CND Press Roundup Tuesday 28th June 2022

War in Ukraine

• The Morning Star covers the NATO summit underway in Madrid, looking at Britain’s £1.3 billion in military support for Ukraine. CND’s Kate Hudson is quoted, highlighting Boris Johnson’s reluctance to pursue a negotiated settlement: “[We heard] not a word from our Prime Minister about negotiating a settlement that will end this war, that will bring an end to the suffering not only in Ukraine but across all those countries and people undergoing extreme hardship through lack of energy, food and other essential supplies as a result. People are dying in this war and from the consequences of this war, and it has to be brought to an end, upholding the principles of justice and peace.”

AUKUS

• The Spectator Australia has a tongue-in-cheek piece from military historian, Dr Tom Lewis, on Canberra’s ambitions to purchase a nuclear-powered submarine. Instead of developing a bespoke design with the US and UK under the AUKUS project, Lewis suggests Australian naval officers pick up a Columbia-class nuclear-sub from the US and simply sail it back – learning how to use it on the way.

• Australia’s opposition has accused the ruling Labor government of attempting to “crab-walk” away from the AUKUS project. Opposition leader Peter Dutton accused PM Anthony Albanese of “preparing the ground” to dump Australia’s future nuclear submarine program. “If Labor is preparing to walk away from that, which I suspect [Defence Minister] Richard Marles at least in part is planning on doing, then I think he would be doing a great disservice to our country as Defence Minister,” Dutton said in Adelaide on Tuesday. “And I think he’s preparing the ground to walk away from the nuclear submarine program which I think would be a travesty.”

• Dutton’s comments come as Marles extended the terms of the chief and vice-chief of the Australian Defence Force by two years. They will now leave the post in 2024. Marles said the extension would help to bed down the AUKUS pact but added that the project would take some time to deliver.

Trident

• The Telegraph reports on the planned takeover of British defence firm Ultra Electronics – by a US-based consortium Advent International. The £2.6 billion acquisition of Ultra was reportedly given the go ahead by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng last week. However, others have raised security concerns about the deal as the firm produces sensitive equipment for the UK’s nuclear submarines. A consultation on the deal is expected to wrap-up by 3rd July, and the firm is likely to be carved up into separate entities.

• SNP MSP Bill Kidd writes for Politics Home arguing that an independent Scotland can have a future within NATO – while also ridding itself of nuclear weapons within three years of a successful vote. On NATO as a nuclear-armed alliance he writes: “As it stands, of the 30 NATO member states, five are ‘nuclear-sharing’ states. However, there is also the case of Ireland – a Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) signatory – in the Partnership for Peace agreement. This shows that the range of relationships within NATO is a wide one.”

UK Nuclear Energy

• The i Newspaper has a feature on the UK government’s failure to ask the operator of the Hinkley Point B to extend the lifetime of the nuclear plant. It reports that “Energy Minister Greg Hands said his department did not speak to EDF about prolonging the life of the power station, which will now shut down this August.”

• Jim Al-Khalili uncovers the story of Sellafeild in a documentary on BBC 4. Britain’s Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield, is available to watch on i player for the next 29 days.

• EDF has released photographs of its work at Hinkley Point C – showing the world that the overdue project is actually progressing after it was reported the project would be delayed by a year and cost an additional £3 billion.

• The Prospect union has called on the government to extend the life of two nuclear plants beyond their planned shutdown date in 2024. The union said the sites at Heysham, Lancashire, and Hartlepool, County Durham would help ensure energy security. Sue Ferns, Prospect’s senior deputy general secretary, also took aim at the government’s decision to shut the Hinkley Point B said the closure of Hinkley Point B had “left us with less domestic energy output this winter, and more dependent on volatile gas imports – further pushing up prices for consumers.”

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Iranian and US officials are expected to hold indirect talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal in talks currently underway in Doha, Qatar. The EU is expected to mediate between the pair. Al Jazeera has a breakdown of what the talks mean.

• Ahead of the talks, Tehran launched a solid-fueled rocket into space on Sunday – marking the second test of its Zuljanah satellite launcher. It’s previously claimed that the technology could also be used to deliver a nuclear warhead.

North Korea

• South Korea’s Unification Minister has called on China and Russia to intervene in what he described as North Korea’s increased use of its nuclear programme to threaten its southern neighbour. Kwon Youngse said: “North Korea’s transition in weapons development from long-range ballistic missiles to short-range ballistic missiles, from strategic nuclear weapons to tactical nuclear weapons, is obviously targeted toward South Korea… If North Korea goes ahead with a nuclear test at a time when the global security situation is as unstable as it is now, the country will face enormous criticism from international society, and the response will be more than just words.”

Art / Culture

• Those of you planning a summer jaunt to Miami, should check out this exhibition reviewed in The Guardian. Cara Despain’s Specter exhibition “draws on US and personal history to show the devastating effects that nuclear weaponry has had on communities.” It runs at the Bass Museum in Miami Beach, Florida, until 18th September.