Alliance for Nuclear Accountability & Tri-Valley CARES – 2006-12-02 09:34:56
http://capwiz.com/wagingpeace/issues/alert/?alertid=9181121&queueid=967576276>•Take Action
They Call the Plan “Complex 2030”
We Call it Dangerous Nuclear Proliferation
THE CHOICE IS CLEAR
• Do you want a dangerous new “Bombplex” with sites around the country, including Livermore Lab, churning out new weapon designs, manufacturing plutonium bomb cores, creating nuclear waste and building new, “more useable” nuclear warheads?
— OR –
• Do you want a US that invests in sustainable energy research instead of more bombs, upholds its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and plays a leadership role in halting nuclear proliferation and achieving global nuclear disarmament?
Don’t be silent. Say “NO” to new nuclear weapons and proliferation. Tell DOE “NO” to live anthrax or Ebola at Livermore Lab’s Site 300. Say “YES” to removing plutonium from Livermore before 2014. Say “YES” to safe communities and green energy research. Your voice can make a difference.
• LIVERMORE: December 12, 11 AM to 10 PM
Robert Livermore Community Center 4444 East Ave., Livermore Those wishing to speak may sign up upon arrival.
Tri-Valley CAREs will have an information table with “talking points” and snacks. Please come at 11:30 AM or 6:30 PM, if possible. We can support each other as we speak. You may stay any length of time. PLEASE ATTEND.
TRACY: December 12, 6 PM to 10 PM
Tracy Community Center 950 East St., Tracy Those wishing to speak may sign up upon arrival.
We will have an information table with “talking points” and snacks. We are asking people to come at 6:30 PM, if possible. We can support each other as we speak. You may stay any length of time. YOUR PRESENCE IS IMPORTANT.
MORE ON THE “COMPLEX 2030” PLAN TO MAKE NEW PLUTONIUM PITS AND BUILD NEW BOMBS
The Department of Energy (DOE) has published a formal “Notice of Intent” to massively reorganize the nuclear weapons complex at eight locations across the country, including here at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The DOE calls its plan “Complex 2030.”
What Is “Complex 2030”?
Planning documents reveal that the DOE intends to embark on a dangerous quest to revitalize nuclear weapons production capability similar to what existed during the worst years of the Cold War. Under the “Complex 2030” plan, DOE would proceed full-speed-ahead with the controversial “Reliable Replacement Warhead” program to manufacture hundreds of new plutonium bomb cores and create 125 new nuclear weapons per year.
In Congressional testimony, DOE’s Tom D’Agostino said: “We [DOE] seek an ability to design, develop, certify and begin production of refurbished or replacement warheads within 48 months of a decision to begin engineering development — these timelines would restore us to a level of capability comparable to what we had during the Cold War.” Simply put, “Complex 2030” means building whole new nuclear weapons plants in order to develop and produce new nukes.
What Are Some of the Problems?
The estimated price tag for “Complex 2030” starts at $150 billion, and may easily run double that amount. This is money that could otherwise be spent on sustainable energy research at Livermore Lab and on cleaning up the radioactive and toxic mess (at Livermore Lab and elsewhere) created by DOE’s past nuclear weapons activities.
The true cost of “Complex 2030” goes beyond money, however, and includes a new generation of workers made ill by on the job exposures and new contamination in communities around the “refurbished” nuclear weapons complex.
Independent scientists, nuclear policy analysts and peace and environmental advocates call the plan “Bombplex 2030,” and point out that it will weaken compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and devastate US non-proliferation goals. “Do as I say and not as I do” is not a viable US foreign policy, and DOE’s plan will dramatically increase the global nuclear danger. A new “Bombplex” makes our country and our communities less, not more, safe and secure.
What Is the Public’s Role?
Before DOE can proceed with “Complex 2030,” it must produce an environmental analysis pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. The law says that the public must have opportunities to comment, and that the government must respond to all comments in a written document.
The public hearings on December 12 in Livermore and Tracy are the beginning of that process. They are called “scoping.” Scoping means that we, the public, are being asked what issues the DOE should examine. Your participation at this time is crucial. If you don’t bring up the issues that concern you, the DOE will not be obligated to address them.
Come to a hearing and tell DOE that new nuclear weapons are polluting, expensive, immoral, proliferation-provocative and contrary to our disarmament obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Tell DOE that you support removing the plutonium from Livermore Lab to store it at a more secure location, and that this can be done sooner than 2014 (the date DOE proposes).
Point out that DOE’s “Complex 2030” plan envisions moving Livermore’s plutonium around the country twice — and that this is not necessary. Tell DOE you support plans to dismantle nuclear weapons. Tell DOE you want the government to clean up the mess it created with Cold War-era weapons production and to compensate its sick workers, not repeat the fiasco.
Tell DOE that bringing live anthrax and Ebola to the Lab’s Site 300 is not a good idea. Speak about your positive vision for the year 2030. What do you want to see happen instead of new nukes, bio-warfare agents and pollution?
What Can I Do?
• 1. Attend one of the public hearings and voice your concerns. Tri-Valley CAREs will staff an information table at both hearings, and we will be happy to answer questions and to assist you in understanding the issues and the hearing process.
• 2. Send written comments by email to
• 3. Visit Tri-Valley CAREs’ web site. At www.trivalleycares.org, you will find lots of material to help you, including our monthly newsletter and our comprehensive report, “The Reliable Replacement Warhead Program: A Slippery Slope to New Nuclear Weapons.”
For further information, contact:
• Susan Gordon: (206) 547-3175
• Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs, 2582 Old First Street, Livermore, CA 94551. (925) 443-7148 Fx: (925) 443-0177
www.trivalleycares.org
The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability is a national network of organizations working to address issues of nuclear weapons production and waste cleanup.
Independent Review of Department of Energy Study
Undermines “Need” for New Nuclear Weapons
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability
Groups Call on Energy Department t
To Abandon Discredited “Complex 2030” Plan
November 29, 2006 — Today marks an important turning point in the future of the US nuclear weapons stockpile. Scientists acting as government consultants have announced conclusions of their independent review of Department of Energy (DOE) studies of plutonium pit lifetimes. Pits are the cores or “triggers” of nuclear weapons.
This group, known as the JASON panel, has included Nobel laureates and original Manhattan Project scientists. Their announcement that pit lifetimes of most warheads are at least 100 years, more than double that of DOE’s original estimate of 45 years has far-reaching implications.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency within DOE, has been seeking to restart pit production for years. The argument for increased production has largely rested on the NNSA estimated 45 year pit lifetime, making new ones necessary to maintain the current nuclear stockpile.
The extended effective life of plutonium pits calls into question the need for several NNSA plans to increase pit and weapons production. Currently, NNSA plans to expand “interim” pit production at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where a limited production line already exists. NNSA has even grander plans to build the so-called Reliable Replacement Warhead in a newly constructed, nationwide nuclear complex, called Complex 2030.
This “Bombplex” would be capable of producing newly designed warheads and at least 125 pits per year. As Susan Gordon, Director of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability stated, “Pit production, new warheads, and a new ‘Bombplex’ are completely unnecessary. The US has a huge surplus of plutonium pits and now DOE’s own independent expert scientists confirm that they last 100 years.”
The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) has been involved in the process of the pit lifetime studies since early 2003. At that time, one of its member groups, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, urged Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) to introduce legislation that required independent review by a qualified federal contractor of the NNSA’s ongoing pit lifetime studies. Ultimately, the JASONs were contracted to conduct that review.
Nuclear Watch’s Jay Coghlan commented, “Today’s conclusions show, on a practical basis, that we don’t need expensive, provocative new nuclear weapons designs and industrial-scale bomb production. These proposals make the US appear hypocritical when preaching to other nations that they can’t have weapons of mass destruction. This is an important document and we have Senator Bingaman to thank for providing leadership to make it happen.”
The US is believed to have approximately 10,600 intact nuclear warheads and another 12,000 plutonium pits in reserve at the Pantex site in Texas. The revelations in the new report shift the focus from weapons production to radioactive waste cleanup and warhead dismantlement. Mavis Belisle, Director of the Peace Farm, located just outside the Pantex Plant said, “The money spent on increased pit production could be better used elsewhere. Dismantling warheads from our huge arsenal would set a great example for the rest of the world.”
Marylia Kelley, Executive Director at Tri-Valley CAREs in Livermore, CA said, “We call on DOE to abandon its Complex 2030 plan. They need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan that focuses on the cleanup of radioactive contamination that is the legacy of 60 years of nuclear weapons development. This study offers the government a chance to go back and get it right.”
The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability is a national network of 35 groups, most of whom live downwind and downstream from the US nuclear weapons complex sites. These groups have been working collaboratively for nearly two decades to clean up the environmental legacy of nuclear weapons production and stop new nuclear weapons programs. -30-
Local Contacts
• Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment Livermore, CA _ (925) 443-7148
• Jay Coghlan, Executive Director, Nuclear Watch of New Mexico Santa Fe, NM _ (505) 989-7342, cell: (505) 920-7118 Mavis Belisle, Director, Peace Farm Panhandle, TX _ (806) 341-4801
• Ralph Hutchison, Director, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance Oak Ridge, TN _ (865) 483-8202
• NNSA press release link: http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/docs/newsreleases/2006/PR_2006-11-29_NA-06-46.htm
Marylia Kelley, Executive Director Tri-Valley CAREs, 2582 Old First Street, Livermore, CA 94551 (925) 443-7148. Fx: (925) 443-0177. www.trivalleycares.org Email: marylia@trivalleycares.org or marylia@earthlink.net
Stop Complex 2030!
Say No to New Nuclear Weapons!
Stop the Nuclear Bombplex
The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which is responsible for maintaining the United States’ nuclear weapons arsenal, is designing new nuclear weapons. These new designs are being prepared under the so-called Reliable Replacement Warhead Program (RRW).
To begin industrial production of these new weapons, the NNSA has proposed an expensive, dangerous and unnecessary overhaul of the current nuclear complex. The resulting Bombplex will mean new facilities for new nuclear weapons development and maintenance.
New nukes in the US mean new nukes in other countries!
Designing and building new nuclear weapons will encourage other countries to follow the same path, ultimately leading to a new nuclear arms race.
At a time when the United States is trying to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, Iran to halt uranium enrichment and the rest of the world to abstain from developing nuclear weapons, we should not be taking actions that encourage other countries to develop or expand their nuclear weapons capabilities. We should be dismantling our existing weapons, not developing new ones.
The Bombplex and RRW violate international law!
Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which the United States is both a signatory and one of the chief architects, says that the United States is obligated to engage in effective multilateral efforts leading to nuclear disarmament. By defying international law and building a new generation of nuclear weapons, the United States is hindering international non-proliferation initiatives and crippling international nuclear disarmament efforts.
The NNSA is wasting money by replacing nuclear weapons that ARE proven reliable and that will last for decades!
The NNSA has said that the Reliable Replacement Warhead is necessary to replace aging nuclear weapons in the US arsenal. The NNSA already spends billions of dollars every year making sure our nuclear arsenal is reliable and will last for decades.
The Government Accounting Office has estimated that simply building the Bombplex will cost an additional $150 billion. According to a currently unreleased study conducted by the nuclear labs themselves, the nuclear weapons we have now could last as long as 100 years! The reality is that we don’t need to waste money on nuclear weapons that will continue to be functional long into the future.
The DOE is legally required to listen to what you have to say!
This is your chance to be heard! The DOE has released a Notice of Intent for the Bombplex. Until January 17, 2007, they are required to hold public hearings around the country where you can comment. You can also submit comments through this email! Write to the NNSA today to tell them that the Bombplex is wrong!
Public hearing schedule can be found at:
http://www.ananuclear.org/Bombplex/CalendarOfHearings.doc
