CND Press Roundup Monday 20th June 2022

Bruce Kent

• Another obituary of Bruce in the Daily Express of all places. Ian Linden also has a piece on Bruce in Independent Catholic News.

• Bruce also features in this recent BBC 2 documentary on Glastonbury made to mark 50 years of the festival. For those of you that missed it last night, it’s up on the BBC i-player.

War in Ukraine

• Senior RAF commanders have told The Telegraph that Britain needs to increase its fleet of submarine hunter aircraft by a third to better monitor the increase in Russian submarine patrols in the North Atlantic. Based out of RAF Lossiemouth, Britain currently operates nine P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPS) to protect its fleet of Trident nuclear-armed submarines and track foreign vessels. But commanders now want another three, which cost £120 million each. It comes amid reports of Russian warships violating the waters of NATO members in the Baltic and North Sea.

• The Mirror reports on further threats issued by Russian government officials on the potential threat of a nuclear attack. In an interview with Russian state broadcaster Russia 1, defence committee deputy chairman Aleksey Zhuravlyov suggested that the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile – dubbed Satan-2 by the West – could be used to strike targets in the UK, US, Finland and Sweden. “If Finland wants to join this bloc [NATO], then our goal is absolutely legitimate – to question the existence of this state. This is logical,” Zhuravlyov said. He added: “If the United States threatens our state, it’s good: here is the Sarmat for you, and there will be nuclear ashes from you if you think that Russia should not exist. And Finland says that it is at one with the USA. Well, get in line.”

TPNW

• Campaigners in Newcastle dropped a banner over the city’s Millennium bridge over the weekend – calling on the UK government to sign up to the UN Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). “Demonstrators have also sent letters to North East councils and MPs urging them to support the UN Treaty through the ICAN Cities Appeal. Despite support from individual MPs and councillors, the group says that councils in the region have not yet officially declared their support for the ban, which came into force last year,” The Chronicle Live reported.

• Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister has called on nations to completely abandon nuclear weapons by 2045. Mukhtar Tleuberdi made the comments ahead of the start of the first meeting of states parties (1MSP) to the TPNW. “The current military conflict on the territory of Ukraine, talk about the return of nuclear weapons and mutual threats to use nuclear weapons make us, more than ever before, think about the collective vulnerability of humanity and the urgent need to ban and eliminate these deadly weapons,” he said. Kazakhstan previously hosted Soviet nuclear weapons and as well as a nuclear testing site on the Kazakh steppe – which led to local nomads suffering long-term health effects.

• Australia will send observers to 1MSP but has not yet signed up to the TPNW. The country’s new Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed to signing up to the treaty while in opposition – with 55 former Australian ambassadors and high commissioner signing an open letter to the government calling for the treaty to be ratified.

• An SNP paper argues that NATO must “strengthen nuclear non-proliferation” as the military bloc prepares to hold its summit in Madrid this week. The document outlines what the party would like to see from the NATO summit – where its new ten-year strategic concept will be outlined. SNP’s Defence spokesperson, Stewart McDonald MP said: “These recommendations are made in a genuine spirit of wanting to see strengthened states, societies and systems to best protect all those living under the alliance, including those here in Scotland where support for NATO is in excess of 70%.”

AUKUS

• US lawmakers have introduced a bill that would allow US naval officers to train Australian counterparts in the running of nuclear-powered submarines.The ‘Australia-United States Submarine Officer Pipeline Act’ would allow Australian naval officers to begin training in the US to operate and maintain nuclear-powered submarines before eventually commanding the future boats. The agreement comes as Australia prepares to make a decision on either a US or UK nuclear-powered submarine design under the AUKUS military pact.

UK Nuclear Test Veterans

• Veterans Minister Leo Docherty has claimed Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering “all options” for recognising veterans of Britain’s nuclear test programmes. It follows a meeting between the PM, test veterans, and their families, after a campaign spearheaded by The Mirror. Dockerty – who was also present at the meeting – told the defence select committee: “I gave a commitment during that meeting we would look again and consider all options attendant to recognising the depth of the impact…we committed to look at all of those issues and we’re doing just that.” The meeting followed the uncovering of a buried report, which showed that senior Whitehall officials knew the number of service personnel who suffered devastating health impacts as a result of the testing, was far greater than officially acknowledged.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The Times reports on the cleaning of the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo at Sellafield – where 10,000 cubic metres of radioactive sludge is being removed: “This week, the plant removed the first batch of waste from one of the silo’s 22 compartments using a robotic arm specially designed for the task. The radioactive material is then placed inside a metal container and sent to be stored in a more modern building. In the future it may be then encased in cement, immobilising it to prevent any leakage.” Phil Hallington, who is head of policy at Sellafield, said the achievement was the industry’s version of putting someone on the moon.

• The Sunday Times meanwhile, looks at the potential for mini-nuclear reactors in Scotland despite SNP opposition. The paper has learnedthat “government body Scottish Enterprise and Cavendish Nuclear, a subsidiary of Babcock International, is putting a bid together to locate a factory at Rosyth to make key elements for Rolls-Royce’s Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) nuclear programme.”

• The Telegraph has this alarmist article about potential power cuts in Britain this winter – while also discussing the plan to build new nuclear power stations which is still years away.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Iran said it will prioritise improving relations with its neighbours, according to state television. The report comes after the UAE’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency said the Emiratiis hoped Tehran would work with the watchdog to give assurances to both the international community and its regional neighbours about its nuclear programme.

North Korea

• Analysis of fresh satellite imagery of North Korea’s nuclear testing site has shown work has started on a second tunnel. A report by the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said the “new activity” hinted at efforts by Pyongyang to prepare the site for multiple nuclear tests. The tunnel was caved in by North Korea in 2018 in a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

China

• China’s defense ministry said it has conducted tests of a “ground-based midcourse anti-missile intercept technology” that “achieved its expected purpose.” Beijing has been investing heavily in a variety of missile systems including nuclear-armed ballistics under a modernisation programme. The testing comes as Russia and China criticised the deployment and testing of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea – which the latter say is required to defend from potential North Korean attacks.

Fukushima

• The Japanese government is not liable to pay damages to victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the country’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday. The case is the first in a number of actions taken by victims against the government and the company that ran the plant – Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco). While the court found Tepco liable to pay damages to 3,700 people, lower courts had been split on the extent of the government’s responsibility in foreseeing the disaster and ordering Tepco to take steps to prevent the disaster.