CND Press Roundup Thursday 10th November 2022

War In Ukraine / NATO

• The Irish Times: When the nuclear option is in the wrong hands. Meltdowns such as Chernobyl are dramatic and capture lots of attention, but a dirty bomb is just as worrying.

• A US special forces veteran in The Financial Times: Putin’s nuclear threats may hint at an electromagnetic pulse strike. Launching such a weapon over Ukraine would be lethal to Kyiv’s information warfare systems.

New START

• Global Times: US hypocritical to worry about nuclear war while fueling proliferation.

• The Bulletin: Despite challenges, US-Russian nuclear arms control has its benefits.

Trident

• Nuclear Information Service has an overview of the recent technical issues plaguing Britain’s Vanguard-class submarines – namely how defence contractor Babcock was responsible for two electrical safety failures during repair work to two subs during repair work in August and September.

TPNW / Global Abolition

• Julian Borger writes in the Guardian on fresh efforts to ban the bomb and the anti-nuclear movement’s links with other social justice and climate campaigns. Kate gets a quote: “Activism is there in a big way, but it’s taking new forms, and it’s more fluid than previously: the way people understand and act on the links between issues, politically and in campaigning terms.”

• Meanwhile our Parliamentary Officer Rachel Earlington is in The Morning Star on how the global South is leading the way in nuclear disarmament.

• We’ve a news item on the website on why Australia’s turn towards the TPNW should not be met with intimidation from the US and other allies.

• Common Dreams also has a piece on the US warning against Australia’s dropping of opposition to the TPNW.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Some rare praise for the French in The Express on the “ambitious cooperation” on nuclear power agreed on the sidelines of Cop 27 between Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron.

• The Telegraph enthusiastically reports on claims by Rolls Royce that its SMR nuclear reactors could be supplying a fifth of Britain’s power by the end of the decade. The nuclear firm made the claim as it announced four priority locations for potential sites – Trawsfynydd and Wylfa in Wales, Sellafield in Cumbria and Oldbury near Bristol. NFLA said the company “were ever the optimists” in rolling out reactors that have never been built before.

Nuclear Energy

• IISS looks at energy diversification by the Gulf States namely Saudi Arabia and UAE’s “ambitious” nuclear energy plans.

• Reuters looks at the nuclear lobby on the ground at COP 27 and their claims nuclear power is a safe answer to achieving climate goals.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• The UN’s nuclear watchdog said Iranian officials did not offer anything new during a recent round of talks in Vienna but added that talks would continue over the coming weeks.

North Korea

• Joe Biden will meet with South Korean and Japanese leaders to discuss North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes during an upcoming trip to Asia. The group will meet in Cambodia on 13 Nov on the sidelines of a meeting of ANSEAN and G20 leaders.