CND Press Roundup Tuesday 29th March 2022
Posted: 29th March 2022
War in Ukraine
Bristol-based artist Banksy’s 2005 artwork, CND Soldiers, has sold at auction for £81,000 – more than double its starting price. The anonymous donor auctioned the work through website MyArtBroker.com with all proceeds going to a children’s hospital in Ukraine. The work depicts two soldiers graffitiing a wall with the CND logo.
CND General Secretary Kate Hudson features on the latest episode of comedian Tiernan Douieb’s podcast – Partly Political Broadcast. Included in the chat is an explanation of why there’s no such thing as “small nukes.” Listen from wherever you usually get your podcasts.
Independent Catholic News has an excellent opinion piece on ‘pacifism in the face of aggression,’ and touches on the how history is full of examples of pacifism getting swept away in a tide of solidarity for the oppressed: “We have certainly seen our own elected politicians rush to bolster arms supplies, talking up the importance of hard power’ and the strength of our military alliances, while unsaid but very apparent, is the increased risk of nuclear war. Our very human instinct for personal and human security can lead us into an aggressive response, but is this so different from the desire of Russians for security following their terrible experience of WW2 and their fears of NATO ‘expansionism’? In Britain, our taxes are spent on maintaining a nuclear arsenal, supposedly for our defence. But is this arsenal keeping us safe, or does it not lend a false justification for both NATO and Russia to vie for control of their respective ‘spheres of influence’? Instead of nuclear weapons strengthening our security, have they rendered the world a more unsafe place? Would our taxes have been much better spent on tackling injustices in our own society and actively building peace globally – via aid, tackling government corruption, support for refugees, or fighting climate insecurity.”
Historian and author Max Hastings writes in the Washington Post on the possibility of Vladimir Putin using nuclear weapons and includes a potted history of nuclear tensions during the Cold War. To give us an idea of how Europe may fare in a modern nuclear confrontation, Hastings recalls a 1961 meeting at the Moscow ballet between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and the British ambassador Frank Roberts. In a tirade to Roberts about the consequences of a nuclear exchange, Khrushchev said the respective sizes of the US and USSR “would enable both nations to survive. But Britain, West Germany and France would be obliterated on the first day.” The Soviet leader then asked “Roberts how many bombs would be needed to dispose of Britain. Six, hazarded the ambassador. Khrushchev pronounced him a pessimist, Roberts recalled: ‘The Soviet General Staff…had earmarked several score of bombs for use against the UK,’ which suggested ‘that the Soviet Union had a higher opinion of the UK’s resistance capacity than the UK itself.’
Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dimitri Peskov, has told an interview with PBS that Russia will only use nuclear weapons if its existence is threatened, in an apparent defusal of earlier rhetoric emanating from the Kremlin. “We have a security concept that very clearly states that only when there is a threat for the existence of the state in our country, we can use and we will actually use nuclear weapons,” Peskov told the US broadcaster. He added: “No one is thinking about using, about — even about [the] idea of using a nuclear weapon.” It follows remarks at the weekend by Putin ally and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, that suggested Russia could use nuclear weapons against an army armed with only conventional weapons.
The Byline Times has a lengthy piece on the events that have taken place at the Chernobyl nuclear plant since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the potential risks of a nuclear disaster. It comes as Ukrainian officials warn of increased levels of radiation spreading across Europe as a result of Russia’s “militarising” of the exclusion zone around the defunct plant.
Trident
An odd contribution to the letters page of the Glasgow Evening Times from one JT Hardy, bemoaning how those at the CND are “not enjoying a high media profile these days as the war in Ukraine painfully grinds on.” JT instead proposes that “we should all be raising a glass of porter (or rum) to the Royal Navy submariners in Trident submarines. Wherever they are, somewhere between the North Pole or South Pole and the equator, it’s good to know that Vladimir Putin will be disinclined from ever launching an attack on the UK or other NATO countries. A great life lesson for younger people is being spelt out: evil forces are all too real and bullies need to be confronted.” He then goes on to quote King Charles II on the importance of the Royal Navy – seemingly without considering the force’s own role in bullying others during the colonial era.
Hiroshima
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the threat of nuclear weapons being used “is increasingly real,” as he welcomed the US ambassador to the city of Hiroshima at the weekend. Kishida, who is Hiroshima’s MP, said Russia’s war in Ukraine showed the difficulty of creating a world without nuclear weapons.
UK Nuclear Energy
The Times reports on Boris Johnson’s delayed unveiling of his new energy strategy and the rumblings between No 10 and the Treasury over the extent of the government’s backing of nuclear power. It’s said that Rishi Sunak is unconvinced by the return on investment from nuclear and would lead to “substantial long-term increases in energy bills.” While Johnson came out of a recent meeting with nuclear industry bosses saying that the UK would aim to get a quarter of its energy mix from nuclear – with six new large-scale stations – Sunak is looking to limit this to just two new nuclear plants in addition to the one being built at Hinkley Point.
The Guardian also looks into the government’s nuclear funding row noting that Johnson’s desire to fund eight nuclear power stations would cost the public more than £13 billion. This is on top of the Treasury’s existing commitments to nuclear energy including: “£1.7bn of direct cash for a single large-scale nuclear project – the £20bn Sizewell C – as well as £120m for a new Future Nuclear Enabling Fund.”
News of a financial fallout between Sunak and Johnson over nuclear energy funding comes as the government announced it was taking a 20% stake – to the tune of £20 billion – in the Sizewell nuclear plant in Suffolk. Legislation relating to the Sizewell C plant is also working its way through parliament, which includes provisions “allowing the cost and financing of building to be added to customers’ bills”. How does the Express report this?: “Putin outsmarted: UK strikes major new nuclear energy deal with 20% stake in £20bn venture.”
100% Renewable UK writes on the Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) being touted by Rolls Royce, arguing that they aren’t safer or cheaper but are in fact getting bigger than their predecessors. It writes that: “In 2017 Rolls Royce said that its small modular reactor would be between 220 and 440 MW, but the latest design is bigger, at 470 MW. It is strange to call this small. The reactors in service at the moment (the so-called AGR reactors) were around the 600 MW size for each unit and strange as it might seem, most of the first generation of so-called ‘Magnox’ nuclear reactors built in the UK were actually smaller than 470 MW. So why is Rolls Royce calling this a SMR? There’s no reason for this other than public relations.”
Nuclear Energy
The US public is split on nuclear energy production, according to a poll by the Pew Research Centre. The survey found that just over a third (35%) were in favour of the federal government encouraging the production of nuclear power. However, just over a quarter (26%) argued that it should be discouraged, while another third (37%) said it should be neither encouraged or discouraged. The intransigence comes as US President Joe Biden hopes to make nuclear energy a cornerstone of his plan to cut the country’s carbon emissions and achieve net zero.
- John Law, founder of Clean Energy Revolution, has a letter in the Financial Times, arguing that Germany’s planned nuclear phaseout “would be pure madness” in the context of a worsening energy market as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
With best wishes,
Pádraig McCarrick
Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament