Line Up: DOE Hearings in a Town Near You

Thanks to our friends at the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) for reminding us to spread the word that throughout March, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)--a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)--will be holding public hearings across the U.S. on the Draft Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft Complex Transformation SPEIS, DOE/EIS-0236-S4).

Now is the time to speak up if you are concerned by the expense and risk represented by the draft plan, because NNSA really needs some nudging.

With this quote, NRDC shows how little transformation NNSA is willing to make when it comes to its nuclear sites:

"In 1995, five years after the Cold War ended, NNSA's operational nuclear weapons complex consisted of eight sites in seven states.  Under its proposed plan, by 2020--25 years later--NNSA's operational nuclear weapons complex will still consist of the same eight sites in the same seven states, but it will be maintaining a weapons stockpile that is likely to be 1/10 - 1/20 the size."

While the draft plan promises to remove weapons-grade Special Nuclear Material (SNM) from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), as POGO, Congress, government officials and community groups have been demanding for years, there are still a lot of reasons for the public to comment.

First, POGO believes the SNM can be removed sooner than the NNSA's 2012 deadline--more details with our forthcoming report.

Second, tritium (radioactive hydrogen) research will continue, as will contamination risks to the 7 million people living within the 50-mile radius of LLNL.  Tri-Valley CAREs is advising that people speak up for a "green lab" and civilian science missions at Livermore lab.

For sample language on submitting written comments--the public comment period ends on April 10, 2008--see the action alert from NRDC.

Community groups are also mobilizing events to prepare the public for the hearings.  The City of Santa Fe--whose City Council recently passed a resolution opposing the expansion of nuclear weapons production at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)--Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Faithful Security, the New Mexico Conference of Churches, and Nuclear Watch New Mexico are having an event on March 1st to raise awareness about how the draft plan expands LANL's mission of producing plutonium pit "triggers" for nuclear warheads from 20 pits per year (ppy) to up to 80--which could lead to a 28% increase of airborne pollutants.

-- Ingrid Drake

Comments

[Posted on: Mar 03, 2008 at 02:03 PM]

Justice for all, except wistlebowers, and anyone else that disagrees with the government