CND Press Digest: Tuesday 12th March 2024

NATO / Europe

• ‘Sweden has come home,’ PM tells NATO as flag raised at headquarters – video.
• Pictured: NATO troops take aim in camouflaged Arctic Circle drill.
• UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Tuesday there is no direct safety issue from Ukrainian staff being barred from accessing the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Ukraine has called a “grave concern”.
• Responding to pope, NATO boss says Ukraine needs weapons, not white flags.
• Kremlin, NATO at odds over pope’s call for Ukraine to show ‘white flag’ and start talks.
• Polish president says NATO members should spend 3% of GDP on defence.
• Biden to meet Poland’s leaders on NATO funding against Russia.

Middle East & North Africa

• Oscar winner Jonathan Glazer condemns war between Israel and Hamas. Billie Eilish and Ramy Yousef among celebrities showing support for Gaza at the Academy Awards

AUKUS / Indo-Pacific

• Cold turkeys: The demise of nuclear power in Australia’s AUKUS partner countries.
• Anti-war activists, including a former Senedd member, are voicing opposition to the support extended by Welsh Government, Cardiff Council, MPs, and local educational institutions for the establishment of a Rolls-Royce office in Cardiff.
• Listen: How a US defence spending slow-down could affect AUKUS.

Global Nukes

• Al Jazeera: India conducts first flight of missile that can carry multiple warheads.Delhi has been developing its missile systems for years now, especially as its competition with China grows.
• The Bulletin: The horrors of nuclear weapons testing.

Nukes in Britain

• Cold War bunker built to save Royal Family from nuclear attack opens as tourist attraction. The bunker, located at Barnton Quarry near Edinburgh in Scotland, was built in the 1950s during a time of fear of Soviet power and was kept a secret until the 1980s.
• Many more celebrities have signed an open letter to Hollywood on the significance of Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer and the real-life threats of nuclear war. The letter was published in The Los Angeles Times March 7 in the run-up to the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday (March 10), where Oppenheimer won seven awards, including best picture.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Decision over first mini-nuke sites delayed amid legal action fears. Great British Nuclear (GBN) has delayed a decision on where the first mini-nuclear reactors will be built until after the next election, following concerns that losers of a design contest may otherwise threaten to sue.
• As part of the Alternative Routes to Market consultation, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has partnered with Policy Lab to deliver a Nuclear Hackathon – an event to explore how we can speed up the delivery of new nuclear projects while maintaining rigorous levels of nuclear safety, security, and environmental protection.
• CND website: Spring budget a ‘myopic sop’ to nuclear obsessives.

Nuclear Energy

• Fusion technology company SHINE Technologies has selected Deep Isolation’s technology as its preferred solution for storage and disposal of the high-level waste that will remain as a residue after deployment of SHINE’s technology for recycling used nuclear fuel.
• Associated Press: Conditions inside Fukushima’s melted nuclear reactors still unclear 13 years after disaster struck.
• UN nuclear chief visits Japan to examine Fukushima wastewater release and talk atomic cooperation.
• Japan marks 13 years since massive tsunami disaster. A closer look at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
• 13 years after Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan remembers the dead and vows to keep rebuilding.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament