CND's Press Round-Up - 28th June 2021
Posted: 28th June 2021
Please find today’s press round up below. Thank you to all for their continued help and support.
People’s Assembly
People’s Assembly Demonstration
The Morning Star is the only paper to carry a report on Saturday’s People’s Assembly demonstration. Speakers included MPs, trade union leaders and activists including CND’s Kate Hudson. Both The Guardian and The Independent mention the demo in passing in relation to the simultaneous lockdown protest.
Nuclear Weapons
The U.S. tries to press Iran on a quicker conclusion to the Vienna talks whilst Chile works to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Iran Nuclear Deal
The U.S. and France have tried to present a united front on the Iran nuclear deal during a visit by the Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Paris, according to the Guardian. Blinken told reporters that time was running out, saying that ‘There will come a point, yes, where it will be very hard to return back to the standards set by the deal. We haven’t reached that point – I can’t put a date on it – but it’s something that we’re conscious of.’
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
Chile has taken an important step to ratifying the TPNW, with a motion in the lower house of the Chilean parliament being passed unanimously, Pressenza reports. Chile of course does not have nuclear weapons and is a signatory and participant in the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which created a nuclear weapons-free zone in Latin America.
Local campaigners want to see more sustainable development in north Wales rather than nuclear, whilst EDF provides clarity on the shutting down of advanced gas-cooled reactors.
Development in Wales
Community groups are lobbying Gwynedd Council to introduce a new development plan which concentrates on protecting local Welsh-speaking communities and focuses less on attracting large-scale nuclear investment. Nation Cymru reports that campaign groups including Cymdeithas yr Iaith, the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) Welsh Forum, People Against Wylfa B and CADNO have pointed out the plan calls for thousands of new houses in Anglesey and Gwynedd. Hitachi stopped the Wylfa B project last September but there has been some speculation that the Welsh Government wants to bring it back.
Nuclear Power – UK
EDF Energy has said that it intends to put its seven advanced gas-cooled reactors into defueling and decommissioning stages within the next ten years, according to Power Engineering International. The licensing agreement between the company and the government means that by 2030, the company will operate Sizewell B, Hinkley Point C and maybe Sizewell C. Spent fuel from defueled reactors is transported by rail to Sellafield, where it is stored in a ‘cooling pond’ for the coming seventy years. The long-term aim is to construct a UK geological storage facility.
Climate Change
Extinction Rebellion have once again been targeted by the police over planned peaceful protests.
Extinction Rebellion and the Right to Protest
The Metropolitan Police raided a warehouse connected to Extinction Rebellion as well as an arts centre displaying Extinction Rebellion materials used in protests last year over the weekend, the Guardian reports. The raid was pre-emptive in that it aimed to disrupt protests organised by XR against press outlets at the weekend. 12 people were arrested. Campaigners have raised concerns over the impact such repressive actions will have on the right to protest.
With best wishes,
Michael Muir
Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament