CND Press Digest: Thursday 31st August 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Al Jazeera: The White House has warned North Korea against selling munitions to Russia for its war in Ukraine as tensions between Pyongyang and Washington continue to mount.

AUKUS

• The White House is set to make a new announcement on the future of AUKUSsometime later this year, the Pentagon’s chief technology officer BBC online runs Kate’s recent comments about Lakenheath. Tom also spoke to BBC Look East, item starts at 6 mins.
• The Telegraph have a follow up piece focusing on the F-35 being deployed to Lakenheath, with CND’s opposition noted at the end.
• Local coverage of the Lakenheath developments in the Eastern Daily Press, Cambridgeshire Live, and East Anglian Daily Times. 
• handed in his resignation as UK Defence Secretary and will be replaced by Grant Shapps.
• The National picks up on an investigation by the Ferret which includes accusations that the Defence Nuclear Organisation has been covering up security incidents. A Freedom of Information request found that the DNO had recorded 113 “security concerns” since 2017.
• CND’s news item on Boeing and Babcock being among the firms sponsoring fringe events at the Labour Party conference in October.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Together Against Sizewell C respond to the government’s latest fundingannouncement for the new nuclear plant. The government’s bill for Sizewell has now passed £1 billion.
• Suffolk News reports on local opposition.
• Business Live invited to a community forum on the possible siting of an underwater dump. Meeting will take place on 20 September. 

Nuclear Energy

• Egypt gives approval for fourth unit of Dabaa nuclear plant.

Fukushima

• Japanese PM Fumio Kishida had his own John Gummer moment this week - eating fish from Fukushima to prove it is safe. Unlike Gummer, however, no children were fed in the making of this publicity stunt.
• The Mirror: Inside radioactive school abandoned when Fukushima nuclear plant went into meltdown.

Radioactivity

• The Times and AP: North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Wednesday night, its neighbors said, hours after the US flew long-range bombers for drills with its allies in a show of force against the North.
• AP: North Korea said Thursday its latest missile launches simulated “scorched earth” nuclear strikes on South Korea and that it’s also been rehearsing an occupation of its rival’s territory in the event of conflict.

Letter

A letter submitted to The Guardian from Linda Walker responding to Swedish climate activist’s call to Greenpeace to drop its opposition to nuclear power:  

It is disappointing to see that some of our most dedicated young climate activists have been convinced by the highly funded stream of propaganda put out by the nuclear industry.

(Young Climate Activist tells Greenpeace to drop ‘old fashioned’ anti nuclear stance, August 29th)

If the development of new nuclear power was really a viable part of the solution to climate change, then I am sure Greenpeace and many others would swallow their objections in order to tackle the greater challenge.

 But it is not. As the Greenpeace EU spokesperson noted, it is fiendishly expensive and takes a very long time to build. The Olkiluoto 3 plant in Finland began producing electricity for the grid this spring, 14 years behind schedule and at 11 Billion Euros, three times over budget. A nuclear power plant is about four times the cost of the equivalent wind farms and takes at least five times as long to build. We do not have this time to spare if we are to urgently tackle the climate crisis.
 
Greenpeace is absolutely right to challenge the EU’s acceptance  of nuclear power as a green source of energy – against the wishes of its elected MPs – as this will divert the funds needed to develop genuine renewables into massive nuclear subsidies, Many states in the US have put billions of dollars into propping up unprofitable nuclear plants under programmes which were designed to develop clean energy solutions
 
Nuclear power and nuclear weapons are inextricably interlinked. France was motivated to develop its nuclear power industry largely to make sure that its nuclear weapons could be produced independently of the US. And it has been acknowledged that one of the reasons for building the much delayed Hinkley C power station is to maintain a body of skills which is needed for our Trident nuclear weapons system.
 
There is still no answer to how to deal with the waste. When accidents happen, such as Chernobyl and Fukushima, they are devastating. And we have all watched in horror as the war in Ukraine threatens the Zaporozhye nuclear plants.
 
It is time we redirected the resources we are squandering on nuclear power towards the development of clean renewable technologies, better storage and home insulation to reduce our energy demands. All this would create far more jobs as well as providing a safer future for us all. [ENDS]