Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment), the local organization that "watchdogs" the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will send key staff and technical experts to the United Nations to participate in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, which will take place in New York from May 2-27. Tri-Valley CAREs is a UN-accredited non-governmental organization.

The Tri-Valley CAREs team will meet with delegates from more than a dozen countries to discuss measures to strengthen compliance with the NPT, including the disarmament obligation of the United States and other signatory nuclear weapons states under the Treaty's Article VI.

"The NPT is the most universal treaty of its kind, signed by nearly 190 countries. It commits the nuclear weapons states to eliminate their arsenals. In return the non-nuclear armed states agree not to acquire such weapons," explained Loulena Miles, Tri-Valley CAREs' Staff Attorney. "The U.S. is flaunting its NPT obligation by seeking to develop new nuclear bunker-busting bombs and other new and modified nuclear weapons at Livermore Lab," Miles continued. "This, in turn, weakens the basic foundation of the non-proliferation regime."

"It's hypocritical for the U.S. to insist that other nations not develop nuclear weapons while spending billions to modernize and upgrade its nuclear arsenal," charged Tara Dorabji, Outreach Director for Tri-Valley CAREs. "If we want to foster a strong global nonproliferation regime and prevent others from acquiring nuclear weapons, we need to stop developing new nuclear bombs ourselves." Dorabji added, "the U.S. cannot effectively insist on nuclear abstinence from a barstool."

Tri-Valley CAREs will share a recently released report with the NPT delegations. Titled, "America's One-Nation Arms Race: An Analysis of the Department of Energy's Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Request for Nuclear Weapons Activities (1.6 MB pdf)," the report documents a decade long upsurge in funding for nuclear weapons that supports a vast research and manufacturing enterprise focused on upgrading existing U.S. nuclear weapons and designing new ones.

The report is written by Dr. Robert Civiak, a physicist and former Budget Examiner at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). His responsibilities at OMB included oversight of the DOE nuclear weapons programs. "The current and proposed U.S. nuclear weapons budget directly contradicts the Administration's efforts to convince potential nuclear weapons proliferators that there is nothing to be gained from developing nuclear weapons," said Dr. Civiak.

"Our goal is to help other countries hold the U.S. government's feet to the fire to achieve disarmament," commented Inga Olson, Tri-Valley CAREs' Program Director. "Ultimately, the NPT offers us the prospect of genuine security; that is, a world free of the threat of nuclear annihilation. If it falters, we will all become less safe."

The Tri-Valley CAREs team will bring information to delegates on the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, a new bomb slated to be developed at Livermore Lab, and which, if built, would burrow into the ground before detonation. The group will also highlight U.S. plans to double the plutonium limit at Livermore Lab to 3,080 pounds. With the increase, Livermore Lab plans to develop new technologies to cast plutonium pits. These technologies are to be used in a new plutonium bomb factory, called the Modern Pit Facility, that will include the capability to manufacture more than 250 new pits per year, including new-design pits for nuclear weapons. Plutonium pits are the cores of modern day nuclear weapons.

While in New York, on the eve of the opening of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review conference, several members of the Tri-Valley CAREs team will participate in a major rally to support the NPT. The May 1 " No Nukes! No War!" demonstration will march by the United Nations and culminate in a rally in Central Park .

On May 1, Tri-Valley CAREs will join many voices from around the world calling for global nuclear disarmament, the withdrawal of the U.S. military from Iraq, and greater support for the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Thousands of people are traveling from Japan, including survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 60 years ago. Dozens of mayors from around the world, led by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are expected to join the demonstration. Multi-national delegations are attending from 5 different continents. Coordinators from every region within the U.S. have organized trains, buses and car caravans for the many U.S. based groups that will attend the event.

Interviews with Tri-Valley CAREs staff and independent experts are available. Additional information online at: http://www.trivalleycares.org, http://www.abolitionnow.org/may1.html, and http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2788

On May 1st Tri-Valley CAREs will also sponsor a vigil at Lizzie Fountain in downtown Livermore (corner of First Street and Livermore Avenue) from 5 PM - 6 PM. With songs, signs, banners and candles, Tri-Valley residents will show their support for the rule of law, the Non-Proliferation Treaty and global nuclear disarmament. Further, the vigil will show solidarity with our members -- and the Mayor of Pleasanton -- who will be in New York as we gather locally. Call Marylia or Gayle at (925) 443-7148 for more information.

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