Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

The US/UK Warhead Deal

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Published on Tuesday, 03 March 2020 14:00

As first seen on http://www.nuclearban.scot/, the website for Scottish ICAN partners.

It is important to note that the missiles on the UK nuclear weapon submarines are not British but are leased from the US. Indeed the UK does not have the facility to remove the missiles from its four Vanguard-class boats - that needs to be done at King's Bay in Georgia. The delivery and targeting software is US made. The Trident warheads - the actual nuclear bombs - have been manufactured and assembled at the Aldermaston/Burghfield complex in Berkshire but the design is American, although the evidence suggests that some design elements have depended on collaboration between the US and the UK nuclear weapon engineers. Not a sniff of "taking back control" on this one. The UK describes its Trident system as an "independent nuclear deterrent". The description is false.

Write to SEPA to oppose radioactive waste disposal from HMNB Clyde

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Published on Wednesday, 19 February 2020 15:30

We would like to invite our members and supporters to submit their comments of disapproval to the SEPA consultation on MOD’s application regarding the disposal of radioactive waste from Her Majesty’s Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde.

The Nuclear Support Hub (NSH) which the MoD is building at Faslane is intended to centralise the existing radioactive waste handling facilities. It is situated in a new location within the Faslane site, with a new discharge point into the middle of the Gare Loch. The number of nuclear submarines at Faslane is scheduled to increase and radioactive discharges are, in fact, expected to increase some by very large amounts. MoD is seeking approval to transfer submarine and weapon related solid and contaminated liquid waste from Coulport to Faslane

We strongly object to these increased radioactive discharges which, if permitted by SEPA, would result in increased radioactive contamination of the entire Gare Loch, including its flora and fauna and would result in increased radiation doses to people living in the vicinity of the Loch.

Scottish CND see no good reason why the MOD should be given preferential treatment and be exempt from the provisions already in place for all the other employers. The MoD’s application involves expected increases in discharges of Tritium by as much as 30 times and discharges of Cobalt 60 by almost 50 times.

Scottish Government's Approach to Civil Nuclear Power

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Published on Wednesday, 12 February 2020 12:09

The following content is from a letter sent to Paul Wheelhouse MSP as the Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands and cc'd to Office of Nuclear Regulation, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, North Ayrshire Council, East Ayrshire Council and East Lothian Council from Scottish CND, UN House Scotland and Friends of the Earth Scotland.

Response to First 'Low-Yield' Trident Warhead

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Published on Sunday, 02 February 2020 14:42

Last week, The Guardian and other media published that the United States has deployed its first low-yield Trident nuclear warhead on a submarine that is currently patrolling the Atlantic Ocean. Donald Trump commissioned the W76-2 warhead two years ago which has an explosive yield of five kilotons, a third of the power of the "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima. 

Scottish CND Executive member and lifelong peace activist Brian Quail penned a letter in response:

100 Seconds to Midnight

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Published on Thursday, 23 January 2020 16:41

Doomsday Clock Registers Increased Planetary Peril

Today the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved its symbolic Doomsday Clock twenty seconds closer to midnight in recognition of the significantly increasing risks of nuclear war and climate catastrophe.

In its statement, the Bulletin says that any belief that the threat of nuclear war has been vanquished is a mirage and that civilisation-ending nuclear war - whether started by design, blunder, or simple miscommunication - is a genuine possibility. Their assessment is based on the Iranian and North Korean developments as well as on the almost total breakdown in arms control measures applying to the nuclear armed states.

Reflecting the urgency of the situation a timely Scottish Parliament motion(1) by Bill Kidd MSP has called for real progress towards genuine nuclear disarmament, citing tomorrow, 24th January, as the anniversary of the very first UN resolution which was a call for the elimination of nuclear weapons. The quinquennial Review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) takes place in New York in April/May. This is the first Review since the adoption by the UN of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which complements the NPT and provides the legal mechanism for the fulfilment of the hitherto disregarded pillar of that treaty - the obligation on the nuclear-armed states to take real steps in good faith towards complete disarmament. Scottish campaigners are urging their parliamentarians to attend the Review in a civil society capacity since otherwise Scotland's rejection of nuclear weapons will not be represented.

Chair of Scottish CND Lynn Jamieson said: "We appreciate the stark realism of the Bulletin's assessment of the horrifying risk we face every single day and hope that this will lead to real and immediate action. We need an immediate step back from the brink by the nuclear-armed states and those seeking to acquire these weapons. Above all we need to begin the journey towards the total elimination of these weapons via the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons."