OXFORD CNDNEWSLETTERJanuary/February 2021

Oxford

CND

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Oxford Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

www.oxfordcnd.org.uk

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

This new United Nations treaty will soon enter into force, one which will make nuclear weapons illegal in the countries that sign it. On Friday January 22, 2021,

people around the world will mark the day that the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) enters into force (EIF Day), which the

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) describes so eloquently as “the beginning of the end of nuclear weapons”.

It offers the UK government an opportunity to engage in the global nuclear disarmament process, and honour its commitment to a world without nuclear

weapons. But shamefully the UK government has refused to even participate in the treaty talks and now says it will never sign.

But that will not stop us from making progress.

2 Oxford CND January/February 2021

In Future SightWith the possibility of effective vaccines and treatment for Covid-19 it will be tempting, if we should manage to “return to normal”, to move on and put the dreadful experience behind us. We need instead to examine rigorously the reasons why governments around the world have so often failed to heed scientific warnings and prepare effectively. And why, though less frequently, public and scientific opinion has driven governments to act. We should also ask what other existential risks are still being ignored or played down. Tragedies in history may repeat themselves as farce, but they can also repeat as worse tragedy.

Existential risk may arise from the natural world, in the form of an asteroid strike or a super-volcano explosion, or from human activities. The current pandemic spans both: it has a natural source but its reach has been greatly expanded by our unthinking behaviour. The risks arising from climate change and from nuclear weapons are entirely human-made, and should in theory be easier to tackle. To which we may respond, “If only…”

There are many reasons why the warning signs of crisis have been missed over the years. Most obvious are the blocking activities of vested interests particularly in the area of climate change. On the nuclear weapons front, the role of the arms industry has been well understood since President Dwight Eisenhower in his farewell address in 1961 warned against the danger of the “unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex…” These efforts are matched today by those of the Russian military-industrial complex, with giant companies such as Rostec led by members of the post-Soviet nomenklatura under President Vladimir Putin.

Yet to point the finger solely at economic and financial vested interests ignores the broader world-view of political leaders and influencers that allows those interests to dictate policy. As the Harvard economist Dani Rodrik has argued, ideas are crucial in shaping interests and the world views of global policymakers underpin their actions “in both economic and political domains.” A clear example is in UK nuclear weapons policy where calculations of potential risk and actual cost

are always outweighed by the dogma of nuclear deterrence.

Our collective failure to anticipate future catastrophe also arises from a preference as individuals to seek short-term gains and to discount future losses. In democracies this is encouraged by the brief time-span of elected governments, but authoritarian regimes also have to take into account popular feeling. These instincts help us to cope with the uncertainties of life and so have been favoured by natural selection, but they now render us less able to guard against real but more remote dangers. We display an “optimism bias”, and possess an even deeper instinct that has been labelled by the American anthropologist Ernest Becker as the “denial of death”.

We should applaud the efforts of those who have already overcome these obstacles and look far-sightedly into the future, but their efforts require more support. First, we need to better understand and confront the reasons for inaction outlined above. In doing so we should also study the record of such

agreements as have been achieved and analyse the role of public pressure and scientific argument.

Second, we should start giving top priority to the interests of future generations: the current generation may survive, but the odds shorten for those who come after. Our policies needed to be “future-proofed”, as the development economist Frances Stewart has argued. A special UN agency should be created whose task is to represent future generations in all discussions, while at the UK level, this responsibility should be assigned to a government minister and to a parliamentary commission. A first step has already been made in Wales, under the Well-Being of Future Generations Act of 2015, and a few other countries including New Zealand and Malta have taken action. This calls for nothing less than a revolution in global governance. It will be hard to achieve, and will require a sustained effort by campaigning groups in the key fields. But as Greta Thunberg told the UN Climate Action Summit, “the eyes of all future generations are upon you, and if you choose to fail us, I say, we will never forgive you”. n

John Gittings

Oxford CND January/February 2021 3

The Biden administration is expected to take a ‘critical look’ at the next-generation warhead, estimated to be twice as explosive as Trident – Britain’s most senior defence official admitted there would be “very significant implications” for the future of the Trident nuclear deterrent if Democrats in the US Congress refused to fund a

Warhead convoy movements summary 2020

XR PEACE help close MoD Abbey WoodAt about 6.30am on Friday 11 December, 2020, a coalition of XR groups blockaded the vast MoD centre in north Bristol. Around forty activists from XR Bristol, Christian Climate Action, XR Peace and others unloaded wooden towers and a tripod to seal off all three vehicle entrances. Banners were strung across the roads and people clipped their arms into lock-on tubes. The date chosen was the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement pledging

US nuclear warhead standoffnext-generation warhead. Sir Stephen Lovegrove, permanent secretary at the MoD, said that the UK was monitoring the US standoff closely but could not say what impact a refusal to start work on the new W93 warhead would have – or how many billions it would cost. nGuardian, 8th Dec 2020 https://bitly/3nfKSOD

to keep climate change below 1.5 degrees Celsius. The blockade drew attention to what the protestors describe as the government’s “dangerously inadequate response” to the climate emergency. The Government has just committed £24 billion to military spending over the next 4 years, yet only £16 billion to their Climate Plan. For anyone who missed it XR Bristol blocked the three entrances to MOD Abbey Wood on the outskirts of Bristol to make the links we’ve been talking about in XR Peace. It was especially prompted by the huge rise in the military budget. Rowland has a brilliant, clear, concise interview about why XR PEACE were taking action here www.facebook.com/rowland.dye/videos/10158574824296955/

MoD Abbey Wood is the control centre for the nuclear warhead convoys. n

Nukewatch considers that during 2020 at least three loaded convoys travelled between the Coulport nuclear arms depot in Scotland and the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Burghfield in Berkshire, and at least eight loaded convoys travelled in the opposite direction. We estimate that between nine and eighteen nuclear warheads were returned to AWE and between fifteen and forty-four warheads dispatched to Coulport. Our best estimate is that nine warheads were returned to AWE and twenty-two were

dispatched to Coulport.During 2020, as with the previous five years,

a net surplus of warheads was delivered to Coulport when compared with the numbers returned to the Atomic Weapons Establishment. A considerably larger surplus was observed this year. These observations are consistent with a programme of manufacturing and deployment of new Mark 4A Trident warheads to replace the original Mark 4 model. n

www.nukewatch.org.uk

4 Oxford CND January/February 2021

Fukushima and the lessons for nuclear power

There is much talk in government circles about new build nuclear power stations and the new concept Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs). The rationale for such developments lies in the military need for nuclear expertise, rather than anything to do with economic or green generation of civilian electricity. Nuclear is not part of a green solution and the extreme hazards that it brings are illustrated absolutely by the current dilemmas faced in Japan.

Nearly a decade ago, three reactors at Fukushima melted down, when the plant’s cooling system was overwhelmed by a tsunami. Explosions tore the reactor buildings apart and radiation was released into the environment, resulting in the evacuation of 160,000 people from within 20km of Fukushima and the contamination of the surrounding soil and vegetation. Approximately 32 million people in Japan are affected by the radioactive fallout from the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, according to the 2015 Fukushima Report now available from Green Cross. The reactor cores melted down within the wrecked containment structures and, to this day, remain in that dangerous state. The current condition of the concrete containment vessels themselves is largely unknown due to the difficulty of accessing the deep recesses of the ruined structures, either by man or indeed robot.

To maintain the damaged cores in anything like a stable state and to avoid further uncontrolled nuclear reactions, engineers are having to pump cooling water through the wreckage. This water becomes contaminated by close contact with the high radiation environment and the site surrounding the damaged reactors is now almost full of storage tanks containing contaminated water. The situation is becoming critical and the government is now considering releasing this contaminated water into the Pacific. Needless to say, environmental groups and fishermen are

horrified by this prospect.The way to deal with the wrecked reactors is

simply not known at present. Attempts to send robots into the highly radioactive environment have failed and even the nature of the entangled melted core and distorted surrounding structures cannot be fully determined at the moment.

No-one knows what to do with the mass of waste material that could eventually be retrieved. Don’t let anyone tell you that nuclear power is a green and safe solution. If they try to, just ask them to

explain how this squares with the complex chaos faced at Fukushima.

Both full sized and the somewhat smaller proposed SMRs generate nuclear waste, even during normal operation, and we have no way of safely storing this highly hazardous material for the time scales required. Sellafield contains much of our current nuclear

waste and it is madness to generate further such toxic material, when we have no solution for long term storage of even the existing stockpile.

Now is the time to face up to the realities of nuclear power. We have major problems dealing with what we have already built. Let’s not be led blindly towards a future where more such hazards are generated. And if anyone tries to persuade you that nuclear power is a good solution, remember Fukushima! It may have dropped off the evening news agenda, but in no way confuse that with the problem having gone away.

Let’s insist that any discussion of the future of nuclear power includes a detailed analysis of the currently insoluble humanitarian and engineering problems faced at Fukushima.

To keep abreast of developments at Fukushima and for up to date information on a wide range of nuclear issues, visit: https://www.cndsalisbury.org.uk/news_items

Peter GloynsSalisbury CND

Oxford CND January/February 2021 5

Oxford’s ties to Nuclear Weapons Industry revealed

Freedom of Information requests submitted by Cherwell have revealed that Oxford University accepted at least £726,706 from the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), the designer and producer of the UK’s nuclear warheads, during the years 2017-19 alone.

The majority of this money was awarded to the Oxford Centre for High Energy Density Science (OxCHEDS), which advertises AWE as one of its “national partners” on its website.

AWE’s funding is mostly used by OxCHEDS to fund individual research projects and studentships, with a substantial portion (£82,863 in 2019) funding the department’s William Penney Fellowship, named after the head of the British delegation for the Manhattan Project and ‘father of the British atomic bomb’. According to the AWE website, William Penney Fellows “act as ambassadors for AWE in the scientific and technical communities in which they operate”.

This fellowship is currently shared by two professors, Justin Wark and Peter Norreys, both of whom collaborate closely with US state laboratories that develop nuclear weapons, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

AWE donations have also funded projects at the University’s Departments of Chemistry, Engineering, and Physics, a number of which are directly linked to the design of nuclear weapons. One AWE-funded paper, published in 2019, investigated fusion yield production, a vital way of testing the destructive power of a warhead prior to manufacturing, whilst another project researched the methods used by nuclear weapons designers for simulating the interior of a detonating warhead.

However, AWE is not a civilian organisation. As Andrew Smith of Campaign Against the Arms Trade told Cherwell, “the AWE exists to promote the deadliest weaponry possible. It is not funding these projects because it cares about education, but because it wants to benefit from the research and association that goes with it”. Mr. Smith concluded: “Oxford University should be leading by example, not providing research and cheap labour for the arms industry”.

Responding to Cherwell’s findings, Dr Stuart Parkinson, Director of Scientists for Global

Responsibility, described Oxford University’s ties with AWE as “shocking” and called for the work to be “terminated immediately”. He said that the findings “point very clearly to Oxford University researchers being involved in the development of weapons of mass destruction”.

In recent years, the University has faced increased opposition from student groups such as the Oxford Climate Justice Campaign and Oxford Against Schwarzman over the companies Oxford chooses to affiliate itself with through investments and donations. From this term onwards, a newly formed student group, Disarm Oxford, will be campaigning against the University’s numerous ties with the arms industry. Oxford Amnesty International is working with Disarm Oxford on the global Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, and to strive for the disarmament of the University more broadly.

Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury and Chair of the Trustees of the Council for the Defence of British Universities, told Cherwell: “The recent publicity around university divestment from fossil fuels has highlighted the need for university bodies to be transparent about the ethical standards they apply to their funding, and it is encouraging to see this crucial question being raised also in the context of armaments-related funds and research.”

The combination of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic has created a particularly difficult time for university research finances. In a marketised higher education system, seeking and welcoming money from industry partnerships seems like an inevitability. However, while some industries rely on academic research to save lives, others are predicated on taking them. With the UK confirmed this year as the world’s second biggest exporter of arms, the University’s significant ties to the development of weaponry has an alarming global significance which is now beginning to be called into question.Extract from ‘Cherwell’ – Ben Jacob –13th November 2020. Full article – https://issuu.com/cherwellonline/docs/cherwell_mt20_week5.

Thanks to Margaret MukherjeeOxford CND is in contact with Disarm Oxford

6 Oxford CND January/February 2021

The Nuclear ClimateWithout doubt, the highlight of the last period has been the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) making nuclear weapons and their infrastructures illegal.

As a close second, the defeat of the racist, misogynist and climate change denying President Trump offered elation and further celebration. Of course, our public displays have been curtailed by the second COVID-19 “Lockdown”.

Given his long record of support for US imperialism it is more than doubtful that Biden will rush to show opposition to nuclear weapons, unless there is huge pressure placed upon him from the anti-war and anti-nuclear international movement. CND will be key to raising the demands.

We have huge challenges here at home, too. Johnson’s approval of Sizewell nuclear power station, advancing the myths of “safe nuclear” and “nuclear as carbon neutral”, has to be countered.

CND will have to increase our voice on environmental campaigns and strike out against nuclear power. After all, the pro-nuclear lobby is certainly increasing their propaganda profile.

A good example of this is the BBC announcing with pleasure the new consortium led by Rolls Royce which plans to build up to 16 “mini-nuclear power plants” in the UK (Rolls-Royce plans mini nuclear reactors by 2029 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51233444 ). This £250billion project, the “SMR consortium”, includes BAM and Laing O’Rourke, and estimates that if Government backs the plan it would create 6,000 regional jobs within the next five years alone. The Tory Government is understood to be preparing to commit £200m to the consortium as part of its forthcoming green economic recovery spending plan.

The SMR Consortium is keen to pump-up the “safety” of placing nuclear power plants near to coasts and areas of dense population across the country, boasting that each compact nuclear power station will provide 440MW of electricity, enough low carbon power for a city of 450,000 homes for 60 years. They add that mini-nuclear power stations will help secure the UK’s net zero commitments affordably, said Rolls Royce:

“By creating a factory-built power station that rolls off the assembly line we have radically reduced many construction risks associated with new nuclear power stations; and by using proven nuclear technology alongside standardised and

simplified components, we make it much more cheaply,” says the blurb.

Peace and environmental campaigners should have no illusions in nuclear power. It is a technology that is dirty, dangerous and economically unsustainable. Green technologies such as solar, wind and wave are cheaper to produce and maintain, and produce less C02 emissions in their production as well as performance. The challenge of the safe disposal of radioactive nuclear waste has still to be solved, and the scale of deadly contamination of land, sea and air in the event of accidents such as Chernobyl and Fukushima are so vast as to defy the imagination.

So why is the UK Government announcing support for the outrageously expensive Sizewell plant in Suffolk (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54754016 ) and the 16 “mini-nuclear plants” proposed by Rolls-Royce in the UK, pump-primed by the tax-payer?

Each mini-plant would cost £2 billion to build and deploy, and won’t be ready for at least 10 years - way too late for the level of global heating emissions reduction essential to prevent climate catastrophe.

Small nuclear power stations pose similar risks of radioactive gas releases and weapons proliferation as big ones! The pretence of “nuclear” as “safe Green Energy” maintains the political propaganda support for nuclear weapons as a necessary “deterrent”. The investment is an ideological statement of UK imperialist pretensions.

Nuclear has made big profits for private businesses because of the massive subsidies from tax-payers and high price of electricity compared with renewables. Now even that is not assured. Peace campaigners, environmentalists and Trade unionists should not believe in the promise of jobs in this filthy nuclear industry. Instead we should fight for the creation of a million climate jobs to transfer production from the carbon industries to the truly sustainable production of green energy and carbon-zero infrastructure.

We need to build an effective anti-nuclear power Coalition stronger than that of the Rolls Royce profiteers, with the immediate aim of stopping the UK Government giving this archaic plan any tax-payers cash or the go-ahead.

Tony StauntonCND National Council

Oxford CND January/February 2021 7

The Treaty on the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

A new United Nations treaty will soon enter into force, one which will make nuclear weapons illegal in the countries that sign it and will officially become international law on Friday January 22nd.

51 countries have ratified the agreement, with a further 86 signing it.

Shamefully the UK government refused to even participate in the treaty talks and now says it will never sign. But that will not stop us from making progress. From its founding meeting, CND has championed the global abolition of nuclear weapons. This treaty is a victory for grassroots campaigning and our anti-nuclear movement. The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize was even awarded to ICAN – of which CND is a partner – for its tireless work in campaigning for this momentous achievement.

What will it mean when the TPNW enters into force?

The terms of the TPNW only apply to the countries that have signed and ratified the agreement. And although the nine nuclear-armed states currently state they will not support it, the treaty is a significant pointer towards changing international attitudes to nuclear weapons. Previous treaties prohibiting chemical and biological weapons helped to stigmatise them in the minds of the public. This is now taking place with nuclear weapons.

This historic agreement will no doubt generate international momentum towards global nuclear abolition. The treaty is a breakthrough in international disarmament efforts and will be of

enormous support in achieving the goal that most of the world shares: that there is no place for these weapons of mass destruction.

Alongside raising awareness of the TPNW, CND will continue to work with all our partners in Parliament and across civil society to oppose the replacement of Trident.• CND is calling a period of action in the run-up

to the treaty entering into force and asking our supporters to arrange a meeting with your MP between January 11th-22nd.• Ask your MP to sign EDM1072.• The challenge now is to get the nuclear-armed

states – including the UK – to sign the treaty. Sign the CND petition calling on the government to get rid of its nuclear weapons and support this treaty: It’ll be presented at a later date.• Towns and cities around the world – including

Oxford – have bypassed the UK governments’ opposition and become a Nuclear Ban Communities by signing up to support the TPNW. • CND has published a briefing on the treaty

to explain its background and relevance - https://cnduk.org/resources/towards-world-without-nuclear-weapons/ or you can order printed copies from the CND office.

Oxford CND had planned to mark the Entry In to Force (EIF) Treaty day on January 22nd with Extinction Rebellion Oxford.

We will be in lockdown – Please suggest ideas as to how we can mark 22nd January safely.

Oxford CND will email all nearer the time.Oxford CND has a new 2 x 1 metre banner

to mark the treaty (below).

Design: Alan Hughes. Printed on recycled paper by Oxford GreenPrint mail@oxfordgreenprint.com

Diary

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Oxford Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament3 Harpsichord Place, Oxford, OX4 1BX.01865 248357 or oxfordcnd@phonecoop.coopwww.oxfordcnd.org.uk

JanuaryWednesday 6th – Faringdon Peace Group Zoom meeting – 7.30pm.Saturday 9th – Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp Zoom – Margaret – 01865 24835711th – 25th – Period of action – virtual meeting with your MP about TPNW.Sunday 17th – Online launch Jeremy Corbyn Peace and Justice Project.Tuesday 19th – Abingdon Peace Group Chris Cole Drone War UK Zoom meeting, 8.00pm.Friday 22nd – Oxford CND banner drop to mark the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).Saturday 23rd – Abingdon Peace Group, Market Square to mark TPNW.Thursday 28th – Oxfordshire Peace Campaign Zoom meeting 2.30pm.

FebruaryWednesday 3rd – Faringdon Peace Group Zoom meeting Commander Robert Forsyth 7.30pmSaturday 13th – Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp – Margaret – 01865 248357Tuesday 16th – Abingdon Peace Group Zoom meeting, 8.00pm.

MarchWednesday 3rd – Faringdon Peace Group Zoom meeting – Kate Hudson – 7.30pm.

Latest News

The Nuclear Ban is HereFollowing a decade of campaigning by ICAN and its partners, the Treaty was adopted by the UN in July 2017. CND and Christian CND are proud to be partner organisations of ICAN along with other groups and networks in over a hundred countries worldwide.

By the end of November 2020, fifty nations had ratified the Treaty, thus ensuring that it will come into force. This was greeted by campaigners all over the world.

Read the full text of the Treaty here:www.icanw.org/full_text_of_the_treatyThe British government has not ratified the

Treaty. For information on how you can help to encourage the government to change its mind, see the CND website at -https://cnd.eaction.org.uk/TPNW .

Leading up to 22nd January, CND is organising a Week of Action. You can ask your MP to meet with you to discuss how important it is for the government to engage in the global disarmament process:

https://cnd.eaction.org.uk/NuclearBanWeekofAction