CND Press Digest: Tuesday 12th December 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

•  Icelandic base keeps watch over Arctic skies. The unassuming building in Keflavik is the ‘last line of defence’ for NATO airspace. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/guardians-of-the-north-icelandic-base-keeps-watch-over-arctic-ski…
• The Daily Mail: Radioactive substances could be smuggled out of Ukraine during invasion turmoil and end up being used in ‘dirty bombs’ on UK streets if border controls are not stepped up across NATO countries, nuclear expert warns. Dr Bahram Ghiassee, a nuclear scientist, warned that the ‘unprecedented’ aerial attacks on Ukrainian nuclear power plants by Russian soldiers during the war have ‘severely’ undermined the facilities’ security. Dr Ghiassee, an Associate Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society think tank, said this increases the risk of terrorists, proxy groups acting for ‘hostile states’ and organised crime syndicates gaining access to the radioactive substances.
• Paul Mason writes in the New European that “the scale of the global [security] crisis means the time is long gone for pacifism. Those who want to maintain and strengthen the nuclear peace need to accept that conventional deterrence – through rearmament and forward deployment of NATO forces – is more important than ever.”
• Putin visits a shipyard to oversee the commissioning of new Russian nuclear submarines.
• US House passes bill banning uranium imports from Russia.
• The outgoing Dutch PM Mark Rutte makes humblebrag pitch for NATO top job.
• Turkey says no rush to finalize Sweden’s bid to join NATO.
• The Wall Street Journal expresses its concern over dwindling stocks among Europe’s weakened militaries.

Gaza War

• UK factories help build the jets used by the Israeli military. They should be stopped.
• Ask your MP to sign EDM 177: Arms to Israel.
• New Yorker: How the politics of memory in Europe obscures what we see in Israel and Gaza today.
• Labour MP Zarah Sultana to present bill to halt British arms sales to Israel.

AUKUS

• Flinders University has welcomed the Australian government’s decision to allocate 330 Commonwealth Supported Places for the Nuclear-Powered Submarines Student Pathways program, which will enable more Flinders students to pursue STEM careers in the emerging nuclear-powered submarines industry.

Nuclear Leaks

• Letters: Sellafield nuclear site exposés are long overdue.
• Irish Examiner view: Answers are needed on nuclear site.

UK Nuclear Energy

• A Freedom of Information request has found that the total expenditure by the Welsh Government on feasibility studies, the hiring of consultants and other experts, costs of any contracts awarded for work of any form, planning applications and any other expenses met by Welsh Government for the planned re-opening/extension to the discontinued Wylfa Nuclear Power Station project has cost £1.7 million.
• Sheffield Forgemasters set to regain key nuclear accreditation. The UK company says it is on track to regain ASME status as a supplier of heavy forgings and castings to the civil nuclear market, to position it for the proposed large-scale expansion of nuclear capacity in the country.

Nuclear Energy

• The Japan Times: The Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture, which was damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake, is set to resume operations around May next year, while the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture is also eyeing a restart.
• South Africa to seek bids for new nuclear power station.

COP28

• New COP28 draft text does not mention phase out of fossil fuels but does include an acceleration of nuclear technologies.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Time magazine runs a column arguing that keeping attention on Israel’s war on Gaza is providing cover for Iran to accelerate its nuclear programme.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament