CND Press Digest: Tuesday 16th July 2024

Nukes in Britain

• The Guardian: At least five undercover police officers spied on the anti-nuclear movement during a period when it was posing a significant challenge to government policies, a public inquiry has been told. One was sent to infiltrate the women’s peace camp at Greenham Common after she was told by a superior that Margaret Thatcher, then the prime minister, wanted to know what the “Greenham women were doing”. The judge-led inquiry also heard allegations that information gathered by the undercover officers was exploited by Thatcher’s government to undermine the anti-nuclear activists just before a general election. The surveillance of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and allied groups was stepped up when they grew enormously in the 1980s. Membership of CND rose from the low thousands to more than 300,000. They used nonviolent methods to pursue their objectives.
• BBC: Campaigners to stage 10-day peace camp at airbase.
• The Morning Star: Nuclear war has never been closer as NATO and Russia fight a proxy war in Ukraine and Gaza remains under siege, peace campaigners warned yesterday as they began a 10-day encampment outside a US airforce base believed to be preparing for an “ongoing nuclear mission.” Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) activists told of how history was repeating itself as they rallied near RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
• Morning Star: Anti-nuclear weapons activists to camp outside RAF base for ten days.
• Eastern Daily Press: Anti-nuclear protestors to march from Norwich to Lakenheath.
• East Anglian Daily Times: RAF Lakenheath contractor could face court and fine.
• Eastern Daily Press: RAF Lakenheath protestors walk from Norwich to peace camp.

Global Nukes

• The Guardian: Trump’s running mate says UK could be ‘first Islamist country’ with nuclear weapons. JD Vance’s criticism of Labour comes after David Lammy tried to build bridges with vice-presidential nominee.
• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: The future of US nuclear arms control policy.  

Space

• Nuclear Free Local Authorities: NFLA Secretary Richard Outram joined other peace activists at the online launch of a new project, Space Watch UK, (Tuesday 9 July) to monitor and campaign against the ‘corporate exploitation and militarisation’ of space. The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities have previously expressed concern at government and space industry plans to develop and deploy nuclear-powered rocket systems and nuclear power plants at future Moon or Mars bases.

UK Nuclear Power

• BBC: The agency behind a proposed nuclear waste disposal site in Lincolnshire has given £1m to local community groups. The former Theddlethorpe gas terminal is one of three sites being considered by the government’s Nuclear Waste Services (NWS). As part of the engagement process money has been given to a foodbank, village halls, a local blind society and education projects, NWS said.
• Construction Briefing: Hinkley Point C has released a new video showing the progress of installing the core of the new nuclear power station. The video, presented by Hinkley Point C’s nuclear island director Simon Parsons, takes viewers behind the scenes as around 12,000 people work on building and equipping the power station.
• Farming UK: A nuclear power plant project in Suffolk has pledged to boost the region’s farmers by locally sourcing 80 percent of the food it provides to its site workforce. Sizewell C, which is being built over a 12-year period near Leiston, said its ambition would create significant opportunities for local food producers and suppliers.

Nuclear Energy

• Renew Economy: The head of the Australian Energy Market Operator, Daniel Westerman, has rejected nuclear power as an option to replace Australia’s ageing coal fleet, saying it is too slow and expensive, and that baseload power sources in any case won’t be able to compete in a grid dominated by wind and solar.
• Beyond Nuclear: On Wednesday July 10th President Joe Biden signed the “ADVANCE Act,” which stands for “Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy.” The controversial bill aggressively promotes the narrow, short-term interests of the US nuclear industry in ways that threaten the long-term national environmental, climate and national/international security interests.Further, it functionally rewrites the mandate of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in ways that potentially cast it into the role of promoter instead of federal regulator of the controversial and moribund nuclear power industry.

NATO / Europe

• Simon Jenkins in the Guardian writes about his fears for a pro-war Labour government under Keir Starmer. His final paragraph: “There is no evidence that Putin was ever seeking a hot war with the west. He made a terrible mistake in marching on Kyiv, one from which he needs somehow to be extricated. But when peace-making is so neglected an art – when it is now derided as appeasement – it is depressing that a British prime minister should be a cheerleader for war. Is Ukraine really to be Starmer’s Iraq?”
• That’s as Mark Leonard writes: How can Keir Starmer keep Britain safe? As the US withdraws, he must renew the UK’s role in Europe.

AUKUS / Asia-Pacific

• Financial Times: More South Koreans want Seoul to have its own nuclear weapons.
• The Bulletin and Federation of American Scientists on the latest estimates on the number of North Korean nuclear weapons. 
• BBC: The Defence Secretary has said the UK is committed to a shared plan with the US and Australia to create a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. John Healey said the AUKUS defence project was a “fundamental” part of the UK’s future security, which would fuel economic growth.
• Bloomberg UK: Biden’s Australia-UK arms deal facing pressure over delay fears.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament