Inside the Chornobyl exclusion zone
A Russian drone attack has inflicted tens of millions of pounds of damage to the site of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, according to experts. The photographer Julia Kochetova has gained access to the area
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The Guardian
42 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Fighting the climate crisis is vital for national security
Former military leaders rightly point out that climate change is a matter of national security (UK must consider food and climate part of national security, say top ex-military figures, 29 May). What is required in response is a thoughtful, strategic approach that focuses in on actions that are practical and effective in these difficult times and will help build the UK government's 'strong foundations' of national security and secure borders. For example, arguably the biggest near-term threat to UK security is the 'mass population displacement' that Lt Gen Richard Nugee refers to. About 3.5 billion people live in an arc around Europe, across Africa, the Middle East and Asian countries such as Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. People in these regions are already confronting floods and heatwaves of up to 50C that are making large areas uninhabitable. Rural communities are being forced into conflict and migration, while food production and supplies to cities are being affected. Russia has already identified this as a strategic way to undermine European democracies. It stokes conflict and weaponises people – for example, pushing a wave of 4 million Syrian war refugees into Europe and Turkey. The payoff has been the rise of pro-Russian rightwing parties across Europe. With temperatures rising much faster than expected, this problem will accelerate during the present parliament. It requires immediate action as there's no way to contain it. What can we do? The UK has a strong track record of using international aid to promote farming in these vulnerable communities. The best approach is regenerative farming, which produces food, builds resilience to extreme weather and draws carbon out of the atmosphere as it rebuilds soil health. It is a strategy for mitigating, and adapting to, climate change. We must salvage and expand this programme within the remaining aid and climate finance budget. It is essential to our national security that we fight climate change at home, through decarbonisation, and that we promote regenerative agriculture at home and in frontline countries around Adam ParrHertford College, University of Oxford Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
The Guardian
42 minutes ago
- The Guardian
New nuclear would be too late and too costly
The new nuclear renaissance on which you report ((Tide is turning in Europe and beyond in favour of nuclear power, 1 June) may well turn out to be like the last frail one due to a set of inconvenient truths. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that renewables are now 10 times more efficient than new nuclear at CO2 mitigation; 92.5% of all new power capacity added worldwide in 2024 was from renewables, with new nuclear virtually nowhere; new nuclear builds are vastly over-cost and over-time; large reactors on offer are the same ones offered 25 years ago – no new designs have been developed this century; since all small modular reactors are in the design stage, industry forecasts must be treated with scepticism; and waste, proliferation and siting problems are all deeply unresolved. New nuclear has limited operational need and a poor business case. Even for the couple of hundred hours per year of dunkelflaute (low wind and low sun), it is possible to sustain a reliable power system by expanding renewable energy, rapid growth and modernisation of the electricity grid, faster interconnection, using electricity far more efficiently, smart energy management and deployment of today's cost-effective storage technology. And, by the way, it turns out that Sizewell C new nuclear station would be almost entirely cut off by climate-driven storm-surge floodwater at least once a year by the time it's built. According to UK government global data, it takes up to 17 years to build just one nuclear station. New nuclear would be much too late and far too costly for the climate and energy Paul DorfmanBennett scholar, Bennett Institute for Innovation and Policy Acceleration, University of Sussex; chair, Nuclear Consulting Group Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Reuters
7 hours ago
- Reuters
Putin is ready to help Trump on Iran nuclear negotiations, the Kremlin says
MOSCOW, June 5 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump that he was ready to use Russia's close partnership with Iran to help with negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme, the Kremlin said on Thursday. Trump said after a phone call with Putin on Wednesday that time was running out for Iran to make a decision on its nuclear programme and that he believed Putin agreed that the Islamic Republic should not have nuclear weapons. Putin, according to Trump, suggested that he participate in the discussions with Iran and that "he could, perhaps, be helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion", though Iran was "slowwalking". "We have close partner relations with Tehran and, naturally, President Putin said that we are ready to use this level of partnership with Tehran in order to facilitate and contribute to the negotiations that are taking place to resolve the issue of the Iranian nuclear dossier," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday. Asked when Putin could join the negotiations, Peskov said that dialogue with Tehran and Washington continued through various channels. "The president will be able to get involved when necessary," Peskov said. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that abandoning uranium enrichment was "100%" against the country's interests, rejecting a central U.S. demand in talks to resolve a decades-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The U.S. proposal for a new nuclear deal was presented to Iran on Saturday by Oman, which has mediated talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff. After five rounds of talks, several hard-to-bridge issues remain, including Iran's insistence on maintaining uranium enrichment on its soil and Tehran's refusal to ship abroad its entire existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium - possible raw material for nuclear bombs. Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state, said nothing about halting the talks, but said the U.S. proposal "contradicts our nation's belief in self-reliance and the principle of 'We Can'".
