|
|
|
|
In September, as we reported, during the construction of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), over 100 capacitors containing PCBs were uncovered and removed. Treated as an "Emergency Removal Action" under the provisions of the Superfund law, everything was quickly removed within days of the discovery. But for DOE's desire to excavate before the winter rains, this removal action could have been undertaken in a more deliberate manner, and thus, could have included public participation. Instead, it was carried out behind closed doors. By law, DOE was still required to prepare an "Action Memorandum," subject to public comment. Overall the report is deficient and incomplete, with many important data gaps. Below is a brief summary of three key concerns:
* The cleanup level set is too lax. The Action Memo states that all soils containing PCBs at or over 1,000 parts per billion (ppb) were removed from the site. It is not clear why this level was set. At some other sites, the levels decided upon have been six times more stringent, as low as 160 ppb. One of the problems with PCBs is that they may contain dioxins and furans, or similar molecules. Dioxins and furans are generally cleaned up to 1 ppb, and may be toxic at 1 part per quadrillion.
* Monitoring is needed. The Lab dumped some "clean" soils (possibly containing low-levels of PCBs) on the northern part of the site. There is a potential that these soils will run-off into Arroyo Las Positas and the industrial waste water system during heavy rains. We recommend that all run-off be monitored for PCBs for at least one year, and detection limits be set in the low parts per billion. We also recommend that run-off controls be placed around the redeposited soil.
* Livermore Lab is a Superfund site. Groundwater below the NIF construction site is significantly contaminated. Extraction locations for pollutants are close to the NIF construction site. Tri-Valley CAREs is concerned that the removal action and the surrounding excavation will negatively affect the cleanup in this area. The Action Memorandum fails to address this important issue altogether. |
Recently the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) accepted a $43 million Dept. of Energy contract to build an electron accelerator for the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test facility, called DARHT, now being constructed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Basically a $256 million machine to take stereo pictures of imploding bomb cores, DARHT, like Livermore's NIF, is part of DOE's "Stockpile Stewardship and Management" (SSM) program. SSM will: 1) upgrade nuclear weapon codes (the software at the heart of weapons design); and 2) carry out physical experiments on various aspects of nuclear weapons explosions, leading to continued modification of nuclear designs, and possibly leading to development of "third generation" nuclear weapons weapons based on new technology.
Thus, any participation by LBNL in DARHT will contribute to continuing the dangerous "Cold War" mentality which, for more than half a century, has had its grip on our nation's leadership, influenced our foreign policy, drained our nation's coffers, and threatened people worldwide. LBNL's role in DARHT flies in the face of the recent World Court opinion that declared nuclear weapons to be essentially illegal. It also helps to undermine both the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the sensitive international ratification process of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
On December 8, we will participate in a forum, called for by the Mayor of Berkeley, to explore the implications of the DARHT contract, including its relationship to the City of Berkeley's long-standing status as a nuclear free-zone.
Over the years, we have regarded LBNL as a preferred "model" among DOE's national laboratories, primarily because LBNL has not been an integral part of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. We sincerely hope that LBNL does not cross that line now to become a participant in the unconscionable process of creating new nuclear weapons capabilities. Reports we are hearing from LBNL suggest a number of workers there share this perspective. Perhaps, together, we can put a halt to this DARHT contract. |
|
| |
|
Keeping the Dream Alive |
|
What's Been Going On: Ward Valley is a wide, tilting valley in the southeast corner of California's east Mojave Desert. The proposed dump site is surrounded by eight wilderness areas and in the midst of critical habitat for the threatened desert tortoise. Nearby are the golden canyons and cave paintings in the Old Woman Mountains. To the east, the foothills of the Stepladder Mountains are covered in a forest of cholla cactus. Ward Valley is home to golden eagles and red-tailed hawks, sidewinders and tortoises, song birds and coyotes, jack rabbits and kit fox. In the spring and fall, chicory, sunflower and dandelions carpet the ground. Smoke tree and screwbean mesquite line the washes, and during monsoon showers, a wall of water six feet high can speed down the water courses.
America's nuclear power industry, anxious to rid itself of the long-lived and highly-dangerous radioactive wastes at its power plant sites, has launched a political campaign to open what could become a national dump site at Ward Valley. Plans are to bury radioactive wastes in shallow, unlined trenches above an aquifer 18 miles from the Colorado River and in an area considered sacred to the Fort Mojave, Chemehuevi, Cocopah, Quechan and Colorado River Indian Tribes.
The industry has been engaged in a well-financed public relations campaign to present the dump as a safe and remote repository for short-lived medical wastes. However, according to Dept. of Energy statistics and a recent report from the Congressional Research Service, as much as ninety percent of the waste slated for Ward Valley would come from nuclear power reactors. A very small portion of the waste, less than fifteen percent by volume and less than one percent by radioactivity, would come from medical and research sources. Much of this type of waste is short-lived and can be safely and economically stored where it is generated.
Last year, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey issued a report that identified five subsurface pathways by which leaks from Ward Valley would reach the Colorado Riversource of water for 22 million people in the Southwest and Mexico.
What's New: Early in 1998, the state and federal government each plan to begin a series of new tests to measure the migration of tritium (radioactive hydrogen) at the site. The tritium was deposited by bomb tests conducted in nearby Nevada. At issue is how to calculate the speed at which radioactive contaminants will reach groundwater in the area.
Dump opponents point out that prior tests have already found tritium at 100 feet below the site, indicating that buried radioactive wastes could pollute area aquifers and, ultimately, the Colorado River. Too, critics argue that all nuclear dumps to date that have buried wastes in unlined trenches are leaking, and that the proposed dump contractor for Ward Valley, U.S. Ecology, has left a trail of oozing nuclear dump sites across the countryfrom Maxey Flats, Kentucky to Beatty, Nevada.
Some environmental organizations support the conduct of more tritium tests in the hope the results will augment existing arguments for halting the dump.
However, the new tests will disturb an additional one and one-half acres or more of habitat at Ward Valley. Largely because of this continuing desecration of the site the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance is issuing a call to action, slated to begin when the tritium testing occurs. Native American elders and environmentalists plan to peacefully confront the drilling rigs, with many others providing legal witness and support.
For details, call the Ward Valley Coalition (415) 752-8678, the Fort Mojave Tribe (760) 629-4591 or Save Ward Valley (760) 326-6267. |
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday is January 15. Much has been said about the eloquent civil rights leader who began his crusade in 1955. King's model of nonviolent resistance was based on the teachings of Christianity; on the social ideas of Henry David Thoreau, author of "Civil Disobedience"; and on the methods of Mohandas K. Gandhi, who used nonviolence to help free India from British control.
King's nonviolent program reached one of its highest points in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. More than 200,000 persons marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. While millions watched on television, he delivered his now famous speech, "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men (sic) are created equal.'"
Born in 1929, King's life was cut short by an assassin's bullet on April 4, 1968. But his stirring words and example of the power of nonviolence continue to inspire us and show us a method of achieving social change. |
2.............................................Tri-Valley CAREs Citizen's Watch
|
Citizen's Alerts , |
Thursday, January 8
Livermore Conversion Project Livermore Enviro Peace Alliance 7 PM, LCP & 7:30 PM, joint LCP-LEPA 1212 Broadway, Downtown Oakland
BART-accessible meeting place for activists and groups working on a broad range of peace, health and environmental issues.
Wednesday, January 14
Tri-Valley CAREs mailing party 7 PM, Carol's home 2956 Morgan Dr., San Ramon (510) 829-9675 for directions
Good vibes, good people, good food and good workgetting our Citizen's Watch ready for mailing.
Thursday, January 15
Pete Seeger Concert 7:30 PM, Foothill College off 280, Los Altos Hills (408) 297-2299 for details, tickets
Folk singer Pete Seeger returns to the Bay Area for this performance to celebrate King's birthday. Also appearing are the Oakland Youth Chorus and Bob Reid. Proceeds benefit the San Jose Peace Center and the Collins Foundation.
Saturday, January 17
Ashkenaz Dance-a-thon 1 PM, 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley (510) 525-5054 for details
Celebrate community during the City of Berkeley's "David Nadel Week." Twelve hours of non-stop music from around the world.
Thursday, January 22
Tri-Valley CAREs meets 7:30 PM, Don's home 1020 Dolores St. #31, Livermore (510) 443-0768 for details
Welcome to our first meeting of the new year. Join us in 1998, our 15th year of promoting peace. |
Getting it Green | |||||||
|
Action Alert
Nukes Forever?
'Tis the season to stop the Dept. of Energy's new nuclear weapons programs, including the National Ignition Facility. In November, we invited you to participate in "Redefining Stockpile Stewardship" month, along with folks across the country.
This month, we ask you to please fill out and mail the enclosed postcard urging Clinton to take steps toward a safer world. Too, this month, you have a special opportunity to send a clear message to Congressby asking your Rep. to support the great "Dear Colleague" letter being circulated for signatures by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Santa Rosa). See flier for details. Don't delay! Act today! Your calls and letters count!
Thursday, December 18
Stop the Gun Dealers 7:30 PM, La Pena 3105 Shattuck, Berkeley (415) 565-0201 x12 for details
Speakers include John Lindsay-Poland of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Al Jones and Sally Laidlaw-Williams of American Friends Service Committee on stopping gun violenceinternationally and in our neighborhoods. Music by Vukani Mawethu Choir.
Sunday, December 21
A Christmas Carol: Readings 7 PM, King Middle School 1781 Rose, North Berkeley (510) 525-3787 for details, tickets
Actors Martin Sheen, Samantha Langevin and Owen Murphy will perform a reading of Charles Dicken's holiday classic. Proceeds benefit the San Carlos Foundation. Music will be provided by Coro Hispano de San Francisco. |
Imagine fresh air, clean water and a Green Lab operating in our community. We're working harder today than ever to actualize this long-sought vision. Yes, generous donations from you, our members, friends and readers, continue to play an important role in achieving this giant shift away from present day nuclear programs. Yes, we face new and different challenges each week in countering the Lab's definitely un-green agenda. And, yes, we are making progressputting the National Ignition Facility under increased scrutiny, exposing new nuclear weapons projects, calling for pollution prevention measures to safeguard the environment.
Individual gifts and foundation funds received from W. Alton Jones Foundation, John Merck Fund, Ruth Mott Fund, Ploughshares Fund, Public Welfare Foundation, Rockefeller Financial Services and Town Creek Foundation, as well as The San Francisco Foundation and Vanguard Public Foundation, enabled us to be so effective this past year.
We are very appreciative of all our supporters. Your concerns are central to what we do at Tri-Valley CAREs as is your continued support which helps cover the costs of producing this newsletter, action alerts, fact sheets and technical reports, as well as town meetings, public hearings, conferences, peaceful demonstrations and much, much more. Importantly, individual gifts provide the margin of flexibility that Tri-Valley CAREs needs to respond quickly and effectively to Lab actions. This would not be possible otherwise.
Recently we mailed our semi-annual appeal. As you read it, don't put it aside but, rather, respond in the same prompt manner that Tri-Valley CAREs does with your welfare in mind whenever the Lab presents us all with a new crisis. | ||||||||
|
Joy & Peace this Holiday Season | |||||||||
|
Tri-Valley CAREs Citizen's Watch.............................................3 | |||||||||
|
* Print Bites: All the News That Fits to Print | |||||||||
|
Cohen, suggested crafting new, high-tech military responses to potential 21st Century domestic threats, such as terrorist attacks. The panel concluded the Pentagon should put itself in the position to create an anti-missile defense over the U.S. (Star Wars revised) "once we get a better idea of what the threats are," according to one member. On a more positive note, the panel said the current structuring of U.S. forces to fight two major foreign wars at the same time was overblown, and it endorsed a lower limit for U.S. nuclear weapons.
* Leaking Waste. The DOE had long claimed that the 54 million gallons of deadly wastes held in 177 underground tanksabout 67 of which are thought to be leaking at the Hanford reservation would not reach groundwater. Well, it's there. New studies confirm radioactive waste from the tanks has reached the water table 230 feet below. Next stop, Columbia River?
* Livermore Health Studies. Thanks to advocacy by the community members of an advisory "site team" (including Tri-Valley CAREs), the DOE has reinstated some monies for the CA state health department and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to continue assessing the effects of the Livermore Lab on the health of the surrounding community. If you are a Livermore resident wishing to get involved, please give us a call. Public participation is our aim. | |||||||||
|
* More Plutonium Violations. Last month we published news of the 15 criticality violations committed by Livermore Lab during its preparation of the underground "subcritical" nuclear test, HOLOG. This month Tri-Valley CAREs learned there has been a new plutonium criticality violation at Livermore. The word is that essentially all operations are now shut down in the plutonium facility, and that the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board has just quietly completed an inspection. We have document requests into both DOE and DNFSB, and will update you when we obtain their reports. Additionally, we have heard there is more to the story on the 15 prior criticality violations than was written in the Lab's report. Stay tuned!
* Ron, You Will be Missed. Rep. Ronald V. Dellums (D-Oakland) recently announced he will retire effective this coming February after serving 27 years in Congress. We wish him the best of luck in his post-Congressional life, and hope that he can give nuclear weapons a swift kick in the, uh, budget before leaving office.
* Nuclear Bay Area. Kudos to S.F. Examiner reporters Erin McCormick and Jane Kay for their 3-part series on nuclear hazards in our communities, including a profile of Livermore Lab. Copies available on request. |
* NYT Takes on SSM. In its lead editorial on Nov. 30, the New York Times cautiously but firmly took the Dept. of Energy and the labs to task over the so-called "Stockpile Stewardship" program. In calling for an alternatives analysis, the editorial echoes a main theme in our current lawsuit challenging the program. The newspaper concludes, "...the stewardship program must not subsidize unrelated experimentation or allow any effort to design and build more advanced weapons. The Congressional Budget Office has proposed less expensive ways to assure weapons reliability. One approach would be to consolidate the work at one of the existing labs and do without the [national] ignition facility... Congress, whose budget ax is so keen on social programs, owes taxpayers a disinterested study to determine how far the stewardship program can safely be cut." (Hint: the correct answer isfar.)
* Homeland Defense? The National Defense Panel released a report calling on the U.S. to spend $5 billion to $10 billion a year to develop new weapons and warfighting concepts as a "hedge" against unforeseen changes in global security. The panel, created by Congress with its members appointed by Secretary of Defense William | ||||||||
|
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
Change Service Requested |
Non Profit Organization US Postage Paid Livermore, CA | ||||||||
|
Edited by Marylia Kelley & JoAnn Frisch. Marylia Kelley, Ester Soriano, Peter Strauss, Sally Light & Phil Klasky, contributors.
| |||||||||