CND Press Digest: Tuesday 14th May 2024

Nukes in Britain

• The Morning Star includes comments from CND in response to Rishi Sunak’srecent speech at the Policy Exchange, where he said nuclear tensions were at their highest since the Cold War, but failed to mention Britain’s role in raising those tensions.

Global Nukes

• Sweden will allow the US to station nuclear weapons within its territory should war break out between NATO and Russia, the formerly neutral Scandinavian country’s Prime Minister has said.
• Costs are skyrocketing to modernise the US nuclear arsenal. Instead of turning a blind eye, Congress should demand fiscal oversight and make hard decisions balancing costs with deterrence.
• US President Joe Biden has ordered a Chinese-owned cryptocurrency miner and its partners to sell land they own near a US nuclear missile base, citing spying concerns.

UK Nuclear Energy

• “When fish can delay a nuclear power station, our animal obsession has gone too far.” City AM columnist (and member right-wing think tank Onward) Phoebe Arslanagic-Little, showing no concern for biodiversity collapse or the hundreds of thousands of fish who will get sucked into the turbines of Hinkley Point C.
• The Telegraph: Plans for a large nuclear power station on the Welsh island of Anglesey risk being derailed by government rules that will add an estimated £20bn to the national debt, insiders have warned.  
• Despite the Great British Nuclear quango ruling out Trawsfynydd as the site of a new nuclear plant, Welsh nuclear body Cwmni Egino says it will continue to facilitate the development of the site.
• BBC: The GMB union said around 500 staff at the Urenco nuclear site in Capenhurst, Cheshire, backed industrial action after talks broke down.
• Morning Star: More than 500 workers at Dounreay nuclear power station are set to strike this week in a battle against pay cuts.

Nuclear Energy

• Assessing the safety of spent fuel pools during a loss of cooling accident.
• Biden signs bipartisan bill banning imports of Russian uranium.

NATO / Europe

• German MPs call for 70km NATO air defence zone around Ukraine. Cross-party group calls for a safe zone around the country’s borders with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.
• The Spectator: China’s vendetta against NATO.

Middle East & North Africa

• Kate Hudson’s latest blog post looks at Britain’s role in the Middle East.
• [Ghoulish] Lindsey Graham suggests Israel should nuke Gaza and claims Hiroshima bomb was ‘the right thing.’

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament