Public invited to hearings on nuclear factory plans

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Dec 11, 2006

Public invited to hearings on nuclear factory plans

The Department of Energy plans to massively reorganize its nuclear weapons complex at eight locations, including at the Livermore Lab. DOE calls its plan Complex 2030. The driving force for this new Bombplex is the controversial Reliable Replacement Warhead program to redesign every nuclear weapon in the enduring U.S. arsenal and build 125 new nukes per year.

If this plan moves forward, it will mean a new plutonium bomb core factory to manufacture upwards of 200 pits each year in a single shift. This is the activity that so polluted Rocky Flats it was shut down following an FBI raid.

Complex 2030 will weaken the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and devastate U.S. non-proliferation goals. Do as I say and not as I do is not a viable foreign policy.

Moreover, the estimated price tag for Complex 2030 starts at $150billion, and may easily run double that amount. This is money that could otherwise be spent on global warming or energy research at Livermore lab -- and on cleaning up the mess, at Livermore and elsewhere, created by past nuclear weapons activities.

Fortunately, before DOE can proceed with Complex 2030, it must produce an analysis pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. The law says that the public must have opportunities to comment and that DOE must respond in a comprehensive written document.

Public hearings to be held on Tuesday will be the beginning of that process. The Livermore hearing will be at Robert Livermore Community Center, 4444 East Ave., from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; the Tracy hearing will be at the Tracy Community Center, 950 East St., from

6 to 10 p.m. Those wishing to speak may sign up at the DOE table.

Tri-Valley CAREs, the Livermore-based environmental watchdog organization, has additional information on its Web site, http:// www.trivalleycares.org, and will have information tables at both hearings.

Marylia Kelley,

Executive director, Tri-Valley CAREs

Livermore