CND Press Digest: 11th July 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Ukraine’s Energy Minister says the catastrophic collapse of a dam in southern Ukraine has made Kyiv worried that Russia might stage an attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to foment panic and quell Ukrainian advances on the frontline.
• Reuters: As rebellious Wagner forces drove north toward Moscow on June 24, a contingent of military vehicles diverted east on a highway in the direction of a fortified Russian army base that holds nuclear weapons, according to videos posted online and interviews with local residents.
• Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday that the leaders of the US-led transatlantic NATO defence alliance should discuss Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant at their summit this week.
• Turkey has finally given its backing to Sweden joining NATO.
• Rishi Sunak will call on the UK’s NATO allies to commit to spending a minimum of 2% of their GDP on defence as he attends an alliance summit in Lithuania.

• Ukraine is set to be offered “Israel-style” security guarantees by its most powerful Western military allies. The UK, United States, France and Germany will commit to a long-term plan to arm Kyiv to defend itself from Russian aggression. Talks over the assurances were ongoing on Monday as NATO’s 31 nations prepared for their annual summit in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.

• Why Asia matters to NATO as it looks to respond to China’s military expansion.
• Cluster bombs to Ukraine? This Guardian editorial is against them while these pieces in The Telegraph and Financial Times are pro.
• CND’s presence at last weekend’s NATO peace summit in Brussels covered in thisDanish paper.  

AUKUS

• Inside ‘nuke school’, the elite US training ground preparing Australian submariners for an AUKUS future.
• China, Solomon Islands take swipe at AUKUS in announcing new strategic partnership.

Nuclear Weapons-Free Zones

• Indonesia’s top diplomat warned Tuesday of the threat posed by nuclear weapons, saying that Southeast Asia is “one miscalculation away from apocalypse” and pressing for world powers to sign a treaty to keep the region free from such arms.

AI and Nuclear Weapons

• A Labour government could negotiate a pact with other countries to jointly ban the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in decisions about deploying nuclear weapons, The Telegraph can reveal. In a speech on Monday, David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, said that the UK needs to agree rules with other nations, including China, to regulate the use of AI in relation to nuclear arms.

Menwith Hill

• Campaigners held an Independence from America demonstration at RAF Menwith Hill on Tuesday, July 4. About 50 people from across the country joined the event organised by the Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign and Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

British Nuclear Weapons

• Whitehall officials have raised concerns about the spin-off of a £3 billion business that services vital parts of Britain’s nuclear and defence infrastructure.The Cabinet Office is understood to have met the chief executive of US engineering giant Jacobs, which in March announced its intention to separate its “critical missions solutions” (CMS) business. This operation is helping to build the Hinkley Point C reactor in Somerset. It also manages waste and decommissioning at the Sellafield nuclear site and has overseen projects at AWE Aldermaston, a nuclear weapons base.

• More than a dozen members of Sir Keir Starmer’s top team have called for Britain to scrap its nuclear deterrent – as the threat of Vladimir Putin unleashing his own arsenal remains. The Labour frontbenchers, including the shadow defence minister, have backed unilateral disarmament through the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

UK Nuclear Energy

• Nuclear power station workers across England and Scotland celebrated today after their unions won a ground-breaking deal from EDF bosses.
• analysis here.
• Pro-nuclear arguments in this piece in The Guardian.

Nuclear Energy

• Australian Opposition leader Peter Dutton ramps up nuclear power push and claimsLabor down ‘renewable rabbit hole’.
• A group of pro-nuclear EU countries led by France will present a paper to the European Commission on Tuesday asking for a “level playing field” for nuclear energy in the bloc’s fight against climate change, a draft of the paper seen by Reuters showed.

Fukushima

• ‘Absolutely logical’ for Fukushima water release to attract attention, IAEA chief says amid criticism.
• Japan defends neutrality of IAEA report on Fukushima water release plan as minister visits plant.
• Hong Kong will ban more products from Japan if treated wastewater is discharged, its leader says.
• New Zealand confident about IAEA advice on Fukushima water release plan.

North Korea

• South Korea’s president says it’s time to clearly demonstrate strong international resolve to deter North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, and he plans to discuss how to cope with the North’s expanding weapons arsenal with NATO leaders this week.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• A US intelligence assessment ‘There’s something powerful about the devastation’: The nuclear tourists who flock to atomic sites. Forget piña coladas on the beach, these holidaymakers spend their annual leave in nuclear wastelands. What is it that they find so alluring?

Best,

 

Pádraig McCarrick

 

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament