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Vote Today and Support Our 'Livermore Green Lab Conversion Project'

Wednesday, November 17, 2009
Posted by Scott Yundt

With just a few moments of your time, you can help Tri-Valley CAREs obtain a $15,000 grant that will help our Green Lab Conversion Project take off. There are over 400 groups competing for the grant and your vote can help us get to the finals. Just follow these directions:

First, click on this link to the Youtopia Grant website:

http://youtopia.uservoice.com/pages/33750-peace-non-violence

You will see our campaign listed as 'Livermore's Green Lab Conversion Project' and next to it will be the number of votes we have recieved so far. Click under that number on the 'Vote' tab. It will then direct you to a page that has you enter your email and a password (to ensure that people do not vote multiple times). Once you are signed up you can give us up to 3 votes!

Voting is simple, fast, totally free and, if we get enough votes to win, it will enable us to greatly expand the work we do.

Click here to go right to the ballot!

Voting is only open until December 2nd so please vote for us today and pass this on to friends!

We thank you.

Peace!



Tri-Valley CAREs Files Motion to Stop Further Operation of a Biological Weapons Research Lab at LLNL

Thursday, October 22, 2008
Posted by Scott Yundt

Yesterday, Livermore based non-profit Tri-Valley CAREs filed a motion for summary judgment in the Northern District of California under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) aiming to stop the operation of a bio-warfare agent research facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) main site in Livermore, California. The Dept. of Energy (DOE) began conducting experiments on January 25, 2008 on the basis of a faulty, unsupported "finding of no significant impact" (FONSI) without conducting a legally adequate environmental review and public comment process.

Read our press release / Read the motion

Citizen's Watch Newsletter Fall 2009

Friday, October 16, 2009
Posted by Scott Yundt

Read Online

PDF Download

  • Nuclear Materials at Livermore Lab plutonium still in the mix.

  • Gov't Doctor Resigns charges sick worker program flawed.

  • Youth and Mentors: Think Outside the Bomb!

  • Nuclear Weapons Budget new details emerge.

  • Remembrance Hiroshima at the gates of Livermore Lab

  • Obama Elevates Nulcear Disarmament before the UN security counsel

  • Petition to President Barack Obama on the global abolition of nuclear weapons

  • Support Tri-Valley CAREs stopping nuclear weapons where they start.


Tri-Valley CAREs Submits Comments to Dep't of Homeland Security's Draft "Planning Guidance for Recovery Following Biological Incidents"

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Posted by Scott Yundt

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was required by Congress to create Guidance for use in the response to an accidental or intentional "biological incident." This "Guidance" concerns us because Lawrence Livermore National Lab operates several biological weapon agent reserch laboratories, including the BSL-3 Lab that Tri-Valley CAREs has challenged for its lack of security, improper public input, and dangerous activities. The "Guidance" describes "a general risk management framework for government and nongovernmental decision-makers, at all levels, in planning and executing activities required for response and recovery from a biological incident in a domestic, civilian setting." Thus, if there was an accident or an intentional release or exsposure at one of LLNL's bio-labs, this "Guidance" would be used to, not only to coordinate the initial response, but to determine the decontamination and clean up standards as well. While the stated "objective of the guidance is to provide Federal, State, local and tribal decision makers with uniform Federal guidance to protect the public, emergency responders, and surrounding environments," it actually provides only very vague and time-consuming procedures for doing so. Our comment takes the DHS to task for the lack of substantive information provided in the "Guidance" and their attempts to set weak decontamination and clean up standards even though a deliberate or accidental release of biological agents can have disastrous consequences by exposing workers and the public to dangerous pathogens.

To read the full text of our comment and the DHS Guidance click below.

Click here for the full text of our Comment to the DHS.

Click here to read the full text of the Dep't of Homeland Security's Draft "Planning Guidance for Recovery Following Biological Incidents." (Note: It is a large file)


GAO Report Highlights Our Concerns Over the Safety and the Proliferation of Bio-labs Like the LLNL BSL-3

Friday, October 2, 2009
Posted by Scott Yundt

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a much anticipated report on September 21, 2009 entitled 'HIGH-CONTAINMENT LABORATORIES- National Strategy for Oversight is Needed,' that has significant bearing on Tri-Valley CARE's ongoing federal lawsuit challenging LLNL's BSL-3 bio-warfare agent research facility. Following the Report's release, subcommittee hearings were held in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives where Nancy Kingsbury, Ph.D. and Managing Director at the GAO, gave testimony warning members of the grave concerns that the Report identified relating to the proliferation of high-containment laboratories working with dangerous biological pathogens. The LLNL BSL-3 is such a facility. Public concern over this issue gained the attention of the GAO because the deliberate or accidental release of biological agents can have disastrous consequences by exposing workers and the public to dangerous pathogens.

Specifically, the Report found a failure of systems and procedures at high-containment laboratories similar to the LLNL BSL-3. It reveals a failure to comply with regulatory requirements, safety measures that were not commensurate with the level of risk to public health posed by laboratory workers and pathogens in the laboratories, and the failure of agencies to fund ongoing facility maintenance and monitor the operational effectiveness of laboratory physical infrastructure.

The Report also highlights that (1) an ill-intentioned insider can pose a risk not only by passing on confidential information but also by removing dangerous material from a high-containment laboratory, and (2) it is impossible to have completely effective inventory control of biological material with currently available technologies. It further directs laboratory operators to develop and work through potential failure scenarios and to use that information to develop and put in place mechanisms to challenge procedures, systems, and equipment to ensure continuing effectiveness. This point significantly relates to our bio-suit and the concern that the LLNL BSL-3 is especially vulnerable to a terrorist attack. For more information about our lawsuit click on the bio-warfare link above.

To read the full text of the Report and Nancy Kingsbury's testimony click below.

Click here for the full GAO Report.

Click here to read Nancy Kingsbury's testimony before the House Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security.


Former Government Doctor Exposes Flaws in Sick Worker Compensation Program

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Posted by Rob Schwartz

Dr. Eugene Schwartz, the former medical director of the government's compensation program for nuclear weapons workers, resigned his position in May, claiming he was forced out for revealing flaws in the program. In April, Dr. Schwartz provided information to the Department of Labor and the Government Accountability Office, the congressional watchdog, exposing major flaws in the government's Site Exposure Matrix (SEM), a repository on toxic substances present at sites in the nuclear weapons complex. The SEM is used to determine a claimant's eligibility for compensation. Dr. Schwartz confirmed what many claimants already suspected: the SEM includes an incomplete list of diseases and inconsistent, incomplete, or missing linkages between exposure to toxic substances and disease. As a result, many individuals are having their claims improperly denied. The problems that Dr. Schwartz identified have impacted claimants from Livermore and Sandia labs.

Dr. Ray Meister from the Medical Screening Program for Former Workers of LBNL, LLNL, and SNL will be on hand at the upcoming Sick Worker Support Group Meeting on October 7th, 2009 at the Livermore Main Library, Community Room A from 10-noon to speak about related issues.

Click here to read more.

Click here to see the 10-7-09 Sick Worker Support Group Meeting Agenda.


More Than 300 Groups Ask Senate for Stronger Climate Bill

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Posted by Marylia Kelley

A broad coalition of more than 300 faith, human-rights, social justice, and environmental groups sent a letter to U.S. senators today calling for energy and climate legislation that is much stronger than the Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House of Representatives June 26. That bill contained massive giveaways to polluting special interests and would fail to ensure a rapid transition to clean energy.

Click here to access the letter.
Click here to read our press release.


Vote Today and Support Tri-Valley CAREs

Friday, August 7, 2009
Posted by Marylia Kelley

Singer-Guitarist Bonnie Raitt has generously offered to benefit Tri-Valley CAREs - and your "votes" will help determine the amount that we will receive.

Bonnie is touring this summer with legendary blues guitarist, Taj Mahal, and they are asking YOU to help determine the activism their tour will support.

If you would like to help sustain Tri-Valley CAREs, take a quick moment to log onto the BonTaj tour site at http://www.bontaj.com/charity-on-tour.aspx and cast your vote to fund "Safe & Sustainable Energy."

Why "Safe & Sustainable Energy"? Because this is the category on the BonTaj tour site that includes Tri-Valley CAREs. The more votes, the greater the gift.

You may recall that last year, Bonnie Raitt demonstrated her commitment to our issues by donating some of the proceeds from her 2008 concerts to Tri-Valley CAREs. We appreciate her support and welcome the generosity of Taj Mahal, too.

Your 2009 "vote" is simple, fast and totally free.

Click here to go right to the ballot!

Please vote for us today. And, pass this on to friends!

We thank you.

Peace,
Marylia Kelley
Executive Director
Tri-Valley CAREs


August 6, 2009 - Hiroshima and Nagasaki Commemoration

Friday, August 7, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

Thanks to everyone who attended this year's commemoration and protest.

Click here to check out photographs from the event.
Click here to read news articles about the event.


Petition to President Obama for the abolition of Nuclear Weapons

Monday, August 3, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

We wholeheartedly applaud President Obama for declaring, "I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." We commend President Obama for his courageous and historic recognition that "as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act." We call on President Obama to make good on that commitment and fullfill that responsibility by announcing at the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference his initiation of good faith multilateral negotiations on an international agreement to abolish nuclear weapons, within our lifetimes! Yes we can!

Click here to download a PDF of the petition.


Citizen's Watch Newsletter June/July, 2009

Friday, July 17, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

Read Online

PDF Download

  • Hazardous Waste Building Closure building 419 may close.

  • Bomb Budget: more money for nukes, less for cleanup.

  • By and for Youth: Think Outside the Bomb!

  • Livermore Lab Security Failures new details emerge.

  • Support Tri-Valley CAREs stopping nuclear weapons where they start.


The Truth about NIF: Some Facts to Consider

Monday, July 6, 2009
Posted by Marylia Kelley and Adrian Drummond-Cole

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) will use plutonium, the radioactive core in nuclear bombs. Plutonium in NIF will cause nuclear waste, radioactive emissions and worker exposures, according to the Lab's own environmental impact statement (EIS).

NIF will use tritium, the radioactive hydrogen in H-bombs. NIF's deuterium-tritium targets will be produced in Livermore, according to the EIS. Tritium puts our environment at risk.

NIF is for nuclear weapons, not energy. NIF's mission is to train the next generation of nuclear bomb designers. Only 15% of its experiments will be available for non-weapons related purposes, according to the Government Accountability Office and the Dept. of Energy.

NIF has technical problems that make its goal of ignition unlikely.

NIF cost more than $5 billion and its future operating costs will be nearly a half-billion dollars per year, according to the budget.

Wouldn't our tax money be better spent turning Livermore away from more nuclear weapons research and into a "green lab" instead?


Think Outside the Bomb (TOTB) National Conference

Monday, June 29, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

You are invited. The TOTB conference will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico this August 13-16. For five years, Think Outside the Bomb has brought young people together to share resources, strategize collaboratively, and build a widespread movement for nuclear disarmament.

More than simply educating students on nuclear issues, TOTB aims to engage every single participant intellectually, emotionally, and personally. We seek to give each participant not only the inspiration to work for a nuclear-free future for the coming year, but the tools and skills to do that work and the opportunity and camaraderie to start this organizing.

TOTB conferences are uniquely organized almost entirely by youth and have proven to be life-changing experiences for the participants.

Attendees can expect to receive information and build skills during the conference to make their activism towards peace and justice in a nuclear-free world a reality in their communities and across the country. Emphasis is placed on training for direct political activism. Limited travel stipends are available. Once in Albuquerque, room and board will be provided.

Those interested in attending this year's conference can get more information and apply at www.thinkoutsidethebomb.org.


Livermore Rodeo Parade

Monday, June 22, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

Thanks to everyone who participated in Tri-Valley CAREs' entry in this year's Livermore Rodeo Parade!

Photographs from the parade are online in our Photos & Video section. Click on the 'TVC in the Community' tab.


The National Almost IF

Monday, June 22, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

Les Miklosy, former computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, offers compelling testimony regarding his experiences working on the National Ignition Facility:

"If you pursue a career in physics, chemistry or engineering and you are considering a professional position with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, then before you accept an offer to work for this facility, you should read this article."

Click here to view the entire article.

Click here to view a longer history of the NIF by Les Miklosy.


House Armed Services Committee Robs Needed Cleanup Funds to Increase Weapons Budget, National Ignition Facility

Friday, June 19, 2009
Posted by Marylia Kelley

The House Armed Services subcommittee mark includes $14.3 billion for fiscal year 2010 Dept. of Energy (DOE) Atomic Energy Defense Activities, exclusive of defense nuclear nonproliferation funds.

Within that amount, the subcommittee mark increases the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) stockpile stewardship program by $152 million over the President's request.

To accomplish this, the subcommittee mark reallocates $20 million from prior year unobligated balances and, most significantly, specifies a shift of more than $100 million from the DOE Defense Environmental Cleanup account to certain Stockpile Stewardship activities.

Chief among the NNSA Stockpile stewardship facilities to receive an additional largesse from the subcommittee mark is the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The subcommittee mark would increase the NIF budget by $32 million for the coming fiscal year.

Click here to read more.


Tri-Valley CAREs' Annual Strategic Planning

Monday, June 8, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

Saturday, July 18.
9:45 AM - 4 PM.
United Christian Church,
1886 College Ave.,
Livermore

Attention all Tri-Valley CAREs members, volunteers, staff and board members! Help a respected, effective nuclear "watchdog." Give peace, justice and the environment a plan!

If you are a Tri-Valley CAREs' member, supporter, volunteer, staff or board member we need you to help us plan and carry out our strategy in the coming months.

Are you interested?

RSVP by phone or email and plan to bring a potluck dish to share: 925-443-7148, marylia@trivalleycares.org


U.S. Government Inadvertently Posts List of Facilities With Nuclear Materials

Thursday, June 4, 2009
Posted by Marylia Kelley

Today the New York Times and Washington Post ran stories about the U.S. government accidentally posting on the web its list of locations handling nuclear materials like uranium and plutonium and declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Embarrassing mistake or significant security breach?

Our reading of the document's 266 pages suggests the former. For example...

Of great interest to us is that Livermore Lab is mentioned in several places on the list. Nuclear power projects in Livermore Lab Buildings 132 South, 281 and 190 are specifically listed.

Does this pose security risks above and beyond those that already exist at the Lab? Probably not.

Building 332, the Livermore Lab plutonium facility, which also stores most of the site's highly enriched uranium, is not mentioned at all.

Which brings us to an observation. Perhaps the news here is not the posting of the list, but rather the number of U.S. facilities housing nuclear bomb-making materials, including materials declared "excess" to U.S. nuclear weapons programs, that are NOT presently under IAEA safeguards. Hmmmm....

Click here for 13 MB PDF Site List, which is no longer available on the government printing office website.

(Our appreciation to Stephen Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists for breaking this story in Secrecy News on June 1)

Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs' executive director, responds to the document's release on ABC 7 news:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=6847253


Citizen's Watch Newsletter April/May, 2009

Thursday, June 4, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

Click here to read online.

Download the PDF

  • From DC. Your team is back. Get the latest.

  • NIF Ceremony. We bring a NIF Truth Telling Exhibit.

  • Strategic Planning. Should you come? Find out.

  • New Report. by six national and regional groups.

  • Peace and a Parade, too. Circle the date!

  • Rummage and Bake Sale. Our fundraising.

  • Illegal Bio-Experiments Read all about it.


NIF Ceremony, Controversy and Critics

Monday, June 1, 2009
Posted by Marylia Kelley

On Friday, some of us were at the Lab with our NIF truth display and evidence table with documentation of the facility's weapons applications, plutonium use, technical problems and other facts that were not being told at the official ceremony.

Click here to check out the story by science reporter, Suzanne Bohan, of Bay Area News Group, which owns the Contra Costa Times, San Jose Mercury News, Valley Times, Tri-Valley Herald and other papers.

Also, enjoy this video report from KGO, ABC Channel 7, featuring Marylia Kelley of Tri-Valley CAREs:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=6839430


Congressional Commission Releases "Disappointing" Report

Tuesday, June 1, 2009
Posted by Marylia Kelley

After deliberating for a year, the bi-partisan Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States finally released its report in May.

Upon reading it, the first three words that come to mind are: "disappointing," "mishmash" and "regressive." Here's why... (click in)


U.S. Loses Another Nuke

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Posted by Janine Carmona

According to the BBC:

"The United States abandoned a nuclear weapon beneath the ice in northern Greenland following a crash in 1968...

Other officials who have seen classified files on the accident confirmed the abandonment of a weapon.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the investigation, referring back to previous official studies of the incident.

But the crash, clear-up and mystery of the lost bomb have continued to haunt those involved at the time - and those who live in the region now - with continued concerns over the environmental and health impact of the events of that day in 1968."

Click here to read the entire article.


Transforming the U.S. Strategic Posture and Weapons Complex For Transition to a Nuclear Weapons-Free World

Thursday, April 9, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

Transforming the U.S. Strategic Posture and Weapons Complex For Transition to a Nuclear Weapons-Free World

The Nuclear Weapons Complex Consolidation Policy Network has released "Transforming the U.S. Strategic Posture and Weapons Complex for Transition to a Nuclear Weapons-Free World," a major study advocating a total stockpile of 500 nuclear warheads and a weapons complex downsized from eight sites to three.

Download the PDF version of our report, the report summary, or map.


Press Advisory: Transforming the U.S. Strategic Posture and Weapons Complex For Transition to a Nuclear Weapons-Free World

Monday, April 6, 2009
Posted by Marylia Kelley

The Nuclear Weapons Complex Consolidation Policy Network will release "Transforming the U.S. Strategic Posture and Weapons Complex for Transition to a Nuclear Weapons-Free World," Wednesday, April 8, 2009, 9:00 A.M. - 11:00 A.M. EST. Location: Root Room of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. Teleconference dial-in Number: (641) 715-3635, Access Code: 539953#

Contributors to the report include Tri-Valley CAREs, Natural Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Physicians for Social Responsibility - Greater Kansas City Chapter, Just Peace, and the Project on Government Oversight. The report is the result of a collaborative project supported by the Connect U.S. Fund.

Lead report author Dr. Robert Civiak, a physicist and former White House OMB budget examiner, will summarize major recommendations and findings.

Following that briefing, senior researchers from the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Federation of American Scientists will discuss the conclusions of a new joint report, "From Counterforce to Minimal Deterrence: A New Nuclear Policy on the Path Toward Eliminating Nuclear Weapons."

Both reports are being released at the time the congressionally appointed Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States readies its report. And, both reports contain steps for the Obama Administration to follow toward "the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," as the President stated in Prague, Czech Republic, on Sunday, April 5.

To better accommodate reporters in other time zones, an additional press teleconference will be held at 1:00 P.M. EST, Wednesday, April 8, 2009, at the Natural Resources Defense Council, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC. By phone: 1-866-901-2585; please ask for "nuclear report." Journalists only, please.

The Network's report's executive summary, full report and map of the current and proposed nuclear weapons complex will be available at www.trivalleycares.org and www.nukewatch.org in advance of its release in order to give journalists an opportunity to read it and formulate questions. The report is EMBARGOED, however, until AFTER the above-listed release events of April 8, 2009. Contact marylia@trivalleycares.org for further details.

Contact Info:
Bob Civiak, Lead Author, 603.448.5327, cell 603 715.0817, civiak@wildblue.net
Christopher Paine, NRDC, 202.289.2370, cell 202.422.4853, cpaine@nrdc.org
Jay Coghlan, Nuclear Watch NM, 505.989.7342, cell 505.920.7118, jay@nukewatch.org
Ingrid Drake, POGO, 202.347.1122, cell 202.577.3437, idrake@pogo.org
Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs, 925.443.7148, cell 925.255.3589, marylia@trivalleycares.org
Mavis Belisle, Just Peace of Texas, cell 806.340.9358, justpeace4@yahoo.com
Ann Suellentrop, PSR Kansas City Chapter, 913.342.0587, annsuellen@gmail.com


Tri-Valley CAREs in the news

Thursday, April 2, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

Tri-Valley CAREs and friends are "in the news" today -- on the Livermore Lab's National Ignition Facility (Chronicle) and on the environmental pollution in our community from past nuclear weapons projects (Contra Costa Times and other papers).

Click here to read the articles in our press room.


DOE Declares NIF Laser "Complete"; Leading Researcher Discloses Design Deficiencies

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Posted by Marylia Kelley

The National Ignition Facility (NIF), a mega-laser at Livermore Lab that is intended to train the next generation of nuclear bomb designers is back in the news. Not because of its bloated $5 billion price tag, or because of the government's decision to use plutonium as well as fusion targets in NIF.

Nope, NIF is in the news because its construction has been declared complete. It will be used by bomb designers.

But will NIF meet its more challenging scientific goal of ignition?

It will not, according to the March 28 analysis of Stephen Bodner, former head of laser fusion at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Read: "NIF Laser Fails to Meet the Minimum Specifications Required for their Ignition Target Designs."

Then, read the government's press release of March 31, "Department of Energy Announces Completion of World's Largest Laser."

In the classic struggle between science and public relations, the point goes to Bodner. Click here for Dr. Bodner's biography.


Janine Carmona on KPFA

Monday, March 23, 2009
Posted by Janine Carmona

Check out my recent appearance on KPFA's La Honda Bajita show with Tara in the Earth Alert segment. La Honda Bajita airs every third Friday of the month and it's a fantastic show. I urge you all to tune in. Listen to the archive of the show featuring me here.


Citizen's Watch Newsletter February/March, 2009

Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

Read online / Download the PDF
including:

  • Victory Nuclear Pork Cut from Final Stimulus Bill

  • Cleanup and the Stimulus A Slightly More Complicated Story

  • Partial Win Partial Loss in Our Ongoing Bio-Lawsuit

  • Tri-Valley CAREs Brings the Grassroots to Washington, D.C. You Can Help

  • Upcoming Events Good Friday Action

  • Report Back on Two Events King Day Celebration, UC Regents Meeting

  • EPA Levies Fine Superfund Violations


Stimulus Bill Letter

Thursday, February 5, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

Tri-Valley CAREs has signed onto a letter to the Senate appropriators asking that the $1 billion set aside for National Nuclear Security Administration in the Senate version of the stimulus bill be removed.

Please review the letter, sign, and send it to your senators.

Dear Senator,

We write to express concern over the $1 billion proposed for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in S.336, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. With Congress seeking to make substantial cuts in the total price tag of the bill, we strongly urge you to eliminate the $1 billion for NNSA. This money is not a cost effective way of accomplishing S.336's primary stated goals of creating jobs, restoring economic growth and strengthening America's middle class. Moreover, it would be premature to make major investments in NNSA's nuclear weapons research and production infrastructure, which the agency proposes to revitalize through "Complex Transformation." NNSA has a long history of cost overruns and poor management, and is one of the least likely agencies to give taxpayers a sound return on their investment when economic stimulus is so vitally needed. Finally, it is unlikely that this money will go towards preventing terrorism.

Congress has repeatedly noted that the United States lacks clear nuclear weapons policies. Adding $1 billion to NNSA's $9 billion budget is an 11% increase, a poor investment when there is such a policy vacuum. The 2008 Defense Authorization Act requires that the Obama Administration complete a nuclear posture and policy review. Until the Obama Administration addresses such issues as posture, force structure, size and scope of the nuclear complex, it would be premature to make any decisions about what infrastructure projects are needed. Conversely, making major investments in the complex could potentially prejudice the final outcome of any posture review that the Obama Administration conducts.

Since its inception in 1999, the NNSA has continually experienced significant cost overruns and oversight problems. According to several GAO reports, NNSA had not been fully effective in managing its safeguards and security program. The reports found that there was weakness in security culture, organization, staffing and training. Additionally, two of NNSA's major projects, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility, "experienced major delays and cost overruns because of problems with project management and are still not complete." The NIF alone, originally expected to cost approximately $2.1 billion upon its completion in 2002, is still not operational and is expected to cost more than $3 billion. While this money is likely not going to these projects, NNSA should not be rewarded for their poor track record with an additional $1 billion.

Senators should also realize that these funds are unlikely to go towards preventing nuclear terrorism, as DOE spends at least 67 percent of its budget on weapons. The Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) did not mention using any potential stimulus money for securing the incredibly vulnerable highly enriched uranium, which only a few years ago was a priority security issue that could not be addressed due to a lack of funding. Also, these funds will not likely go towards expediting the removal of bomb-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Recent security tests failure demonstrate that the Lab's nuclear materials pose a significant risk to its surrounding residential community.

With Congress seeking to make substantial cuts in the total price tag of the bill, we strongly urge you to eliminate the $1 billion for NNSA. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Should you have any questions, please contact:

Nickolas Roth
Program Director
Alliance For Nuclear Accountability
(p) 202-544-0217
(f) 202-544-6143
nroth@ananuclear.org

National Organization Signatures

Danielle Brian
Executive Director
Project On Government Oversight

David Culp
Legislative Representative
Friends Committee on National Legislation

Ambassador Robert Grey
Director
Bipartisan Security Group

Susan Gordon
Director
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

Darryl Fagin
Legislative Director
Americans for Democratic Action, Inc.

William Hartung
Director
Arms and Security Initiative, New America Foundation

Mark W. Harrison
Director, Peace with Justice Program
United Methodist General Board of Church and Society

John Isaacs
Executive Director
Council for a Livable World

Terri Lodge
Director of Government Affairs
Ploughshares Fund
Coordinator Arms Control Advocacy Collaborative

Paul Kawika Martin
Organizing, Political and PAC Director
Peace Action & Peace Action Education Fund

Lorelei Kelly
National Security Director
American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation

Susan Shaer
Executive Director
Women's Action for New Directions

Paul F. Walker, Ph.D.
Director, Security and Sustainability
Global Green USA

Dr. Peter Wilk
Executive Director
Physicians for Social Responsibility

Ron Zucker
Legislative Director
2020 Vision

State Organizations

Joni Arends
Executive Director
Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety

Beatrice Brailsford
Program director
Snake River Alliance, Idaho

Jay Coghlan
Executive Director
Nuke Watch, New Mexico

Amanda Hill
Development Director
Georgia Women's Action for New Directions

Marylia Kelley
Executive Director
Tri-Valley CAREs, California

Eileen McCabe
Acting for a Greener World
Nuclear Policy Advisor, Utah

Judith Mohling
Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, Colorado

Deanna Taylor
Green Party of Utah
National delegate

Click here to download the letter as a PDF.


Accidental Explosion at Livermore Lab

Thursday, January 29, 2009
Posted by Marylia Kelley

The information below is from the Department of Energy website and tells of a recent accident at the Bay Area's Livermore Lab involving an explosion with radioactive material and breach of containment in multiple gloveboxes.

The DOE account raises as many questions as it answers, and Tri-Valley CAREs will submit a Freedom of Information Act request to follow up. So, read on... and check this space for further updates as they become available.

http://www.hss.energy.gov/CSA/Analysis/ll/occur/010509-010909.pdf


Energy Dept. Issues Decisions Today To Build New Nuclear Bomb Plants, Endanger Communities

Friday, December 19, 2008
Posted by Marylia Kelley

Tri-Valley CAREs Charges Department is "Locking in" Provocative Nuclear Weapons Decisions in Waning Days of Bush Administration; Calls on Government to Downsize Weapons Complex, Prioritize Removal of Bomb-making Materials from Livermore Lab

Click here to read the complete press release.


Bay Area Group Sues to Compel Open Government, Enforce Public Right to Know

Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Posted by Marylia Kelley

This morning, Tri-Valley CAREs filed a lawsuit in federal district court in San Francisco against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The suit alleges numerous violations of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the nation's key open government law enacted to ensure public access to federal government records.

Read our press release / Read our complaint

Tri-Valley CAREs' Comments on the Final Complex Transformation SPEIS

Friday, November 21, 2008
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole

Read our response to the Final Complex Transformation SPEIS, including comments on the Curatorship Alternative, Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW), Kansas City Plant, and more...

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