CND Press Digest: Tuesday 16th May 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Britain will send long-range drones and missiles to Ukraine, following a meeting between Rishi Sunak and Volodymir Zelensky at Chequers on Monday. Ukrainian pilots will also be trained in Britain but stopped short of supplying fighter aircraft. Coverage in the Morning Star, Telegraph, and Reuters.

Depleted Uranium

• The Morning Star on the dangers of depleted uranium.
• The Daily Star and Newsweek report on a viral video that shows an explosion at an ammunition storage facility in a city near Kyiv. Russian media outlets have made unverified claims that the warehouse stored depleted uranium ammunition supplied to Ukraine by Britain.

Nuclear Safety

• An interview in the Bulletin with investigative journalist Eric Schlosser about nuclear close calls, and how the Pentagon’s recollection of these so-called broken arrow events include inaccuracies and miss key events.
• Alba Party MP Neale Hanvey has called on the UK government to give clarity over concerns by a whistle blower of a serious radiation breach at Coulport. Coverage in Independent.

British Nuclear Weapons

• Navy Lookout on the news that HMS Vanguard finally completed its multi-million pound refit.

G7

• NFLA urges the PM to make a pledge for the UK government to work towards a nuclear-weapon free world at the upcoming G7 summit in Hiroshima.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The public are being commissioned by Britain Remade, a conservative-leaning think tank, found that 55 per cent of people in Scotland “indicated they would support new nuclear if it helped the country reach net zero targets; 29 per cent were still against nuclear and the remainder did not express a preference.”

Nuclear Energy

• France is hosting a meeting of 16 pro-nuclear EU states today aimed at expanding nuclear power within the bloc and push for its role in in meeting climate targets by 2050.

Fukushima

• Dozens of activists protested outside the headquarters of TEPCO on Tuesday, against the proposed plan to release radioactive water from Fukushima back into the sea.

Health

• The first human trial of a new type of dirty-bomb-antidote pill, designed to remove harmful radioactive contamination from the body, is starting in the US.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament