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| published Wednesday, May 16, 2012 |
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In the following op-ed, ANA Director Susan Gordon argues that Rep. Martin Heinrich is not acting in New Mexico's best interest when advocating for funding a new plutonium facility at Los Alamos. Gordon states that what New Mexico really needs is funding to clean up Los Alamos' legacy of radioactive and toxic waste.
May 16, 2012
By Susan Gordon
From the Albuquerque Journal
More than a decade late and 10 times more expensive than originally forecast, the new Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement mega-building at the Los Alamos National Laboratory is a textbook example of how Congress misspends the taxpayers’ dollars.
The main mission for the facility originally would have been to support expanded production of plutonium pits – the fissile cores of nuclear weapons. Today, however, the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nuclear weapons complex, has determined that it does not need the new CMRR.
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| published Tuesday, May 08, 2012 |
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May 8, 2012
By Frank Munger From the Knoxville News Sentinal
 | Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance members Mary Dennis Lentsch, left, and Dennie Kelley sign a oversize letter to U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander Monday at the Howard H. Baker, Jr. Federal Courthouse. A dozen members of OREPA delivered the letter to ask that cost and safety issues be addressed at Y-12's proposed multibillion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility. (J. Miles Cary/News Sentinel)
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A peace activist group waged its growing campaign against the Uranium Processing Facility on two fronts Monday.
Members of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance hand-delivered a letter to Sen. Lamar Alexander's Knoxville office, asking the Republican senator to help slow work on the multibillion-dollar project until safety issues raised by a federal review board have been resolved. In a separate action, the group sent a letter to Gregory Friedman, the U.S. Department of Energy's inspector general, and urged Friedman to investigate the project's work to date, with more than $500 million spent designing the new production facility, for evidence of government waste and possibly fraud.
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| published Monday, April 30, 2012 |
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April 28, 2012 By John Severance From the Los Alamos Monitor Apparently, there are plans in the works for an alternative solution to the Chemistry Metallurgy Research Replacement facility, which was deferred for five years by the administration.
So what is Plan B exactly?
The public is not sure yet.
According to the Nuclear Weapons and Materials Monitor, the NNSA plans to use an existing facility at Los Alamos, the Radiological Laboratory/Utility/Office Building, as well as Lawrence Livermore’s Superblock Facility and the Device Assembly Facility (DAF) at the Nevada National Security Site, and Los Alamos was expected to analyze several key components of the project during a 60-day study.
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| published Monday, April 30, 2012 |
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The following article on the undoing of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory extensively quotes Scott Kovac of ANA member group Nuclear Watch New Mexico as he questions Department of Energy representatives on their "plan B" for plutonium management.
April 27, 2012
By John Severance From the Los Alamos Monitor
Sometimes, the show must go on. NNSA has decided to defer the Chemistry Metallurgy Research Replacement facility for at least five years. Activists rejoiced. Those at LANL and NNSA regrouped.
End of story, right?
Not so fast.
As part of a 2005 settlement between the Department of Energy/LANL and a coalition of community groups, a decision was reached to hold semi-annual meetings to discuss CMRR updates.
Wednesday night at Fuller Lodge there was another one of those meetings.
Steve Fong of the Los Alamos Site Office told those in attendance to expect the design deliverables to be completed by the end of the year and that the design was in “closeout mode.”
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| published Thursday, April 26, 2012 |
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Apr 26, 2012
By John Fleck From the Albuquerque Journal A key group of House Republicans this week signaled their support for the Obama administration’s decision to eliminate funding for a multi-billion dollar new plutonium laboratory at Los Alamos, suggesting the possibility of bipartisan agreement on the controversial move.
Some Republicans in Congress have objected loudly to the administration’s decision to indefinitely defer work on the project. But the committee with jurisdiction over the nuclear weapons budget, in a spending plan made public this week, endorsed the administration’s proposal.
In a report made public late Tuesday, the Republican-controlled House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee agreed with the Obama administration’s conclusion that there is currently no need for the multi-billion dollar Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility.
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| published Monday, April 23, 2012 |
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The following op-ed was written by ANA board member Ralph Hutchison. Ralph explains the financial and safety reasons why the federal government should stop its rush to build a new uranium processing facility at the Y-12 National Nuclear Security Site.
April 21, 2012
By Ralph Hutchison From the Knoxville News Sentinal
On April 2, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board released highly critical report about the design plans for the Uranium Processing Facility planned for the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge. The Safety Board's report, coupled with findings of the General Accounting Office, make a strong case for putting a hold on funding construction of the UPF.
Why should we care? Well, there is a lot of money at stake, for one thing. But some other important things are at stake as well. The Safety Board's report said two things that should give all of us pause.
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| published Wednesday, April 18, 2012 |
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For Immediate release: April 18, 2012 Contact: Jay Coghlan, Nuclear Watch NM, 505.989.7342, c. 505.920.7118, jay@nukewatch.org Santa Fe, NM – Our colleagues and friends at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) have released an explosive report based on a leaked Department of Defense memo concluding that “The Department of Energy’s network of privately-operated nuclear weapons laboratories are riddled with waste, redundancies and lackluster scientific standards.” POGO also found that “that seven of the top 15 officials at the three DOE nuclear labs make more than $700,000 per year, with one earning $1.7 million—more than the president of the United States and many government executives.” Coincidentally, Nuclear Watch New Mexico had been independently compiling data on the salaries of the three laboratory directors, as presented in the table below. It shows that the salary of the Los Alamos Director has nearly tripled since for-profit management began in June 2006, even as the Lab is cutting some 600 jobs. As seen below, privatization of the nuclear weapons labs’ management contracts has resulted in directors’ salaries far above average in both the federal government and the private sector.
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| published Monday, April 09, 2012 |
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The following post quotes ANA board member Ralph Hutchison and elucidates ANA member group Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance's position on safety requirements as the Department of Energy designs the new Uranium Processing Facility to be located at the Y-12 national nuclear security site.
April 4, 2012
By Frank Munger From the Knoxville News' Atomic City Underground blog
In an April 2 letter to NNSA chief Tom D'Agostino, the chairman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board raises concerns about the preliminary safety design for the Uranium Processing Facililty.
"The Board has determined that safety is not adequately integrated into the design," DNFSB Chairman Peter Winokur wrote. "Multiple significant unaddressed and unresolved issues exist with the (Preliminary Safety Design Report) and the development of the underlying safety basis for the facility."
The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance used the safety board letter and information contained in the newly released performance evaluation for Y-12 contractor B&W to criticize the government for moving forward with a plan to accelerate construction of the multibillion-dollar project.
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| published Friday, February 17, 2012 |
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February 17, 2012
By Michael Coleman and John Fleck From the Albuquerque Journal
WASHINGTON — U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu offered scant hope for a stalled plutonium project at Los Alamos National Laboratory on Thursday, but he did offer some encouragement for those who want to store additional nuclear waste near Carlsbad.
Chu told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that the Department of Energy decided to abandon — at least for now — a planned LANL plutonium lab because of budget constraints. However, he said design work at the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility will continue until it is 90 percent complete.
“That’s very prudent because for a number of reasons, before you start construction it is best to have most of it designed,” Chu said at the hearing to examine President Barack Obama’s 2013 DOE budget.
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| published Wednesday, February 15, 2012 |
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In the following op-ed, ANA member Marylia Kelley argues that the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons programs are eating up more than their fair share of the federal budget in austere times.
February 15, 2012
By Marylia Kelley
From the San Francisco Chronicle
While most federal agencies are being placed on an austerity diet, the Obama administration's 2013 budget for nuclear weapons activities is more than last year's appropriation and 20 percent higher than President Reagan's largest nuclear weapons budget at the height of the Cold War, adjusted for inflation. If fully funded, Obama's budget will be the biggest nuclear weapons budget in our nation's history.
President Obama firmly declared "America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons" in his 2009 Prague address. The world, including me, cheered. But, Mr. President, this is not a budget that implements our solemn commitment.
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