CND Press Digest: Monday 20th November 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• The Guardian: Three Ukrainian teenagers who developed apps for children who have fled war have been awarded this year’s International Children’s Peace prize at a ceremony in London.
• Pope Francis on Sunday renewed calls for peace in Ukraine and the Middle Eastduring his Angelus prayer, saying it was essential to keep up efforts to stop the ongoing conflicts.

Israel-Palestine 

• Salisbury Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Sarum Concern for Israel and Palestine held a candlelight vigil in front of Salisbury Library on Saturday. It was one more than 100 events to take place across the country as part of nationwide day of action for Palestine.

UK Nuclear Weapons

• A Royal Navy nuclear-armed submarine narrowly averted disaster after a malfunction with one of its gauges caused it to dive close to crush depth before crew engineers noticed and corrected course. Coverage by The Sun, Daily Mail, Mirror, Telegraph, Times, and National.

Lakenheath

• More coverage of CND’s legal challenge against building works at RAF Lakenheath by Suffolk News and The Planner.

Nuclear Testing

• BBC with another report on Britain’s nuclear test veterans, interviewing Gordon Craggs who witnessed 24 nuclear detonations.

AUKUS

• The Guardian reflects on 40 years of the Treaty of Rarotonga, and concerns from experts that the treaty is being exploited amid rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific.

Arms Control

• The New York Times runs an editorial on the need for a deescalation of nuclear rhetoric: The world is entering a dangerous nuclear arms race unlike anything since the first atomic bomb, but it does not have to end in catastrophe. Treaties controlling nuclear arms — verifiable and binding, to limit or reduce stockpiles and prevent miscalculation or error — can lead to more stability. They require political will from leaders of the United States, Russia and China that does not exist today.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Clean Technica: The decommissioning costs for the UK’s nuclear generation are coming home to roost, and they are laying golden eggs for the firms that won the business. For UK citizens, not so much. Despite the very high costs of both the new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Site C, the rapidly rising costs of clean up and the much cheaper alternatives available, the country’s current administration remains committed to the technology. Something is likely to give.

Nuclear Energy

• Reuters: Finland’s Olkiluoto 3, Europe’s largest nuclear power generator as measured by output, suffered an unexpected outage on Sunday due to a turbine problem.
• The United States and the Philippines on Friday signed a landmark deal that would allow Washington to export nuclear technology and material to Manila, which is exploring the use of nuclear power to decarbonise and boost energy independence.

Fukushima

• Daily Mail: The release of a third batch of treated radioactive wastewater from Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean ended safely as planned, its operator said Monday, as the country’s seafood producers continue to suffer from a Chinese import ban imposed after the discharges began.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament