CND Press Digest: Monday 16th October 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Reuters: Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that suggestions the United States should prepare for a war against Russia and China were nonsense, and warned the West that any war against Russia would be on a whole different level to the conflict in Ukraine. The Russian leader is expected to visit Beijing this week where he will meet Xi Jinping.

UK Nuclear Weapons

• Babcock hopes to build a new facility at the Rosyth Dockyard for the dismantling of decommissioned nuclear submarines.

RAF Lakenheath

• A new fuel cell maintenance hanger for F-35 warplanes has been opened at the US Air Force base at RAF Lakenheath. Stories by the UK government and the East Anglian Daily Times.

Gaza War

• The Pentagon has deployed two aircraft carriers and supporting vessels to the eastern Mediterranean following the recent events in Israel and Palestine.
• RAF Lakenheath has announced that US airmen stationed at the base have been redeployed to an undisclosed location in southwest Asia ”where they’ll be postured to support contingency operations, and protect coalition forces and citizens abroad.”
• Some coverage of Saturday’s Palestine demonstration in The Guardian, Reuters, BBC, and Independent.

Nuclear Energy

• Burkina Faso’s military leaders have signed a deal with Russia to build a nuclear power plant to increase electricity supplies.
• The FT on how differences of opinion on nuclear power is driving a wedge between Germany and France.

Fukushima

• The UN’s nuclear watchdog along with experts from China, South Korea and Canada on Monday collected seawater samples around the defunct Fukushima nuclear plant. The trip follows the second release of radioactive water from the plant into the ocean.

Fusion

• BBC and Oxford Mail report on the news that the JET nuclear fusion lab in Abingdon, Oxfordshire conducted its last experiment after 40 years on Sunday.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• New to the House of Commons Library: What is the status of the Iran nuclear deal?

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament