CND Press Digest: Thursday 21st March 2024

NATO / Europe

• I missed this opinion by Edward Luttwak in the Telegraph last week: Europe is a continent of pacifists – no amount of money can fix NATO. The region is neither militarily or politically prepared to uphold her treaty commitments.
• Donald Trump vows to stay in NATO if Europe ‘plays fair.’ His NATO in GB News interview with Nigel Farage.

Middle East & North Africa

• Declassified UK: British arms firms have supplied parts for Israel’s F-16 jets which bombed a UK medical charity in Gaza. The UK government is now refusing to rule out whether Israel used British equipment to carry out the attack.
• UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said he visited Damascus on Tuesday to restart talks focused on fostering confidence in the peaceful use of atomic energy by Syria.

AUKUS / Indo-Pacific

• David Cameron is set to underline the UK’s bond with Australia on his first visit to the country as Foreign Secretary. The former prime minister is due to attend the annual Australia-UK ministerial meetings (Aukmin) alongside Defence Secretary Grant Shapps as the UK seeks to deepen its partnership with one of its closest allies in the Indo-Pacific.

Global Nukes

• Russia said on Wednesday that it would only discuss nuclear arms control with the United States as part of a broader debate and cautioned Washington that its use of commercial satellite companies to spy made such objects legitimate targets.
• Al Jazeera: Why are the US and Japan pushing to ban nuclear weapons in space?Washington and Tokyo sponsor a UNSC resolution calling on countries not to deploy or develop nuclear weapons in space.
• France to restart tritium production with EDF. France’s Minister for the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, announced on Monday a new production cycle for tritium, which is essential for the manufacture of nuclear weapons, using state utility EDF’s two civilian reactors.
• Defense News: The US Air Force and two main contractors on the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program on Saturday tested the solid-rocket motorthat will power the nuclear weapon’s third stage.
• Popular Mechanics: Can the US develop a nuclear bomb without ever testing it?We’re about to find out.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The Financial Times: Energy start-up Newcleo is doing everything you would expect of a growing company. The London-based group, which was launched in 2021 to develop compact reactors that can run on used nuclear fuel, is in the middle of raising funds. And it aims to have a first working product seven years from now.
• City AM: The western world is too “optimistic” with nuclear project build and delivery times, creating problems from start to finish, a nuclear industry luminary has warned. Speaking ahead of the inaugural global nuclear summit this week in Brussels Ian Edwards, chief executive of AtkinsRealis said Western countries get too carried away with trying to deliver the project quickly that planning and strategy falls by the wayside.
• FT: Cost overruns and delays risk nuclear’s place in energy transition. Can the industry tackle blown budgets and competition from rival low-carbon sources? Nuclear power is on the brink of a comeback. Having been out of favour in many parts of the world over the past decade, the technology is attracting interest again as a way of cutting carbon dioxide emissions. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global nuclear power capacity would need to more than double, to 916 gigawatts by 2050, to meet the internationally agreed goal of net zero carbon emissions in that time. But, at the COP28 global climate summit in Dubai, last December, more than 20 countries — including the US, Japan and the UK — agreed to work towards tripling nuclear power capacity by that same date. And, in his budget this month, UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed his government’s aim for nuclear to supply about a quarter of the nation’s electricity by 2050, up from about 14 per cent now. However, the costs of building new plants, and recent high-profile budget overruns, have raised questions about viability — particularly given fierce competition from other low-carbon technologies, such as wind, solar, and battery storage. Nuclear currently supplies about 10 per cent of global electricity.
• Nuclear fusion backers meet in US capital as competition with China looms. Leaders in the emerging Western nuclear fusion industry are convening in Washington, D.C., this week seeking ways to attract more money for research to avoid falling far behind China in the race to develop and build commercially viable reactors.
• Leaders from pro-nuclear European countries and energy experts are set to call for a nuclear energy revival on Thursday at a summit in Brussels, seeking to rebuild the European industry after years of gradual decline.
• Nuclear power is absolutely needed to reach worldwide climate goals, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol said on Thursday. “Without the support of nuclear power, we have no chance to reach our climate targets on time,” Birol told reporters ahead of the Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels.
• The governor of Japan’s Niigata prefecture, Hideyo Hanazumi, said on Thursday more talks were needed over the possible restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, suggesting operations may not resume quickly.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament