CND Press Digest: Thursday 23rd November 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Reuters: Russian President Vladimir Putin told G20 leaders on Wednesday that it was necessary to think about how to stop “the tragedy” of the war in Ukraine, some of his most placatory remarks to date about the conflict.
• Moscow Times: Wives and mothers of Russian soldiers who have been mobilised for the war in Ukraine are facing restrictions and intimidation as they demand to bring their loved ones back from the front.
• Financial Times - Ukraine: the new fissures in a society under strain.
• Politico: France backtracks on EU-only ammo for Ukraine.

AUKUS

• Some pro-AUKUS fluff in this North West Evening Mail report on the participation of Australian Navy members in this year’s 40-mile Keswick to Barrow walk.

Nuclear War

• It is the most fateful decision a world leader could make: whether to authorise a nuclear strike. What would be going through their mind at the time. Neuroscientist Moran Cerf has had unique access to bunker insiders to find out.

UK Nuclear Weapons

• The Daily Star reports from “inside” AWE Aldermaston - without actually going into the facility.

• The Mirror: A Cabinet minister has flatly denied any cover-up of Cold War blood tests of British servicemen. Johnny Mercer told the House of Commons today that the campaign to locate the missing medical records of those who took part in nuclear weapons trials had been politicised by opponents of the Government.

• That’s as eco-businessman Dale Vince said he is helping to fund a legal challengeby test veterans to get access to their records.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Letter from Wera Hobhouse MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Energy and Climate Change), Caroline Lucas MP, Green Party, and Alan Brown MP, SNP to National Audit Office calling for an early review of Sizewell C’s value for money case.
• BBC reports on plans to rapidly expand a Somerset campsite to house workers at Hinkley Point C.
• Milton Keynes is “not being considered” as a potential site for a new nuclear waste dump , the UK Government has said. It follows calls from the local Labour party to stop any such dump from being created.
• Labour leader Keir Starmer has adopted its position on the proposed Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), which is intended to bolster Europe’s manufacturing output in technologies needed for decarbonisation. MEPs included nuclear fission and fusion among a list of 17 technologies covered by the legislation.
• Termination of NuScale’s first small modular nuclear reactor plant won’t affect Virginia’s SMR plans, several experts say.
• The Idaho National Laboratory (INL), a US government nuclear research center that works on the development, demonstration, and deployment of nuclear energy, has confirmed suffering a cyberattack and data theft.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• IAEA head says the barring of several nuclear inspectors by Iran is a ‘serious blow’ to monitoring.

North Korea

• North Korea may conduct nuclear test next year, South Korea’s spy agency warns.
• North Korea has warned it will deploy new weapons and stronger armed forces along its heavily armed border with South Korea, as officials in Seoul claimed that Russia had helped Pyongyang carry out a satellite launch.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament