CND Press Roundup Wednesday 27th July 2022

War in Ukraine / NATO

• The Conflict and Environment Observatory has started a series of briefings on the environmental consequences of the war in Ukraine – with the first looking at the dangers posed by Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. It includes a case study of Russia’s temporary occupation of the Chernobyl plant and issues several recommendations to avoid further damage to the country’s nuclear facilities.

Nuclear History

• Part 3 of Matthew Syed’s Sideways podcast on nuclear weapons features CND and Trident Ploughshares activist Angie Zelter. This episode looks at the origins of CND, nuclear near-misses, and the international efforts to scale back nuclear arsenals such as the NPT. Available on BBC Sounds.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki Commemorations

• Bristol Live has an announcement about an upcoming anti-war protest in the city as part of the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Gathering being organised by Bristol CND on Saturday August 6th.

UK Nuclear Energy

• More coverage of former BP exec Tufan Erginbilgic’s move to head up defence and nuclear giant Rolls Royce. The Guardian notes it was Erginbilgic who led the oil giant’s tie-up with Marks and Spencer while the Times calls him a “surprise choice” and “relatively unknown” to Rolls investors. Meanwhile The Telegraph looks at the uphill battle Erginbilgic faces to restore Rolls’ share price: “The seeds of a recovery are in place. The company’s nascent small modular nuclear reactor operation is hugely promising. They can be built for a fraction of the cost and are much quicker to assemble. The Government has thrown its weight behind the technology with £210m of grants. Yet the project will require four new factories to be built and the first reactor isn’t expected until 2029.”

• The National and Nuclear Free Local Authorities both have a round up of last Saturday’s meeting of Welsh anti-nuclear activists in Caernarfon. The National also mentions the announcement by CND Cymru of plans for an anti-nuclear SMR march from Trawsfynydd to Wylfa this September with rallies at either end of the protest.

• A group opposed to the siting of an offshore nuclear waste dump in Cumbria has been set up. South Copeland Against GDF now has a website.

• Meanwhile, Radiation Free Lakeland has a thank you to those who donated to their crowdfunder which will help their campaign against planned seismic blasting in the Irish Sea – exploratory work needed ahead of any construction of an offshore nuclear waste dump.

• The Scottish Daily Express reports on calls on the SNP to explain a supposed u-turn on nuclear power, after a prospectus paper obtained under a Freedom of Information request revealed an independent Scotland would consider using nuclear power.

Nuclear Energy

• The Financial Times reports on discussions within the German coalition to extend the life of two nuclear reactors, in a bid to ensure energy security this winter amid dwindling Russian gas supplies. A source to the Greens leadership said the party had come to the conclusion that “all options should be on the table” in the event of a winter energy crunch. One of these options would be to extend the life of the Isar 2 nuclear reactor in Bavaria beyond its scheduled shutdown date of December 31. However, the source said this extension would only be for a number of months and would be subject to stress tests such as if industries could continue to function even “under aggravated conditions”.

Saudi Arabia

• The Bulletin looks at Saudi Arabia’s nuclear ambitions – which was absent from the news cycle covering US President Joe Biden’s recent trip to the Middle East. The article looks at Riyadh’s quest to build nuclear reactors in the country – with South Korea touted as a front runner to bring their nuclear expertise to the Saudi desert. But what of a nuclear weapon? A nuclear cooperation agreement signed between Saudi and Seoul allows the former to enrich any uranium received from Korea up to 20 percent. Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman also said in 2018 that if Iran is successful in making a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia would pursue one as soon as possible.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Reuters and Al Jazeera cover the new draft text released by the EU on Tuesday, which could be the basis for a revived Iranian nuclear deal. Writing in the Financial Times, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said there was now no more time for further compromises. “I have now put on the table a text that addresses, in precise detail, the sanctions lifting as well as the nuclear steps needed to restore the JCPOA,” Borrell said referring to the initial 2015 agreement called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “After 15 months of intense, constructive negotiations in Vienna and countless interactions with the JCPOA participants and the US, I have concluded that the space for additional significant compromises has been exhausted.”

AI

• A former Google boss branded artificial intelligence as dangerous as nuclear weapons. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Eric Schmidt said negotiating any international agreements on AI would be very difficult: “In the 50s and 60s, we eventually worked out a world where there was a ‘no surprise’ rule about nuclear tests and eventually they were banned. It’s an example of a balance of trust, or lack of trust, it’s a ‘no surprises’ rule.”