CND Press Digest: Monday 17th April 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Russian journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dimitry Muratov has warned that Russian state media is preparing the population to think that nuclear war isn’t a bad thing. “On TV channels here, nuclear war and nuclear weapons are promoted as if they’re advertising pet food,” Muratov told the BBC.
• Belarusian air crews have agreed a deal to cease the use of Russian nuclear technology in its energy mix. Agreed during the G7 summit in Japan, the group will now develop shared supply chains for nuclear fuel. 

AUKUS

• Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has struck back at criticisms of the AUKUS submarine deal by former PM Paul Keating. Wong also heard evidence that an Australian businessman took envelops of cash in exchange for reports on Australian defence, economic and national security arrangements while he worked in China during Shanghai’s extended COVID-19 lockdown. AUKUS and lithium mining were among the topics sought.
• An opinion on the benefits New Zealand could gain from participation in the Pillar II part of the AUKUS pact - which covers areas such as space, AI, and quantum computing.
• The Diplomat on Indian submarine fleet expansion and how a deal similar to AUKUS - perhaps with the French – could help it deter Chinese naval expansion in the Indian Ocean.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Cambrian News with an opinion against the building small modular reactors (SMRs) at Trawsfynydd and Wylfa in Wales.
• The Telegraph on the challenging cleanup of toxic waste left inside the Windscale Piles nuclear plant in Cumbria.

Nuclear Energy

• DW on the split opinions among German politicians on shutting down the country’s last remaining nuclear plants.
• Reuters speaks to anti-nuclear activist Heinz Smital who reflects on Germany’s phase out of nuclear power and what still needs to be done.
• That’s as Europe’s largest nuclear reactor enters commercial service in Finland - 14 years after it was originally supposed to start generating electricity.
• The US could invest as much a £4 billion into Poland’s rollout of small modular nuclear reactors.
• Bangladesh and Russia have agreed a deal to use yuan to settle a payment for building a nuclear plant. Bangladesh is building the first of two nuclear plants with the help of Russian nuclear firm Rosatom – in a $12.65 project where 90 percent is funded through a Russian loan.

Fusion

• Haley Zaremba writes for Oil Price on why nuclear fusion is not the silver bullet to the energy crisis.

North Korea

• The Observer view on North Korea: only China can put a stop to Kim Jong-un’s latest round of nuclear sabre-rattling.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament