CND Press Digest: Wednesday 14th February 2024

 NATO / Europe

• The Guardian: Joe Biden calls Trump’s NATO remarks ‘dumb’, ‘shameful’ and ‘dangerous’.
• European leaders call for stronger defence ties after Trump’s NATO remarks.
• EU will need own nuclear deterrent if Trump wins, Scholz ally warns. SPD party’s Katarina Barley says Europe can no longer rely on Nato protection following the former president’s Russia comments.
• Reuters Exclusive: Trump adviser proposes new tiered system for NATO members who don’t pay up
• Hundreds of British military vehicles have been spotted in Southampton as they leave for NATO war games.
• The Times: What would a NATO war with Russia look like? How the UK is rehearsing. The Steadfast Defender exercise, the biggest since the Cold War, comes as it is revealed Moscow has lost 3,000 tanks in Ukraine.

Middle East & North Africa

• Thousands protest outside Downing Street after Israel strikes Rafah.
• UN warns of “slaughter” if Israel launches ground assault on Rafah. Meanwhile, British foreign secretary David Cameron said Israel should “think seriously” before any attack on Gaza’s southernmost city - warning that Israel would be in breech of international law if it denies Gaza food and water.
• Paul Rogers writes in the Guardian: The US could stop the horror in Rafah today. Why won’t it?
• The head of UN’s nuclear watchdog warns Iran is ‘not entirely transparent’ on its atomic program.

AUKUS / Indo-Pacific

• Domestic pushback to New Zealand’s AUKUS bid grows.
• South Korea says North Korea has fired cruise missiles in latest weapons test.

Global Nukes

• The Bulletin: Even in the face of Russian aggression, a nuclear ‘Eurodeterrent’ is still a bad idea.

British Nukes & Military

• The MoD has frozen new capital spending for two months as it struggles with the impact of soaring prices on its budget, The Telegraph can reveal.
• Former British Army officer Colonel Tim Collins laments in the Telegraph that “Britain no longer has a military.”
• BBC: RAF veteran, 86, receives nuclear testing medal.
• Rear-Admiral John Gower obituary. Cold War submariner in charge of the UK’s nuclear response and known as ‘the grumpy admiral’ even if he did once make a dark joke to a Russian general.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The Telegraph and i newspaper report on calls from France for Britain to pay more for Hinkley Point C. First estimated to cost £18 billion when approved in 2016, re-calibrated costs are now set at £35 billion by its competition, scheduled for 2031.
• Planned UK nuclear reactors unlikely to help hit green target, say MPs.
• Westinghouse has begun the UK licensing process for its AP300 reactor design. The US firm is one of six small modular reactor (SMR) suppliers shortlisted in October 2023 to bid for support from the UK government - and plans build four AP300s in northeast England.
• Hopes remain for Moorside SMRs as Teesside SMR nuclear plans announced.
• New nuclear project ‘must work for the people of Ynys Môn’ says council leader.
• The leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council has said she will not be supporting plans for nuclear waste disposal in the county.
• Yorkshire Bylines: Public ‘politely’ hostile to nuclear waste disposal in Holderness.

Nuclear Energy

• Fukushima nuclear plant operator told to communicate better with the public after leak.
• Poland analyzes if nuclear plant will be ready by 2033 amid delays.
• Sky News with more on the arrest in Turkey of a Russian national working at the under-construction Akkuyu nuclear plant, over suspicions that he is an Islamic State member.
• Uranium project developers see a stronger outlook for prices and supply pacts after the world’s top producer of the nuclear fuel jolted the market with output cuts.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament