CND Press Digest: Friday 30th June 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Russia is gradually reducing the number of personnel at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southern Ukraine, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said on Friday.
• It comes as Ukraine conducted nuclear disaster response drills on Thursday in the vicinity of the plant.
• UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has called for Ukraine’s membership of NATO to be fast tracked.
• White House and Pentagon chiefs are considering providing Kyiv with Army Tactical Missile System [ATACMS], which have a range of nearly 200 miles and could strike far behind Russian front lines.

British Nuclear Weapons

• During a trip to Sweden, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly says historian Julie McDowall, believes ministers should have created an information campaign after Russia invaded Ukraine.

AUKUS

• British defence giant BAE Systems to play role in training AUKUS workforce.
• First cohort of Australian submariners graduate from the USNavy’s Nuclear Power School.

Hibakusha

• Hiroshima bomb survivors say peace park agreement with Pearl Harbour is an ‘insult’. Kunihiko Sakuma, chairman of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organisations, said that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima had been unnecessary. “It did not end the war and save the lives of American soldiers, as the US claims,” he told the Nikkei. “It was clear that Japan was going to lose. Unless that fundamental issue is addressed, we can’t just focus on the future.”

AI

• Vox: AI is supposedly the new nuclear weapons — but how similar are they, really?

Oppenheimer 

• Who is Oppenheimer? The controversial man behind the atomic bomb

Nuclear Energy

• The Netherlands is talking to “three potential and interested suppliers” to build two new nuclear power plants, Energy Minister Rob Jetten said on Thursday in a letter to parliament.”
• EDF is likely to undergo reorganisation, the French nuclear firm’s boss has Atlantic Council: Reading between the lines of the new North Korea intelligence estimate.
• Reuters: South Korea unveils sanctions on Russian national over North’s weapons programmes.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• US reportedly complains to Israel over leaks to media about Iran nuclear talks.
• CNN: Iranian-Western talks have resumed. Here’s what that means

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament