CND Press Roundup Wednesday 3rd August 2022

War in Ukraine / NATO

• A top Russian diplomat working on arms control and non-proliferation rejected the “utterly unfounded, detached from reality and unacceptable” claims that Moscow “allegedly threatens to use nuclear weapons, particularly in Ukraine.” Speaking in New York at the NPT conference, Alexander Trofimov said Russia had no desire to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, but under its nuclear doctrine could respond to “direct aggression” by NATO.

• Outrider has a piece on the recent Public Service Announcement put out by the City of New York on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. It notes that ridicule for the PSA came from a variety of places including Fox News and ICAN – the latter’s New York chapter saying: “To give people the false impression that a nuclear attack is survivable…is spreading a lie so harmful that those in charge should issue a formal retraction and resign from their positions.”

• Energy and Capital writes on how Russia’s nuclear industry has so far evaded Western sanctions and the reluctance by leaders like Joe Biden to cut off uranium exports. With 40 percent of the world’s uranium enrichment infrastructure under Moscow’s influence, why isn’t Washington targeting this source of revenue? The answer lies in Biden’s administration wanting to hit net zero: “His long-term climate goals absolutely depend on it, and he can’t afford to be breaking any more promises. By refusing to curtail the world’s nuclear energy market, he’s silently giving us the most bullish signal we could ask for. The future of energy in the US will definitely include nuclear. From a global perspective, blocking Russia from providing uranium to the world would only exacerbate the ongoing energy crisis.”

• Meanwhile, Ukraine’s energy minister has offered to help EU members make up the shortfall in Russian oil and gas supplies – by offering to trade its nuclear power to help pay off its loans to the bloc. However, speaking to Politico, German Galushchenko complained that security concerns expressed by nuclear technicians had spooked European leaders from agreeing to the plan. Galushchenko also took umbrage with the length of time it was taking to fully link Ukraine up to the European grid – caused by European safety protocols: “The procedures! According to the procedure!...If we had followed the procedures during the war, probably the Russians would be in Kyiv,” he said.  

NPT

• The Times runs a comment from Shadow Defence Secretary John Healy on the NPT – where he reaffirms Labour’s commitments to nuclear weapons, NATO, and “being a leading broker on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.” He attacks the Tory government for increasing Britain’s nuclear stockpile in the Integrated Review – he says they did not fully explain the strategic purpose – and accuses them of not giving adequate attention to the NPT conference: “Despite the Japanese prime minister attending the NPT review conference, any cabinet-level focus has been absent in the UK, with the defence secretary ruling himself out from going and the Foreign Office saying just days before the conference was due to start that they were ‘still finalising ministerial attendance.’ The Ministry of Defence machine is barely focused on these issues, with only five of 60,000 MoD officials working on nuclear disarmament.”

Greenham Common

•  In case you missed its airing last year, the documentary ‘Mothers, Missiles and the American President’ is back and available to view for the next month on the BBC iPlayer.

Nuclear Testing

• PBS America is showing a documentary on US nuclear testing on the Marshall Islands. You can view it here.

• Nikkei Asia reports on satellite images that show that China is expanding its nuclear test site in Xinjiang province – with experts suggesting that Beijing could be expanding its nuclear testing capabilities as part of a new arms race with the US.

Trident

• The Daily Record has comments from Scottish CND ahead of their commemorations for the atomic bombings on Japan. Speaking ahead of their event on Saturday, Renfrewshire CND warned that west Scotland would be an obvious target for attack in the event of a nuclear conflict due to the presence of Trident nuclear subs: “There are dangers just in these convoys going up and down our roads, but if you consider that recently Putin and the Russians specifically mentioned Britain in terms of a nuclear war. It would be suicidal for the Russians [to attack Britain], it would be suicidal for the whole world. But if it were to happen, surely they’d be targeting Faslane. It’s terrible to think about. Not only is it a commemoration, it’s a warning to us. That something even worse is a constant threat, particularly to us in Scotland. And as long as these weapons exist, there’s great danger. Accidents do happen.”

Iran Nuclear Deal

• The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said platitudes from Iran are not enough and that it needs to be more transparent about its nuclear programme. “When it comes to nuclear, good words will not do it. What you need to do is to be transparent and compliant and work with us. We are ready and I hope they will be as well,” Rafael Grossi told reporters in New York.

Nuclear Energy

• The Guardian has an opinion piece explaining the recent push by Opposition leader Peter Dutton for Australia to back nuclear power. That’s despite the Coalition he now leads doing nothing to advance the nuclear industry during its 9 year stint in power.

• French nuclear energy firm EDF is continuing to cut power output from many of its reactors – as the heatwave currently gripping the country drives up river temperatures. EDF has already had to take some of its reactors offline amid safety faults – resulting in a spike in electricity prices. France has even resorted to importing power from the UK – Sacre Bleu!

• Electrical Review writes on Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and how they produce more radioactive waste than the previous generation of reactors. A new study by the Proceedings of the American National Academy of Sciences found that SMRs could generate more waste per electricity generated “by a factor of up to 30” when compared to their conventional counterparts.

Fukushima

• Authorities in Fukushima have called on the Tokyo government to do more to prevent reputational damage to the region’s marine products – after a plan was okayed to release millions of tonnes of radioactive water into the sea. Mayors in the prefecture have requested a meeting with top ministers, saying the plan has not been explained well enough to the population and that there were still concerns over its safety. The water, previously used to cool the nuclear reactors destroyed in the 2011 disaster, is currently being stored onsite at the plant.