call by Schiller Institute collaborator Phillip Tsokolibane to mobilize the resources needed to stop starvation in Africa.

Read Phillip Tsokolibane’s statement: A Matter of Life or Death— Call for International Mobilization of Food Resources To Fight Starvation in Africa

In the wake of the events of January 6, 2021, Lyndon LaRouche’s truly inspired and startling 2004 presentation of January 19, 2004 is ever more important.

Will we react with fear, or with anger, or even worse indifference, or will take inspiration from the common vision of leaders so separated in time and space as France’s Joan of Arc and America’s Martin Luther King? Will we hear the voice of our common God in whose image we have been made as did Martin and Joan? Mr. LaRouche challenges us to “to tap into that power,” then you can act with “a sense of what your life means. You have a sense of obligation, a mission in life to uplift the nation, by uplifting” your nation’s people.

Lyndon LaRouche is introduced by Amelia Boynton Robinson, a hero in her own right and a former vice chairwoman of the Schiller Institute.