CND Press Digest: Tuesday 4th April 2023

War In Ukraine / NATO

• Message of support for Russian anti-war activists from the Peace Pledge Union.
• Finland is officially joining NATO today, bringing to 31 the number of members in the nuclear-armed alliance.
• The Mirror reports that Russia is upgrading Belarussian bomber aircraft to carry nuclear weapons.
• Russia is to form a special division of submarines that are able to deliver the Poseidon nuclear-capable torpedo, according to Russian media outlet TASS.

Nuclear Safety

• A spot from Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists – suggesting there was a nuclear weapons incident involving a B61 bomb at Volkel air base.
• The Guardian’s coverage of the above blog post which notes a comparison between an accident with a B61 warhead and the ones transported across Britain: “The warheads routinely trucked from the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire to the Trident submarine base on the west coast of Scotland are a lot more problematic. You could get significant plutonium scattering or even a small-scale nuclear detonation during an accident or a terrorist attack — and those warheads are also more vulnerable to sabotage.” Despite US Air Force Europe and Los Alamos National Laboratory initially refusing to comment, the Pentagon have since said the B61 was a trainer. They didn’t confirm if the picture was at Volkel.
• CND’s news item covering the discovery. 

AUKUS / Indo-Pacific

• Reuters on the increase in Chinese nuclear-armed submarine patrols and its implications for US domination in the Indo-Pacific.

UK Nuclear Energy

• A report by pro-nuclear environmental group RePlanet claims recycling and repurposing of nuclear waste as fuel for reactors could enable more than 2,000 years of zero-carbon electricity for the UK.

RadWaste

• Four British anti-nuclear groups have written to an Aboriginal campaign group to express their ‘total admiration and support’ in solidarity with their struggle against a Federal Government plan to dump nuclear waste on their Traditional Land in South Australia. 

Chernobyl

• Researchers from the University of Bristol will be part of the international team seeking to repair and improve radiological monitoring for the Chornobyl exclusion zone, close to the conflict zone in Ukraine.

North Korea

• British Royal Marines have been deployed to South Korea for the first time since the Korean War, taking part in drills with South Korea and the US.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament