CND Press Roundup Tuesday 11h October 2022

War in Ukraine / NATO

• Britain’s top spy said Tuesday that Vladimir Putin does not seem to be planning a nuclear attack at this time. “The way in which the Russian military machine and President Putin are conducting this war, they are staying within the doctrine that we understand for their use, including for nuclear weapons…I would hope that we would see indicators if they started to go down that path” Jeremy Fleming told the BBC.

• The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has a new piece on the dangers facing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and how the latest phase of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could bring fresh chances of an accident at the plant.

• France’s state-controlled uranium firm Orano SA is considering an expansion of its capacity to enrich radioactive ore into nuclear fuel by almost 50 percent as Western governments look to reduce their reliance on Russia.

Trident

• Barrow-on-Furness MP Simon Fell hit out at recent comments made by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon on scrapping Trident. “It’s no surprise to anyone that the SNP would be happy to scrap the deterrent. But the implications of them being in a position to do so would be very real to both our national defence, where continuous at sea deterrent keeps our countries and our allies safe every single day, and to local jobs in Barrow and across the UK,” Fell said.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the National Decommissioning Centre (NDC) have announced a three year partnership to collaborate on sharing lessons on decommissioning from the nuclear, oil, and gas sectors.

• The Lincolnite looks at the government’s announcement to build a prototype nuclear fusion reactor in West Burton.

• Beyond Nuclear has a post on how the British taxpayer will foot the bill for the roll out of new nuclear plants under the Regulated Asset Model (RAB).

• The Telegraph calls on British fossil fuels companies to follow the German’s lead in rushing to embrace green technologies – or risk making the same mistake when it fell behind in nuclear power: “Our reluctance to embrace the green energy revolution risks a repeat of the nuclear energy farrago. The UK was a pioneer of atomic power, yet it surrendered an early lead and ended up hopelessly reliant on the French with little, to no new nuclear industry to speak of, and no realistic hope of that changing in the coming decades as France’s crumbling nuclear fleet falls into disrepair.”

• France and the UK could both take a 50-50 split in new British nuclear plants – following discussions between Emmanuel Macron and Liz Truss. Speaking on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Prague, both leaders pledged to take all necessary steps to secure funding for Sizewell C in Suffolk before the end of the month.

• The Times reports on a UK government plan to place a price cap on renewable and nuclear power generators: “Ministers held talks with power plant owners yesterday as companies lobbied against the proposals, which they fear are more punitive than a windfall tax. Among the companies likely to be affected were Drax, the biomass plant owner, whose shares were down 4.9 per cent, and Greencoat UK Wind, the wind farm operator, which fell 8.4 per cent after the proposals were reported by the Financial Times at the weekend. Centrica, the British Gas owner with a stake in Britain’s nuclear stations, was down by 2.7 per cent while SSE, the FTSE 100 group that owns wind farms, ended the day down about 0.4 per cent, having fallen more in early trading.”

Future Wars

• CND’s Future Wars conference – looking at the new technologies that will impact future conflicts – will take place at Birkbeck on November 12. Register here.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• A UN nuclear watchdog report seen exclusively by Reuters shows that Iran “is rapidly expanding its ability to enrich uranium with advanced centrifuges at its underground plant at Natanz and now intends to go further than previously planned.”

North Korea

• This blog post looks at North Korea’s accelerated ballistic missile and nuclear programmes and asks if it is time for the US and its allies to come to terms with a reality where Pyongyang is a nuclear weapons state.

Trump

• Donald Trump used his Truth Social platform to accuse fellow US presidential predecessor Bill Clinton of losing the nuclear codes while in office. On Monday, Trump reposted a statement on Truth Social from former Clinton military aide Robert “Buzz” Patterson, who wrote that, “Just a reminder, but Bill Clinton actually LOST the nuclear codes during my tenure with him. We weren’t raided.” Trump is currently being probed by the FBI after the agency found classified White House documents – including nuclear documents – during a recent raid at his Florida resort.