CND Press Digest: Thursday 4th May 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Newsweek reports on claims that Russian-installed managers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are trying to flee the site in anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

AUKUS

• UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace accompanied Australian PM Anthony Albanese on a trip to the BAE shipyard in Barrow-on-Furness on Wednesday. The yard is they site of where the new SSN-AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine will be built for the Royal Navy, while Australia will work over the next few years to build up its industrial base to build the same designs in southern Australia.
• Coverage of the visit by Sky News Australia, ABC News, and the North West Evening Mail.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The Welsh Affairs committee report on nuclear power in Wales is now on the parliament website. Coverage on MP’s calls for a new nuclear station at Wylfa by the BBC, North Wales Chronicle, and North Wales Live.
• The National and Rxw2JWu3eplGPvWGtanvZPa/3vw/lEiGSuOIQdarMjexDl8aEw/h11/GWYVRhl9YaDDaQXA00GX9WKQZevuX986ppWCfJvI3ag”>briefing which looks at the Energy Bill clauses on nuclear power.

Nuclear Energy

• France and Japan have signed a nuclear-cooperation deal which pledges to deepen ties in the R&D of sodium-cooled fast reactors.
• Concrete has been poured for a third unit at Egypt’s El Dabaa nuclear project.

North Korea

• South Korean and Japanese officials met on Wednesday to discuss bilateral ties include coordinating responses to North Korean nuclear and missile threats. The meeting comes ahead of a summit between the leaders of both states on Sunday.  

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Times of Israel picks up on the NYT story about Ali Reza Akbari – the former Iranian defence official who was executed for being an MI6 spy. It notes that the UK apparently gave intel supplied by Akbari on Iran’s nuclear programme to Israel.

Policing

• News item on CND’s website which looks at the new Public Order Act and its measures which includes criminalising peaceful protest actions like locking-on.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament