CND Press Digest: Tuesday 17th September 2024

Posted: 17th September 2024

Global Nukes

  • ICAN: With nuclear-armed states spending $91.4 billion on their nuclear weapons last year, ICAN has called for a week of action against this unacceptable diversion of public resources into weapons of mass destruction. From September 16-22, people all over the world are coming together to say “No Money for nuclear weapons”.

UK Nuclear Power

  • Building: Like its Finnish and French twins, Hinkley Point C has suffered from cost overuns and delays. What are the team doing to claw back the losses and what does this mean for Sizewell C?
  • East Anglia Bylines: Construction of Sizewell C is already under way in Suffolk.The promise is for cheap, clean and safe energy, but what is the reality? As time passes and the land is prepared for the Sizewell C development, the impact of this massive undertaking is finally and painfully revealing itself to residents.
  • The National: An international group of leading experts have said that nuclear power has no place going forward in Scotland. Six academics, from universities across the UK, France, Japan and the US, argued that nuclear would cost taxpayers more money than constructing renewable alternatives.
  • Nation Cymru: Concerns raised by decline in number of people employed in the nuclear industry in Wales. Concerns have been raised about the decline of the nuclear industry in Wales following the publication of new employment data. The Nuclear Industry Association’s (NIA) has released its’ 2024 Jobs Map, which reveals a significant decline in the number of people employed in the industry in Wales.
  •  ‘£4,600 excluding VAT’ was the answer to the query posed to Nuclear Waste Services by NFLA Secretary Richard Outram who asked about the cost of commissioning a new logo for the GDF Theddlethorpe Community Partnership. With two speech bubbles signifying a conversation, the new logo was conceived by House 337, who are ‘experts at building brands across many sectors’. House 337 is an arm of NWS’s ‘contracted strategic delivery partner’, MHP. Wags might suggest that a single speech bubble signifying a one-sided conversation or a deaf ear signifying an inattentive NWS might have been more appropriate. https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/new-logo-for-gdf-represents-a-costly-conversation/?link_id=5&...
  • DESNZ: Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero, Lord Hunt, delivered the UK national statement at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference in Vienna. On behalf of the new UK Government, I’m proud to confirm that nuclear power remains an essential part of our Net Zero, energy security and clean power plans. So we are backing the next generation of nuclear in the UK – in terms of new technologies and fuels, in terms of our enabling policies, and in terms of attracting new talent.

Nuclear Waste

  • The Week: The UK’s nuclear waste problem. Safety concerns as ‘highly radioactive’ material could be buried in the English countryside.
  • The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has published the first ever nuclear heritage vision and strategy. The NDA is the organisation responsible for decommissioning the UK’s legacy nuclear sites, sites and facilities. It said the purpose of the nuclear heritage vision and strategy, published on 12 September, is “to safeguard and celebrate the history and cultural heritage of the nuclear industry”. Among the strategy’s aims will be the collection of learnings to improve planning of decommissioning activities and reduce risks. This will also support future nuclear developments such as new nuclear builds, research and development, long term decommissioning programmes and a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF). https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/inaugural-nuclear-heritage-strategy-to-support-decommissioni…

SMRs

  • The Telegraph: Miliband urged by US nuclear giant to abandon large reactors in favour of mini-nukes. GE-Hitachi Nuclear boss says investors have ‘scars’ from large projects’ cost overruns.
  • Business Desk: The former boss of the Covid vaccine roll-out in the UK is set to help Rolls-Royce bring its mini-nuclear power plant plans forward. Ruth Todd CBE will join Rolls-Royce SMR’s executive team as operations and supply chain director, with an immediate focus on the industrialisation and scale up of our small modular reactor (SMR). Todd will begin her role on 30 September. In previous roles, she was chief commercial officer for the UK Government HS2 programme and, before that, the Covid-19 UK Vaccine Task Force, where she led the programme to deliver coronavirus vaccines for the UK.

Iran

  • Tehran Times: In his first-ever press conference since taking office in July, President Masoud Pezeshkian affirmed Iran’s right to possess defensive capabilities, while unequivocally stating that the country is not pursuing to build nuclear weapons.The press conference, attended by representatives of over 100 media outlets, was held on Monday in Tehran. It encompassed a wide range of issues and topics, including Iran’s foreign policy under its new president and the approach it plans to take regarding tensions between Tehran and Western states.

Nuclear Power

NATO / Europe

AUKUS/ Indo-Pacific

  • The Guardian: Former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans says Australia won’t have sovereignty over AUKUS submarines. Evans says Anthony Albanese should have reviewed Aukus when he came to power in 2022 and that the PM is too risk-averse.
  • The Conversation: China says AUKUS is ‘driven by Cold War thinking’. Here are 3 reasons it is so threatened by the pact.

Best,

 

Pádraig McCarrick

 

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

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