CND Press Roundup Tuesday 18th October 2022

• NATO started its annual nuclear drills on Monday – with 14 member states and 60 aircraft taking part in Steadfast Noon.

• Russia said Saturday that it would equip Belarusian “Su-25 warplanes with the capability to carry nuclear-capable missiles but that it was not yet arming Minsk with the missiles.” It comes as Russian troops are deployed to Belarus for reported manoeuvres – the first time Russia has had troops in the country since its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.  

• US officials say Russia has not yet informed Washington of its upcoming strategic nuclear missile drills – a provision under the New START treaty.

• Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that the Ukrainian lands annexed by Russia fall under the protection of Russia’s nuclear weapons.

• Ukraine’s nuclear agency said the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was once again running on back-up diesel generators on Monday – after power lines to the plant were cut by Russia.

• The Times has a report on the contingency plans being made up in Western countries for how to handle their populations in the event of a Russian nuclear attack in Ukraine: “Some observers now believe there is a realistic prospect of the Russian leader using a tactical nuclear weapon against Ukraine, either on land or firing it into the Black Sea. Asked if there were contingency plans in place to deal with the fallout of a strike in the West, such as a way or dealing with panic buying or distributing booklets on how to survive a nuclear attack, a western official said: ‘As you would expect the government is conducting prudent planning for a range of possible scenarios of which that is one.’ In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the British government, for example, issued the booklet Protect and Survive aimed at the public which described ‘how to make your home and your family as safe as possible under nuclear attack.’ The western official went on to condemn Putin’s ‘deeply irresponsible comments about nuclear use’. He said ‘any use of nuclear weapons would break a taboo that has held since 1945 and would lead to severe consequences for Russia as well as everybody else’. When it comes to the risk of nuclear war with Russia, there are at least two outcomes that strategists fear.”

• King’s College London’s Dr Simon Anglim tells The Independent that Britain is likely already wargaming for a potential Russian nuclear attack.

• The head of Norway’s armed forces told Reuters that the threat of using nuclear weapons is more useful to Vladimir Putin than using them – but that we should always listen carefully to what he says.

Hypersonic Missiles

• Over 160 Chinese scientists who previously worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory – birthplace of the US atomic bomb – have been returning to China as late as last year – to help Beijing with advanced military technologies like hypersonic missiles. According to The Telegraph quoting a report by PI firm Strider Technologies: “The Chinese scientists who worked at Los Alamos between 1987 and 2021 went back to China to work on ‘domestic research and development programmes’, including ‘dual-use’ technology which could have civilian or military applications. It says the scientists were paid up to $1 million in salaries and research subsidies by the Chinese Communist Party for joining its talent programmes. Eighty per cent of those who came back to China were recruited into government-sponsored talent systems, including 59 who joined the high-profile ‘Thousand Talents Programme’ (TTP).”

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Britain has joined France in saying Iran has breached its commitmentsin the 2015 nuclear deal by providing armed drones to Russia. The UAVs have been spotted conducting attacks in Ukraine.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The National Nuclear Laboratory has moved to Space Park Leicester – “created by the University of Leicester to provide an inspirational base for space researchers and businesses.”

• A £10 million upgrade of the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Materials Research Facility (MRF) at Culham Science Centre in Oxfordshire has been completed.

Nuclear Energy

• Germany will keep its three nuclear plants running until mid-April 2023after Chancellor Olaf Sholtz overruled a plan by coalition partners the Greens to keep two of them on standby. They had been due to be shut off permanently this December but weaning the country off Russia gas supplies has prompted fears of blackouts this winter.

• Strikes at six of EDF’s 18 French nuclear plants this weekend have led to a postponement in the restarting of a number of reactors, the firm has said.

• Sweden’s new government is seeking an expansion of its nuclear fleet – with the state-owned Vattenfal commissioned to look at restarting old reactors and building new ones.  

• Finland’s Fortum has also launched feasibility study into building new nuclear plants in Finland and Sweden – with the firm looking at both mini-nuke and larger nuclear reactors.

RadWaste

• Sky News looks at the underground nuclear waste dump in Finland – and along for the ride was Bruce Cairns, chief policy adviser at the UK’s Nuclear Waste Services, On Britain’s own nuclear waste he said: “We have 70 years’ worth of waste in the UK that’s already accumulated from energy production, defence and industrial processes. It’s not going anywhere unless we do something with it. We have to take action to make sure this is managed responsibly, not just for now but for the long term as well.”

• The majority of Australia’s nuclear waste will come from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (Ansto) Lucas Heights facility in Sydney, the Guardian reports. The revelation comes amid a battle to site a national radioactive waste dump.

• Meanwhile, in St Louis, Missouri, radioactive waste was found on the grounds of a school - and a known site where nuclear weapons were made during World War 2.

Korea

• South Korea started its annual military drills on Monday – with exercises aimed at boosting readiness to respond to North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile attacks. It comes amid heightened tensions on the peninsula and the expectation that Pyongyang will conduct its first nuclear test since 2017 and in a year where it has carried out a record number of ballistic missile launches.

Pakistan

• Pakistan has summoned the US ambassador after US President Joe Biden’s remarks about the country’s nuclear weapons. In a speech last week, Biden said Pakistan is “maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world” as it has “nuclear weapons without any cohesion.”