CND Press Roundup Tuesday 14th June 2022

CND

• Hilary Wainwright reflects on Bruce Kent’s legacy and contributions to the global peace movement in this tribute for Another Europe is Possible.

• Ellen Teague also writes about Bruce’s work and activism in Independent Catholic News.

War in Ukraine

• Ukraine’s nuclear authority Energoatom has said it helped restore an internet connection between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the servers of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – under Russian control since the start of Moscow’s invasion.

Global Abolition

• Kate has a good article for The Morning Star and Globetrotter (non-paywall version here) on how the global South is leading the way when it comes to nuclear disarmament. Timely as Guatemala recently ratified the TPNW making Central America the first region to entirely sign up to it.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• The Financial Times writes on the floundering talks to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal. Analysts fear that a game of brinkmanship played by Iran to squeeze further concessions have stalled – which could lead to the talks collapsing entirely. “We are in a situation where for the first time…Iran has the ability to break out, [to] have capacity to produce enough fissile material for a weapon,” Ali Vaez, Iran analyst at Crisis Group said. “We are in the beginning of a lose-lose cycle of escalation.”

• Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has urged for talks to resume, after Iran removed surveillance cameras installed by the nuclear watchdog at several Iranian nuclear sites.

China

• Global Times covers the deployment of new nuclear weapons into China’s armed forces – after they were first publicly displayed during parades in 2019. “China’s policy on nuclear power is consistent. We use it for self-defense, we will not be the first to use nuclear power, and we develop nuclear capabilities with an ultimate goal of eliminating nuclear weapons. We develop nuclear capabilities to protect the peaceful hard work of the Chinese people and to protect our country from the scourge of war, particularly nuclear war,” China’s Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe said during a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

North Korea

• The US will keep up the pressure with sanctions on North Korea “until the regime in Pyongyang changes course,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reports on Monday. Blinken made the comments after a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, with the latter urging China to do more to urge North Korea from resuming nuclear testing.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Environmental Journal looks at the plan by the UK government’s Nuclear Waste Services to build an underwater nuclear waste dump off the coast of Cumbria. Survey work that will include underwater seismic blasts, and many are concerned that the work will have a negative impact on marine life. Dr Chris Parsons, a Marine Mammal Scientist, said: “There is a lot of scientific evidence about the problems underwater noise can lead to – seismic surveys roughly 3000 km away were loud enough to drown out the mating calls of whales in the middle of the Atlantic. Conducting seismic surveys in an area known to be inhabited by many highly sensitive species is really concerning.”

Nuclear Energy

• Two EU Parliament committees have voted to support a measure that would prevent the labelling of gas and nuclear energy as climate-friendly investments. Reuters said the resolution “attempts to block EU rules that would label gas and nuclear energy investments as sustainable in the EU’s so-called ‘taxonomy’.” A full parliament vote on the resolution will take place next month – with only half of MEP’s needed to vote to block the new rules of gas and nuclear.