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| | | published Monday, January 25, 2010 | 1216 Views :: 2 Comments |
Published on National Catholic Reporter
by Joshua J. McElwee
The
Obama administration is moving ahead with the development of new
nuclear weapons components at three key weapons facilities at the same
time it is conducting a sweeping review of U.S. nuclear weapons
policies that could lead to further slashing the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
For
the moment, U.S. nuclear weapons policies appear to be running in
contrary directions, and while some critics of U.S. nuclear policy are
cautiously optimistic, they are also worried President Obama’s nuclear
disarmament vision is not yet being supported by concrete policy
actions.
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| | | published Monday, December 21, 2009 | 1541 Views :: 2 Comments |
The Modernization of the US Nuclear Weapons Complex in Light of the Renewal of the START Treaty
December 16, 2009
The United States nuclear stockpile of more than 2,000 warheads is
safe, secure and reliable; over the next ten years, the number of
warheads in our deployed stockpile will drop by twenty-five to thirty
percent, and both the US and Russia have indicated these reductions are
only a first step toward deeper reductions. Even so, as long as the US
relies on a nuclear deterrent, the need for confidence in our arsenal
increases as the number of warheads in our arsenal decreases. The
recently released JASON report on Stockpile Stewardship indicates that
the US stockpile is, at present, safe, secure and reliable. That is the
starting point for the discussion about new warhead production
facilities.
The current nuclear weapons complex is comprised of
eight facilities spread across the southern United States, from
Lawrence Livermore in California to Savannah River in South Carolina.
At three of these sites, the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons
wing, the National Nuclear Security Administration, has major new
facilities on the drawing board, and in the budget. These facilities,
if they are built, will expand the United States’ capacity to design
and build new nuclear weapons.
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| | | published Friday, December 11, 2009 | 1712 Views :: 1 Comments |
Associated Press - December 10, 2009
LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) - A federal report says improper accounting practices at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory have hidden $80 million in additional costs for a new facility dedicated in May.
The National Ignition Facility studies nuclear fusion, which could provide the country with another clean energy source (sic). The October report by the National Nuclear Security Administration says the facility is not contributing its fair share to the overall running of Lawrence lab in accordance with federal accounting standards. That means other departments have been left to pick up the tab, which amounts to about $80 million in this fiscal year alone.
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| | | published Monday, December 07, 2009 | 1562 Views :: 0 Comments |
The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, Federation of American Scientists & the Bipartisan Security Group
Invite you to briefings
The New START Treaty: What Next for the Nuclear Weapons Infrastructure?
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 10:00 am – 11:00 am, Senate Dirksen G11
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 1 pm – 2:00 pm, Rayburn B340
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm, Hans Bethe Center, 322 Fourth St. NE
With
Ambassador Robert Grey
Director, Bipartisan Security Group
Former US Representative to the
Conference on Disarmament from 1998-2001
Ivan Oelrich, Ph. D.
Acting President, Federation of American Scientists
Former Senior Analyst at the Office of Technology Assessment
Ralph Hutchison
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability
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| | | published Friday, November 06, 2009 | 4656 Views :: 24 Comments |
Sandia Director Makes $1.7 million
By John Fleck
Thursday, 05 November 2009 19:16
Sandia National Laboratories Director Tom Hunter makes $1.7 million per
year, according to data made public this week.
Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Michael Anastasio makes $800
thousand per year. The numbers became public this week when the labs reported them as one of
the conditions of accepting money under the federal stimulus program.
The compensation triggered outrage from critics of the nuclear weapons
research centers.
Originally Published in the Albuquerque Journal.
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| | | published Wednesday, November 04, 2009 | 2637 Views :: 10 Comments |
The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance today released a "white
paper" that analyzes the missions at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and
proposes that the Oak Ridge plant refocus its efforts entirely on
dismantlement.
"Changes in U.S. policy, concern over nuclear proliferation, and global
realities have created an environment in which the power of arguments
for a new production facility has eroded significantly," the report,
titled The Future of Y-12, says.
Posted by Frank Munger on November 3, 2009 at 7:24 PM
The 9-page report is online at:
http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/y12orepa.pdf
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| | | published Wednesday, October 28, 2009 | 1599 Views :: 4 Comments |
Immediate release
October 27, 2009
DOE ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR NEW BOMB PLANT IN OAK RIDGE, TN
LONG AWAITED DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
INCLUDES PLAN FOR $3.5 BILLION “URANIUM PROCESSING FACILITY”
TO BUILD THERMONUCLEAR WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
AT Y12 NATIONAL SECURITY COMPLEX
The National Nuclear Security Administration is slated to release the
long-awaited draft of the Y12 Site Wide Environmental Impact Statement
with a Notice of Availability in the Federal Register by October 30,
2009. Copies of the Y12SWEIS were sent to the NNSA’s distribution list
earlier this week and posted on the web at www.y12sweis.com
. Among the alternatives considered in the draft EIS is the siting and
construction of the Uranium Processing Facility, a new facility which
would produce thermonuclear “secondaries” out of highly enriched
uranium, lithium deuteride, beryllium and other materials.*
The New Bomb Plant
The Draft Y12SWEIS embraces a full-scale nuclear weapons production
facility capable of producing 50-80 secondaries a year, or enough
capacity to double the size of the US arsenal every 20 years, and to
maintain an enduring nuclear stockpile. The preferred alternative,
called the “Capability-sized UPF” would lead to an initial increase in
construction employment but the eventual downsizing of nearly half the
Y12 workforce and fails to address increased mission requirements for
dismantlement and disposition of retired nuclear weapons.
for more information: Ralph Hutchison 865 776 5050 | orep@earthlink.net
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| | | published Monday, October 19, 2009 | 1073 Views :: 2 Comments |
Tri-Valley CAREs’ Public Comment
on the Scope of the Proposed Environmental Impact Statement
for Continued Operation of the Dept. of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Test Site and Off-Site Location in the State of Nevada
Pursuant to The National Environmental Policy Act
October 16, 2009
To: Linda M. Cohn, NNSA Nevada Site Office
Nepa@nv.doe.gov
INTRODUCTION:
Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) is a non-profit organization located in Livermore, California. We have undertaken this analysis on behalf of our more than 5,000 members, including those who reside in Nevada near the Nevada Test Site (NTS).
Tri-Valley CAREs has monitored activities in the Dept. of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons complex, including the NTS for twenty-six years. Since its inception, Tri-Valley CAREs has participated in numerous National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) administrative review processes involving the nuclear weapons complex, including NTS. The organization has also participated in federal litigation to uphold NEPA at NTS and other sites in the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) complex.
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| | | published Wednesday, September 30, 2009 | 1656 Views :: 2 Comments |
By Matthew Cardinale, North American Correspondent, Inter-Press
Service; and News Editor, The Atlanta Progressive News (September 30,
2009)
ATLANTA,
Georgia, Sep 30 (IPS) - Despite statements by U.S. President Barack
Obama that he wants to see the world reduce, and eventually eliminate
nuclear weapons, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear
Security Administration continues to push forward on a programme called
Complex Modernisation, which would expand two existing nuclear plants
to allow them to produce new plutonium pits and new bomb parts out of
enriched uranium for use in a possible new generation of nuclear bombs.
Originally published at http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/news/0522.html
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| | | published Friday, September 04, 2009 | 1287 Views :: 0 Comments |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 4, 2009
Contact: Jay Coghlan, Nuclear Watch NM, 505.989.7342, c. 505.920.7118, jay@nukewatch.org
Santa Fe, NM – Nuclear Watch New Mexico (NWNM) has discovered Los Alamos National Laboratory viewgraphs showing that the U.S. nuclear weapons labs want to leverage “stockpile modernization” through formal Safeguards attached to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty during Senate ratification. This modernization would include “large changes” made to existing nuclear weapons refurbished during existing Life Extension Programs, and/or complete “replacement designs” as early as 2015. Congress has rejected funding a new-design “Reliable Replacement Warhead” (RRW) for the last two years, but the labs have clearly not given up. Moreover, there is a danger that the Obama Administration might concede to some form of RRW in order to win the Congressional supermajority of 67 needed to ratify the CTBT. Further, Obama has just reappointed a formerly strong proponent of RRW to again head up the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
A decade ago, under President Clinton, the Senate rejected CTBT ratification. This last April, while declaring that a world free of nuclear weapons is a long term U.S. national security goal, President Obama pledged, “my Administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.” The Treaty’s declared purpose has always been to cut off the advancement of nuclear weapons. But the American labs, now endowed with supercomputer simulated testing, obviously believe that a ban to physical tests no longer blocks the deployment of new nuclear weapons designs. In contrast, they now even seek to enshrine the capability for major modifications and possible new-designs in CTBT Safeguards.
Ratification of the CTBT by the U.S. will be viewed internationally as a concrete sign of America’s commitment to fulfilling the 1970 NonProliferation Treaty’s mandate for nuclear disarmament. CTBT ratification before the May 2010 NPT Review Conference at the United Nations would be a diplomatic victory, if the Obama Administration can win the necessary Senate votes. Ironically, possible CTBT Safeguards enshrining new or heavily modified U.S. weapons designs could derail the strengthening of the global nonproliferation regime by demonstrating to other countries that the U.S. is not really serious about nuclear disarmament.
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