Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

SCND responds to the UK Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy

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Published on Monday, 14 September 2020 14:41

On Friday 11 September, 2020, SCND responded to the UK Government's call for evidence for its Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, reminding the government that the majority of its citizens believe, like us, that nuclear weapons make the world a more dangerous place, and calling for urgent action on nuclear disarmament.

Our response addresses the clear links between climate change and nuclear warfare - the two greatest existential threats that humanity faces today - and encourages the UK government to seize the initiative and redirect skills and funding from the nuclear industry towards green jobs and renewable energy, to move the UK rapidly towards a safe, peaceful and carbon-neutral future. We call on the UK to reorient its defence policy away from nuclear weapons and the arms trade, and towards conflict resolution and international cooperation, in good faith, to build a nuclear-free world.

Read our full response here (PDF).

To find out more about the strong existing public support for the issues we address, please see:

• YouGov 2017: Which of the following comes closest to your view on nuclear weapons?
• YouGov Survey Results: The Future of Trident
• Scottish Public Opinion Monitor: Nuclear Weapons in Britain
• Ipsos Mori: Attitudes to Nuclear Weapons
• British Social Attitudes Survey (2014)

Sutherland Space Hub and the Military

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Published on Thursday, 10 September 2020 19:36

As the controversial Space Hub on A’Mhòine edges closer to reality, fears deepen that it will soon become a launchpad for military and spy technologies.

The Sutherland Space Hub gained planning permission from the Highland Council last month, despite more than 400 objections from the public, after Scottish Ministers chose not to call in the application and subject it to more rigorous scrutiny. Now the project faces only the barriers of a Scottish Land Court application and formal business case approval before it can go ahead.

Judging the Safety of Hunterston B Nuclear Power Station

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Published on Saturday, 29 August 2020 10:24

It is extraordinary that Reactor 3 of Hunterston B nuclear power station is being declared as ‘safe’ enough to restart. It has been closed since March 2018 because of the fears raised by an estimated 377 cracks in its graphite core. It’s twin, Reactor 4, is now also closed for inspection to monitor cracking, last estimated as below the level of Reactor 3. Given that 3 was known to be worse, it is likely that it too will be allowed to restart. Forget the idea that the plant will close ‘early’ in 2022, both are on borrowed time - 14 years beyond their intended life of 30 years at construction. Scottish CND, Friends of the Earth and UN House Scotland has already called for their immediate closure.

75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japan – events 7th to 9th August 2020

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Published on Friday, 07 August 2020 13:27

We aim to gather and share photos and ideally videos (in length between 20 and 60 seconds) of events on the 6th August for compiling and sharing out again, probably starting at the SCND meeting on the 9th August. So please send us yours to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Scottish CND will host an online event at 7 p.m. on the 9th of August. The focus will be on what we must do now to make the witness of the Hibakusha count in the campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons. On Nagasaki Day it is time to move from remembering to action to ensure that nuclear weapons are abolished and eliminated. Join Bill Kidd MSP and SCND Chair Lynn Jamieson and be part of the way forward. Access by https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/815877733

Linking to internationals via ICAN. Please ensure that you sign the pledge at the special ICAN anniversary page, rise.icanw.org to honour the Hibakusha, and check out loads of ideas and resources there. In particular, the stories from survivors of the attacks and an ICAN anniversary exhibition which you can download for use in your own locality.

Check out local events here:

6th and 9th August 2020 - Good Days for Global Nuclear Disarmament

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Published on Thursday, 06 August 2020 20:38

While the world reflected on the horror of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki there has been huge encouragement for the cause of disarmament as four new UN states, Ireland, Nigeria, Niue and St. Kitts and Nevis, have ratified or acceded to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

Ireland has been a champion of nuclear disarmament since the 60s and was a key player in the adoption of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Along with Austria, it has provided unwavering creative and imaginative advocacy for  the TPNW throughout the last decade and its ratification of that Treaty has been long expected, as well as hugely significant. As a member of the EU it now stand in good counterbalance to the French attachment to weapons of mass destruction, as well as the occasional  mutterings about the EU having its own nuclear weapons. Today's step forward by Ireland is also a boost for those who are working for the end of the treacherous business of “nuclear-sharing”, whereby the air forces of Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany are equipped with US nuclear weapons. Then there is the UK, a recalcitrant nuclear-armed state across the Irish Sea, and a little further north a Scottish government and people who reject nuclear weapons and support the TPNW - and who derive enormous encouragement from Ireland's assertive stance.