CND Press Digest: Wednesday 13th September 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Ukraine’s Energoatom has signed fresh deals with Westinghouse on the development of AP300 small modular reactors (SMRs) in the country.
• Five years after a small solar farm was built at the site, Ukraine has unveiled plans to develop a potentially huge wind power plant in the Chernobyl exclusion zone – the site of the worst nuclear power plant disaster in world history.
• Vladimir Putin has threatened Rishi Sunak as he accused the UK – without proof – of being behind a failed sabotage plot on a Russian atomic facility.

North Korea

• The Times: North Korea’s dictator arrived in Russia for talks on supplying it with weapons as President Putin accused Britain of trying to provoke a Kremlin attack on a Ukrainian nuclear power plant. Kim Jong-un was given a red-carpet welcome by Russian officials, along with a military band and guard of honour, in Khasan, a Russian town near the North Korean border.

• The Guardian: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits Russia – in pictures.
• BBC:Vladimir Putin signals help for Kim Jong-un but quiet on weapons.

UK Nuclear Weapons

• The Times and Drive report on the story that one of its Vanguard-class nuclear submarines has broken the record for longest patrol at sea - with the tour lasting over six months.

Lakenheath

• A great piece from Diane Abbott MP on US nuclear weapons published in the Morning Star and People’s World.

Nuclear Disarmament

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for new international negotiations on nuclear disarmament on Tuesday, saying that not only Russia and the United States but also China should be involved.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Nation.Cymru: Industry report predicts tens of thousands of new jobs in Wales if nuclear projects get green light.

Nuclear Energy

• Reuters: European lawmakers bowed to pressure from France to allow nuclear power to be used for ammonia and hydrogen production in order to pass new legally binding targets to expand renewable energy development in the European Union. France’s own hefty nuclear power sector – which generates over 60% of the country’s electricity – is clearly a key beneficiary of the allowances made by lawmakers as part of the deal which aggressively lifts EU renewable energy usage targets.
• Rwanda will build a test nuclear reactor using a novel technology under an agreement between the East African country and a Canadian-German company called Dual Fluid Energy

Fukushima

• Russia said on Wednesday it was concerned by Japan’s discharge of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant and called on Tokyo to give detailed information about the process.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament