CND Press Digest: Wednesday 5th April 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• The Guardian on Finland joining NATO yesterday. With the bloc’s border with Russia now doubled, Moscow has responded by saying that it could be forced to take “counter measures” if additional NATO troops were sent to Finland.
• The Independent argues that Vladimir Putin pushed Finland into the arms of NATO.
• Russian news agency RIA said a Ukrainian drone crashed near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on Wednesday.
• The Express quotes CND on claims by the Pentagon that a picture of a damaged B61 nuclear bomb was a training device.
• Lithuania has launched renewed efforts to have the EU sanction Russia’s nuclear industry - proposing that Hungary is given a two-year phase out period. Budapest has been a major hold-out on sanctioning Russia’s nuclear industry – with energy firm Rosatom heavily invested in Hungary’s nuclear sector.

New START

• Russia said Tuesday that suspending its participation in the New START treaty had given it new opportunities to guarantee its security.  

AUKUS

• Reuters on claims by an Australian intelligence chief that the AUKUS alliance must pool their resources to get the technological edge on China.
• The Australian Strategic Policy Institute on the skills shortage for AUKUS.

UK Nuclear Energy

• A reactor at the Hartlepool nuclear plant was taken offline after a electrical fault was identified over the weekend.
• City AM on plans by US nuclear startup Last Energy to enter the British marketwith a fleet of micro nuclear plants.

Nuclear Energy

• Germany will complete its phaseout from nuclear power as planned later this month. Shutdowns originally scheduled for 2022 were postponed until April 2023 amid fears of energy shortages caused by the war in Ukraine.

North Korea

• A B-52 has participated in joint South Korean-US military drills. South Korea said the participation of the strategic bomber would improve US extended deterrence – a reference to the American nuclear umbrella protecting its allies.

Israel

• Former prime minister Ehud Barak referenced Israel’s nuclear weapons in a tweet reflecting on the current political turmoil in the country over plans to overhaul its judiciary. “In conversations between Israelis and Western diplomatic officials, there are deep concerns raised of the possibility that if the coup in Israel succeeds, a messianic dictatorship — that possesses nuclear weapons and fanatically wishes for a confrontation with Islam centered on the Temple Mount — will be established in the heart of the Middle East,” Barak said.

Fukushima

• Associated Press:  Images captured by a robotic probe inside one of the three melted reactors at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant showed exposed steel bars in the main supporting structure and parts of its thick external concrete wall missing, triggering concerns about its earthquake resistance in case of another major disaster.
• UCA News on the mental health issues suffered by the survivors of the Fukushma disaster.

CND

• The Guardian on three years of Keir Starmer as lead of the opposition: “It had only just been vacated by Jeremy Corbyn’s team and in one room, there were assorted revolutionary flags including one from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.”

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament