Tri-Valley CAREs
Communities Against a Radioactive Environment
Monday, February 1, 2010
Posted by Scott Yundt
The Department of Energy's budget request, released today, contradicts President Obama's pledge to reduce the nuclear weapons threat by working toward their elimination. Instead, the spending plan boosts funding for nuclear weapons production facilities by $625 million from last year. $60 million more than last year is requested for Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL)weapons activities (for a total of $1.050 billion) alone, the biggest one year requested funding increase in recent history.
Secretary Chu highlighted the Department's intention to "reinvigorate" the National Labs. It appears that this reinvigoration even includes increasing funding for Lab projects that are over budget and behind schedule like the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Onee of the biggest ticket items at LLNL, NIF's funding request increased by 10% over last year, despite the fact that Lab scientists insist that the construction phase of the project is complete, which under the original project design should mean that funding needs would decrease.
The FY2011 National Nuclear Security Administration's budget includes huge funding increases for nuclear weapon "modernization" (like an additional $200 million for B-61 bomb's 'stockpile system,' and funding for the CMRR Nuclear Facility at Los Alamos and the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, both large scale nuclear weapons production facilities.)
"This budget request, if approved, dims our hopes that we will see eventual clean up of the toxic and radioactive mess created around the country by years of nuclear weapons development, dims our hopes of nuclear disarmament and peace in the foreseeable future and dims the world's hopes that the US would follow its international treaty obligations with respect to nuclear weapons." said Scott Yundt, staff attorney at Tri-Valley CARES in Livermore, California. Stay tuned for more on the budget and how you can voice opposition.
Click here to read more about this in Tri-Valley CAREs' Press Release.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Posted by Scott Yundt
Check out Tri-Valley CAREs recent update (also sent to our email list) for important upcoming news to watch out for as well as some local events.
Click here to download the Update.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Posted by Scott Yundt
An internal U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) study details how managers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) shifted costs to understate total spending on the controversial National Ignition Facility (NIF) mega-laser. The previously secret document, released today by the nuclear watchdog group Tri-Valley CAREs, pegs the current hidden costs of NIF at $80 million annually.
According to the report by the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Field Financial Management (OFFM), Livermore Lab's practice of assigning NIF overhead expenses to other Lab programs violates Public Law 100-679 Cost Accounting Standards (CAS). This law is an integral part of the structure set up to regulate government contracts. This illegal scheme circumvents the United States Congress, which sets NIF's budget each year, and violates our nation's most basic federal contracting laws.
The NIF is being shielded by Lab management from paying its share of three distinct overhead costs, the General & Administrative (G&A) cost, the Site Support Rate, and the Management Fee rate, according to the review.
Tri-Valley CAREs calls on the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Government Accountability Office and our members of Congress to investigate this financial scandal and to hold Livermore Lab management fully accountable for the laws that have been violated.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Posted by Scott Yundt
Accounting Scandal at the NIF Livermore Lab hides enormous cost overruns.
Update on Biosuit Tri-Valley CAREs files Motion for Summary Judgment.
Action Alert! Help stop a new B61 nuclear bomb.
Upcoming events Info on a local celebration of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Support Tri-Valley CAREs stopping nuclear weapons where they start.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
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.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Posted by Scott Yundt
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.
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)
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.
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.
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 read our press release.
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
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.
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.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole
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
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:
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole
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.
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:
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)
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."
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Posted by Adrian Drummond-Cole
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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. |
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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 National Organization Signatures
Danielle Brian
David Culp
Ambassador Robert Grey
Susan Gordon
Darryl Fagin
William Hartung
Mark W. Harrison
John Isaacs
Terri Lodge
Paul Kawika Martin
Lorelei Kelly
Susan Shaer
Paul F. Walker, Ph.D.
Dr. Peter Wilk Ron Zucker State Organizations Joni Arends Beatrice Brailsford
Jay Coghlan
Amanda Hill
Marylia Kelley
Eileen McCabe
Judith Mohling
Deanna Taylor |
Click here to download the letter as a PDF.
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
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.
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.
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...