CND Press Roundup Thursday 31st March 2022
Posted: 31st March 2022
War in Ukraine
Labour’s defence spokesperson John Healey has called on the UK government to urgently review its military spending, and to publish an urgent white paper to assess new threats. Healey said last year’s Integrated Review – which includes plans to increase the UK’s nuclear stockpile by 40% – was too focused on an Indo-Pacific tilt and failed to predict the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan or the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Healey added that Labour would back any defence spending increases proposed by the Conservative government. CND’s Kate Hudson said this amounted to throwing good money after bad: “Vast military spending over two decades resulted in defeat in Afghanistan, and intensified NATO military expansionism has made conflict with Russia more likely not less. More money for weapons and war will lead to more war not more security.”
The Guardian writes on nuclear anxiety and how this has materialised into a boon in underground bunker sales in the US and beyond. One American supplier said that in the month since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, inquiries have jumped from less than 100 per month to 3,000. While an Italian company – who have installed around 50 bomb shelters in the last 20 years – said they received 500 queries about new installations.
Russian aircraft armed with nuclear weapons were chased out of Swedish airspace earlier this month, according to claims in Swedish media. Two Su-24s were intercepted by Swedish jets as they flew over the Baltic Sea towards the island of Gotland from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. One source told TV4 that the move was part of efforts by Moscow to intimate Sweden – one of the few European nations not in NATO. The Swedish government had previously confirmed the interception but has yet to comment on the jets carrying nuclear weapons.
Experts from the UN’s nuclear watchdog with additional safety equipment will soon be arriving at nuclear power facilities in Ukraine, according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Rafael Mariano Grossi made the comments after meeting with Ukrainian officials and nuclear experts at the Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant on Wednesday. The meeting discussed the steps and assistance needed to protect Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.
US officials say Russian troops have been walking away from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant – which first came under their control at the start of the war. Now, there are claims that the soldiers were going to Belarus because they had been irradiated. One worker at the Chernobyl site wrote on Facebook: “Another batch of radiation irradiation of Russian terrorists who captured the Chernobyl zone, was brought to the Belarusian centre of radiation medicine in Gomel today…Digging the trenches in the Rudu forest, b**? Now live the rest of your short life with this. There are rules of handling this territory.”
One US State Department official accused Russia of breaching its international obligations by raising the nuclear threat level. Bonnie Jenkins, under-secretary for arms control and international security said: “We have obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and threatening non-nuclear weapons states isn’t something that a nuclear weapons state should be doing…This sabre-rattling is certainly not good. There were no threats made against Russia.”
North Korea
The Guardian’s Tokyo correspondent writes on North Korea’s recent ICBM tests and leader Kim Jong-un’s foreign policy goals. One Korea expert said: “North Korea usually has multiple objectives for every action. It may be gearing up for a tougher US-South Korea alliance after Yoon Suk-yeol’s presidential election victory while pushing ahead with pre-existing plans to make hi-tech nuclear weapons as ordered by Kim Jong-un. It might also be aiming to mask any internal weakness through shows of strength before the North Korean people even if it has to be deceptive about them.”
Singapore’s Prime Minister has called for North Korea to return to the negotiating table over its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programme. Lee Hsien Loong made the comments during a visit to the White House for talks with Joe Biden. Lee previously played host to first summit between a North Korean and US leader in Singapore in 2018, where he held separate meetings with Kim Jong-un and then-US President Donald J Trump.
Iran Nuclear Deal
Iran has accused the US of violating a UN resolution on the 2015 nuclear deal, after Wasington slapped sanctions on a procurement agent linked to its ballistic weapons programme. “This move is another sign of the US government’s malice towards the Iranian people, as it continues the failed policy of maximum pressure against Iran,” an Iranian spokesperson said. Meanwhile, agreement on a revived Iran nuclear deal could take days, or it could take weeks according to the ever direct Russian foreign ministry.
Trident
Nuclear Free Local Authorities is backing a challenge to the UN Human Rights Council, on the UK’s government’s nuclear weapons policy. The challenge argues that the “UK Government’s policy of retaining, and reserving the right to use, a nuclear weapons arsenal is in violation of the Right to Life, a right enshrined in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the UK is a signatory.”
TPNW
Côte d’Ivoire has become the latest nation to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), and will be legally bound by it from 21 June 2022 – the opening day of the first meeting of states parties to the treaty in Vienna.
UK Nuclear Energy
CND Vice-President and scientific adviser Ian Fairlie has a blog postfor Labour Outlook, on Boris Johnson’s plans to bet big on nuclear power. He mentions the lengthy timescales involved, expense, and link to civilian nuclear’s links to nuclear weapons.
Pro-nuclear Tory MPs have put pressure on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to loosen the Treasury purse strings and fund more nuclear power. Ian Liddell-Grainger, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on nuclear energy, pleaded the case by asking: “How else are we going to produce the base power we need to get away from a reliance on oil and gas imports? Onshore wind isn’t the answer. Offshore wind will work but what happens when the wind doesn’t blow?” However an anonymous Tory backbencher was more scathing: “I wouldn’t buy a second-hand car of Rishi Sunak. The Chancellor needs to stop dragging his feet on new nuclear. He needs to stop flogging a dead horse with other energy options and get on with this.”
Prospect Magazine has a good article on why spending £4 billion on the Sizewell C nuclear reactor will not solve the UK’s energy problems.
Bloomberg reports on why investors aren’t convinced by Boris Johnson’s push on nuclear: “Unclear policy, competition from renewables and concerns about how attractive the financial returns will be all make the investment case for nuclear less compelling.”
Fukushima
And Japan plans to ship spent nuclear fuel from the Monju prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor, which is undergoing decommissioning work, to France. Once finalised, the shipment will be completed by 2037.
With best wishes,
Pádraig McCarrick
Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament