National CND's daily briefing 9th December 2020
Posted: 9th December 2020
CND Press Roundup – 9 December
Nuclear weapons
- Trident future and US tech
- A report in The Guardian suggests that there is uncertainty over the replacement Trident, as it remains unclear whether the US Congress will fund the next generation W93 nuclear warheads on which a future UK nuclear programme depends. Sir Stephen Lovegrove, permanent secretary at the MoD, told the defence select committee that “there would no doubt be very significant implications” if the Americans do not fund the new technology, but refused to comment on what impact it would have on the cost of Trident replacement.
- A joint memo from the Pentagon and the US Department of Energy, seen by the Guardian, shows Washington’s belief that the W93 warhead is “crucially important to the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy.” It continues: “The W93/Mk7 program is also vital for continuing our longstanding commitment of support to the United Kingdom.” Source: Guardian.
- Our comment on the story is below. It doesn’t look like the Guardian are running with it, so it will go up on the website as a news item shortly:
‘The reticence of Congress to approve the new warhead technology on which the future of Britain’s nuclear programme relies is yet another sign of its redundancy. More than that, it completely trashes any notion that the UK system is independent.
Replacing Trident is already set to cost at least £205 billion, while £21.9 billion is currently being spent on maintaining existing nuclear warheads. If the US does not not approve the W93 warhead upgrade, then the cost will spiral even further – beyond the capacity of the MoD to pay.
So it is unsurprising that the MoD still refuses to give an official cost estimate. Trident is a cold war relic that does nothing to address the real threats to Britain’s security, from climate change to pandemics and hybrid warfare.
With public sector workers facing a pay freeze, and the government failing to invest properly in a green recovery from the pandemic, spending tens of billions more on replacing what is in effect an outpost of Washington’s nuclear arsenal is unjustifiable.’
- TPNW and Scotland
- Bill Kidd MSP (SNP) has argued that the TPNW has ‘huge’ significance for Scotland. If an independent Scotland signed the treaty, he writes, hosting Trident “would be outlawed by the UN, whatever position was taken by the UK and regardless of their own relationship with the treaty.” Kidd adds: “How we act as an independent nation in relation to the scourge of nuclear weapons will be determined by our commitment to the TPNW and our early ratification.” Source: The National.
- TPNW legal impact
- Two scholars of international law at the U.S. Naval War College argue in Just Security that the TPNW is not a “reflection of an underlying customary international law norm that proscribes the use of nuclear weapons.”
- They conclude that the TPNW’s “legal effect on nuclear powers is much ado about nothing, for no nuclear weapon state has ratified the TPNW, nor is one likely to do so. And despite consistent and long-standing abstention from the use of nuclear weapons, a customary rule of international law has not emerged prohibiting their use.” Source: Just Security.
Nuclear power
- China nuclear fusion
- Observers suggest that China may be the first country in the world to develop workable nuclear fusion power. China’s push for nuclear fusion capacities is driven by geopolitical and energy security concerns, as much as the imperative to decarbonise, the article argues, but concludes that regardless of he country’s motivations “bringing down China’s carbon footprint is a win for all of us, and even more so if it can do that without leaving behind radioactive nuclear waste.” Source: OilPrice.
- France nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
- Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will build a new, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier by 2038, framing the decision to use nuclear reactors to fuel the warship as a key part of France’s decarbonisation strategy. At a nuclear facility in Le Creusot, Macron said the nuclear weapons and atomic energy industry is “the cornerstone of our strategic autonomy”, and said the nuclear sector was a central part of France’s “status as a great power”. Source: AP.
NATO
- EU and US vs. China
- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the EU cannot protect itself, and risks causing division, if it drifts away from the US. In remarks that will be seen as a rebuke to Macron’s advocacy of European ‘strategic autonomy’, Stoltenberg declared: “To protect Europe, we need the transatlantic bond, we need North America, the U.S. and Canada. Any attempt to go alone, either for Europe or for North America, would be bad for all of us.” Source: Politico.
To read:
- Biden Pick for National Security Chief Sees Chance for Iran Deal (Bloomberg)
- Iran’s ‘envoy’ to Yemen’s Houthis sanctioned by US (Al Jazeera)
- A history of continuity in Iran’s long nuclear program (Atlantic Council)
- Yemen’s children condemned to sickness and famine by war (The Times)
Ed McNally