CND Press Digest: Wednesday 22nd May 2024

Nukes in Britain

• European Leadership Network: What is the future for UK defence, diplomacy, and disarmament?
• The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities have written to senior government ministers seeking their assurance that redundant British nuclear submarines will not be sent to Australia for disposal. NFLA Spokesperson on Nuclear Submarine Decommissioning Councillor Brian Goodall, who represents the Rosyth Ward in Scotland where decommissioning is currently taking place, has written to the Foreign and Defence Secretaries asking for their confirmation that they will not be sending waste or decommissioning work overseas should a new Australian law be passed unamended.
• Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) records relating to nuclear test veterans.Records held in the Atomic Weapons Establishment Merlin database which contain the words ‘blood’ and/or ‘urine’

Global Nukes

• The Guardian, Reuters, Al Jazeera, France 24, AP, and the Times among those reporting on Russian nuclear drills in the country’s southern military district and close to its border with Ukraine.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The government has announced that Wylfa in Anglesey is their preferred locationfor a new nuclear plant. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-nuclear-power-plant-earmarked-for-north-wales?link_id=10&...
• More coverage from the Sky News, ITV, BBC, Business Green, North Wales, Nation.Cymru.and https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/22/large-scale-nuclear-power-station-planne…
• Teesside University is to Scotsman: Think Scotland won’t get another nuclear power station? Think again, writes Dr Richard Dixon.
• Nuclear-free councils hit out at ‘mad delusion’ of new reactor.
• Somerset politicians and councillors have been given an exclusive tour of the Hinkley Point A and B power stations near Bridgwater.
• Rolls-Royce has announced plans to advance the development of its small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) with the establishment of a new multi-million-pound facility in Sheffield.
• In its updated strategy for handling nuclear waste and radioactive substances, the UK proposes to use a shallower disposal facility for suitable intermediate-level waste which was previously earmarked for the planned deep geological disposal facility.

Nuclear Energy

• iNews: Iran’s nuclear plants may be in same perilous state as its aircraft. My most immediate concern is the Bushehr nuclear plant, built on three tectonic plates, writes nuclear defence expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.
• The Guardian: Electricity from nuclear power in Australia would be at least 50% more expensive than solar and wind, according to a report from the CSIRO that has for the first time calculated costs for large-scale reactors.

NATO / Europe

• UK troops ‘testing ourselves and learning hard’ as Poland phase of NATO exercise draws to a close.
• The Times: Wake up and raise defence spending, Grant Shapps urges NATO allies. The defence secretary calls for members to increase spending to 2.5% of GDP as pre-emptive action against the threat from Russia and China.

AUKUS & Indo-Pacific

• European Security & Defence: AUKUS Submarine status update.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament