CND Press Digest: Friday 10th March 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Hackers took over Russian state television on Thursday to warn viewers of an incoming nuclear strike. Russians were warned to rush to their nearest nuclear bomb shelters and take anti-radiation pills in a message later dubbed a “false air raid alert” by the Kremlin. It’s the third time in the last month that Russian channels have been the target of hacking stunts.
• Watch the IAEA chief Rafeal Grossi express concern over the recent power outageat the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.  “What are we doing to prevent this happening? We are the IAEA, we are meant to care about nuclear safety,” Grossi told its board of directors in a meeting on Thursday in Vienna. “Each time we are rolling a dice,” he said.
• Read more about Grossi’s comments to the IAEA board, which include new calls for the establishment of a safety zone around Zaporizhzhia.
• The US has warned that Russia is helping China to develop a plutonium bomb by providing Beijing with highly enriched uranium.  
• CND Cymru Chair Jill Evans writes for Nation.Cymru on the war in Ukraine and how close we are to nuclear war.

British Nuclear Weapons

• The Times “understands that a significant portion” of the £5 billion cash injection for the MoD will be earmarked for the Dreadnought programme that will replace Britain’s Trident fleet.

AUKUS

• More on the scheduled AUKUS announcement in feature on “eco-modernists” who are pushing for pro-nuclear policies among Europe’s Greens.
• EDF’s nuclear reactors at Heysham 1 in Lancashire and Hartlepool in Teesside are likely to remain open until 2026 instead of closing next year, as part of efforts to stave off a energy supply crunch.