CND Press Digest: Monday 20 March 2023

War In Ukraine /NATO

• China’s Xi Jinping is why whoever wins the next US election must work to secure a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine.

AUKUS

• Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles has downplayed concerns about the cost of the AUKUS submarine deal – saying the programme is “too big to fail.”How comforting.
• Marles also said that the AUKUS pact does not mean Australia will support a US military defence of Taiwan. He added that such a concession wasn’t sought by the US either.
• The Guardian AUKUS subs has brought back traumas of Britain’s atomic testing in Australia.
• Jeff Sparrow on why AUKUS is a crime against world’s climate future.

Lakenheath

• East Anglian Daily Times covers the upcoming CND protest at the US Embassy.

British Nuclear Weapons

• The North West England Mail quote’s CND’s Philip Gilligan on the safety concerns of Britain’s nuclear weapons convoys.  

Global Abolition

• Simon Tisdall in The Observer on how reckless leaders – from North Korea to Israel – are pushing us to the brink of a nuclear nightmare. He notes: The longstanding refusal of the main powers to disarm is the root cause of rising nuclear tensions – but irresponsible present-day political leaders greatly exacerbate the danger. “The United States and its allies … are faced with a choice,” wrote Lt Col Brent Stricker of the US Naval War College in a bleak assessment of the changing nuclear world order. They could either “restart arms limitation discussions to include both Russia and China, or restart the arms race”. The former course is wildly improbable at this juncture. So the old cold war-era nuclear helter-skelter ride towards mutually assured destruction looks set to resume and accelerate – under new, stressed-out management. Assuming no one presses the button first.

UK Nuclear Energy

• From The Times: “A British-based nuclear company backed by Italy’s Agnelli family plans to raise nearly £900 million to advance a plan to build a fleet of small nuclear reactors in Britain. Newcleo, based in London, has an ambitious scheme to build one plant a year in the UK up to 2050 and eventually generate 4 gigawatts of electricity, more than will be produced by the large new nuclear plant being built at Hinkley Point in Somerset by EDF.”
• The Times again on Britain’s plan to embrace small modular reactors. Despite the high costs and history of nuclear accidents it claims: “These worries have been set against the need to tackle climate change. Nuclear power generation does not produce carbon dioxide, and, unlike wind and solar, is not intermittent.” Just don’t mention the waste!
• CND Vice-President Dr Ian Fairlie on why there is no new money for nuclear powerin last week’s budget.

Nuclear Energy

• The owners of nuclear plant in the US state of Minnesota have admitted that 400,000 gallons of radioactive water leaked from broken pipe at the facility, raising fears it has seeped into the ground. The discovery was made last November but Xcel Energy has only admitted this month’s later with the company’s president saying: “While this leak does not pose a risk to the public or the environment, we take this very seriously and are working to safely address the situation.”
• Egypt has held discussions with Russian officials on the nuclear plant being built on Egypt’s northern coast. Construction is expected to last until at least 2030.

North Korea

• North Korea simulated nuclear counter-attacks against South Korea over the weekend, its state media said on Monday. The drills were in response to the expansion of joint wargaming exercises by the US and Seoul.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament