CND Press Digest: Wednesday 5th June 2024

 Nukes in Britain

• Defence chiefs have written to the NFLA Spokesperson on Nuclear Submarine Decommissioning reassuring him that ‘the Ministry of Defence remains committed to disposing its decommissioned submarines, including the waste they produce, within the UK.’
• Quakers in Britain with a report of the recent Peace Boat visit to London and event with Hibakusha.

Global Nukes

• The Nation: A just-released watchdog report makes the case for eliminating land-based nuclear missiles.
• Foreign Policy: Are Putin’s nuclear threats working? A new book examines the past and present of Russian thinking on deterrence.
• The Bulletin: Why a substantive and verifiable no-first-use treaty for nuclear weapons is possible.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Rolls-Royce has started work on a £15m project to manufacture and test prototype modules for its small modular reactor technology, taking a vital step towards deploying a global fleet of “factory-built” nuclear power plants.

Nuclear Energy

• The Guardian: If regional communities don’t want a windfarm, why would they accept a nuclear power station? The Coalition’s energy policy is leveraged on regional discontent about renewables. But many farmers don’t want nuclear in their back yard either.
• Reuters:Japan is set to push for more nuclear power in an energy policy update due next year, seeking stable electricity supply in face of growing demand and heightening geopolitical risks, but is likely to struggle to meet its targets, industry experts say.

NATO / Europe

• The NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence (ENSEC COE) and Washington, DC-based Last Energy are jointly investigating military applications for micro-nuclear power technologies.
• The Telegraph: NATO maps out plan to block Russian invasion. Pre-planned logistical routes could help stave off a potential Russian attack.
• WSWS: NATO plans Europe-wide escalation of war against Russia.

Middle East & North Africa

• Foreign & Commonwealth Office: France, Germany and the UK (E3) gave a joint statement to the IAEA Board of Governors on Iran’s implementation of its nuclear commitments under the JCPoA. The IAEA’s report once again confirms that Iran continues to escalate its proliferation sensitive nuclear activities, moving even further from its JCPoA commitments. Much of Iran’s nuclear programme is unprecedented for a state without a nuclear weapons programme.
• Al Jazeera: Is Israel going to back the Biden-announced Gaza peace plan? The US president says that the plan came from Israel itself, but comments from Israeli leaders are far from supportive.

AUKUS & Indo-Pacific

• Voice of America: US nuclear weapons in South Korea would undermine its security, says China.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament