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- Missiles and Missile Defense
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- Editorial
Team
- Luke Brothers
- David Krieger
- Carah Ong
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| The following is an excerpt from a speech given on 8 October 2004 in Hiroshima, Japan at the ceremony honoring the Mayors for Peace with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's 2004 World Citizenship Award.
Meeting the Russell-Einstein Challenge to Humanity | Top
by David Krieger "Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart."
- Vaclav Havel
The Russell-Einstein Manifesto calls upon humanity to choose dramatically different futures. Since humanity is made up of all of us, we all must choose. And the choice of each of us matters. This great city of Hiroshima , a city that has experienced so much devastation and rebirth, led by its hibakusha , has chosen the path of a nuclear weapons-free future. I am always inspired by the spirit of Hiroshima and its courageous hibakusha , and I stand in solidarity with you on this path.
One truly hopeful action at this time is the Mayors for Peace Emergency Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons. This campaign, led by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, calls for the initiation of negotiations in 2005 and the completion of negotiations in 2010 for the elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world by the year 2020. This is a great and necessary challenge, one which deserves our collective support. Just a few days ago, on behalf of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, I presented our 2004 World Citizenship Award to the Mayors for Peace for their critical effort on behalf of humanity.
Our cause is right and it is noble. It seeks, in the spirit of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, to preserve humanity's future. It calls upon us to raise our voices, to stand our ground, and to never give up. The year 2005 is a critical year, but it is not the only year. Our efforts must be sustained over a long period of time, perhaps longer than our lifetimes. This means we must inspire new generations to act for humanity.
There will be times when we may be tired and discouraged, but we are not allowed to cease our efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons. No matter what obstacles we face in the form of political intransigence or public apathy, we are not allowed to give up hope. This is the price of being fully human in the Nuclear Age. The future demands of us that we keep our hearts strong, our voices firm, and our hope alive.
Click here to read the full speech.
David Krieger is President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. |
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Who Will Make Us Safer From the Biggest Threat Facing the US? | Top
by Carah Ong
If you watched or heard about the first Presidential debate on September 30th, then you probably already know that one thing both presidential candidates agree upon is that nuclear proliferation poses the biggest threat to the US . What you might not know is which candidate will actually make Americans far safer and more secure. Understanding how the presidential candidates will deal with nuclear proliferation is essential in allowing US citizens to make an informed decision on who is best suited to lead this great country.
One thing President Bush failed to mention is that, despite calls from past Presidents, nuclear weapons have assumed a far more central role in US security policy. The new, more "usable" role that the US government has assigned to nuclear weapons and its doctrine of pre-emptive warfare can encourage other nations to obtain nuclear weapons (and other weapons of mass destruction) in pursuit of their own security needs. These policies diminish US national security and attempts to control the spread of weapons of mass destruction, increasing the risk that other countries and terrorists will obtain and use nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction against the US .
So, let's take a moment to examine exactly where President Bush and Senator Kerry stand on just four key policies that would protect Americans and their families.
Click here to read the full article. |
| Turn the Tide -
Urge Congress to Clean Up Radioactive Waste |
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Urge House-Senate Conferees to Oppose Energy Department Authority to Reclassify Nuclear Waste and Abandon Highly Radioactive Nuclear Waste in Leaking Underground Tanks.
Contact your Representatives and Senators, especially if they are on the House or Senate Armed Services Committee, the Committees that will supply Members for the House-Senate conference committee on the Defense Authorization bill (see Committee list  ). Take action by writing your Representatives and Senators, asking them to strike section 3116 from the Defense Autho rization bill (S. 2400). Include support in your letter for Section 3120 which provides full-funding for cleanup of the tanks in South Carolina , Idaho and Washington.
To learn more and to send a letter using the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's online action center visit the Turn the Tide action center. |
| Urge Your Mayor to Participate in Mayors for Peace Emergency Campaign
| Top
Mayors for Peace was founded in 1982 by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to promote the solidarity of cities around the world toward the goal of total abolition of nuclear weapons, as well as to solve vital problems for the human race such as starvation and poverty, the plight of refugees, human rights abuses, and environmental degradation.
The Mayors for Peace is composed of mayors in some 619 cities in 109 countries around the world that have formally expressed their support for a program to Promote the Solidarity of Cities Toward the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons. A total of 54 of these cities are in the United States (List of US cities ).
The Mayors for Peace Emergency Campaign aims to:
- Mobilize at least a hundred mayors of major cities to attend the 2005 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference and assist in lobbying efforts.
- Mobilize at least 1000 Non-Governmental representatives to attend the Review Conference to lead and intensify lobbying efforts.
- Mobilize one million people to be in the streets of New York on 1 May 2005 to express the will of the people.
Take action by urging your mayor to participate in this Emergency Campaign.
- Ask your mayor to go to New York and attend the NPT Review Conference. Click here to download the complete invitation and organizing packet.
- Contact your mayor and encourage him or her to join Mayors for Peace and participate in the NPT campaign.
- Present a resolution to your City Council endorsing Mayors for Peace.
- Ask your mayor to publicly express his or her position regarding nuclear weapons.
Click here to learn more about the Mayors for Peace.
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Participate in Energy Independence Day |
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19 October 2004 is Energy Independence Day, where thousands of people will demand the US end its addiction to dirty energy. Campuses and communities across the US will host demonstrations to draw attention to the dangers of fossil fuels, nuclear energy and incineration technologies. Take part by demanding that the US invest in a clean energy future.
Take action by signing Energy Action's Declaration of Independence from Dirty Energy
Take action by participating in an event in your area. Click here to learn more. |
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Attend the Italian Pugwash Course - Constructing Security in Europe after Madrid |
Top The International School on Disarmament and Research on Conflicts (ISODARCO) has organized a course on Non-State Violence that will take place from 9 - 16 January 2005. The course, "Constructing Security in Europe after Madrid ," is designed for people with a professional interest in the problems of international conflicts, or those who want to take an active role in this field. The course will be held in Andalo (Trento) Italy. Applications must arrive by 29 November 2004. Click here to learn more. |
Participate in the Rally for International Disarmament - Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (RID - NBC) | Top
RID - NBC will be a time to assess and analyze today's global situation. Presentations, workshops, and discussions will address the future of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the prospects for disarmament, and the mobilization of international public opinion. The Rally will take place in Saintes, France from 29-31 October, 2004. Click here to learn more. |
| North Korea Reveals Details of Its Nuclear Program |
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On 27 September, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon provided the United Nations General Assembly annual ministerial meeting with details of his country's nuclear deterrent that he said North Korea has developed for self-defense. According to Choe, North Korea has turned the plutonium from 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods into nuclear weapons because the country had "no other option but to possess a nuclear deterrent" due to of US policies that he claimed were designed to "eliminate'' North Korea and make it "a target of preemptive nuclear strikes."
After his speech, Choe told a news conference, "Our deterrent is, in all its intents and purposes, the self-defensive means to cope with the ever increasing US nuclear threats and further, prevent a nuclear war in northeast Asia ."
In his General Assembly speech and at the following press conference, Choe blamed the US for intensifying threats to attack the communist nation and destroying the basis for negotiations to resolve the dispute over North Korea 's nuclear program. However, Choe said that North Korea is still ready to dismantle its nuclear program if the US abandons the undisguised "hostile policy" pursued by the Bush administration and is prepared to coexist peacefully.
At the moment, however, Choe stated that "the ever intensifying US hostile policy and the clandestine nuclear-related experiments recently revealed in South Korea are constituting big stumbling blocks" and make it impossible for North Korea to participate in the continuation of six-nation talks on its nuclear program.
At the news conference, Choe was what constituted the nuclear deterrent. Without elaborating on the numbers of nuclear weapons, Choe stated, "We have already made clear that we have already reprocessed 8,000 wasted fuel rods and transformed them into arms." When asked if the fuel had been turned into actual weapons, not just weapons-grade material, Choe said, "We declared that we weaponized this."
In late April of this year, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck said that it was estimated that eight nuclear bombs could be made if all 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods were reprocessed. Before the reprocessing, South Korea said it believed the North had enough nuclear material to build one or two nuclear bombs.
The United States, North and South Korea, Japan, China and Russia have held three rounds of six-nation talks on curbing North Korea 's nuclear ambitions, but the talks have produced no breakthroughs. Choe told the General Assembly, "If the six-party talks are to be resumed, the basis for the talks demolished by the US should be properly set up and the truth of the secret nuclear experiments in South Korea clarified completely." Choe said in the press conference that North Korea wants an explanation of South Korea 's plutonium-based experiment more than 20 years ago and its uranium enrichment experiment that took place in 2000 because the North believes it is impossible that such experiments took place "without US technology and US approval." The International Atomic Energy Agency is currently conducting an investigation into South Korea 's nuclear experiments.
At the third round of six-nation talks in June of this year, the US proposed that the North disclose all its nuclear activities, help to dismantle facilities and allow outside monitoring. Under the plan, some benefits would be withheld to ensure the North cooperates. North Korea said it would never scrap its nuclear programs first and wait to get rewarded later. Instead, the country insists on "reward for freeze."
According to Choe, a freeze would be "the first step toward eventual dismantlement of our nuclear program'' and that North Korea intends "to include in the freeze no more manufacturing of nuclear weapons, and no test and transfer of them." He said a freeze would be followed by "objective verification."
Source: AP, 28 September 2004. |
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This year's annual International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference saw a showdown between the UN watchdog and Iran , which defied an IAEA ultimatum to immediately halt all uranium enrichment activities. In mid-September, the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors adopted a resolution calling on Iran to "immediately" suspend all parts of the nuclear fuel cycle. Despite the resolution, Iranian atomic energy chief Reza Aghazadeh said at the end of the month that Iran had begun the conversion of substantial amounts of uranium ore into the gas needed to enrich uranium, which makes nuclear fuel for reactors, but can also be used to produce the explosive core of atomic bombs. The IAEA has set a deadline of 25 November for a definitive review of Iran 's nuclear program. The US continues to accuse Iran of engaging in an "unrelenting push toward nuclear weapons capability." The US is pushing for Iran to be sent before the UN Security Council, which could impose punishing sanctions.
Sources: AFP, 24 September 2004.
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US Lifts Curbs on Nuclear, Space Exports to India, Opens Dialogue on Missile Defense Cooperation | Top
In September, the US lifted decades-old export restrictions on equipment for India 's commercial space program and nuclear power facilities, a sign of the increasingly close ties between the two countries. US firms have not been allowed to sell sophisticated equipment or technology to India - seen by the US as a Cold War ally of the Soviet Union - as part of a ban in place for decades to prevent their use for military purposes.
The US tightened the curbs after announcing tough trade sanctions on India and Pakistan in response to their tit-for-tat nuclear tests in 1998. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the US eased the 1998 sanctions, increasingly viewing India and Pakistan as allies in its war on terrorism.
The Indian foreign ministry said on 18 September that the US eased the export restrictions after the country addressed US concerns about weapons proliferation under the so-called "Next Steps in Strategic Partnership" initiative set up in January 2004. According to a statement issued by the Indian Foreign Ministry, "These efforts have enabled the United States to make modifications to the US export licensing policies that will foster cooperation in commercial space programs and permit certain exports to power plants at safeguarded nuclear facilities."
After a meeting of officials from both countries on 17 September, US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said that the US and India will now take cooperation a step further. Ereli stated, "They agreed to expand cooperation in three areas: civilian nuclear activities, civilian space programs and high-technology trade. In addition, we agreed to expand our dialogue on missile defense."
Source: Reuters; 17 September 2004.
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US to Deploy Third Nuclear-Powered Sub to Guam | Top
A US military official announced on 30 September that the US plans to deploy a third nuclear powered attack submarine to Guam by the end of 2004. The move is a step to turn the area into a new strategic base for the US military in the Asia-Pacific region with the fortification of both naval and air capabilities.
Source: Kyodo News, 30 September 2004. |
| Battle Continues Over French Nuclear Test Veterans |
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Attempts by French military veterans and Polynesians to gain legal redress for ill health allegedly caused by France 's nuclear test program cleared an important hurdle in September. Two examining magistrates in Paris will investigate a lawsuit filed last November by 11 individuals and two groups representing 5,000 veterans and civilians - the Association of Nuclear Test Veterans and the Association Morurua and Tatou.
The lawsuit calls for an inquiry into persons unknown for manslaughter and bodily harm. The lawsuit states, "The French civilian and military authorities in charge of the tests were not unaware of the risks to which they were exposing the civilian and military personnel tasked with carrying out these tests, and to populations living close to where the tests were taking place."
Representing the complainants, Laurence Cheve stated, "Our goal is not to lay an assault on France 's nuclear policy. It is to eventually secure the creation of a fund to indemnify nuclear-test veterans, as in the United States."
Two of the 11 plaintiffs have already been ruled inadmissible - one because of a statute of limitations, and the other because the person had not been exposed to ionizing radiation. In addition, the lawsuits filed by the two associations were also ruled inadmissible because the groups were created less than five years ago and a French law prevents newly formed groups from jumping onto legal bandwagons. Complaints filed by four other people in July 2004 are still being studied.
The two investigators, Anne Auclair-Rabinovitch and Anne-Marie Bellot, will examine the evidence to see if there are grounds for calling for a prosecution. They are charged with establishing whether there is a clear link between the illness of the plaintiffs and their proximity to the tests, which may be hard to do other than statistically or anecdotally, as most doctors and scientists are reluctant to say there is a direct clinical cause in cases that date back decades.
France conducted 193 tests at Mururoa and Fangataufa Atolls between 1966 and 1996, 46 of which were conducted above ground before it joined other countries in observing a ban on atmospheric tests in 1975. Before France moved its nuclear testing program to the Pacific, it also carried out four blasts in the Sahara in Algeria , a former colony.
About 150,000 people were present at the site of these tests. According to a preliminary medical study carried out among 720 military veterans on behalf of the two associations, 30 percent of those investigated had cancer, compared to 17 per cent of the mainstream French population in the same age bracket.
In January last year a military pensions tribunal made history by ruling in favor of the descendants of a naval serviceman who had been at Mururoa. Francois Jana was judged to have died from leukemia as a result of exposure to fallout.
Source: New Zealand Herald, 1 October 2004. |
"Most Radioactive Man on the Planet" Dies | Top
In September, 80-year-old UK nuclear physicist and nuclear energy advocate Eric Voice passed away. Voice was one of the first western scientists to visit Chernobyl after the nuclear explosion in 1986. He made several visits to the Ukraine , researching the effects of the accident on plant and animal life; his conclusions will be published shortly by the UK Royal Society.
Despite the alarming stories circulating in the wake of Chernobyl , Voice believed that no one had ever been harmed by absorbing plutonium. So strong was his belief that he put his own life on the line to prove it. In 1992, Voice began his career as "the most radioactive man on the planet" when he volunteered as a guinea pig at AEA Technology's biomedical research laboratory at Harwell in the UK . The goal of the experiment was to track the movement of plutonium through the blood, bones and organs. Voice and another volunteer were each injected with 20,000 becquerels of plutonium 237 in the form of a citrate. Scientists conducting the experiment said he suffered no ill effects and died of motor neuron disease.
According to the scientists who conducted the experiments, the results showed that, in males, plutonium injected into the bloodstream accumulates in the liver but does not lodge in bone or reproductive organs, as widely claimed. In subsequent experiments, Voice was one of a dozen guinea pigs who inhaled trace amounts of plutonium isotopes of the sort found in nuclear reactors. Measurements were then made to track the progress of the substances through the body. The study was designed to find out how to treat people in the event of a nuclear accident.
In 1999, the UK Atomic Energy Authority announced that everyone involved in the tests remained healthy. Supporters hailed the results as a vindication their view that nuclear power is safe.
Though he had been a founding member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament with Bertrand Russell, Voice was always a strong advocate of civil nuclear power and became a nuclear physicist. He was scathing about the UK 's current policy of promoting "renewables" such as wind and tidal energy as the answer to global warming, and regarded the strategy as irresponsible. He believed nuclear energy to be safe and offered the only answer to global warming. Voice also dismissed fears about the health risks of plutonium as "largely media hype."
The son of a bank clerk, Eric Voice was born in London on 2 June 1924. As a young man, Voice was excited by the possibilities of nuclear technology, but horrified by Hiroshima - not just because of the loss of life. He once stated, "The most momentous discovery and what had man done? He'd used it for aggressive purposes and sealed its fate for generations. I swore that from then on I'd work towards utilizing this wonderful source of energy for the benefit of mankind."
After World War II, Voice joined the UK Atomic Energy Authority at Harwell as a research biochemist and, in 1956, moved to Scotland , becoming one of the first scientists on the Dounreay site. Five years later he joined the team of European scientists at Winfrith in Dorset , carrying out research into the fast breeder reactor. He returned to Dounreay in 1976.
Source: UK Telegraph, 17 September 2004. |
LANL Continues to Suffer from Scandals | Top
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) continued to be in the news in September following a series of scandals in recent months that have drawn attention to the Lab's lax security, mismanagement, and safety mishaps.
In September, a hydrologist hired by the Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety released a report that traced low concentrations of contaminants in the Rio Grande to leaks at LANL. Lab officials deny the report's contention that the contaminants, including explosives and perchlorate, leeched into the river from springs. Both parties agree that the groundwater underneath LANL is contaminated with chemical byproducts from lab activities. The New Mexico State Environment Department has taken water samples in the area that lend credence to CCNS's position that contaminants are moving faster than the Lab predicts.
The fallout from the three-month shutdown of Los Alamos due to security lapses and worker injuries continues. In mid-September, LANL director Pete Nanos announced that 12 Los Alamos employees would be either fired, forced to resign, or suspended without pay as a result of their role in the problems at the Lab. Of 23 employees originally under investigation following the 7 July discovery that computer disks containing classified material were missing, ten have been cleared of wrongdoing and one is still under investigation. It is now not entirely clear whether the computer disks ever existed. Nanos refuses to clarify the issue. Each day the Lab was shut down cost over $4 million in lost productivity.
On 30 September, the first shipment of weapons-grade nuclear material was transferred out of LANL's Technical Area 18 (TA-18) and moved to the Nevada Test Site. TA-18 has been the target of post-9/11 scrutiny because of its vulnerability to possible terrorist attacks. In October 2000, a mock drill conducted by military forces demonstrated that it could have easily constructed and detonated a bomb inside TA-18 that would have destroyed part of New Mexico . Criticality experiments, which involve self-sustaining nuclear chain reactions, are conducted at TA-18. The Santa Fe City Council recently passed a resolution opposing continued operations at TA-18 citing findings that the facility is not safe and secure.
For more information, visit: www.ucnuclearfree; www.nuclearactive.org ; www.lasg.org ; www.utnuclearfree.org.
Sources: CCNS, 13 September 2004; Albuquerque Journal, 16 September and 1 October 2004. |
| CTBT Celebrates Eighth Anniversary, Three New Ratifications and Renewed US Funding | Top
24 September marked the eighth anniversary of the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). In a statement delivered to the United Nations General Assembly on 23 September, 42 foreign ministers from countries that have already ratified the treaty called upon more nuclear states to join their commitment to end testing by ratifying the CTBT. The CTBT currently has 119 signatories, but it cannot enter into force until 12 key states ratify it - China, Colombia, Congo, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, the US and Vietnam. Finland 's Foreign Minister Errki Toumioja stated, "There is a very strong feeling among countries in the world that the threat of nuclear weapons and proliferation has not been adequately met."
Meanwhile, three countries ratified the CTBT in the month of September. Liechtenstein deposited its instrument of ratification of the CTBT on 21 September 2004, bringing the number of ratifying States in the North America and Western Europe geographical region to 26. On 24 September, the CTBT Organization (CTBTO) announced that Tunisia also ratified the treaty. A statement issued by the CTBTO said that Tunisia has two monitoring stations to check for evidence of nuclear test blasts in the region. Additionally, on 30 September, the United Republic of Tanzania ratified the CTBT, making it the 26 th nation in the Africa geographical region to do so. Tanzania hosts one International Monitoring System (IMS) facility - a radionuclide station - at Dar es Salaam .
The CTBTO global verification regime, designed to monitor compliance with the treaty, is also making progress. The IMS will be capable of detecting telltale signs of nuclear explosions: vibrations in the sea, the air, and underground, as well as trace amounts of radionuclides in the atmosphere. The data from 134 facilities within the system is already being transmitted via a global communication network to the International Data Center (IDC) in Vienna , Austria , which analyzes the raw data. As a final verification measure, on-site inspections may be requested by a majority of member states after the treaty enters into force. Currently, site surveys for 322 facilities, equivalent to 95.5% of the IMS network, have been completed. Altogether 190 stations have been installed, upgraded or they substantially meet specifications, and 96 of those are now fully certified. 78 additional stations are under construction or in contract negotiations.
Although the US Senate rejected ratification of the CTBT in 1999, the US is a member of the CTBTO as a signatory to the treaty. The CTBTO has an annual budget of approximately $90 million, with around $20 million (approximately 22 %) coming from the US under the "Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs" (NADAR) account of the State Department. It is in the annual foreign operations appropriations bill, which goes through the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.
On 15 September, the US Senate Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee finished the markup of its appropriations bill for fiscal year 2005. In it they designated $19 million for the CTBTO, the same amount requested by the Bush administration and adopted by the House subcommittee earlier this year. Although a final foreign operation appropriations bill will not be drafted until after Election Day, the achievement of full funding is a major accomplishment.
The Bush administration has decided to continue financing the establishment of the IMS. However, the administration does not plan to fund or participate in other treaty activities, most notably on-site inspections and promotion of the treaty. According to the State Department budget request for 2005, "since the United States does not seek ratification and entry-into-force of the CTBT, none of the funds will support Preparatory Commission activities that are not related to the International Monitoring System."
Sources: Friends Committee on National Legislation Press Release, 23 September 2004; UPI, 23 September 2004; CTBTO Press Release, 24 September and 1 October 2004; AP, 24 September 2004. |
IAEA Annual Conference Addresses Middle East, North Korea and Nuclear Terrorism | Top
On 24 September, the last day of its week-long annual conference, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution by consensus that "affirms the urgent need for all states in the Middle East to forthwith accept the application of full-scope agency safeguards to all their nuclear activities ... as a step in enhancing peace and security in the context of the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone." While the resolution did not name Israel specifically, it was clearly aimed at the state which is the only one in the region to possess an estimated 200 nuclear weapons. The resolution also called upon North Korea to "completely dismantle any nuclear weapons programs" and allow international inspectors to return to monitor nuclear activities there.
The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) sets the safeguards the IAEA is meant to enforce. An IAEA member, Israel neither confirms nor denies that it has nuclear weapons and is the only state in the Middle East that has not signed the NPT. North Korea , which says it has nuclear weapons, withdrew from the NPT in January 2003.
Under a compromise deal worked out under US moderation, Israel agreed to support the resolution calling for nuclear-free zone in the Middle East and in return an Arab proposal for the IAEA to discuss "Israeli nuclear capabilities and threat" was shelved until next year. The head of the Israeli atomic energy commission, Gideon Frank, stressed Israel 's view that there must be an overall peace agreement in the Middle East before the creation of a nuclear-free zone and that "no progress compromising national security is viable." However, Egypt 's ambassador, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, insisted a nuclear-free zone in the region was "something that cannot wait until there is a just and comprehensive peace but it is the very axis [of such a peace]."
Chang-Beom Cho, South Korea 's ambassador to the IAEA, said North Korea "must give up all its nuclear weapons and related programs, including its uranium enrichment program in a thorough and transparent manner ... so that this issue does not arise again in the future."
On 24 September, the IAEA also passed a resolution by consensus in response to growing fears of potential terrorist attacks using nuclear or radiological weapons. The resolution calls for greater global border and security cooperation to stamp out the illegal trafficking of nuclear materials. The resolution called on "all member states to continue to provide political, financial and technical support... to improve nuclear and radiological security and prevent nuclear and radiological terrorism." IAEA records point to a dramatic rise in the smuggling of radiological substances, the raw material for a dirty bomb, and US claims that the Al-Qaeda terrorist network is seeking to acquire such weapons. The resolution followed others adopted since the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US .
In other developments at the conference, the IAEA elected a new board of governors and cleared the way for Chad , Mauritania and Togo to join, bringing the Agency's members to 140.
Source: AFP, 24 September 2004. |
Missiles and Missile Defense |
| US Proceeds With Untested, Unproven Missile Defense System |
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The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced on 25 September that it has installed a fifth interceptor missile into an underground silo at Ft. Greely , Alaska . One additional interceptor is planned to be installed at the facility by mid-October 2004 and four interceptors are also planned to be placed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California by early next year.
However, according to MDA spokesman Rick Lehner, the interceptors at Greely are not yet ready to fire in an emergency. On 18 September, Lehner stated, "They're not operational. That's going to be for Strategic Command and Northern Command to decide when they're ready to go."
December 2002 was the last time the missile defense system was tested. In September 2004, the MDA also delayed a test involving a target missile to be launched from an Alaska state-owned site on Kodiak Island . The launch is now planned for late November or early December. According to Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the computer software in the interceptor booster to be used in the test had problems. The booster is at a launch pad on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean .
On 1 October, US Navy Secretary Gordon England confirmed that US destroyers equipped with Aegis missile tracking systems have been deployed in the Sea of Japan near North Korea as part of the controversial missile defense system. England stated, "We do have our Aegis destroyers deployed and indeed they do have tracking capability as we committed to do before the end of the year."
Once the missile defense system is fully operational, radars onboard Aegis destroyers would be used to track long-range missiles after they have been detected by early-warning radars. Lehner said that t he command and control system linking the radars to the interceptor missile also have now been installed .
President Bush has pledged to have a rudimentary missile defense system working by the end of the year and requested more than $10 billion for the unproven system in the fiscal year 2005 budget. Presidential candidate Senator John Kerry opposes fielding the system at this point, saying it should be more thoroughly tested. Kerry has called for cuts in the agency budget for the ground-based midcourse system, in which the Greely interceptors are the main component.
Retired general Eugene Habiger, former head of the US Strategic Command, recently decried the rush to field a system, saying it "does n ot have any credible capability. I cannot recall any military system being deployed in such a manner . In my entire military experience, I have never seen a weapons system deployed with something as squishy, if you will, as an 'initial defensive capability.'" Habiger also suggested the North Korean threat has been exag g erated, saying it has not flight tested an intercontinental ballistic missile and must first overcome the formidable challenge of miniaturizing a nuclear warhead. Habiger stated, " The defense is going to be a system that has never been flight-tested, against a threat that has never been flight-tested ."
Under current plans, another 10 interceptors will be installed at Fort Greely next year, bringing the total to 16. The MDA's plans call for another 10 interceptors at Fort Greely on an unspecified schedule and 10 more elsewhere in the country or overseas.
Sources: MDA website, 2 October 2004; AFP, 1 October 2004; AP, 18 September 2004. |
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Agreement Reached on Partial Inspection Access to Brazilian Uranium Enrichment Plant |
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On 22 September, a deal was reached between Brazilian officials and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over the industrial uranium enrichment program in Resende , Brazil . The deal allows inspectors to check pipes leading to and from centrifuges to ensure nuclear materials are not being diverted for use in weapons. The deal does not allow inspectors to examine the actual centrifuges since Brazil vehemently voiced fears over industrial espionage. Clearly the deal grants the IAEA only partial access.
Since IAEA inspectors were denied access to the Resende enrichment plant in February and March 2004, Brazilian Defense Minister Jose Viegas has requested "dignified and differentiated" inspection treatment standards. Arms controllers around the world agree that the IAEA cannot acquiesce to Brazilian demands and ought to enforce equal inspection and verification standards without discrimination. US officials are concerned that differentiated treatment to Brazil would send the wrong message to Iran .
The deal reached on 22 September 2004 allows IAEA inspectors to begin their initial assessment of verification possibilities at the Resende plant on 18 October 2004.
Following the military dictatorships that reigned from 1964 to 1985, Brazil 's first civilian government publicly ended secret military nuclear weapons programs in the 1980s. In 1988, the civilian government drafted a constitution that includes prohibitions on nuclear weapons. Article 21 Section 23a of the Brazilian Constitution declares "all nuclear activity within the national territory shall only be admitted for peaceful purposes." In 1990, Brazil renounced nuclear weapons altogether.
Brazil ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1997, but it has yet to sign the IAEA's Additional Protocol which grants spot inspections.
Sources: BBC News, 20 April, 23 September 2004; Reuters, 22 September 2004; Associated Press, 23 September 2004; New York Times, 25 September 2004. |
How Safe is the Transatlantic Conversion Project? - Part Deux | Top
On 9 September, two armed nuclear transport ships operated by British Nuclear Fuels Limited, the Pacific Teal and the Pacific Pintail, departed South Carolina with 300 pounds (140 kilograms) of plutonium oxide onboard. Both ships are bound for Cherbourg , France . Once the Teal and Pintail arrive in France, the plutonium will be loaded onto trucks and transported to Areva's Cogema-Cadarache plant to be processed into mixed oxide fuel (MOX) for use in civilian nuclear power reactors.
Though US plutonium aboard the Teal and the Pintail has thus far remained secure, many are concerned that the greater environmental and terrorist dangers lay ahead. "What's going to be transported on French roads is the purest form of nuclear material for military use," said Tom Clements of Greenpeace. "It is the height of arrogance to conduct a shipment like this while demanding other nations refrain from proliferating nuclear weapons materials and technologies."
Spokesman for the US National Nuclear Security Administration, Bryan Wilkes asserted, "It will proceed just fine with no safety or security problems."
French officials revealed on 9 September that an accident occurred at Areva's Cogema-Cadarache plant, the very plant where the US plutonium is scheduled to arrive for conversion. Two workers were contaminated when radioactive plutonium leaked from a container. The French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) reported that the accident was due to a violation of procedures and the two workers are undergoing urgent health checks.
Click here to read Part One of this story.
Sources: Greenpeace, 10 September 2004; Sunday Herald , 18 September 2004; Charleston Post Courier, 21 September 2004; Bradenton Herald, 21 September 2004. |
DoE Issued $2.4 Million Fine over Waste Mismanagement | Top
On 31 August the New Mexico Environment Department penalized the US Department of Energy (DoE) $2.4 million for violating hazardous waste management regulations. It was discovered that numerous shipments of mixed waste destined for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad , New Mexico had not undergone safety inspections and testing. Officials base the $2.4 million fine on 107 drums of radioactive waste shipped between March and July 2004 that were overlooked by DoE personnel. The waste originated from Idaho 's National Engineering and Environment Laboratory (INEEL).
Officials halted shipments between INEEL and WIPP nearly two months ago once it was recognized that proper testing had not been completed. As of 18 September, the DoE resumed shipments.
100% of the $2.4 million fine will go to the State of New Mexico Hazardous Waste Emergency Fund to pay for environmental cleanups.
Sources: New Mexico Environment Department, 31 August 2004; KRQE Channel 13; 21 September 2004.
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Déjà Vu - DoE Issued $270,000 Fine over Hanford Waste Mismanagement | Top
The state of Washington 's Department of Ecology issued a $270,000 fine on 21 September to the US Department of Energy (DoE) for inappropriately shipping nuclear waste from South Carolina to the Hanford complex in southern Washington . State officials argue that 83 storage drums containing radioactive waste were accidentally shipped from South Carolina . Additionally, the waste was accompanied by documentation that was mostly incomplete, inaccurate, or missing. The DoE has 30 days to appeal the fine.
Since 1986, Hanford has shipped waste to South Carolina 's Savanna River Site (SRS) where waste is experimentally vitrified. The vitrified waste is then returned to Hanford for examination. Washington officials discovered in April 2004 that Hanford was receiving more than it had bargained for. SRS has shipped many drums of material to Hanford that should never have left the South Carolina site.
Officials are alarmed at the possibility that one of the 83 drums may contain transuranic elements (TRU), such as the man-made elements plutonium, americium, curium and neptunium. TRU pose significant health risks when ingested or inhaled. According to Washington's Department of Ecology, " A court injunction issued in May 2003 bars [the US DoE] from shipping TRU waste to Hanford, and state officials are studying whether the injunction has been violated ."
State officials have expressed that this incident could just be "the tip of the iceberg" of a larger problem with federal waste cleanup management.
Washington voters have the opportunity on 2 November 2004 to cast a vote on Initiative 297, a measure that would halt the import of nuclear wastes until existing problems at Hanford are cleaned up.
Sources: The Spokesman Review, 21 September 2004; the Seattle Times, 22 September 2004; Associated Press, 22 September 2004; South Beaufort's Island Packet, 24 September 2004. |
| Rumsfeld, Abraham Urge Restored Nuke Weapons Funding |
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In an 8 September letter, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham urged Congress to restore funding for nuclear weapons initiatives that a key House panel zeroed out or reduced in the budget for the fiscal year 2005. The letter was delivered to House Speaker Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Frist, House Appropriations Chairman Young and Senate Appropriations Chairman Steven.
Rumsfeld and Abraham's letter stated, "We are writing to express our concern about several provisions in the FY '05 House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill and accompanying report and their implications for our Nation's nuclear security. If specific funding levels, detailed in the report, are sustained, they would eliminate or severely restrict key programs and initiatives necessary to support the Nation's nuclear weapons stockpile and restore a long-needed responsive nuclear weapons infrastructure. Specifically, we oppose the elimination of FY 05 funds for the Advanced Concepts Initiative, the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator study, and planning for a Modern Pit Facility. Such actions are contrary to our efforts to transform the U.S. nuclear stockpile to be smaller and more responsive to the threats we face in the 21 st century. They also run counter to the FY 05 Defense Authorization bills passed by both the House and the Senate.
We also oppose reductions in funds for key warhead Life Extension Programs, underground nuclear test readiness, which would preclude achievement of the 18-month readiness posture considered prudent by the Administration, and other support activities essential for the continued safety and reliability of the stockpile. In summary, if the House's actions, cited above, are sustained in this or future years, it would impede our ability to ensure the effectiveness of our nuclear deterrent, especially as existing warheads age well beyond their design service lives. More broadly, it would disrupt critical elements of our strategy to adapt the Nation's nuclear deterrent forces to the defense needs of the 21 st century. Finally, it would place at risk the significant reduction in the nuclear stockpile called for by President George W. Bush last May, and it could limit future opportunities for deeper stockpile reductions. We look forward to working with you to address our mutual concerns."
The House version of the Energy and Water spending bill, approved in June of this year, would eliminate funding for three administration programs. The White House requested $27.55 million for research on the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, or "bunker buster" bomb; $30 million for planning a modern pit facility to produce new plutonium triggers, and $9 million for an initiative for new nuclear weapons. The measure would also reduce the administration's request for extension of the W-80 strategic cruise missile warhead from $146 million in FY05 to $106 million, while providing flat funding of $1.33 billion for all directed nuclear stockpile activities, representing an $89 million drop from the administration's request.
The move by Rumsfeld and Abraham drew the ire of House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Hobson (R-Ohio), who complained on 17 September that the White House left him out of the loop. Neither Hobson nor his Senate counterpart, Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico), received the letter. Upon hearing rumors of the letter in July, Hobson asked the administration not to send it so as not to unduly influence conference negotiations to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. With the measure nowhere close to conference because of the Senate's stalemate over a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada , Hobson said the administration's timing was curious. He also said the administration's requests "were technically questionable and frankly unnecessarily provocative in the international arena. They also cost a bunch of money."
Source: Congress Daily, 21 September 2004. |
| 21st Annual Evening for Peace Broadcasting Peace: A Conversation with Walter Cronkite |
Top
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is pleased to announce its 21 st Annual Evening for Peace, Broadcasting Peace: A Conversation with Walter Cronkite . The event will take place on Saturday, 23 October 2004 from 6:00 pm until 10:00 pm in Santa Barbara, California.
The Foundation is pleased to honor Walter Cronkite with its 2004 Distinguished Peace Leader Award for his consistent journalistic integrity and courage in addressing the crucial issues of our time. He has been a noted voice of conscience, and his views have weighed heavily on the scales of peace and justice.
Sam Donaldson will interview Mr. Cronkite live at the event. Donaldson is a 35-year news veteran, having served two appointments as chief White House correspondent and as anchor for ABC News.
For more information, please call the Foundation at (805) 965-3443.
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Mayors for Peace Receive 2004 World Citizenship Award | Top
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is pleased to announce it will honor the Mayors for Peace with the Foundation's 2004 World Citizenship Award. The World Citizenship Award is presented annually for outstanding contributions to strengthening the human family. Foundation President David Krieger will present t he award to the Mayors for Peace in a ceremony on Friday, 8 October 2004 in the Memorial Hall of the Hiroshima Peace Museum in Hiroshima , Japan . Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima , President of the Mayors for Peace, will accept the award on behalf of the organization.
The Mayors for Peace was established in 1982 and is composed of mayors in some 619 cities in 109 countries around the world that have formally expressed their support for a program to Promote the Solidarity of Cities Toward the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons. Currently, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba serves as President and Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Itoh serves as Vice President of the Mayors for Peace.
In 2003, the Mayors for Peace, led by Mayors Akiba and Itoh, launched an Emergency Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons. The goal of the campaign is to garner support from mayors around the world, to educate citizens and pressure the nuclear weapons states to begin in 2005 and conclude by 2010 negotiations for a verifiable ban on the complete elimination of nuclear weapons by the year 2020.
Inaugurated in 1998, past recipients of the Foundation's World Citizenship Award include Ted Turner, Queen Noor of Jordan, Daisaku Ikeda, Dr. Robert Muller and, most recently, Harry Belafonte.
For more information on the Mayors for Peace, please visit http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/mayors/english/ . For more information on the World Citizenship Award, please visit the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's website at http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/programs/awards-&-contests/wca-award/index.htm or contact Carah Ong, Communications Director at Cell: (805) 896-1909 or email cong@napf.org.
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| The Economic Future of Nuclear Power |
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The Economic Future of Nuclear Power is a study conducted by the University of Chicago . The report was commissioned in 2003 by the US Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology (http://nuclear.gov/ ) to analyze the economic factors that affect the future of nuclear power in the United States . The report includes analysis of emerging technologies, waste disposal issues, proliferation concerns, environmental policy and US national energy policy.
 Click here to read the Executive Summary
Click here to read the Full Report |
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Nuclear Insecurity: A Critique of the Bush Administration's Nuclear Weapons Policies | Top The Natural Resources Defense Council has released a new report entitled, Nuclear Insecurity, charging that the Bush administration has missed an historic opportunity to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in US policy. Nuclear Insecurity cites wasteful initiatives and policies that have threatened US and global security rather than enhancing it. Nuclear Insecurity also offers a remedy and suggests a responsible US nuclear policy for the 21st century.
Click here to read the Executive Summary
Click here to read the Full Report |
Oxford Research Group International Security Monthly Briefings | Top
Oxford Research Group Global Security Consultant Paul Rogers has released monthly briefings on events in Iraq and Afghanistan . Rogers' monthly briefings focus on the implications of US foreign policy since the "end of major combat operations" in Iraq was announced by President Bush in May 2003. To read the current briefing entitled Iraq and a Wider War, as well as previous briefings, please click here . |
| A Critical Mass |
Top
A Critical Mass is a feature-length documentary which chronicles the lives of modern-day peacemakers. The documentary explores the questions: Can you create a peaceful world? How can you evolve for the sake of self, community, and the universe? Is it possible to change the planet? The film discovers that "it only takes one person to start making constructive changes in the malefic conditions facing (your community and your country)." Click here to view trailers and purchase a copy of the documentary. |
PEOPLE OF THE BOMB: Portraits of America¹s Nuclear Complex | Top
Integrating fifteen years of field research at weapons laboratories across the US with discussion of movies, political speeches, media coverage of war, and the literature of defense intellectuals, author Hugh Gusterson demonstrates in PEOPLE OF THE BOMB: Portraits of America¹s Nuclear Complex how the military-industrial complex has built consent for its programs and, in the process, taken the public "nuclear."
For more information, including the table of contents, visit the book's webpage: http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/G/gusterson_people.html |
| "You talk about mixed messages: We're telling other people you can't have nuclear weapons but we're pursuing new nuclear weapons that we might even contemplate using. Not this president. I'm going to shut that program down. And we're going to make it clear to the world we're serious about containing nuclear proliferation. And we're going to get the job of containing all of that nuclear material in Russia done in four years. And we're going to build the strongest international network to prevent nuclear proliferation. This is the scale of what President Kennedy set out to do with the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. It's our generation's equivalent and I intend to get it done."
-Senator John Kerry
from the first presidential debate
30 September 2004
"China opposes proliferation of nuclear weapons in all forms, and actively takes part in international cooperation in non-proliferation.China has so far signed or acceded to all international treaties or conventions on nuclear non-proliferation and relevant international organizations. China will perform its international duties in a highly sincere and conscientious sense."
-Zhang Huazhu
head of the Chinese delegation to the 48th session
of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
"This is scary. With Americans, Iraqis and others dying horribly in the long dark night of this American-led war, the world needs more from the president of the United States than the fool's gold of his empty utterances.At the moment there is no evidence the president understands anything about the war. He led the nation into it with false pretenses. He never mobilized sufficient numbers of troops. He seemed to believe the war was over in May 2003. And he seems not to know how to proceed now. The tragic lesson of Vietnam is staring the president in the face. But he'll have to become better acquainted with the real world before he can even begin to learn from it."
-Bob Herbert
from a New York Times Op-Ed
24 September 2004
"The Bush administration's failure to shut down al-Qaida and rebuild Iraq have fueled the insurgency and made the United States more vulnerable to a nuclear attack by terrorists.The war in Iraq has made the mushroom cloud more likely, not less likely."
-Senator Edward M. Kennedy
during an interview with CBS "Face the Nation"
26 September 2004
"On the eve of D-day in 1944 General Eisenhower prayed to God for the lives of the young soldiers he knew were going to die. He knew what death was. Even in a justifiable war, a war not of choice but of necessity, a war of survival, the cost was almost more than Eisenhower could bear. But this president does not know what death is. He hasn't the mind for it. You see him joking with the press, peering under the table for the WMDs he can't seem to find, you see him at rallies strutting up to the stage in shirt sleeves to the roar of the carefully screened crowd, smiling and waving, triumphal, a he-man."
- E. L. Doctorow
from a column that first appeared in the Easthampton Star
9 September 2004
Click here to read the full article
"If they exist, sooner or later there will be disastrous consequences. They can fall into the hands of terrorists. It is not enough to safeguard them, they must be abolished."
-Former soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
speaking on the Iraq war during a lecture on his campaign
for the global abolition of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons
23 September 2004
"The time has come for England to remove its atomic bombs, and I hope Scotland is the first to make it free from nuclear weapons."
-Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu
defying Israel 's ban on him talking to foreigners,
Vanunu spoke by a live telephone link to the International
Human
Rights Documentary Film Festival in Glasgow, Scotland
"At the international level, all states - strong and weak, big and small - need a framework of fair rules, which each can be confident that others will obey. Fortunately, such a framework exists. From trade to terrorism, from the law of the sea to weapons of mass destruction, States have created an impressive body of norms and laws. This is one of our Organization's proudest achievements. And yet this framework is riddled with gaps and weaknesses. Too often it is applied selectively, and enforced arbitrarily. It lacks the teeth that turn a body of laws into an effective legal system. Where enforcement capacity does exist, as in the Security Council, many feel it is not always used fairly or effectively. Where the rule of law is most earnestly invoked, as in the Commission on Human Rights, those invoking it do not always practice what they preach. Those who seek to bestow legitimacy must themselves embody it; and those who invoke international law must themselves submit to it."
-United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
during his addres to the 59 th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
21 September 2004
"Ordinary Americans have been manipulated into imagining they are a people under siege whose sole refuge and protector is their government. If it isn't the Communists, it's al-Qaeda. If it isn't Cuba . it's Nicaragua . As a result, this, the most powerful nation in the world - with its unmatchable arsenal of weapons, its history of having waged and sponsored endless wars, and the only nation in history to have actually used nuclear bombs - is peopled by a terrified citizenry, jumping at shadows. A people bonded to the state not by social services, or public health care, or employment guarantees, but by fear."
- Arundhati Roy
speaking in San Francisco , California
August 2004
"I have indicated it is not in conformity with the UN Charter, from our point of view, and from the Charter point of view it was illegal"
-United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
addressing questions from the media as to whether or not the Iraq War was legal
16 September 2004
"Here in Spain , we don't feel as if we are at war, because we aren't. And neither are the inhabitants of the United States , however vociferously many Americans may insist that they are. War is something else entirely. No semi-normal life can be led while a war is going on."
-Javier Marías
from a New York Times Op-Ed
11 September 2004 |
| Editorial Team | Top
- Luke Brothers
- David Krieger
- Carah Ong
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