CND Press Digest: Thursday 1st August 2024

Nukes in Britain

• UK Defence Journal: British nuclear missile submarine fires new torpedo. The Royal Navy has conducted a successful test of the next-generation Spearfish torpedo on a Vanguard-class submarine

Global Nukes

• Asahi Shimbun: Japan and the United States have a “special responsibility” to lead efforts to abolish nuclear weapons, the head of a U.S. nongovernmental organization told a 30th international peace symposium. Ivana Hughes, president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, was speaking at the “International Symposium for Peace: The Road to Nuclear Weapons Abolition” held at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum on July 27. 
• Daily Star: Just off the coast of Georgia, an unexploded nuclear bomb lurks at the bottom of the water. The 7,000-pound undetonated explosive was deposited at the mouth of the Savannah River off near to Tybee Island, during a “Cold War simulation” according to NPR.
• The Telegraph: Russia to train troops to use nuclear weapons on the battlefield. Moscow’s defence ministry says exercises will involve Iskander-M ballistic missiles and various aircraft.
• Bloomberg UK: Harris or Trump, the US must avert a new nuclear arms race. The next president faces the new danger that two nuclear rivals, China and Russia, gang up. That still doesn’t mean the US needs more nukes.
• Breaking Defense: US needs more nuclear subs, mobile ICBMs and tactical nukes: Heritage report

Hiroshima & Nagasaki

• CNN: Israel not invited to ceremony commemorating 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
• The Guardian’s Atomic People review – the quietly devastating truth about surviving Hiroshima.
• The Mainichi: Japan media, Hiroshima release website of A-bomb photos proposed for UNESCO heritage.

Middle East

• CND website: Nuclear-armed Israel puts Middle East on the brink of regional war.

UK Nuclear Power

• Daily Record: Over 1500 Scots travelling to Somerset to work on new nuclear power station. A trade union [GMB] said the huge number of Scots working hundreds of miles from home show the country is losing out on new nuclear plants. 
• Maldon Standard: A campaign group has hit out at claims a potential site for a new nuclear power station is “well connected.” The current government nuclear policy statement identifies Bradwell as a site for nuclear energy until the end of 2025. Plans for a Chinese-led nuclear power station in Bradwell, known as Bradwell B, is no longer progressing. Campaigners Blackwater Against New Nuclear Power Group (BANNG) claim EDF, the French company which own Bradwell’s nuclear site, has “no idea what it is talking about”.
• East Anglian Daily Times: Sizewell C has sealed one of the biggest letting deals in the UK after agreeing a lease on the giant Orwell Logistics Park in Ipswich. The site – owned by BGO – will provide 1m sq ft of space for it at the peak of construction work at the new nuclear site near Leiston.
• Energy Live News: Holtec, a major player in the nuclear industry, is evaluating potential sites for a new £1.3 billion manufacturing facility for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in the UK.
• New Civil Engineer: Research into engineered barrier systems (EBS) for the long-term storage of nuclear waste in a geological disposal facility (GDF) is being sought by Nuclear Waste Services (NWS).

Nuclear Power

• Emerging Risks: Efforts to ensure safe operation of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine remain highly challenging.
• Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: It is often said—somewhat accusingly—that it isn’t technical issues that stand in the way of siting a US geologic repository for highly radioactive waste, but political and social ones. In fact, the issues are inextricably connected.

NATO / Europe

• Defense News: The US election and NATO. What’s at stake.
• Bloomberg UK: Ukraine receives first F-16 fighter jets after long wait.
• Business Insider: With a NATO war and Ukraine’s knack for shooting down planes in mind, Russia is holding back its airpower and most advanced jets.
• Politico: Israel urges NATO to expel Turkey over threats to ‘invade’
• Atlantic Council: The role Turkey can play in NATO’s post-Washington summit aims.

AUKUS / Asia

• Reuters Exclusive: North Korea wants to restart nuclear talks if Trump wins, says ex-diplomat

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament