CND Press Digest: Wednesday 16th October 2024

Nukes in Britain

• UK Defence Journal: Government reaffirm commitment to new subs ahead of review. The UK government has confirmed that the Royal Navy’s next-generation SSNR-class attack submarines will be operational by the late 2030s, replacing the current Astute-class, according to a response from Defence Minister Luke Pollard.
• North West Evening Mail: The Government has pledged to ‘invest heavily’ in Barrow’s community as well as developing the shipyard in light of the AUKUS deal.

Global Nukes

• Wall Street Journal: Nuclear-war risks rise again, stoked by global conflicts. Arms reduction flourished with the Cold War’s end but now atomic arsenals are growing.
• South China Morning Post: How China used a ‘paper tiger’ to emerge as a nuclear weapon superpower. On the 60th anniversary of the nation’s first atomic weapon test, experts trace how policy, politics and purpose laid a foundation for China’s nuclear might.
• Politico: Ukraine bridles at no-holds-barred US support for Israel. Kyiv wants the US to down Russian rockets, but the “tough answer” for Ukraine is that Russia has nuclear weapons, while Iran does not.
•  Ukraine wants NATO invite before Biden leaves office, envoy says. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-wants-nato-invite-before-biden-leaves-office-envoy-says…
• Explainer: North Korean troops for Russia’s war in Ukraine: what we know so far.Volodymyr Zelenskyy has backed reports that Pyongyang is sending large numbers of personnel to help Putin.
• The Telegraph: Ukrainian men dragged out of nightclubs by army recruiters.Those refusing to show documents exempting them from military service, or whose documents were considered faulty, dragged away.
• Chatham House: Four scenarios for the end of the war in Ukraine. Assessing the political and economic challenges ahead.

Middle East

• The Guardian view on Israel and the UN: undermining a vital institution.Countries that espouse their commitment to the rules-based international order must challenge attempts to weaken the organisation.
• Mehdi Hasan: Israel is a rogue nation. It should be removed from the United Nations. One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it.
• The Telegraph: US gives Israel 30-day ultimatum to increase aid to Gaza – or face arms embargo. Senior officials tell Israel’s defence minister in letter that steps must be taken to ease growing humanitarian crisis.

Iran

• Media Line: Can Israel really destroy Iran’s nuclear program? Experts warn an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites could push Tehran closer to developing a nuclear weapon, potentially backfiring. Diplomacy is seen as a safer path, but any military action risks wider regional conflict.
• Middle East Institute: Iran’s nuclear messaging campaign.

NATO / Europe

• Janes: NATO exercises nuclear mission as deterrence transitions to F-35.
• Euromaidan: No serious risk of Russian nuclear escalation at present – NATO official. 

UK Nuclear Energy

•  West Somerset Free Press: A French nuclear reactor which is a twin of Hinkley Point C has become operational – 12 years later than originally planned. The Flamanville-3 EPR nuclear reactor, in Normandy, is the same design as the two reactors being built on the Hinkley C site, Britain’s first new nuclear power station in a generation. It comes as owner EDF is reported to be seeking investors to put £4billion into Hinkley C to replace funding lost when China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) pulled out of a partnership deal amid deteriorating relationships between the UK and China. CGN had owned a minority 32 per cent of the Hinkley project but was upset when the Government stopped it being a partner in EDF’s next planned UK reactor, Sizewell C, in Suffolk, because of national security concerns.
• Politics Home: Is a trawler’s worth of fish getting in the way of our nuclear ambitions? Tali Fraser investigates something fishy going on around Hinkley Point C. Among ministers of the last government, it is known as “the fish disco”, and it is, they say, a cautionary tale that illustrates the nation’s inability to build critical infrastructure. The story centres on the massive construction site on the Bristol Channel where EDF is building the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station that is essential to meet the nation’s future energy needs. Nuclear reactors need to be cooled – one reason they are often based on the coast – but the intake of the water poses a risk to fish. EDF’s initial solution included what they called an “acoustic fish deterrent”, essentially a series of 280 underwater speakers blasting a series of high-pitched sound pulses louder than a jumbo jet. The company, however, has begun to argue that the deterrent, mockingly dubbed “the fish disco” by former environment secretary Michael Gove, is unnecessary and wants instead to mitigate the risk by other means. Critics, however, say the company is reneging on a promise it made to win planning consent because it wants to save cash (the cost of the deterrent is estimated to run to the tens of millions of pounds).
• Power Magazine: Micro-modular nuclear plant developer Last Energy has unveiled plans to deploy four 20-MWe pressurized water reactor (PWR) power plants at the site of a former coal-fired power plant in South Wales. Last Energy’s project will transform the Llynfi Power Station, a now vacant site that housed four 30-MW coal units from 1951 to 1977, the company said on Oct. 15. Pending the licensing and planning process, the company aims to deliver its first plant by 2027.
• The Times: Last Energy expects its four units at a site near Bridgend to produce enough energy to power 244,000 homes, creating opportunities for industry in the area. Last Energy has commercial agreements for 80 units throughout Europe. Developers hope that micro and small nuclear projects will be considerably easier to build than larger projects, which have been weighed down by planning disputes and have struggled to attract enough investment. Michael Jenner, chief executive of Last Energy UK, said that the project “will not only transform a vacant coal site into a hub for clean energy production, it will also create economic opportunity for companies throughout South Wales”. He added: “The benefits of nuclear power speak for themselves, so our focus must be on delivering those benefits on time and on budget.” Lord Hunt, the minister for energy security and net zero, said: “This is at the cutting-edge of nuclear technology and could help decarbonise industry by providing low-carbon heat and power.
• Peter Lux: We are often told that nuclear power provides reliable baseload and, unlike renewables, do not need backup. However, as the data shows this is not true.

Nuclear Energy

• Financial Times: EU ministers have nodded to support for nuclear energy for the first time as part of the bloc’s mandate for the UN climate summit, in a sign of atomic power’s rising prominence as an energy source. Deep divisions between France and Germany held up the discussions over the EU’s negotiating stance for the COP29 gathering, but EU countries ultimately agreed that they should call to accelerate “low-emissions technologies” in line with a deal made at the previous COP28 summit that included nuclear power. The push for more recognition of nuclear energy symbolises a shift in attitudes towards the power source in Europe, which were hardened against it following Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Several EU countries, including Germany, Austria and Denmark, fear that too much focus on nuclear could draw funds away from renewable energy as a cheaper, cleaner and faster way to cut the greenhouse gas emissions behind climate change.
• Oil Price: Asia, and not the West, is the true epicenter of the ongoing nuclear energy renaissance. Asia is home to 145 operable nuclear power reactors, with 45 under construction. Over the past decade, 70 new reactors were connected to the grid globally, 37 of which were in China.
• Oil Price: Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation, Rosatom, is set to present its long-term strategic development plan in 2025, mapping out its vision through 2045. This announcement came from Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. The timing coincides with the 80th anniversary of Russia’s nuclear industry.

AUKUS / Indo-Pacific

• Reuters: Australia to invest billions of dollars in nuclear submarine shipyard. he government will make an initial investment of A$127 million ($85 million) over three years to upgrade facilities at the Henderson shipyard near Perth, Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a statement.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament