CND Press Digest: Thursday 10 August

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Soon after Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, sensors in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone reported radiation spikes. A researcher now believes he’s found evidence the data was manipulated.
• Reuters: A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denied a Russian assertion on Wednesday that Kyiv had tried to attack the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) with a drone.
• The Times: War in Ukraine and a resurgence in nuclear power schemes have spurred sales and profits at Urenco, a company that enriches uranium and is part-owned by the British government. Margins rose at Urenco in the first six months of the year, boosted by western customers shunning Russian suppliers. The company processes uranium mostly to generate power.
• That’s as the Associated Press reports that: The US and its European allies are importing vast amounts of nuclear fuel and compounds from Russia, providing Moscow with hundreds of millions of dollars in badly needed revenue as it wages war on Ukraine.

• Fifteen people have been arrested for trying to break into Volkel Air Base, as a string of demonstrations against US nuclear weapons at the Dutch base continue. The demonstrators carried pink spades and were trying to dig under the protective fence around the airbase when they were picked up by police. Several dozen demonstrators have been camping in the area since Monday.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki

• AP covers the commemorations in Nagasaki where the city’s mayor, Shiro Suzuki, called on world powers to abolish nuclear weapons.
• Jeremy Corbyn writes for Tribune: ‘Humanity Cannot Survive a Nuclear War’.
• Common Dreams: The US Government Once Called Hiroshima and Nagasaki ‘Nuclear Tests’.
• BBC, Morning Star, and Kyodo News coverage of the Hiroshima Day service in Coventry.
• Coverage of Grassington and District Peace group’s vigil in Grassington on Hiroshima Day.
• France 24: Hiroshima survivor remembers atomic bomb attack on 78th anniversary.

British Submarines

• Forces.net: Almost 90 per cent of dismantled nuclear submarine to be reused or recycled in world’s first.

Nuclear Testing & Weapons

• US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he’s open to compensating New Mexico residents who suffered sickness after exposure to radiation from nuclear weapons testing.
• Canada played a larger role in the development of the first nuclear weapons than most people are aware, according to an expert on the Manhattan Project.
• Washington Post opinion: We don’t need nuclear cruise missiles at sea.

AUKUS

• A US nuclear-powered submarine docked at HMAS Stirling, a naval base in western Australia, last week - the first step in establishing a rotating submarine force in the country ahead of the country getting its own nuclear-powered submarines.
• ABC: The path from MP to big business is well trodden — and defence and AUKUS are in their sights.
• Sydney Morning Herald: Australia, US urged to ramp up AUKUS as PM invited to White House.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The Telegraph: Renewable energy is a foolish fantasy. Nuclear power is safe, and the only way to go green.
• The Lincolnite and BBC report: Lincolnshire council leaders have set their sights on a 2027 deadline for a public vote concerning Theddlethorpe’s nuclear storage plans. Yet, some demand a swifter resolution.

Nuclear Energy

• US regulators are ready to review and license the next generation of nuclear reactors while staying committed to safety, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) says.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament