CND Press Digest: Friday 9th August 2024

Posted: 9th August 2024

Nagasaki Day

  • The Guardian: US ambassador to skip Nagasaki bomb commemoration over Israeli exclusion. City’s mayor says Israel not invited because of risk of protests at event honouring victims of 1945 nuclear blast.
  • The Independent: Nagasaki marks 79th A-bomb anniversary without U.S. and other ambassadors after excluding Israel.
  • Nagasaki mayor defends decision not to invite Israel to atomic bomb memorial. Shiro Suzuki defended the decision not to invite Israel’s ambassador, saying that it was ‘not political’ but to avoid possible protests related to the Gaza conflict. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/08/nagasaki-mayor-defends-decision-not-to-in…
  • Japan Times: Anti-nuclear sit-in campaigns in Nagasaki mark over 500 protests.

Global Nukes

  • The Guardian: Deep space radar site in Wales to go ahead to protect UK from ‘space warfare.’ Ministers say network of 27 radar dishes in Pembrokeshire crucial to defend against ‘increasing belligerence in space.’
  • South Wales Guardian: Pembrokeshire army barracks to host space radar programme.

UK Nuclear Power

  • The Guardian: Sellafield has apologised after pleading guilty to criminal charges relating to a string of cybersecurity failings at Britain’s most hazardous nuclear site, which it admitted could have threatened national security. Among the failings at the vast nuclear waste dump in Cumbria was the discovery that 75% of its computer servers were vulnerable to cyber-attacks, Westminster magistrates court in London heard.
  • FT: UK nuclear waste site failed to heed warnings over cyber risks, court told. Sellafield Ltd, the UK state-owned operator of the Sellafield nuclear waste site, failed to address significant cyber security issues despite repeated warnings from regulators, a court was told. Prosecutors outlined the security lapses during proceedings at Westminster magistrates court in London.
  • Suffolk News: Sizewell C has announced St Elizabeth Hospice as its first charity partner. The announcement today means the charity will be provided with an important funding stream over the next two years. Every year St Elizabeth’s, which helps people with progressive and life-limiting illnesses, delivers free care to over 4,000 patients and their families at a cost of £12 million.
  • Physics World: Nuclear reactors – whether operational or undergoing decommissioning – create radioactive waste. Management of this waste is a critical task and this practice has been optimized over the past few decades. Nevertheless, strategies for nuclear waste disposal employed back in the 1960s and 70s were far from ideal, and the consequences remain for today’s scientists and engineers to deal with. In the UK, spent nuclear fuel is typically stored in ponds or water-filled silos. The water provides radiation shielding, as well as a source of cooling for the heat generated by this material. In England and Wales, the long-term disposal strategy involves ultimately transferring the waste to a deep geological disposal facility, while in Scotland, near-surface disposal is considered appropriate. The problem, however, is that some of the legacy storage sites are many decades old and some are at risk of leaking.
  • New Civil Engineer: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is seeking a strategic developer to turn the Chapelcross nuclear power station into a green energy hub. A masterplan for the future of Chapelcross has also been unveiled today, showcasing the NDA’s vision to develop the site on a power station that is currently undergoing decommissioning.
  • World Nuclear News: UK-headquartered innovative reactor developer Newcleo and Slovak nuclear engineering and services firm VUJE have signed a cooperation agreement to establish closer collaboration on developing advanced modular reactor technologies and advanced fuel cycle solutions in the Slovak Republic.
  • Ukrainska Pravda: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believes thatintense fires near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is temporarily occupied by Russia, pose a risk for its external power supply. “On several occasions over the past week, the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) observed several fires at various distances from the ZNPP and nearby villages. Over the weekend, the IAEA experts observed smoke coming from an area to the north of the ZNPP near the Zaporizhzhya Thermal Power Plant (ZTPP) inlet channel.”

Nuclear Power

  • Reuters: The International Atomic Energy Agency is aware of developments around Russia’s Kursk nuclear plant and is monitoring the situation, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Thursday. Russian forces were battling Ukrainian troops for a third day on Thursday after they smashed through the Russian border in the Kursk region, an audacious attack on the world’s biggest nuclear power that has forced Moscow to call in reserves.
  • Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: The nuclear industry hasn’t been so excited in a while. From the pledge to triple nuclear energy by 2050 made by around 20 countries during the 28th UN climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates to the recent report to the G20 by the International Atomic Energy Agency on speeding up investment into nuclear power to meet net zero goals, there is much talk about a new round of nuclear reactor construction.
  • The Guardian: US, Qatar and Egypt say Gaza truce talks must resume with ‘no excuses’ for further delay. Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would attend negotiations after joint statement calls on ceasefire talks to resume with Hamas.
  • The Guardian: Iran may rethink reprisals against Israel over killing of Hamas’s leader. Other Islamic countries are not openly backing military response by Tehran and more targeted action appears likely.
  • BBC: Behind the scenes as Hamas chose its new leader.
  • BBC: Gaza to get 1.2m polio vaccines amid outbreak fears.
  • The Independent: British troops in Lebanon on standby for evacuation ‘on same scale’ as Kabul. Hundreds of servicemen and women are ready in the UK to be deployed to the region at short notice as fears for an all-out war grow.

NATO / Europe.

  • UK gov: RAF to police NATO skies in Iceland following mission in Romania. This is the first time British F-35Bs will have taken part in any NATO air policing missions.  
  • Responsible Statecraft: Rescuing NATO from crisis. Start shedding the ideological baggage and mission creep and get on with the business of being a defensive military alliance again.

AUKUS/ Indo-Pacific

  • The Guardian: AUKUS pact will turn Australia into ‘51st state’ of the US, Paul Keating says. Former prime minister argues Australia has made itself a target by aligning with American ‘aggression’ towards China.
  • UK gov: Trilateral statement on the signing of an agreement for co-operation on naval nuclear propulsion.
  • Naval Technology: US green-lights AUKUS naval nuclear systems transfer. The newfound agreement will extend the existing exchange of information to include the transfer of nuclear material.

Best,

 

Pádraig McCarrick

 

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

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