Nukes Agency Pushes New Bomb

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48654


Despite statements by U.S. President Barack Obama that he wants to see the world reduce, and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration continues to push forward on a programme called Complex Modernisation, which would expand two existing nuclear plants to allow them to produce new plutonium pits and new bomb parts out of enriched uranium for use in a possible new generation of nuclear bombs.

Initiated under the George W. Bush administration, Complex Modernisation - referred to by anti-nuclear activists as "the Bomb-plex" - would "transform the plutonium and uranium manufacturing aspects of the complex into smaller and more efficient operations while maintaining the capabilities NNSA needs to perform its national security missions," according to a report by the NNSA in the Federal Register.

"The main purpose of the Complex Modernisation programme is to maintain nuclear production capacity for the U.S.," Ralph Hutchison of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance told IPS, arguing that the talk of modernisation obscures the real objectives of the programme.

"There are pieces of the modernisation scheme that might address environmental safety or health concerns, or structural integrity of old buildings that might need to be looked at," he acknowledged.

But the more controversial aspect is the creation of a new nuclear production infrastructure at two sites. First is infrastructure for production of new plutonium pits - the central core of nuclear weapons - at the Los Alamos lab in New Mexico, to replace what the NNSA argues is an aging U.S. nuclear stockpile.

According to its 2009 10-year plan obtained by IPS, the new site could produce 80 plutonium pits per year.

Second, is expansion of enriched uranium processing at the Y-12 facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

-snip-

Anti-nuclear activists are looking to Obama's upcoming Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) - which U.S. presidents have conducted at the beginning of their term since Bill Clinton - to set a new course for nuclear weapons policy for the U.S.

Obama will face a decision regarding whether to carry out the production of new plutonium pits, the planning of which was initiated under the Bush administration.

Obama will also face a decision about the proposed new uranium processing in Oak Ridge.

"They want to replace several buildings with one fancy new high-tech 3.5-billion-dollar building they're calling the Uranium Processing Facility," Hutchison said. "And similarly to what about the plutonium, although they haven't printed this yet, they're waiting on the NPR numbers to come in," before they seek to begin construction.

In the meantime, while Obama works on his NPR, the planning and design of the two new facilities continues.

Obama "included 55 million dollars in his budget for planning for the uranium processing facility in Oak Ridge. What people told him was, if you don't put this much in it, the whole programme collapses. We need enough money to keep the team together until we make the decision. Congress has doubled that; it's just gone through the process," Hutchison said.

However, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process specific to the Y-12 facility in Oak Ridge was "put on hold", Hutchison said.

-snip-

"They have an internal struggle. . . .
-----------------------------------------------------


NO new nuke crap

nt