CND Press Digest: Thursday 25th July 2024

Nukes in Britain

• RAF / USAF Lakenheath. The march began in Norwich on 13 July with marchers arriving at Lakenheath on the 15 July. A camp was then established outside the airbase. A letter was presented to the Main Gate on the 16 July, but two activists were arrested in a high-handed action by police after the refusal of their request to meet with base commanders.
• STV: Strikes at the Coulport and Faslane nuclear naval bases have been avoidedafter workers “overwhelmingly” backed a union pay deal. Unite the Union confirmed on Wednesday that 600 members employed by Babcock Marine (Clyde) Ltd will receive a 7.5% basic pay rise backdated to August 2023. A £1,350 consolidated payment will be applied in year two of the deal for a period of 12 months until the end of July 2025. The rise works out as an average increase of 3.95%, along with a commitment by Babcock Marine to work on delivering a four-day working week based on 36 hours.
• Daily Mail: British soldiers were made to stand near a nuclear bomb with just their hands over their eyes, then given a battery of tests. The horrifying consequences and cover-up is the next big scandal, says Al Murray.
• The Mirror: Nuked Blood Scandal: Keir Starmer urged to hold a public inquiry.
• The Guardian: Protest, resistance and dissent: a retrospective of the art of Peter Kennard.

Global Nukes

• The Telegraph’s Battles Lines podcast: How close is the world to nuclear war?
• The National: SNP MSP highlights ‘nuclear annihilation risk’ in major UN speech.

Space

• NSIP Major Projects will help to significantly advance the development and demonstration of key technologies in the space nuclear Micro-Reactor.

• Cambrian News: Tom Williams is Trawsfynydd’s new site director. Responsible for safely decommissioning the first generation nuclear and research sites across the UK, Nuclear Restoration Services announced the appointment.
• BBC: A nuclear fusion energy plant being built in Nottinghamshire has been described as the “UK’s NASA moment” as it races to become the first of its type in the world. The work, based at the decommissioned West Burton A power station near Retford, will create a new source of clean energy. The project, called Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), was showcased at a launch event on Tuesday in Gainsborough, just over the border in Lincolnshire. Nuclear fusion recreates the same process which powers the sun and if plans are approved, backers said the project is expected to be constructed by 2040. The STEP project is being led by UK Industrial Fusion Solutions (UK IFS), which is owned by the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Nuclear Power

• NATO / Europe
  • EurActiv: NATO finds gaping holes in Europe’s defences.

  AUKUS / Asia-Pacific

  • Naval News: AUKUS navy chiefs strengthen ties during first trilateral visit to HMAS Stirling. The Chiefs of Navy for Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have strengthened their naval ties today, during a visit to HMAS Stirling in Western Australia.
  • Arab News: Australia confident Trump will back AUKUS sub deal after talks with his camp.
  • UK First Sea Lord: Joint crewing of SSN-AUKUS submarines likely. The United Kingdom and Australia’s future SSN-AUKUS (SSN-A) submarines will probably be operated by an integrated crew made of Australian and British sailors, the UK’s First Sea Lord said at the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference in Perth.

  Best,

   

  Pádraig McCarrick

   

  Press and Communications Officer

  Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament