CND Press Roundup Wednesday 27th April 2022

War in Ukraine

• Boris Johnson said he isn’t worried about Vladimir Putin using nuclear weapons during the war in Ukraine. Asked on Talk TV if he shared the concerns expressed by some security analysts he replied: “I don’t.”

• The US State Department has branded recent comments made by Russia on the growing prospect of a nuclear confrontation between Russia and NATO as the “height of irresponsibility.” It follows remarks made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, accusing NATO of engaging in a proxy war against Russia by supplying Ukraine with weapons.

• Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency said two Russian cruise missiles flew at low altitude over the country’s largest nuclear power plant on Tuesday. “Missiles lying at a low altitude directly over the site of the ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant), where there are 7 nuclear facilities with a huge amount of nuclear material, poses huge risks. After all, missiles could hit one or more nuclear facilities, and this threatens a nuclear and radiation catastrophe around the world,” Petro Kotin, Energoatom’s acting chief, said in a statement.

• The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) paid a visit to the defunct Chernobyl power plant on Tuesday, where he said Russian troops had risked a nuclear accident by their “very, very, dangerous” take-over of the plant at the end of February – before withdrawing in March. Rafael Mariano Grossi added that radiation levels at the plant were still “not normal” with nuclear agencies still “on alert”. Grossi’s visit fell on the 36th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

• The Mirror reports on images of Russian submarines in Sevastopol, Crimea, being loaded with nuclear-capable Kalibr-type missiles – quoting Ukraine Now, a channel on the social media app Telegram. The missiles, which can carry either a conventional or nuclear warhead, have been used during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in their conventional setting.

Trident / Nukes in the UK

• The Independent reports on the UK government’s refusal to answer if US nuclear weapons have been deployed to RAF Lakenheath. “The MoD is unable to comment on US spending decisions and capabilities, which are a matter for the US government…It remains longstanding UK and Nato policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at a given location,” defence minister James Heappey said in a written answer to Parliament.

• Nuclear Free Local Authorities has joined the call for UK banks and pension providers to divest from nuclear weapons. Chair of the NFLA Steering Committee, Councillor David Blackburn, said: “Recent events in Ukraine have shown that the use of nuclear weapons is still a very real threat when the superpowers square up to one another in a military conflict. Such weapons pose an existential threat to all living creatures on our planet. Just one such weapon, having multiple warheads, could kill millions of people in an instant and expose millions more to a slow-lingering death from exposure to deadly radiation. The only way to remove that threat is ultimately to remove the weapons, and one method to help bring about their demise is to starve manufacturers of the finance they require to develop and build these deadly devices.”

UK Nuclear Energy

• Rolls Royce has recruited RPOne, a nuclear recruitment specialist firm, to support a campaign to fill 400 initial vacancies associated with its small modular reactor (SMR) programme. The aerospace and defence giant is looking to capitalise on the UK government’s nuclear-heavy energy strategy, by offering its untested SMR or mini-nuclear power plant design.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Iran could develop nuclear weapons within weeks, prompting concern among those in Washington. “Yes it definitely worries us,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said during questions with the Press on Tuesday, adding that the timescale Tehran needed to produce a nuclear weapon was down from about a year. The comments come as talks in Vienna to renew the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have effectively ground to a halt.

• Meanwhile, former diplomats, including several former UK foreign and defence officials, have urged Washington and Tehran to show greater flexibility in the negotiations. In a joint letter the group wanted that the talks were heading for a “corrosive stalemate devolving into a cycle of increased nuclear tension.” With a final draft of the renewed deal ready, the letter warned “for US and European leaders to let slip the opportunity to defuse a nuclear crisis in the Middle East would be a grave mistake.”

Fukushima

• Japan’s Prime Minister Fumo Kishida has again called on citizens to consider a return to nuclear power “given rising electricity and gas prices.” Speaking on television on Tuesday night, Kishida added that the government “won’t compromise on safety” and that a public consensus will be built before proceeding.