CND Press Digest: Friday 6th October 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Putin’s “bluff”: a cautionary note about underestimating the possibility of nuclear escalation in Ukraine.
• On Friday, the speaker of the Russian Duma said it would work to revoke the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
• It follows comments by Vladimir Putin on Thursday, who escalated the nuclear rhetoric by suggesting the ban on nuclear testing could be removed.
• NYT reports on comments by Putin about an unverified test of a Burevestnik, an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile. He also said work was almost completed on a new type of nuclear-capable ballistic missile.
• Reuters takes a look at Russian’s nuclear arsenal, how big it is, and who controls it.
• Nuclear testing: Why did it stop, and when?
• That’s as the US Navy completed a record 191 (unarmed) flight tests of the Trident II D5 missile.

AI Weapons

• The UN Secretary-General and Red Cross have joined to call for fresh prohibitions and restrictions on autonomous weapons systems.

Trump

• Former US President Donald Trump allegedly discussed potentially sensitive information about US nuclear submarines with an Australian packaging billionaire, three months after leaving office. Trump apparently discussed the amount of warheads US subs routinely carry as well how they can supposedly approach Russian subs without being detected, with Anthony Pratt during a conversation at the former’s Mar-a-Lago resort April 2021.

AUKUS

• AUKUS for destroyers.

• Derby’s Rolls-Royce shortlisted to deliver UK’s mini nuclear power stations.

Nuclear Energy

• Bangladesh gets first uranium shipment from Russia for its Moscow-built nuclear power plant.
• Environmentalists suffer another setback in fight to shutter California’s last nuclear power plant.

Nuclear Waste

• New Mexico environmental regulators on Thursday finalised a 10-year permit extension at the nation’s only underground nuclear waste repository.
• NFLA: Lincolnshire County Council intends to ‘pursue nuclear schemes which respond to the growth of the sector’ by creating a specialist officer role to advise it, and Nuclear Waste Services seem keen to back it because they are paying their salary.

Fusion

• A joint study at the Joint European Torus (JET) facility in Culham, Oxfordshire, will investigate the impact of neutrons on the performance of electronics exposed to fusion energy conditions.

Fukushima

• On Thursday, Japan’s Tepco began its second dump of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean.
• Meanwhile, Russia said on Wednesday that Japan had failed to provide full information on the radioactive water being discharged from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, despite repeated requests from both Moscow and Beijing.

CND

• Pat Arrowsmith will feature on BBC 4’s Last Word programme today at 4pm. If you miss it, you’ll be able to listen back on BBC Sounds shortly after broadcast here.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament