Tri-Valley CAREs August, 1997

Citizen's Watch...

Nuclear Overview of the U.S.

Preliminary Decision in Lawsuit

The Cold War ended five years ago. Yet even if the START II treaty is fully implemented, the U.S. plans to keep around 10,000 nuclear weapons3,500 strategic weapons plus tactical nuclear weapons and a reserve arsenal not counted in the treaty. Submarines carrying deadly nuclear missiles patrol the world's oceans, ready to target any city at a moment's notice. New Trident submarines, B-2 bombers and earth-penetrating nuclear weapons are being built as you read this.

The U.S. signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Yet the Department of Energy keeps the Nevada Test Site in a state of "readiness" to conduct a nuclear test while it also builds a new laboratory-based nuclear testing infrastructure to attempt a technological end run around the purpose of the CTBT. This program, called "Stockpile Stewardship and Management," keeps U.S. bomb designers at work advancing nuclear weapons concepts, endangers global acceptance of the CTBT, promotes nuclear proliferation around the world and creates new nuclear waste and pollution in our communities. Taxpayers are being asked to pick up a $40 billion price tag for the next ten years alone!

SSM is a far-flung attempt to keep weapons designers busy. We call it the "nukes forever" program. Its most dangerous elements include underground "subcritical" nuclear experiments in Nevada and the National Ignition Facility, designed to create thermonuclear blasts in a reactor vessel, under construction here at Livermore Lab.

Still, there is very good news as well. A rising crescendo of voices is calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Last December, 60 generals and admirals worldwide released a statement on disarmament proposing such steps as removal of all nuclear forces from "alert" status, deep reductions in stockpiles and fundamental policy changesincluding governmental commitments to the "continuous, complete and irrevocable elimination of nuclear weapons." Peace groups, environmentalists, taxpayer organizations, religious leaders and others have joined forces to stop the DOE's SSM program and replace it with a passive curatorship for the arsenal as it awaits dismantlement. The lawsuit by 39 groups (detailed at right) is but one aspect of the campaign. Call us for more information on ways you can help.

Judge Stanley Sporkin granted our motion for preliminary injunction in part and denied it in part.

First the good part. We are pleased that the judge recognized the legitimacy of our concerns about the environmental, health and safety risks of the Stockpile Stewardship & Management program. Based on these concerns, he ordered the Department of Energy to disclose more information about its plutonium pit manufacturing plans and the National Ignition Facility, as well as alternatives to the SSM program.

The judge's decision affirms our position that DOE has not provided sufficient information on the hazards of its proposed program, including NIF. Too, we are heartened the judge has indicated he will hold DOE's feet to the fire with regard to promises the agency made to disclose additional information on viable alternatives to the SSM program such as approaches based on further consolidation of the weapons complex and a modest curatorship program centered on the remanufacture of parts that would better meet U.S. arms control and nonproliferation commitments.

However, we deeply regret that Judge Sporkin did not issue a preliminary injunction, which would have immediately suspended NIF construction and upgrades on two facilities for making plutonium pits, pending resolution of the case.

In a series of declarations, including classified declarations that neither plaintiffs nor their attorneys were able to see to rebut, government officials essentially engaged in blackmail by claiming that even a temporary delay in NIF and pit production could cause other nations to doubt the credibility of the U.S. nuclear deterrentand thereby require a return to full underground nuclear testing. The judge bought this" big lie" technique and took it even further, citing another Cuban missile crisis as a rationale for his decision not to enjoin any part of DOE's SSM program.

The preliminary injunction was the first phase. The case can now proceed to a full airing of the issues on the merits. We shall continue to oppose the DOE's wasteful, provocative and environmentally dangerous SSM program in every possible venue.

Tri-Valley CAREs u 5720 East Avenue #116 u Livermore, CA 94550 u (510) 443-7148 (510) 449-6603

2 Print Bites: All the News That Fits to Print

2 Hiroshima mayor decries nuke tests. On the 52nd anniversary of the atomic bomb that devastated the city and claimed the lives of what are now 200,000 officially recognized victims, Hiroshima's mayor, Takashi Hiraoka, speaking before a crowd of 45,000, criticized the U.S. attitude toward the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as "utterly devoid of wisdom." Japan has already ratified the CTBT. Hiraoka noted, "On the one hand, the U.S. promises to reduce its stockpile of nuclear weapons. On the other hand, it obstinately maintains its nuclear testing program... We in Hiroshima are outraged that nuclear weapons have yet to be abolished and banished from the face of the earth."

2 Plutonium in kids' teeth. A new government study found plutonium deposits in the teeth of children across Great Britain. The levels of contamination are dependent on the child's proximity to the Sellafield plutonium reprocessing plant on the Irish Sea coast of Cumbria. The study concluded that discharges from the plant were the source of plutonium, and that the highest concentrations of the radioactive metal in kids' teeth was consistent with airborne release patterns. The plant had previously been cited for its marine pollution. Environmentalists are demanding that the plant be shut down.

2 Iodine-131 with that milk? Watchdog groups demanding the National Cancer Institute release all its data on radioactive fallout won a partial victory when NCI published a summary estimating up to 75,000 people may get thyroid cancer due to their childhood exposures to Iodine-131 from nuclear tests, including via their milk. Much still needs to be done, from full public disclosure about the other radionuclides in fallout to medical monitoring and more. Stay tuned...

2 Academic conversion? It is likely that you have heard of defense conversion whereby old military technologies are put to new civilian uses, but how about the reverse? DOE is turning the tide entirely, paying colleges to advance one of its 21st century military objectives to increase the sophistication with which nuclear explosions can be modelled in virtual reality. DOE just inked a five-university, $250 million deal so more college kids can help out with ASCI, the accelerated strategic computing initiative, one of the key ingredients of DOE's "Stockpile Stewardship" program. Signing up for a ten year stint are Stanford, Cal Tech, Univ. of Chicago, Univ. of Illinois, and Univ. of Utah.

2 Radiation victim wins. Our colleagues in Chelyabinsk, Russia have just won what could be a precedent-setting court battle. The suit was brought by a family who suspected their son's deformities and medical problems were caused by radioactive releases from the Mayak plant (about like DOE's Hanford facility). After three years in city court, Mayak was ordered to pay compensation of 50 million rubles ($8,600). That award was upheld last week by the regional court, where 50 similar claims wait to be heard. Mayak's only recourse now is the Supreme Court.

Secret DOE Plan Reveals New Nukes

DOE and lab officials said, "We are not designing new nuclear weapons under a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty regime, and, even if we wanted to, we couldn't accomplish the task using laboratory-based 'Stockpile Stewardship' facilities."

And activists proved the government was creating a new earth-penetrator nuclear bomb, which has since been deployed in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, beginning early this year. So, the officials said the B61-11 was not a new nuclear bomb, but a modification of an old bomb albeit with a new military capability.

And, DOE and lab officials continued to intone, "We are not designing new nuclear weapons under a CTBT regime, and, even if we wanted to, we couldn't accomplish the task using laboratory-based 'Stockpile Stewardship' facilities."

And an activist last month obtained information revealing that the labs are designing a new submarine-launched nuclear weapon as a possible replacement for the W-88. While the Sandia Lab document actually stated the weapon is a "new design," the official mantra said it was a modification and droned on.

And, DOE and lab officials said again (and again)to the media in particular, "We are not designing new nuclear weapons ..."

However, through the lawsuit brought by 39 groups to challenge the "Stockpile Stewardship and Management" (SSM) program, activists recently obtained DOE's formerly secret SSM plan. The once-secret DOE plan shows the three major weapons labsLivermore, Los Alamos and Sandiaextensively utilizing existing and proposed "Stockpile Stewardship" machines including the National Ignition Facility and the Contained Firing Facility, both of which are being built at Livermore, for a wide array of weapons design tasks.

The SSM plan reveals four nuclear weapons for which intensive, new work is slated to continue into the next century, including on Livermore Lab's W-87, which sits atop the MX missile. The others are the B-61 (a bomb dropped from planes for which DOE now appears to want wings), and the W-76 and W-88, submarine-launched warheads for Trident missiles.

Stay tuned. More to come.

2.............................................Tri-Valley CAREs Citizen's Watch

Wednesday, September 17

Tri-Valley CAREs mailing party

7 PM, Stephanie's house

8301 Mulberry Pl., Dublin

(510) 829-6939 for directions

Looking for an easy way to help Tri-Valley CAREs? Volunteer to affix labels on our next Citizen's Watch.

Tuesday, September 23

Public Meeting

Livermore Lab permit application for

Treatment, Storage and Disposal of

hazardous and radioactive wastes

7 PM, Livermore High School

(510) 443-7148 for details

This public workshop, held by the CA Dept. of Toxic Substances Control, precedes a formal public hearing on the Lab's permit application, coming on October 9. If you are concerned about the impacts of LLNL on the environment, this is an opportunity to obtain more information.

LLNL produces a wide variety of hazardous and mixed (chemical and radioactive combined) wastes covered by this permit. LLNL typically generates more than 300,000 gallons per year of liquid hazardous and mixed wastes and 500,000 pounds (or 250 short tons) of solid hazardous and mixed wastes. Also, LLNL generates large amounts of radioactive waste that will not be regulated under the permit (DOE "regulates" its own rad wastes). The draft permit, as currently written, would allow the Lab to store over 800,000 gallons of hazardous and mixed wastes, as well as "green light" waste treatment facilities on site.

We aim to get the Lab to reduce its wastes, and to ensure that the state takes a comprehensive look at the hazards posed by LLNL and acts to the full extent of its authority to protect the community. Join us.

Fourth AVLIS Mishap

Citizen's Alerts ,

Thursday, August 28

Tri-Valley CAREs meets

7:30 PM, Livermore Library

1000 So. Livermore Ave.

(510) 443-7148 for details

We will finalize the new Board, discuss creative responses to NIF construction and the Holog test and prepare for the upcoming public meeting on LLNL's nuke waste. Get the latest information and, most importantly, add your two cents to the discussion. Together we can make a difference!

Monday, September 1

Nuremberg Action Commemoration

10:30 AM, Concord Naval Weap. Stn.

(510) 524-6064 for details

Brian Willson and Holly Rauen will join friends to mark the tenth anniversary of the protest action at Concord Naval Weapons Station when a train hit Brian, taking his legs.

Wednesday, September 3

Livermore Conversion Project meets

7:15 PM, 1212 Broadway, Oakland

(510) 632-9273 for details

BART-accessible meeting location for Bay Area activists. Help plan actions to promote peace and oppose NIF and "subcritical" nuke tests.

Saturday, September 6

Abolition 2000 - No. CA gathering

9:30 AM, St. Eugene's, Santa Rosa

(707) 575-8902 for details

Abolition 2000 is a global movement to eliminate nuclear weapons consisting of over 700 groups, including Tri-Valley CAREs as a cofounding member. Its name derives from one of the movement's central aimsa treaty by the year 2000 to abolish all nuclear weapons within a timebound framework. Hosted by Sonoma County Center for Peace and Justice, we will gather to celebrate our victories, clarify our obstacles and strategize our next steps. (See enclosed flier.)

On May 2 of this year, an accident at Livermore Lab's Uranium - Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation project resulted in a four hour-long evacuation of 100 workers, as well as the loss of 12 lasers, costing $400,000 in damages.

According to recently published reports, the mishap resulted from several factors: inadequate training, poor interdepartmental communication, no backup cooling system, no warning signs posted and confusion over intra-lab responsibilities.

These factors led a mechanic to mistakenly close a cooling water valve, causing a water backup into AVLIS, whichas the hot lasers boiled off the water, popped their hoses and melted plastic and fiberglass partsproduced flooding, steam and a cloud of smoke. No injuries were reported.

AVLIS is the Lab's uranium enrichment project, using lasers to separate isotopes and prepare nuclear fuel for reactors. There have been three other AVLIS accidents involving cooling water, two in the past year, and a third a couple of years ago.

Next Meeting ...

Tri-Valley CAREs meets Thursday, August 28 at 7:30 PM at the Livermore Library, corner of So. Livermore & Pacific. Agenda includes:

· Livermore Lab's proposed permit for hazardous and mixed (chemical and radioactive) wastes. Join us for an info session, followed by a round table discussion centered on what we can do to safeguard our public health and environment.

· "Stockpile Stewardship." Get the latest on the suit, strategize next steps to end this expensive, polluting and proliferation provocative program.

Better active today than radioactive tomorrow

Tri-Valley CAREs Citizen's Watch.............................................3

Hiroshima Commemorated at Livermore

"HOLOG"

The latest advance

for nuclear war,

designed at Livermore

Holog, the second in a series of underground subcritical nuclear tests, is now being readied by Livermore Lab. Its likely "shot date" will be in late September.

Holog will involve two simultaneous blasts, each using about 50 grams of plutonium and high explosives. It will not produce a sustained nuclear chain reaction, hence the term "subcritical."

Last spring, DOE said Holog's purpose is to measure ejecta, the molten shards of plutonium that spew out in a nuclear explosion. Holog will be "important for understanding [a weapon's] performance," said Robin Staffin, a deputy secretary in DOE Defense Programs.

To Protest

1) Call Clinton today at (202) 456-1111.

2) Call Tri-Valley CAREs in early September. We will publicize the "shot date" as soon as it's known.

3) Plan to vigil at Livermore Lab the evening before the test.

4) Plan to demonstrate at Bechtel Corp. headquarters, 50 Beale St., in San Francisco at noon on the day of the test. (Bechtel manages the test site for DOE.)

Dr. Ted Taylor spent the 1950s as one of the nation's top nuclear weapons designers, working intense, long hours entranced by the challenge of miniaturizing bombs and by all things thermonuclear and explosive. In the decades since, Ted Taylor has continued to work tirelessly for the abolition of nuclear weapons. On August 6, the 52nd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, he was arrested at the gates of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory while protesting construction of the National Ignition Facility.

About 150 peace advocates gathered that morning at Livermore while Dr. Taylor delivered the keynote address. He is concerned that NIF might make possible the development of a pure fusion bomb; that is, a weapon in which the thermonuclear fuel could be exploded without requiring a fission "trigger," as is currently the case. Such an invention would be a nuclear proliferation nightmare, because making a nuclear bomb would no longer be dependent on highly enriched uranium or plutonium, which are hard to acquire. Too, a pure fusion weapon could be small enough to fit in a briefcase, while powerful enough to level a city.

Dr. Taylor speaks as one of the cadre of early researchers into fusion explosions. Designed to use 192 lasers, not plutonium, to set off a fusion blast inside a fuel pellet filled with tritium and deuterium, the NIF, by definition, says Taylor, will be a powerful tool for advancing the study of pure fusion weaponry. While no one can predict whether that effort will succeed with scientific breakthroughs leading to a fusion bomb, Taylor is worried that what is impossible today may with the advent of NIF and other fusion work going on in the labs suddenly become possible tomorrow.

Following the rally, Dr. Taylor led a procession to the Livermore Lab main gate, where he and 42 others chose to risk arrest by peacefully attempting to deliver an "Order to Cease and Desist Illegal Activities," citing the Livermore Lab and its NIF for violation of international law, including noncompliance with the World Court decision last year on the illegality of nuclear weapons. With an abundance of creative banners, a great sound system, many eloquent words and some nice music, it was a morning of, yes, mourning, but also of rededicating ourselves to peace.

Tri-Valley CAREs

Citizens Against a Radioactive Environment

5720 East Ave., #116, Livermore, CA 94550

Phone: (510) 443-7148 or (510) 449-6603

Fax: (510) 443-0177 Email: marylia@igc.apc.org

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Edited by Marylia Kelley

& Jo Ann Frisch.

Marylia Kelley,

Sally Light &

Jackie Cabasso,

contributors.