CND Press Roundup Monday 5th December 2022

War in Ukraine / NATO

• The UN’s nuclear watchdog said on Friday that a deal to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant “was almost there.” IAEA chief Rafeal Grossi added that he hoped an exclusion zone around the plant would be in place by the end of the year.

• Greenpeace have called it “scandalous” after it emerged that France and other European countries are still importing uranium from Russia to fuel nuclear reactors.

• Northrop Grumman unveiled its new stealth bomber on Friday. The firm has six B-21 Raider aircraft in various stages of assembly at its plant in Palmdale, California. It’s the first US strategic bomber to be developed in 30 years.

• The Times looks at the production of Atomik – a schnapps-like spirit made from the apples grown in the Soviet-era orchards and gardens near the Chernobyl nuclear plant. Proceeds from the drink’s sale goes towards helping the local community, where levels of deprivation are high.

• Read NATO researchers on Russia’s nuclear coercion in Ukraine.

UK Bunkers

• Some letters in The Guardian on the futility of Britain’s nuclear bunkers when most of the population won’t have access to them.

Trident

• The race is on to replace Ian Blackford as the SNP’s Westminster leader – with Scottish CND member Alison Thewliss already throwing her hat in the ring.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Drug testing of employees at the Sellafield nuclear waste site foundthat seven employees were positive for alcohol and drugs while on the job in the last 12 months – raising questions of levels of safety at the site. It’s unclear what actions were taken against those who tested positive.

• Watch Stop Sizewell C’s Alison Downes debate the nuclear plant on BBC News.

Nuclear Energy

• A “grassroots” survey on nuclear power set up by an Australian Coalition MP – is using a website registered by a business that helps an American small modular reactor company.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• IAEA’s Rafeal Grossi told a conference in Rome that his agency and Iran are at odds on the information Tehran needs to supply over its nuclear programme.

• Meanwhile, the US special envoy to Iran said Washington was more focused on Iranian arms sales to Russia and the crackdown of protests, than on talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

• Iranian state media announced that it will build a new 300-megawatt plant, known as Karoon, in the southwest of the country. The £2 billion plant will take eight years to construct.