Dear all, 

Please find a round-up of the news from this morning and the weekend. Thanks for your continued support.

Britain

• A new House of Commons briefing on Britain’s nuclear weapons has been published to factor in Strategic Defence Review, including the consideration to buy nuclear-capable F-35As.

Global Nukes

• warn. Most nuclear-armed states continued modernising their arsenals in 2024, raising the risk of a new arms race, researchers said Monday. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said the United States and Russia, holding 90% of global stockpiles, spent last year upgrading existing warheads and deploying new-generation nuclear weapons. More coverage on SIPRI’s report in DW.
• Nuclear-armed states spent more than $100 billion on their atomic arsenals last year, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons FT, BBC and Guardian have articles with headlines asking if Iran has/is close to developing a nuclear bomb – with experts and US intelligence saying no. 
• The Telegraph: The mountain fortress Israel must destroy to topple Iran’s nuclear programme.

Nuclear Energy

• CND Vice-President Ian Fairlie among the letters to the Guardian with criticism of the government’s plan to fund the Sizewell C nucler plant.
• Reuters: Russia’s Rosatom, China’s CNNC to lead consortiums to build first nuclear power plants in Kazakhstan.
• FT: The Asian Development Bank is reviewing whether to lift a ban on funding nuclear power projects to help meet a surge in demand for energy across the region.
• Meanwhile, the EU will set out plans to end all Russian fossil fuel imports but it delays measures to wean bloc off uranium products.
• Britain is learning an old lesson on nuclear power. A history of failure on atomic energy has prompted a course correction.
• A lenghty interview in The Telegraph with a nuclear scientist: The 32-year-old nuclear scientist busting the ‘Net Zero myth’.

AUKUS / Indo-Pacific

• ‘No doubt’ Trump will back nuclear submarine deal, says Starmer. Prime Minister confident president will back Aukus pact with Australia despite US review threat.
• Aukus will cost Australia $368bn. What if there was a better, cheaper defence strategy? As questions swirl around the nuclear submarine deal, some strategists are pushing for an alternative, ‘echidna’ policy that focuses less on offensive capability.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament