CND Press Digest: Wednesday 25th October 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Russia’s parliament completed the passage of a law on Wednesday that withdraws Moscow’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests.

Gaza War

• i news analysis: Israel-Hamas war fuels fears of nuclear weapons in the Middle East.
• The Jerusalem Post has an opinion claiming Iran will use the cover of a general waras part of its “satanic plan” to roll out a nuclear weapon.
• Modern Diplomacy on the suggestion that Israel may have deployed nuclear-armed submarines.

China

• Reuters: China has launched its first nuclear-powered guided missile submarines, according to the Pentagon’s latest report on China’s military – giving it land and sea attack options once the sole province of US and Russian vessels.
• Al Jazeera: China says US ‘exaggerates’ its military threat in new report.
• Reuters: China’s defence ministry blasts Pentagon’s annual report.

Nuclear Proliferation

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has told an event in Saudi Arabia that the greatest threat to the world is nuclear weapons. “I just would put on your table the most serious thing facing mankind is nuclear proliferation. If we’re not sitting here 100 years from now, it will be nuclear proliferation. It’s not our climate.”

Chernobyl

• The Star: “Exploring the Belarusian side of the Chernobyl exclusion zone is a rare experience, but one bloke has gone in and found giant animals and highly dangerous ‘natural’ food.”

UK Nuclear Energy

• Welsh anti-nuclear campaigners – including CND Cymru - have EDF Energy on notice over its cybersecurity practices.

Nuclear Energy

• Luc Remont’s future as head of France’s state-owned nuclear power giant EDF is in question due to an escalating row over future power prices, raising concern he may resign, two high ranking company officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

Fusion

• The Telegraph: “Britain is a fusion superpower, but it must not bet all on the wrong technology. Brexit has allowed for hi-tech industrial strategy to form free from Brussels’ red tape,” writes Ambrose Evans-Pritchard.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament