CND Press Digest: Thursday 4th August 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Svitlana Morenets writes in the Telegraph that “The world knows Putin is too scared to use nuclear weapons.”
• A big winner from the war in Ukraine is none other than BAE Systems - they’ve added £66 billion to their order books from countries rearming themselves in response to the ongoing conflict.

AUKUS

• A Chinese and Russian think tank report has unsurprisingly deemed the AUKUS pact a threat to global and regional security.

Nuclear Risk

• Over 100 top medical journals have warned that the threat of nuclear catastrophe is “great and growing.”
• The National Risk Register has outlined the “89 key threats to the UK’s safety and security”, which includes: conventional attack: civil nuclear (15th place); cyber attack: civil nuclear (16); civil nuclear accident (45); radiation release from overseas nuclear site (46); and nuclear miscalculation not involving the UK (89).

UK Nuclear Energy

• The i Newspaper has revealed that the UK government diverted £136 million from its electric vehicle (EV) supply chain fund towards Sizewell C.
• That’s as the Environment Agency grants a permit variation to Hinkley Point C - removing the requirement for the inclusion of an acoustic fish deterrent system.The decision comes despite warnings that not including the system could result in the deaths of millions of fish a year.
• Reuters: Britain’s competition regulator said on Wednesday that it was investigating Cameco Corp and Brookfield Renewable Partners’ $7.9 billion deal to acquire nuclear power plant equipment maker Westinghouse Electric. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had invited comments on the deal from interested parties. It did not give any further details.  

Uranium

• Al Jazeera: The European Union’s nuclear agency, Euratom, says it sees no immediate risks to the EU’s nuclear power production should Niger cut its deliveries of uranium due to its military coup.

Barbanheimer

• Reuters: The Japan opening of the hit film “Barbie” was dealt additional setbacks as an online petition gained steam calling on Hollywood studios to disavow a grassroots marketing movement that made light of nuclear holocaust. A Change.org petition collected more than 16,000 signatures over two days as of Thursday, demanding that Warner Bros (WBD.O) and Universal Pictures, the studio behind the “Oppenheimer” biopic, call a halt to the “Barbenheimer” hashtag that has helped make the film a global blockbusters.
• The New York Times also reports on the reaction to Barbenheimer in Japan.

Middle East

• Analysis: Buildup of American forces in Persian Gulf a new signal of worsening US-Iran conflict.
• US-Saudi Deal: Nuclearization of the Middle East Starts Here.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament