CND Press Roundup Thursday 6th October 2022

War in Ukraine / NATO

• As is there wasn’t too many US nuclear bombs in Europe already, Poland has called for them to be hosted on their soil. The Guardian notes that the call by President Andrzej Duda is largely seen “as symbolic, as moving nuclear warheads closer to Russia would make them more vulnerable and less militarily useful.”

• Ukrainian MP Oleksii Goncharenko told the Telegraph at the Tory party conference that the chances of nuclear war in Ukraine is rising. “Sooner or later we will have a big nuclear war, it is a threat to the whole of humankind,” he said.

• ICAN’s Beatrice Fihn writes on the crumbling nuclear taboo and why Russia’s nuclear threats must be met with condemnation from the international community.

• The Telegraph reports on a $290 million order of the drug Nplate by the US, to treat acute radiation syndrome. The drug was originally developed to treat patients with thrombocytopenia, or low blood platelets. Washington has claimed that the purchase wasn’t a direct response to Russia’s latest nuclear threats.

• Bloomberg looks at the war in Ukraine and how the conflict has exposed the risks to rolling out fleets of small modular reactors.

• What would happen if Putin launched a nuclear attack, The Telegraph goes through the options of response.

• Vladimir Putin called for Russia to take full control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, as the UN’s nuclear watchdog issues warnings over its power plant. The head of Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency, however, insisted that he was taking control.

AUKUS

• The Diplomat writes on India’s backing of the AUKUS pact at the recent IAEA conference in Vienna – despite stiff opposition from China.

Nuclear Test Veterans

• A sculpture dedicated to Britain’s nuclear test veterans has been unveiled at the Royal Engineers Museum in Kent, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Operation Hurricane and the conference of the British Nuclear Test Veterans’ Association.

UK Nuclear Energy

• A group of nuclear experts have launched an advisory service – The Nuclear Waste Advisory Associates (NWAA) – on the issue of toxic waste management and they don’t have anything positive to say about the current government policy: “Although NWAA is an advisory agency, we find it difficult to justify support for the government’s new nuclear programme as the high level waste that would be generated would complicate disposal as it is much hotter and radioactive than the legacy waste, so would require more space underground, and would almost certainly require the identification of more than one [geological disposal facility] GDF, possibly as many as three.

• Lancs Live reports on the disappointment among some on the council, in Tory MP Trudy Harrison’s failure to secure a prototype nuclear fusion reactor for Copeland. Harrison defended herself saying her priority was securing SMRs for the area.

• EDF plans to turn the Pontins holiday park in Brean into accommodation for workers at Hinkley Point C.

Nuclear Energy

• Germany is investigating a radioactive leak found at one of its nuclear plants.

North Korea

• Al Jazeera asks if North Korea will conduct a nuclear test during the Chinese Communist Party congress.

• That’s as North Korea on Thursday conducted its sixth missile test in two weeks. It followed a launch on Tuesday which flew over Japan and was met with joint drills by the US and South Korea.