CND Press Digest - 25th May 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Defence ministers from Russia and Belarus have signed a document on the deployment of Russian nuclear missiles in Belarus. Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow will retain control over the missiles as well as decisions on their use.
• Russian authorities have detained two Ukrainian saboteurs who they claim wereplotting to blow up power lines to two nuclear power stations. The FSB said the attacks were supposed to coincide with the 9 May Victory Day parade in order to embarrass the Russian government.
• Declassified UK on Britain’s role in escalating the war in Ukraine.
• Russia’s newest nuclear-armed submarine, the Generalissimo Suvorov, will move to a permanent base in the Kamchatka Peninsula in August as part of efforts to increase its military presence in the Pacific.
• Former Russian president and Vladimir Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesdaythat continued Western support for Ukraine would lead to a greater risk of “nuclear apocalypse.” It comes as Russia’s foreign ministry said Monday that the G7’s nuclear rhetoric was part of efforts to exert pressure on both China and Russia.

British Nuclear Weapons

• The MoD has revealed that there have been 58 radiation leaks at nuclear weapons facilities in Scotland so far this year. The admission comes after pressure from Alba MP Neale Hanvey for the government to release the figure. 

Lakenheath

• A letter to the Salisbury Journal by Caroline Lanyon on the return of US nuclear weapons to Lakenheath and last week’s protest at the base.
• Cumberland News & Star have a write up Cumbria and Lancashire CND’s presence at Lakenheath.
• St Albans CND’s presence at Lakenheath covered by St Albans News.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The President of Burnham Boat Owners Sea Angling Association has this week spoken out against proposals to allow Hinkley Point C nuclear power station to drop a planning condition to fit acoustic fish deterrents (AFDs) to its water intakes in the Bristol Channel.

Nuclear Energy

• Associated Press with a timeline on the costly delays of nuclear plants in the US states of Georgia and South Carolina.

G7

• Common Dreams opinion on the G7’s lukewarm statement on nuclear weapons. 

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Iran successfully test-launched a ballistic missile with a potential 2,000-km range on Thursday, two days after the chief of Israel’s armed forces raised the prospect of “action” against Tehran over its nuclear programme.
• Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s nuclear programme insisted Wednesday that his government would cooperate with international inspectors on any “new activities.” His statement followed an exclusive Associated Press report about Tehran’s new underground tunnel system near a nuclear enrichment facility.
• AP on the US bomb designed on penetrate underground facilities that could be used to enrich uranium.

Music

• Bryan Adams has released an emotional anti-war, pro-peace anthem calling for an end to global conflict.

Fukushima

• Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority has called on the operator of the defunct Fukushima nuclear plant to carry out assessments of support structures inside the worst hit of the plant’s damaged reactors. A recent robotic probe found that the main supporting structure right underneath the core of reactor 1 — was largely damaged.

AI

• The creators of ChatGPT have suggested that artificial intelligence poses such a risk to humanity that it must be subject to similar regulation as nuclear power.OpenAI founder Sam Altman, president Greg Brockman and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever said that within a decade it is possible that AI systems will be capable of exceeding “expert skill level in most domains”. They added: “Given the possibility of existential risk, we can’t just be reactive…Nuclear energy is a commonly used historical example of a technology with this property; synthetic biology is another example.”

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament