CND Press Digest: Monday 7th October 2024

Global Nukes

• Scientific American: The next president faces tough nuclear weapons deadlines.Whoever wins the 2024 presidential election will face heightened nuclear geopolitics, deadlines on nuclear deals with Russia and Iran and decisions on a $2-trillion weapons-modernization effort.
• WION: The high-stakes gamble: Can missile defence systems truly intercept nuclear warheads?
• DW: How Israel prevents its neighbors from getting nuclear arms. Amid speculation about the possibility of Israel targeting Iranian nuclear sites, here’s an overview of how Israel has historically sought to curb the nuclear ambitions of its regional adversaries.
• Daily Sabah: Netanyahu’s dangerous gambit to start nuclear war. He is doing everything to unite all Muslims and to sever the Western civilization’s centuries-old relations with the Islamic world.
• Foreign Policy: Israel is entitled to retaliate against Iran’s act of aggression, and the risks of military action are far lower than they once were.

Middle East

• The Guardian: Israeli troop reinforcements cast doubt over ‘limited’ Lebanon invasion. Third division redeployed to join invasion force as Israeli operations expand rapidly on multiple fronts.
• The Guardian: How Gaza sparked the biggest UK protest movement in recent history – and a headache for the police. The regular demos have been largely peaceful, but are taking their toll on an overstretched force – so far costing £46.8m and involving 60,000 shifts.
• Naomi Klein’s guest essay in iNews: Britain on alert over Iran nuclear threat as Israeli strikes continue. UK intelligence sources said an alert is ‘no surprise’ but warned the increase in tensions may provide the spark for UK-based sympathisers to act.
• NATO / Europe
  • Politico: Ukraine will never join NATO on my watch, says Slovakia PM Fico. The admission of new countries to NATO requires unanimous agreement by alliance members.
  • FT: Ukraine, NATO membership and the West Germany model. Security guarantees will have to underpin any peace deal where Russia retains control of Ukrainian land.
  • Lunch with the FT: Former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg: ‘So far, we have called Putin’s bluff.’ The Norwegian politician on his decade as a KGB contact, crossing Russia’s red lines — and what comes next for Ukraine.
  • UK Gov: 1,000 UK troops show commitment to eastern Europe in NATO exercise.More than 1,000 British troops have begun one of the largest exercises this year in the Balkans, showing the UK’s commitment to the region’s security.

  Nuclear Waste

  • Rigzone: The US Supreme Court will consider reviving a plan to store as much as 40,000 tons of highly radioactive waste at a temporary west Texas site, accepting a case that could be a turning point after decades of wrangling over spent fuel from the nation’s commercial reactors. Agreeing to hear appeals from the Biden administration and the joint venture that would build and run the facility, the justices said they will review a federal appeals court ruling that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacked authority to issue a crucial license. The above-ground site outside the town of Andrews in the Permian Basin oil field would be the first of its kind, designed to take waste from commercial reactors around the country until a long-running fight over a permanent storage location is resolved.
  • The Telegraph: The owner of British Gas is exploring a potential investment in Hinkley Point C as French state energy giant EDF scrambles to raise more funds for the troubled nuclear project. Centrica has held discussions about a possible deal in recent months, although the talks are thought to be at an early stage, The Telegraph understands. City sources suggested the company could put at least £1bn into the scheme, which is being built in Somerset, in exchange for a stake of 5pc or more. Any deal would also likely secure Centrica a share of the plant’s electricity output, at a time when energy suppliers are revisiting nuclear as a potential source of “clean” power to replace fossil fuels. It comes as EDF, which currently owns 68pc of Hinkley, faces a reported £5bn shortfall in funding needed to complete the scheme. As part of efforts to plug the gap, the company and the French government have lobbied for financial support from the UK Government while also quietly seeking new private backers. Centrica already holds a 20pc share in all five of EDF’s remaining UK nuclear power stations. This also entitles it to trade an equivalent share of the electricity they generate, a deal that has helped Centrica net at least £1.5bn in profits since the 2022 surge in power prices. With all but one of the plants scheduled to close this decade, however, the company’s bosses have been exploring whether to invest in new nuclear projects. Until now, Centrica’s only interest was thought to be in the proposed Sizewell C plant in Suffolk.
  • The National: Nuclear power is a fiscal sinkhole. The Sizewell C nuclear project in Suffolk is delayed again and the UK is ponying up £5.5 billion in subsidies (but Reeves can’t afford £2bn for the Winter Fuel Allowance), and the Hinkley Point C plant’s $46bn price-tag exceeds Scotland’s entire £41bn devolved budget. Scotland has two nuclear plants – Hunterston B in Ayrshire which ceased generating in January 2022 and Torness in East Lothian, which will stop generation in 2028, two years early, due to a rising number of cracks in its core – 46 so far. Cracks can lead to a reactor meltdown and release of radiation into the environment. Yet Anas Sarwar, the inept English Labour northern branch supervisor, insists that Scotland must invest in nuclear power to cut bills. No kidding. If he becomes first minister, he’ll no doubt approve the proposed nuclear plant at Ardeer in North Ayrshire that the current administration has rejected.

  Nuclear Energy

  • ABC: It’s been touted as the start of a new era for the US’s flagging nuclear power industry. Vogtle’s newest reactors are among the first built in the US in decades. “Thank you for your service to our nation in providing this arsenal of clean power,” Energy Department Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at the May opening ceremony for Vogtle’s latest reactor. Peter Dutton is ready to enlist Australia. If he wins next year’s election, he plans to build seven nuclear power stations at retiring coal-fired plants. Mr Dutton has flagged the AP1000 reactor used at Vogtle could be one of the models used to power homes and businesses in Australia. “We don’t want to be the purchaser of the first in class or have an Australian-made technology, we want to rely on the Westinghouse AP1000,” he said in June. Beyond this, he’s given little detail about how exactly the plan would work. The giant AP1000 reactors designed by Westinghouse opened seven years late at more than twice the budgeted cost. The final bill of around $US35 billion ($50 billion) makes them among the most expensive nuclear generators ever built. Now, Georgia residents are paying the price for Vogtle’s overruns in their electricity bills.
  • Times: Czechs take stake in Rolls-Royce vehicle in boost for SMRs. Partnership with Rolls-Royce consortium to build SMRs in Czech Republic to be underpinned by minority holding as engine maker vies to secure UK deal. The Czech government is taking a minority stake in the Rolls-Royce SMR consortium, which hopes to build and sell fleets of small nuclear reactors to meet increasing demand for electricity in the 2030s. Last month, the Czech Republic announced a strategic partnership with Rolls-Royce SMR to build small modular reactors (SMRs) in the eastern European country. Rolls beat six other companies in a selection process led by Cez, the country’s state-backed energy group. It has now emerged that the Czech government will take an equity stake in the Rolls consortium via Cez for an undisclosed sum, in a move that underlines its determination to advance SMR technology. Rolls-Royce SMR is majority owned by the FTSE 100 engine maker, which has a stake of about 70 per cent. Other shareholders include the Qatar Investment Authority, US energy firm Constellation and BNF Capital, an investment vehicle set up by the billionaire Perrodo family of France. It is not known how big a stake Cez will take in the SMR consortium, although it is expected to come via Rolls selling down its holding. Last year, Tufan Erginbilgic, the chief executive of Rolls-Royce, said his intention was to take the company’s shareholding in the SMR business down to about 50 per cent.

  AI

  • Oil Price: Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that the company is considering nuclear energy as a potential power source for its data centers. The tech giant’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions have surged due to the proliferation of AI. Google aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030 but faces challenges due to the increasing scale of AI investments.

  AUKUS

  • Reuters: AUKUS navies remote-control ships from 10,000 miles away in experiment.

  Best,

   

  Pádraig McCarrick

   

  Press and Communications Officer

  Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament