CND Press Roundup Wednesday 30th November 2022

War in Ukraine / NATO

• NATO members pledged more support to Ukraine during a summit in the Romanian capital Bucharest, adding that the bloc was open to Kiev’s eventual ascension to the military bloc.

• Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned against NATO supplying Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine.

New START

• Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson has blamed toxic anti-Russian attitudes from the US, for Moscow’s decision to pull out of scheduled nuclear arms control talks in Cairo. “As part of the all-out hybrid war unleashed against us, almost every US step towards Russia is subject to a pathological desire to harm our country wherever possible,” Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. Despite accusing Washington of trying to manipulate New START to its advantage, she added that Russia was still committed to the treaty.

• Meanwhile, a US embassy official in Moscow said both sides had ways of managing nuclear risks through their respective intelligence agencies.

China

• The FT on new Pentagon report has said that China has “probably accelerated” its nuclear expansion and will extend its arsenal of nuclear warheads from 400 to 1,500 by 2035. Non-paywalled by Reuters.

• NATO’s main decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, held their first dedicated talks on China and Taiwan during their summit in Romania. “It is notable and significant that, for the first time, the alliance is conducting discussions about the status of Taiwan, its democratic government and its critical role in the manufacture of microchips globally,” James Stavridis, a retired US admiral and former NATO supreme allied commander, told the FT.

North Korea

• Yahoo News has an explainer on North Korea’s nuclear weapons development and its security risks.

• The Japan Times on recent comments made by South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol that China should do more to reign in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

Israel

• The Jordan Times on why Israel’s nuclear arsenal is the greatest threat to the Middle East.

UK Nuclear Energy

• CND’s site has a news item on Tuesday’s signing of contracts between the UK government and EDF over Sizewell C. The deal releases £700 million in funding that is believed to cover the exit of Chinese involvement from the plant.

• The Telegraph’s Ben Marlow writes on why China never should have been involved in Sizewell C – with the British taxpayer now having to foot the bill. He notes: “Ministers aren’t even willing to tell us how much this dalliance with Beijing has cost, other than to say that the Government is now the proud owner of a “historic £700m stake” in a nuclear plant that is still more than a decade away from being built. One assumes a large chunk of that valuation is essentially what it cost to pay off the Chinese, but it is outrageous that officials are refusing to disclose the precise figure on the basis of tenuous claims about how the agreement is ‘commercially confidential’. Nor is there any mention of what remains of the rest of Britain’s nuclear programme, given the extent of CGN’s involvement in not one but three new plants.” More from The Telegraph on the Chinese exit from Sizewell here.

• The Guardian’s coverage of the Sizewell announcement.

• Meanwhile, fresh contracts between the UK government and EDF show that Hinkley Point C will still be funded even if it doesn’t start operating by 2036 – 11 years after the plant is due to start generating power. The deal raises questions about further holdups in the plant’s construction, which is already delayed until at least mid-2027.

• The National reporting on claims that the Scottish government will shut down any plans to build a nuclear reactor at chemical firm Ineos’ refinery at Grangemouth. The paper also has a paywalled article on warnings from the Scottish Greens on how a new quango – Great British Nuclear – will leave a toxic legacy for centuries.

• That’s as the Scottish Daily Mail blasts the “anti-business” SNP and Greens over their opposition to a nuclear reactor at Grangemouth.

• Hundreds of GMB members working as cleaners at Sellafield are balloting for strike action over claims they have been made a zero percent pay offer. Balloting ends on 8 December.

• The Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG) has spoken outagainst EDF’s suggestions that the site at Bradwell could be the base for between 4 and 6 small modular reactors. BANNG’s chair, Professor Andy Blowers, said: “Together these reactors would comprise a nuclear complex larger than the massive proposed Bradwell B currently under consideration for development by the Chinese company, CGN. It is hard to state how utterly inappropriate such a development, which would include long-term storage of highly radioactive nuclear wastes, would be on the low-lying Bradwell site, threatened by the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. It is an outrageous proposal which must be nipped in the bud before it gets anywhere near off the ground.”

• Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) has successfully tested technology that will help seal boreholes drilled during exploratory work to find a suitable location of an underwater nuclear dump. The tech, known as a Downhole Placement System (DPS) tool was tested at the Rosemanowes quarry in Cornwall.

Fukushima

• Justin McCurry writes in The Guardian on Japan’s plan to restart as many as 17 nuclear reactors – over a decade since the disaster at Fukushima.

• Asahi Shimbun on how the “concrete support foundation for a reactor whose core melted down at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has deteriorated so much that reinforcing bars (rebars) are now exposed.”