CND Press Roundup Wednesday 6th April 2022

War in Ukraine

• The New York Times has a piece on how the US watches for signs of a nuclear attack via its network of satellites and spacecraft, as tensions between nuclear-powers continue to rise over Ukraine. Former CIA assistant director and now a senior lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, Dr Mark Lowenthal, said the main uncertainty about Russia’s nuclear doctrine was “the level of automaticity” in Russia’s escalatory war alerts – a semiautomatic system meant to operate on its own in the event that Russia’s leaders had been killed. In that case, Russia’s nuclear authority would devolve to a few low-ranking officers in a concrete bunker. It’s unclear if Moscow today relies on something similar. “You’re never quite sure” how Russia goes about authorising the use of nuclear arms, Lowenthal said. “That’s the kind of thing that makes you nervous.”

• Red Pepper Magazine has a feature on the Russian feminists opposing the war in Ukraine. One such group, Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAR) was founded on the messaging service Telegram in February and has grown to have 25,000 subscribers. The group uses the service as a “shared space for suggestions, ideas, and gathering information about protests” against the war, referred to by the Russian government as a ‘special operation.’

• The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists writes on how the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can help nuclear power plants in Ukraine. While it notes that the watchdog is a technical organisation, previous heads have also played an important part in de-escalating international crises with a nuclear dimension: “Hans Blix played a major role in bringing to light proof of North Korea’s undeclared nuclear activities in the 1990s and sounded alarms that likely delayed North Korea’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. Mohammed ElBaradei displayed extraordinary diplomacy and courage in negotiating the conflict between Iran and Western countries in the 2000s, likely preserving diplomatic pathways between the two.”

• Responsible Statecraft looks at the pressure non-proliferation efforts have been under in the run up to the war in Ukraine. It looks at the gradual increase in nuclear warhead stockpiles, non-compliance of treaties, and a global decline in security.

AUKUS

• The AUKUS trilateral security pact between the UK, US, and Australia is to be widened to include the development of hypersonic missiles. It’s an extension of last year’s announcement that the trio would collaborate on providing Australia with nuclear submarines. The Guardian contacted CND for comment for their coverage of the issue: “Kate Hudson, the general secretary of the pressure group CND, said she believed the extension of the Aukus pact would ‘further escalate global tensions at a time when the threat of nuclear war is at its highest in decades’, and it risked accelerating an arms race with China in the Asia-Pacific. ‘Not to mention the fact that military budgets are already escalating – what will the opportunity cost be for embarking on a whole new class of weaponry?’ Hudson added.”

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Iran has handed over documents to the UN’s nuclear watchdog, as part of efforts to remove some of the final obstacles to reviving the 2015 nuclear deal. Tehran agreed a three-month plan with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in March – to try and resolve an issue surrounding the presence of uranium particles found at old but undeclared nuclear sites. IAEA boss Rafael Grossi had previously said he hoped to report his conclusions by early June.

• Foreign Policy gives an overview of the latest issues surrounding the Iran nuclear talks. While critics in Washington and in the Middle East say a new deal would only slow down rather than halt Iran gaining nuclear weapons, it points out that Tehran would “would still be subject to expanded international monitoring of its nuclear program for up to an additional 10 years.”

Nuclear Korea

• Foreign policy and security aides working for South Korea’s president-elect, Yoon Suk-yeol, sought the redeployment of US nuclear bombers and submarines to the peninsula during a recent trip to Washington. The admission was made by one of Yoon’s advisers on Wednesday, as North Korea ups the pace on its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Yoon is scheduled to take office in May with a more hawkish attitude towards Pyongyang when compared to his predecessor Moon Jae-in.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The Ferret writes on the appearance of cracks at the ageing Torness nuclear power station in east Lothian. EDF, the energy firm which operates the plant, informed a local liaison group in February that three cracks had been found in one of the reactor’s graphite core. However EDF added that this was “entirely expected” and wouldn’t “affect the safe operation of the power station.”