CND Press Digest: Monday 12th June 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Vladimir Putin confirmed on Friday that nuclear weapons will be deployed to Belarus in July.
• The Guardian: The IAEA expressed its desire for wider access around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in order to check “a significant discrepancy” in water level data at the breached Kakhovka dam used for cooling the plant’s reactors. The UN nuclear watchdog’s chief Rafael Grossi will visit the plant this week with a expanded monitoring team.
• That’s as the Ukrainian environment minister said levels of water in the cooling ponds are stable and high enough despite the Kakhovka reservoir losing three-quarters of its volume of water in the last week.  
• Scottish CND speaks the The National newspaper about how the threat to Ukrainian nuclear plants offer a warning to the rollout of small modular reactors across Britain.

Nuclear Weapons

• The estimated number of warheads in military stockpiles for potential use rose by 86 to 9,576, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a statement, continuing a trend seen in the last couple of years.

British Nuclear Weapons 

• The Engineer looks at the Dreadnnought programme to replace the Trident-carrying Vanguard-class submarines.

AUKUS

• No plans for Canada to join AUKUS, according to the White House.
• A look at New Zealand’s desire to join the second pillar of the AKUS pact, and how it may run contrary to the country’s weapons policy.

Trump

• The Guardian looks at the indictment of former US President Donald Trump including his possession of boxes of classified documents regarding nuclear weapons. His lawyers are defending the move, arguing that the top secret documents were just “mementos” of his time in the Oval Office.
• China announced its displeasure at AUKUS during a recent meeting of the IAEA in Vienna.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Plans to build a massive park and ride for Hinkley Point C workers have been revealed.

Nuclear Energy

• EU countries will try and pass a deal on green energy targets this week, after initial attempts were scuppered by pro-nuclear states like France over concerns the law sidelines nuclear power.
• France announced over €100 million in funding to train workers and boost innovation in its nuclear industry.

Fukushima

• The Japanese government met with local fishery representatives over the weekend in a bid to win support for its plan to release radioactive water from the defuct Fukushima plant into the ocean.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday that the West could not stop Iran from building nuclear weapons if it choose to do so. Khamenei also said that a new nuclear deal was possible as long as Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure remained intact.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament