CND Press Roundup Monday 28th March 2022
Posted: 29th March 2022
War in Ukraine
Donald Trump has accused US President Joe Biden of risking nuclear war with Russia, after White House staff were left scrambling to step away from accusations of supporting regime change in Russia. During a set of unscripted remarks in Poland, Biden called Vladimir Putin “a butcher” and suggested his actions in Ukraine meant he could not remain in power. Speaking to the conservative media outlet Newsmax, Trump said: “When you put him [Putin] into a corner and you talk the way they’re talking – they’re talking weak – and they’re almost giving him an incentive…They’re handling him very badly, in my opinion.”
Anxiety of a potential nuclear war between Russia and the US is rising, according to a poll of US citizens. Close to half of those surveyed said they were very concerned about a nuclear attack on the US from Russia, with a further 3 in 10 saying they were somewhat concerned.
Former Russian president and Vladimir Putin ally, Dimitri Medvedev, suggested that Russia may use a nuclear weapon against a non-nuclear country. Speaking on Saturday, Medvedev outlined the instances Russia would use nuclear weapons in line with its nuclear doctrine, including “when an act of aggression is committed against Russia and its allies, which jeopardised the existence of the country itself, even without the use of nuclear weapons.”
Trident
The North West Evening Mail solicits comments from readers on Cumbria and Lancashire CND’s efforts to raise awareness about recent nuclear convoys. The best suggestion on ending nuclear weapons comes from Julie Raven: “Get Hermes involved no one will see them again.”
Iran Nuclear Deal
The US Special Envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, said Sunday that he wasn’t “confident” that a new deal to stop Iran producing nuclear weapons was “imminent”. Speaking at the Doha Forum international conference in Qatar, Malley said “in any negotiations, when there’s issues that remain open for so long, it tells you something about how hard it is to bridge the gap.”
Meanwhile, the EU’s envoy to the Iranian nuclear talks, Enrique Mora, held talks in Tehran with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, as part of efforts to break the deadlock. Iran has maintained that the US “remains realistic” in its expectations, however, Russia appears to have backed down from a last minute demand that its trade with Iran is exempt from western sanctions placed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Anthony Bliken has told his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid that Iran will never acquire nuclear weapons – as part of US efforts to reassure Israel and Gulf states ahead of any agreement reached to curb Iran’s nuclear programme. It comes amid a historic summit in Israel’s Negev desert, between Israeli Prime Minister Neftali Bennett and the foreign ministers of Morocco, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt.
North Korea
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quotes government sources who suggest North Korea may be planning a nuclear weapons test. If carried out, it would be the first such test in four years. Satellite images taken in early March showed new construction work at the former Punggye-ri nuclear testing site, and officials now say Pyongyang is digging a “shortcut” to one of the tunnels previously used to carry out nuclear weapons tests.
Nuclear Proliferation
One letter to the editor of the Sunday Times calls for Taiwan to restart its nuclear weapons programme in order to prevent an invasion by China, or a US-Chinese nuclear confrontation. Retired Rear Admiral Philip Mathias argues: “A minimum credible deterrent would almost certainly dissuade China from invading and avoid such a crisis. Signatories of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty would be horrified — but they are not the ones facing an existential threat from China.” Meanwhile, Baroness Bennet writes: “Our technology has advanced faster than the political mechanisms to control it. There’s no area where this is more evident than nuclear weapons. For the sake of humanity, we must think big to ensure they catch up.”
UK Nuclear Energy
A good letter in Monday’s edition of the Times from Professor Leon Freris on the UK’s push to produce more nuclear energy: “Energy costs from wind and solar power fell precipitously over the last decade and are now less than half the cost of new nuclear. History also teaches us that no nuclear power station has ever been built on time and on budget. The notion that we require nuclear power to provide base demand is incorrect as costs of batteries and of other storage and grid management options, including hydrogen production, are also declining rapidly.”
The Observer looks at the UK government’s renewed backing of nuclear power despite the industry being in steady decline.
The Guardian reports on concerns over where to store toxic waste produced from nuclear power facilities. It cites experts who say: “new nuclear facilities will only add to the problem of what to do with radioactive waste from nuclear energy and that the “back end” issue of the hazardous toxic waste from the technology must not be hidden. An assessment by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) says spent fuel from new nuclear reactors will be of such high temperatures it would need to stay on site for 140 years before it could be removed to a GDF, if one is ever built in the UK.”
Nuclear energy firm EDF says a review of the costs associated with the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant will need to be undertaken, with the £23 billion project expected to get more expensive. A report by EDF on new costs and time frames for delivering the project is expected later this summer.
Fukushima
A survey by Japan’s Nikkei newspaper found that a slight majority of Japanese citizens back restarting its idled nuclear reactors. With 53% in favour, it’s the first time a majority are in favour of nuclear energy since the 2011 Fukushioma disaster.
With best wishes,
Pádraig McCarrick
Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament