CND Press Digest: Tuesday 7th February 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Former Israeli PM Neftali Bennet told a recent interview that the US and allies blocked his efforts to mediate a deal between Russia and Ukraine in the early days of Russia’s invasion. Bennett said he had assurances from Russia to drop its denazification and disarmament requirements for Ukraine, while Ukraine would not seek to join NATO. While the plan was listened to by Germany and France, the UK opposed any deal and the US ultimately went against it.
• Protective structures around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are near completion, the state news agency TASS reports. The structures include protections to the storage of radioactive materials and other key infrastructures.
• UN general secretary António Guterres said he feared the war in Ukraine spilling into a “wider war” if it didn’t come to an end soon, during a speech in New York. Noting that the Doomsday Clock stood at 90 seconds to midnight he said: “We need to wake up – and get to work.”

AUKUS

• The AUKUS pact could be widened to include the US sending B-21 stealth bombers to Australia, according to a plan submitted to the US secretary of defense by a US congressman. No mention in the report of the bombers would be nuclear-armed.

Space

• Cornwall Council paid over £1 million to Virgin Orbit ahead of the recent failed space launch from Newquay Airport. Answering questions at a recent council meeting, Conservative Cabinet member for the economy, Louis Gardner, denied the council paid Virgin to carry out the first launch but noted: “We do have a commercial agreement with Virgin and we pay for some things and Virgin pays for things in return. What we have paid Virgin for is assistance in establishing the licence for the Spaceport. They helped us with the licencing and helped with some of the ground operations. Those things remain in place for perpetuity.”

Nuclear Energy

• Australia’s opposition Coalition has been criticised by the government for a “bizarre and disrespectful” video in support of nuclear power filmed in locations such as the Hiroshima Peace Park and Fukushima. The Coalition’s energy spokesperson, Ted O’Brien, recorded the two videos while in Japan as part of the Time to Talk Nuclear campaign, a “grassroots” community engagement program which was found to have links to a small modular reactor company.

Fusion

• The Telegraph reports on claims by science minister George Freeman, who thinks we need just 15 years to “solve fusion and make a plant capable of working at a large scale and making more power for the grid that it needs to be operational.”

North Korea

• Reuters has an exclusive on how last year proved a bumper year for North Korean cryptocurrency thefts. Estimates from monitors and analysts range between $630 million and $1 billion. Monitors also noted that “Pyongyang continued producing nuclear fissile materials at its facilities and launched at least 73 ballistic missiles, including eight intercontinental ballistic missiles last year.”

RadWaste

• A policy briefing on democratising the search for locating nuclear waste dumpshas been released by Nuclear Free Local Authorities.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament