CND Press Digest: Thursday 1st June 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has rejected his Belarusian counterpart’s proposal to join the Russia-Belarus “Union State,” calling the offer a “joke.” Alexander Lukashenko previously said that those who wanted to join would have access to nuclear weapons.
• Sky News: Workers at deteriorating Zaporizhzhia plant fear ‘devastation’ on a scale ‘worse than Chernobyl’.
• Southern Daily Echo reports on an action in Southampton calling for peace in Ukraine. 
• The Daily Mail reports on comments made by the head of the UCU, Jo Grady, after the union passed a motion at their annual congress calling for a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine.
• Stop The War Coalition’s statement on the UCU motion calling it a “win for peace.”

British Military

• A new report by Dr Stuart Parkinson of Scientists for Global responsibility says that the UK’s climate targets to limit green house gas emissions for the military are so weak, they could be met without any action by the MoD.

AUKUS

• Asia Times: AUKUS enhancing undersea deterrence against China.
• Breaking Defense: A new report from a leading Australian thinktank says there’s a “disconnect” between Australia’s strategic priorities and the money to fund capabilities to tackle them.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Some sponsored content in the East Anglian Daily Times by Sizewell C claiming that a career in nuclear power can help solve the climate crisis.

Nuclear Energy

• The US Department of Energy announced on Wednesday that $46 million will be made available to eight companies involved in developing nuclear fusion. The funding will go towards building pilot fusion plants.
• China has Japan Times: Just how safe is Fukushima’s ‘contaminated’ water?
• A review in The Guardian of a new Netflix series on the 2011 disaster.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• IAEA reports seen by Reuters note that the UN nuclear watchdog has re-installed only some monitoring equipment originally put in place under the 2015 nuclear deal that Iran then ordered removed last year.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament