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From: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com (abolition-usa-digest)
To: abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com
Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #43
Reply-To: abolition-usa-digest
Sender: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com
Errors-To: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com
Precedence: bulk
abolition-usa-digest Saturday, November 28 1998 Volume 01 : Number 043
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 20:52:48 EST
From: DavidMcR@aol.com
Subject: (abolition-usa) Two items from today's (11.23) NY Times
Skip if you get the Times. The first is on page one, reminding us why the
death penalty is so risky. Hayes Williams, a Black, entered prison at 19 and
has left it thirty years later, based on the willingness of a federal judge to
rule that the prosecution had withheld evidence in the 1967 case that would
have proved him innocent. The story documents how Hayes Williams remains "in
jail" in spirit. But let's realize, somewhat unnerved, by what a narrow chance
he escaped being executed for a crime with which he had nothing to do.
Page eight is at least as scary - and of great value to all of us in the peace
and disarmament movement. It documents how Gore (one of the brightest and
best) rejected a CIA report in 1995 because it reported Prime Minister Viktor
Chernomyrdin to be personally corrupt. This didn't fit Gore's and the
Administration's line. The report was sent back to the CIA "with a barnyard
epithet scrawled across its cover". As a result the CIA analysts now say they
are censoring themselves and that when they found it cost a German business
executive $1 million just to get a meeting with Chernomydrdin to discuss deals
in Russia, it decided not to circulate the report outside the CIA.
Some of us have long argued for the abolition of the CIA - this fairly large
story on page eight outlines some of the reasons the CIA can't do its job -
even we wanted it to.
Peace,
David McReynolds
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 09:30:58 -0500
From: "David Culp" <dculp@igc.org>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Defense Secretary Cohen on START II and No First Use
DEFENSE SECRETARY COHEN ON START II AND ON NO FIRST USE
Defense Department News Briefing
Monday, November 23, 1998 - 10 a.m. (EST)
...
Q: On another subject, if I may. The German government is now pressing
that NATO make a major reversal of policy and declare no first use of
nuclear weapons. In connection with that, the New York Times is
reporting, the report's been around for a long time, the United States
would like, the U.S. military would like to unilaterally cut nuclear
weapons even if START II isn't approved because we simply can't afford
the budget crisis to maintain them.
I wonder if you'd comment on those two issues.
Secretary Cohen: Since we have the new German Minister of Defense
coming tomorrow perhaps we could discuss the new German position as
far as the strategic doctrine is concerned for NATO. It is our
position that this doctrine is viable. It's something that is integral
to the NATO strategic doctrine. We think it makes sense and there's
good rationale for keeping it as it is. That we have reduced our
nuclear stocks rather dramatically, certainly at the theater level,
and even at the strategic level under START I, hopefully coming down
to START II levels as soon as the Russian Duma ratifies START II.
We think that the ambiguity involved in the issue of the use of
nuclear weapons contributes to our own security, keeping any potential
adversary who might use either chemical or biologicals unsure of what
our response would be.
So we think it's a sound doctrine. It was adopted certainly during the
Cold War, but modified even following and reaffirmed following at the
end of the Cold War. It is an integral part of our strategic concept
and we think it should remain exactly as it is.
With respect to the issue of nuclear levels, Congress of course has
mandated that we maintain our nuclear levels at the START I levels
until such time as the Russian Duma ratifies START II. We are,
pursuant to congressional direction at least, exploring a variety of
options which even according to the New York Times this morning, a
report that was filed with Congress last spring was "a highly
classified document." We intend to keep it at that level for the time
being.
Q: Do you personally believe that it would be viable to unilaterally
cut U.S. weapons given the budget constraints on the cost of
maintaining these thousands of...
Secretary Cohen: As I've indicated before, it is costly to the United
States to maintain those levels. It is more costly to Russia to
maintain those levels. That is the reason why we have tried on each
and every occasion to persuade our Russian counterparts it's in their
interest as well as the United States to ratify START II as quickly as
possible so we can reduce the levels down to the START II levels and
then move on to START III.
Q: Have you or any other Pentagon official quietly recommended to the
Administration that there be consideration of unilateral cuts as the
New York Times story reports?
Secretary Cohen: I can't comment whether anyone has recommended such a
proposal. We're looking at a variety of options in terms of how we
deal with the issue of maintaining START I levels consistent with the
congressional mandate
...
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 19:48:08 -0700
From: nukeresister@igc.org (Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa)
Subject: (abolition-usa) Tahitians jailed for 1995 nuclear test protests
[e-mail preface from the editors: this information comes from a letter and
news clippings in French, which we do not read, sent by Gabriel Tetiarahi.
Friends helped with translation, and a copy of this was sent to Gabriel
Tetiarahi, but we have not yet received his reply with more accurate
information, as noted at end. Republication is encouraged - please cite
source: the Nuclear Resister.)
From the Nuclear Resister #114, November 16, 1998:
Tahitians Jailed for Protesting French Nuclear Tests
In September of 1995, the French colonialists began their final
series of nuclear tests beneath the atolls of the south Pacific. In
Tahiti, the growing international anti-nuclear protests were joined by
trade unionists and advocates for independence. France detonated the first
of the series on September 6, and the next day outraged protesters occupied
the runway of the international airport at Papeete. Police, portraying the
protest as a serious threat to the tourist-based economy of Tahiti, moved
forcefully to break it up, and provoked a riotous response.
Afterwards, at least sixty people - including four supporters from
a French pacifist community - faced criminal charges. Some of those
charged had suffered serious beatings at the hands of the police who
arrested them. Most were charged with disturbing air traffic, while others
faced such charges as instigation, destruction of furniture, assault on
public servants, stealing, carrying objects to serve as weapons, and
provoking damage of buildings.
Three years later, their trial finally took place last September.
The Palace of Justice was specially renovated for the trial and police and
reserve troops mobilized, in preparation for the number of defendants and
large crowd expected. The trial proceeded in a calm and serious manner, as
defendants were given the opportunity to tell the story of their protest.
Some placed the blame for the riots squarely on the shoulders of French
President Jacques Chirac.
Testifying for the defense on behalf of several nongovernmental
organizations, Gabriel Tetiarahi, a leader of the pro-independence group
Hiti Tau, said the only "crime" committed was the success of protesters in
preventing Chirac from completing all ten of his planned nuclear tests at
Murorua and Fangataufa atolls.
The defendants were convicted on September 22, and sentences were
announced on October 20. Thirty-three were sentenced to probation and
suspended fines. Twenty-eight others received prison sentences (some, in
part, suspended or suspended upon payment of fine), fines equivalent to
about $300-$800, and probation. The most severe sentences were reserved
for the accused leaders of the protests. Hiro Tefaarere, lead organizer of
A Tia I Mua, a trade union organization, was sentenced to three years in
prison, 18 months suspended, plus loss of rights for five years. Ronald
Terorotua, former secretary general of A Tia I Mua, was sentenced to two
years, one suspended, plus loss of rights for three years. Terorotua says
they will appeal the conviction.
After subtracting suspended sentences, at least eleven others will
serve one to six months behind bars: Henri Temaititahio, Albert
Temataholoa, and Winfred Lacour, six months; Eugene Teriitua Yao Tham Sao,
Emile Teuahau, Alexandre Puupuu, Irvine Paro, and Timau Heitaa, three
months; Henri Moana, two months; and Rosette Pautu and Georges Mendiola,
one month.
support action
Letters of support and solidarity may be sent to the prisoners c/o
Hiti Tau, POB 8075, Taravao, Tahiti, French Polynesia. Financial support
for the families of those in prison, particularly those serving longer
sentences, is requested and will also be accepted by Hiti Tau.
(Editors' Note: At press time, we could not confirm that the 13 are now
serving their jail sentences, but we assume that they are based on
translations of the information we have received. And until more
information regarding bank transfers is available, we presume contributions
of currency are readily exchanged in Tahiti. For updates as they become
available, call the Nuclear Resister at (520)323-8697, email:
nukeresister@igc.org or check our website at
http://www.nonviolence.org/nukeresister)
_____________________________________
the Nuclear Resister
"a chronicle of hope"
P.O. Box 43383
Tucson AZ 85733
- information about and support for
imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists -
Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, editors
(520)323-8697
US$15/year/US$20 Canada/US$25 overseas
- selections from current issue
- updated prisoner addresses
- & more can be read at:
http://www.nonviolence.org/nukeresister
* FREE SAMPLE ISSUE ON REQUEST *
(please supply a postal address for samples)
_____________________________________
- -
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with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
"help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 22:04:58 EST
From: Mecta@aol.com
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Two items from today's (11.23) NY Times
I did not get the New York Times, is it possible to get the article on why the
CIA should not exist?
- -
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with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 20:10:42 -0800
From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org>
Subject: (abolition-usa) WARD VALLEY SIGN ON LETTER
PLEASE SEND YOUR REPLIES TO: swv1@ctaz.com
THANK YOU
Important! Please sign onto this letter by <underline>December
5</underline> asking
Governor-elect Gray Davis to stop the proposed Ward Valley nuclear waste
dump. We
plan on presenting this letter to the Governor - Elect in a Dec. 7th
meeting. Please reply to swv1@ctaz.com and forward to
other groups. Thank you for your support.
Dear Governor-Elect Davis:
We are a broad coalition of Sovereign Tribal Governments, environmental
and social justice groups, indigenous environmental networks,
international
non-governmental organizations, cancer survivors, scientists,
physicians, and other concerned citizens all opposed to the proposed
nuclear waste
dump at Ward Valley.
This project has plagued the Wilson administration for the last eight
years and has attracted growing public opposition. The Spring 1998
occupation
of the site by Native Americans and environmental activists coupled
with
the analysis by state Democratic leaders concluding that the proposed
method
of land acquisition violates state law, has indefinitely delayed the
federal review of the project.
The dump threatens contamination of area aquifers and the Colorado
River, source of water for over 22 million people. It would destroy
critical
habitat for the threatened desert tortoise and desecrate sacred
ancestral
land for five Native American tribes.
Economic analyses of the proposed project have concluded that the dump
would be financially unviable. The 1998 Congressional Research Service
report
found that the vast majority of waste slated for Ward Valley would come
from nuclear power plants. The National Environmental Justice Advisory
Council (NEJAC) of the Environmental Protection Agency resolved that the
dump
project would violate environmental justice mandates and recommended
that EPA act to end the project.
We strongly urge you to stop this ill-fated project once and for all.
Withdraw the state of California's request for the land and cease the
state's legal actions regarding Ward Valley. Protect our precious water
resources, uphold environmental justice, and ensure that the California
taxpayer would not be burdened with the astronomical clean-up costs of
a
leaking dump.
Signed,
Save Ward Valley
107 F Street
Needles, CA 92363
ph. 760/326-6267
fax 760/326-6268
www.shundahai.org/SWVAction.html
http://earthrunner.com/savewardvalley
www.ctaz.com/~swv1
http://banwaste.envirolink.org
www.alphacdc.com/ien/wardvly4.html
www.greenaction.org
><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><<
><<><< ><<><<
SHUNDAHAI NETWORK
"Peace and Harmony with all Creation"
<paraindent><param>out,out</param>5007 Elmhurst St., Las Vegas, NV
89108-1304
Phone:(702)647-3095 (FAX)647-9385
</paraindent>Email: shundahai@shundahai.org
<underline><color><param>0000,0000,fefe</param>http://www.shundahai.org
</color></underline>Shundahai Network is proud to be part of:
Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to
foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and
Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons
><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><<
><<><< ><<><<
- -
To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com"
with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
"help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 11:05:51 EST
From: LCNP@aol.com
Subject: (abolition-usa) Job announcement - LCNP
The Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy has a position open for Associate
Director in its New York office. Responsibilities would include managing legal
and policy research, fundraising, managing the development and use of outreach
tools including email, newsletter and website, and assisting with the
coordination and implementation of programs.
For further details contact LCNP, lcnp@aol.com, ph (1) 212 818 1861.
- -
To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com"
with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
"help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 16:55:44 +1100
From: hcaldic <hcaldic@ibm.net>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) WARD VALLEY SIGN ON LETTER
Shundahai Network wrote:
>
> PLEASE SEND YOUR REPLIES TO: swv1@ctaz.com
> THANK YOU
>
> Important! Please sign onto this letter by December 5 asking
> Governor-elect Gray Davis to stop the proposed Ward Valley nuclear
> waste dump. We
> plan on presenting this letter to the Governor - Elect in a Dec. 7th
> meeting. Please reply to swv1@ctaz.com and forward to
> other groups. Thank you for your support.
>
> Dear Governor-Elect Davis:
>
> We are a broad coalition of Sovereign Tribal Governments,
> environmental
> and social justice groups, indigenous environmental networks,
> international
> non-governmental organizations, cancer survivors, scientists,
> physicians, and other concerned citizens all opposed to the proposed
> nuclear waste
> dump at Ward Valley.
>
> This project has plagued the Wilson administration for the last eight
> years and has attracted growing public opposition. The Spring 1998
> occupation
> of the site by Native Americans and environmental activists coupled
> with
> the analysis by state Democratic leaders concluding that the proposed
> method
> of land acquisition violates state law, has indefinitely delayed the
> federal review of the project.
>
> The dump threatens contamination of area aquifers and the Colorado
> River, source of water for over 22 million people. It would destroy
> critical
> habitat for the threatened desert tortoise and desecrate sacred
> ancestral
> land for five Native American tribes.
>
> Economic analyses of the proposed project have concluded that the dump
>
> would be financially unviable. The 1998 Congressional Research Service
> report
> found that the vast majority of waste slated for Ward Valley would
> come
> from nuclear power plants. The National Environmental Justice Advisory
>
> Council (NEJAC) of the Environmental Protection Agency resolved that
> the dump
> project would violate environmental justice mandates and recommended
> that EPA act to end the project.
>
> We strongly urge you to stop this ill-fated project once and for all.
> Withdraw the state of California's request for the land and cease the
> state's legal actions regarding Ward Valley. Protect our precious
> water
> resources, uphold environmental justice, and ensure that the
> California
> taxpayer would not be burdened with the astronomical clean-up costs of
> a
> leaking dump.
>
> Signed,
> Helen Caldicott MD
> Save Ward Valley
> 107 F Street
> Needles, CA 92363
> ph. 760/326-6267
> fax 760/326-6268
>
> www.shundahai.org/SWVAction.html
> http://earthrunner.com/savewardvalley
> www.ctaz.com/~swv1
> http://banwaste.envirolink.org
> www.alphacdc.com/ien/wardvly4.html
> www.greenaction.org
>
> ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><><
>
> SHUNDAHAI NETWORK
> "Peace and Harmony with all Creation"
> 5007 Elmhurst St., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304
> Phone:(702)647-3095 (FAX)647-9385
> Email: shundahai@shundahai.org
> http://www.shundahai.org
>
> Shundahai Network is proud to be part of:
>
> Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to
> foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and
>
> Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons
>
> ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><><
>
> - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to
> "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body
> of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old
> messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your
> message.
- -
To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com"
with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
"help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 21:18:15 -0500
From: Peter Weiss <petweiss@igc.org>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) The Iraq Crisis and U.S. Nuclear Weapons
Dear Timothy Bruening: Your letter is excellent. Francis' additions
would make it even better.
Peter Weiss
Boyle, Francis wrote:
>
> Dear Timothy: For what it is worth: The IAEA has already stated that Iraq
> has no nuclear weapons capability. Also, if I remember correctly, the former
> UNSCOM Inspector, Ray Zalinskas has already said in public that at least 90%
> of Iraq's chemical and biological warfare capability has been destroyed.
> This is just a bogus issue that the United States and Britain are currently
> using to build public support for a war of extermination against the People
> of Iraq. We must not fall into their trap.
> Best regards,
> Francis Boyle
> Francis A. Boyle
> Law Building
> 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
> Champaign, IL 61820
> 217-333-7954(voice)
> 217-244-1478(fax)
> fboyle@law.uiuc.edu
>
> > ----------
> > From: Timothy Bruening[SMTP:tsbrueni@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us]
> > Reply To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com
> > Sent: Sunday, November 22, 1998 3:32 AM
> > To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com; fcnl@IGC.APC.ORG; mcli@igc.org;
> > pamembers@IGC.APC.ORG; shundahai@shundahai.org; wrl@IGC.APC.ORG;
> > wslf@IGC.APC.ORG; wilpfnatl@igc.org; pasacramento@igc.org; ldazey@igc.org;
> > wslf@IGC.APC.ORG; abeier@igc.org; planevada@aol.com; wiednerb@aol.com;
> > iio1@pge.com
> > Subject: (abolition-usa) The Iraq Crisis and U.S. Nuclear Weapons
> >
> > I am trying to write a letter about the contradiction between U.S.
> > insistence that Iraq rid itself of weapons of mass destruction and submit
> > to
> > UN inspectors to determine if Iraq has done so, and U.S. refusal to rid
> > itself of its nuclear weapons or submit to international inspection of its
> > nuclear arsenal. Below is my proposed outline. Please help me flesh it
> > out.
> >
> > I. For over 7 years, the U.S. has insisted that Iraq rid itself of its
> > weapons of mass destruction and submit to UN inspectors to determine if
> > Iraq
> > has done so, using sanctions and threats of air strikes to force Iraq to
> > comply.
> >
> > II. At the same time, the U.S. refuses to negotiate a treaty to eliminate
> > nuclear weapons, in defiance of the World Court, 87% of the American
> > public,
> > about 60 retired high ranking military officials, and 117 former civilian
> > leaders.
> >
> > A. The DOE's Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program to
> > continue and expand U.S. nuclear weapons design, testing, development, and
> > production.
> >
> > 1. NIF
> >
> > 2. subcritical testing
> >
> > 3. computer simulations
> >
> > 4. SSMP undermines nuclear non-proliferation efforts.
> >
> > III. The U.S. refuses to allow international inspections of its nuclear
> > arsenal, and arrests Citizen Inspectors who try to inspect U.S. military
> > facilities.
> >
> > IV. To end the hypocrisy, give Iraq and North Korea no excuse to resist
> > inspections or keep weapons of mass destruction, and end the threat of
> > nuclear war, the U.S. should:
> >
> > A. Take half its nuclear warheads off alert and remove them from
> > their delivery vehicles.
> >
> > B. Invite international inspectors in to verify above steps.
> >
> > C. Call on all the other nuclear states to do A and B, and call
> > for
> > the negotiation of a Nuclear Abolition Treaty.
> >
> > D. Promise to de-alert and remove the rest of its nuclear warheads
> > once C has occurred.
> >
> >
> > -
> > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to
> > "majordomo@xmission.com"
> > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
> > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
> > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
> >
>
> -
> To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com"
> with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
> For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
> "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
- -
To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com"
with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 23:23:28 -0500
From: Peter Weiss <petweiss@igc.org>
Subject: [Fwd: (abolition-usa) The Iraq Crisis and U.S. Nuclear Weapons]
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
- --------------04A3C98AC6436DC5F3280BEA
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
- --------------04A3C98AC6436DC5F3280BEA
Content-Type: message/rfc822
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Content-Disposition: inline
Message-ID: <365F5D67.A99633CB@igc.org>
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 21:18:15 -0500
From: Peter Weiss <petweiss@igc.org>
Reply-To: petweiss@igc.org
X-Mozilla-Draft-Info: internal/draft; vcard=0; receipt=0; uuencode=0; html=0; linewidth=0
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) The Iraq Crisis and U.S. Nuclear Weapons
References: <9171552F3022D1118B9F00805FFEB5460111FABA@law-mail.law.uiuc.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Dear Timothy Bruening: Your letter is excellent. Francis' additions
would make it even better.
Peter Weiss
Boyle, Francis wrote:
>
> Dear Timothy: For what it is worth: The IAEA has already stated that Iraq
> has no nuclear weapons capability. Also, if I remember correctly, the former
> UNSCOM Inspector, Ray Zalinskas has already said in public that at least 90%
> of Iraq's chemical and biological warfare capability has been destroyed.
> This is just a bogus issue that the United States and Britain are currently
> using to build public support for a war of extermination against the People
> of Iraq. We must not fall into their trap.
> Best regards,
> Francis Boyle
> Francis A. Boyle
> Law Building
> 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
> Champaign, IL 61820
> 217-333-7954(voice)
> 217-244-1478(fax)
> fboyle@law.uiuc.edu
>
> > ----------
> > From: Timothy Bruening[SMTP:tsbrueni@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us]
> > Reply To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com
> > Sent: Sunday, November 22, 1998 3:32 AM
> > To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com; fcnl@IGC.APC.ORG; mcli@igc.org;
> > pamembers@IGC.APC.ORG; shundahai@shundahai.org; wrl@IGC.APC.ORG;
> > wslf@IGC.APC.ORG; wilpfnatl@igc.org; pasacramento@igc.org; ldazey@igc.org;
> > wslf@IGC.APC.ORG; abeier@igc.org; planevada@aol.com; wiednerb@aol.com;
> > iio1@pge.com
> > Subject: (abolition-usa) The Iraq Crisis and U.S. Nuclear Weapons
> >
> > I am trying to write a letter about the contradiction between U.S.
> > insistence that Iraq rid itself of weapons of mass destruction and submit
> > to
> > UN inspectors to determine if Iraq has done so, and U.S. refusal to rid
> > itself of its nuclear weapons or submit to international inspection of its
> > nuclear arsenal. Below is my proposed outline. Please help me flesh it
> > out.
> >
> > I. For over 7 years, the U.S. has insisted that Iraq rid itself of its
> > weapons of mass destruction and submit to UN inspectors to determine if
> > Iraq
> > has done so, using sanctions and threats of air strikes to force Iraq to
> > comply.
> >
> > II. At the same time, the U.S. refuses to negotiate a treaty to eliminate
> > nuclear weapons, in defiance of the World Court, 87% of the American
> > public,
> > about 60 retired high ranking military officials, and 117 former civilian
> > leaders.
> >
> > A. The DOE's Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program to
> > continue and expand U.S. nuclear weapons design, testing, development, and
> > production.
> >
> > 1. NIF
> >
> > 2. subcritical testing
> >
> > 3. computer simulations
> >
> > 4. SSMP undermines nuclear non-proliferation efforts.
> >
> > III. The U.S. refuses to allow international inspections of its nuclear
> > arsenal, and arrests Citizen Inspectors who try to inspect U.S. military
> > facilities.
> >
> > IV. To end the hypocrisy, give Iraq and North Korea no excuse to resist
> > inspections or keep weapons of mass destruction, and end the threat of
> > nuclear war, the U.S. should:
> >
> > A. Take half its nuclear warheads off alert and remove them from
> > their delivery vehicles.
> >
> > B. Invite international inspectors in to verify above steps.
> >
> > C. Call on all the other nuclear states to do A and B, and call
> > for
> > the negotiation of a Nuclear Abolition Treaty.
> >
> > D. Promise to de-alert and remove the rest of its nuclear warheads
> > once C has occurred.
> >
> >
> > -
> > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to
> > "majordomo@xmission.com"
> > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
> > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
> > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
> >
>
> -
> To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com"
> with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
> For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
> "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
- --------------04A3C98AC6436DC5F3280BEA--
- -
To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com"
with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 07:08:37 -0500
From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org>
Subject: (abolition-usa) SpaceNews: Nov. 28 1998
http://www.oregonlive.com/todaysnews/9811/st112709.html
Space program considers Hanford to make plutonium
Friday, November 27 1998
By James Long of The Oregonian staff
In a move that is raising an outcry from
environmental groups, the federal
government is considering a role for the
Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the U.S.
space program.
The Department of Energy, which makes
plutonium-powered electrical generators
for NASA and military spacecraft, is
thinking of relocating its production plant
from Ohio to Hanford, in southeast
Washington. The agency also is considering
reopening a Hanford research reactor, the
Fast Flux Test Facility, to manufacture
plutonium-238, a rare and hugely expensive
isotope that runs the generators.
The generator assembly plant could mean
as many as 120 jobs and a $6 million
payroll for the former nuclear weapons
complex. If Hanford also restarted the Fast
Flux reactor to make Pu-238, an additional
400 to 600 jobs would be created, with a
payroll of as much as $30 million.
But Hanford has competition for both
projects. The Energy of Department is
considering five other sites for the
generator assembly plant, including the
Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Laboratory near Idaho Falls.
The Idaho facility and the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory near Clinton, Tenn.,
also are in the running as possible sites for
irradiating neptunium "targets" to produce
Pu-238. Oak Ridge and Hanford are under
consideration for fabricating and
processing the targets.
A dozen activist organizations oppose
relocating the generator project to Hanford,
particularly if it includes reopening Fast
Flux.
"It would take us back to plutonium
production," said Tom Carpenter, a Seattle
lawyer for the watchdog Government
Accountability Project.
Carpenter worries not only about the
environmental problems of an active
reactor, such as the creation of nuclear
waste, but also what he said were
unanswered questions about operating an
unconventional reactor in modes for which
it was not designed.
Fast Flux was completed in the 1970s for
research into fuels and materials for
fast-breeder reactors that were never built.
Those reactors were designed to create
more nuclear fuel than they used.
Carpenter said isotope production would
require running the reactor harder than
normal, using highly enriched fuel. He said
critics, including engineers within the
Energy Department, think this could make
the reactor harder to control and increase
the risk of an accident.
But the Energy Department said that, in any
event, it could not reopen Fast Flux without
proving its safety to the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.
The possibility of using Fast Flux to make
Pu-238 was proposed less than two months
ago, while Energy Secretary Bill
Richardson was still studying a proposal to
restart the reactor to make tritium for
nuclear weapons. Tritium, a heavy form of
hydrogen, has a half-life of only 12.3 years
and must be replenished regularly to assure
the reliability of the bombs. The United
States quit making tritium in 1989 and has
maintained its nuclear stockpile by
scavenging the hydrogen isotope -- the "H"
in H-bombs -- from retired weapons.
That option will soon run out, and the
department is studying several new
sources, including the Fast Flux. The
earlier proposal would use the reactor to
create tritium and new medical isotopes for
treating cancer and other diseases.
But the Pu-238 proposal presents a
conundrum: For the Hanford reactor to
make economic sense, Energy Department
officials said, it would have to manufacture
tritium for the bomb program. But creating
Pu-238 would take up almost the whole
capacity of the reactor, leaving little room
for making tritium.
Al Farabee, manager of the mothballed
reactor, sees no possibility that Fast Flux
could simultaneously meet U.S.
requirements of 2 to 5 kilograms annually
of Pu-238 for spacecraft and 1.5 kilograms
of tritium for bombs.
A Pu-238 program, by itself, could not be
justified economically, Farabee said,
although medical isotopes could be made
alongside the Pu-238 or beside the tritium.
But the medical isotopes would be largely
experimental and would not have enough of
a market in the near future to help pay for
the reactor.
Farabee said that operating the Fast Flux
reactor would cost $80 million to $90
million annually to operate Fast Flux.
If Hanford is chosen only to assemble the
space generators, Energy Department
officials said, the work would be done at
the half-billion dollar Fuel and Materials
Examination Facility, which was built
alongside the Fast Flux reactor in the 1970s
but never used. Encapsulated Pu-238 fuel
elements would be shipped to Hanford
from the Los Alamos National Laboratory
in New Mexico.
If the Fast Flux reactor is reopened to make
Pu-238, several scenarios are possible.
The neptunium targets that are bombarded
with neutrons in the reactor to make Pu-238
could be shipped off site, possibly to Oak
Ridge, for chemical reprocessing to
recover the plutonium and recycle the
neptunium. Pu-238 oxide powder would
then be shipped to Los Alamos,
encapsulated in irridium and forwarded to
Hanford.
The entire operation also could be done at
Hanford. According to an Energy
Department study, processing the neptunium
targets to obtain as much as five kilograms
of Pu-238 annually would create about
4,000 gallons of high-level nuclear waste.
But that amount is dwarfed by the more than
50 million gallons of waste in 177 huge
underground tanks at Hanford. The Energy
Department is building a multibillion dollar
vitrification system to turn that waste into
glass. That system also would be available
for space generator waste.
The United States gets its Pu-238 from
stocks that were created at South Carolina's
Savannah River weapons complex before
1989 and from Russia. In 1992, the Energy
Department signed a contract with Russia
to buy as much as 40 kilograms for the
space program. But the continuing turmoil
in Russia has cast doubts on the reliability
of the supply, leading to the current plan to
resume domestic production.
_______________________________________________________________________
* NucNews - subscribe: prop1@prop1.org - http://prop1.org ("Nuclear") *
_______________________________________________________________________
- -
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 07:09:07 -0500
From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org>
Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: Nov. 28 1998
1. http://www.cleveland.com/news/pdnews/metro/wmissing.phtml
Missing bombs are called a legacy of the Cold War
2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-11/28/058l-112898-idx.html
Armageddon Moves Inside The Computer
3. http://www.abcnews.com/sections/world/DailyNews/starr981123.html
Pentagon Fears Rogue N. Korea Nuclear Program
4. http://nt.excite.com/news/bw/981125/usec
USEC Annual Meeting Date Set - BETHESDA, Md. 2/2/99
- ----------------------------------
1. http://www.cleveland.com/news/pdnews/metro/wmissing.phtml
Missing bombs are called a legacy of the Cold War
Friday, November 27, 1998
By J. SCOTT ORR
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON - Information is sketchy about what
happened that warm July night 41 years ago. It was
the height of the Cold War, a time when Americans
feared that at any moment a nuclear attack would
shatter the calm of the nation's post-war happy days.
On this night - July 28 or 29, the records aren't clear
- - when a pair of bombs dropped off the coast of
Atlantic City, N.J., they came not from one of the
Soviet Union's feared TU-95 Bear bombers, but from
a U.S. Air Force C-124 cargo plane.
The bombs each contained about a ton of high
explosives, enough to level a city block. The good
news was that when these bombs fell, their nuclear
payload - grapefruit-sized hunks of plutonium
capable of delivering the impact of up to 47,000 tons
of TNT - stayed aboard as the crippled cargo plane
returned to an airport near Atlantic City.
The bombs, called Mark 5s, survived impact with
the Atlantic, one 50 miles from shore, the other 75
miles out. By Nov. 1, 1957, the Air Force had called
off its search for the lost bombs, leaving them to the
whims of North Atlantic tides. They are still out
there.
The two Mark 5s are among a group of 11 known
U.S. nuclear bombs, or parts of bombs, that were
lost during the Cold War because of aircraft
malfunctions or accidents. Most are at sea. At least
four live nuclear payloads are out there.
"If you thought syringes on the beaches were bad a
few years ago, imagine if a nuclear bomb were to
wash up. Lots of heavy things wash ashore," said
Stephen Schwartz, a scholar at the Brookings
Institution and the editor of "Atomic Audit: The
Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons
Since 1940."
Schwartz, a leading expert on Cold War nuclear
policy, said it is remarkable that there weren't more
serious nuclear accidents, given the constant
movement of nuclear weapons during the '50s and
'60s.
"These weapons didn't just sit around in bunkers
somewhere until things got hot. . . . We put those
weapons out of harm's way by deploying them all
over the world. There were B-52s carrying nuclear
bombs flying around the world constantly for a good
couple of decades," Schwartz said.
Despite dozens of acknowledged mishaps over the
years, the Pentagon points out that "there never has
been even a partial inadvertent U.S. nuclear
detonation." In a 1981 report on nuclear weapons
accidents during the Cold War, the Department of
Defense said that only two of the accidents "resulted
in widespread dispersal of nuclear materials."
There is no way of knowing the full extent of this
Cold War legacy, even though the Pentagon has
acknowledged the existence of the missing U.S.
bombs. There could be dozens more weapons at
large that were lost by the Soviets and other nuclear
powers. A 1989 report from Greenpeace estimated
that some 50 warheads are scattered on ocean floors
worldwide.
"The Russians had many, many accidents, but of
course they have not been forthcoming about them.
And I wouldn't be surprised if the British, the French
and the Chinese had their share as well," Schwartz
said.
Schwartz, who has spent years poring over
declassified Pentagon documents about so-called
"broken arrow" incidents, said the Atlantic City
accident was fairly typical of the kinds of
circumstances that left bombs and bomb components
scattered about the globe.
The Pentagon routinely declines to talk about nuclear
weapons. But in its 1981 report, the Defense
Department released sketchy summaries of 32
"broken arrow" accidents involving nuclear
weapons.
According to the Pentagon report, most of the
accidents happened in the '50s and early '60s, during
the days of the Air Force's "airborne alert" when
nuclear weapons were kept airborne around the
clock to respond to any attack from the Soviets.
Airborne alert was terminated in 1968, largely
because of the two accidents that resulted in
significant contamination by nuclear materials.
The first of those accidents happened on Jan. 17,
1966, when a B-52 collided with a KC-135
refueling aircraft over Palomares, Spain. Two of
four nuclear bombs were recovered, but the high
explosive charges in the other two went off on
contact with the ground, scattering radioactive
material.
On Jan. 21, 1968, a B-52 crashed seven miles
southwest of the runway at Thule Air Force Base in
Greenland. Four nuclear weapons burned in the
crash, spreading radioactive contamination over sea
ice.
Though the incidents at Palomares and Thule are the
best known of the Air Force's nuclear mishaps, at
least the nuclear payloads were easily accounted for
at both locations. In other incidents, however,
nuclear warheads remain unaccounted for.
In one case, two bombs fell from a B-52 as it broke
up over Goldsboro, N.C., on Jan. 24, 1961. One of
the bombs parachuted to the ground safely, but the
second free-fell and hit the ground. The
thermonuclear portion of that bomb, which contained
uranium, could not be recovered from waterlogged
farmland despite excavation to a depth of 50 feet.
The Air Force purchased an easement prohibiting
digging at the site and left the bomb there.
On March 10, 1956, a B-47 was lost in clouds over
the Mediterranean Sea. No trace of the plane, its
crew or its cargo of two nuclear capsules was ever
found.
On Dec. 5, 1965, an A-4e Skyhawk warplane rolled
off the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga
and sank, along with a live hydrogen bomb, 80 miles
from Okinawa. In 1989, the United States told Japan
that the bomb had leaked radioactive material.
- ------------------------------
2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-11/28/058l-112898-idx.html
Armageddon Moves Inside The Computer
Los Alamos Is Calculating A New Nuclear Testing Era
By Mark Leibovich
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 28, 1998; Page A01
LOS ALAMOS, N.M.-When Department of Energy
engineer John Pedicini was 27, he exploded his first
brainchild -- a large nuclear device -- and felt a surge of
patriotism as the Nevada desert quaked. That was in the
mid-1980s, when the Evil Empire seemed as tangible as
the underground detonations that measured the strength of
the nation's nuclear arsenal.
Today, Pedicini is waging a new race, one known to few
beyond the shrinking community of nuclear weapons
designers here at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Far from desert bunkers, their pursuit is unfolding on a
massive computer that can perform more calculations in
one second than a hand-held calculator can in 3 million
years.
"I'm here because I wonder if [Russian President Boris]
Yeltsin's economy will keep falling apart," said
Pedicini. "I worry that Russia will go the way of
[Germany's] Weimar Republic in the 1920s, and they
will become a threat to us again."
Such vigilance still pervades America's nuclear
birthplace. But as the Cold War recedes deeper into
history, the lab's basic mission has undergone a seismic
shift. The United States stopped developing nuclear
weapons in 1989 and ceased underground testing in
1992; that leaves about 8,000 warheads in today's U.S.
stockpile (the exact number is classified). Now the
scientists entrusted with maintaining these weapons must
create a simulated testing ground. Computer skills have
become a gold standard.
And Los Alamos has reinvented itself. Earlier this
month, the Department of Energy, which oversees
nuclear weapons, announced that the "world's fastest
computer," called "Blue Mountain," was fully operating
at Los Alamos. It was the latest milestone of a
transformation that has seen the laboratory's elite group
of Cold War physicists replaced by -- or transformed
into -- a new generation of nuclear nerds.
At the crux of this evolution is the U.S. government's
$4.5 billion-a-year effort to preserve its nuclear
weapons. Called "Stockpile Stewardship," the project's
objective is to maintain the reliability of aging weapons
systems without the benefit of the underground
detonations used for decades.
The weapons project requires a computing system
powerful enough to produce a three-dimensional
likeness of how a device would perform if exploded. It
would portray the heat, light and chaos of a nuclear
detonation and, virtually speaking, place the scientists
inside a bomb as it unchains the greatest destructive
power unleashed by human beings.
The project has infused the lab with fresh urgency
following a post-Cold War identity crisis.
In the early 1990s, "there was a sense that we would just
grab the peace dividend and get out of the weapons
business," said Gilbert G. Weigand, deputy assistant
secretary for strategic computing and simulation at the
Energy Department. Technicians feared this would
render them overeducated maintenance workers. Or
worse, unemployed.
But stockpile stewardship has presented fresh
challenges, many made up of bits and bytes rather than
protons and neutrons. While the program includes
noncomputerized tasks, such as the routine transport of
weapons between facilities, the simulation work
represents its leading edge, many weapons scientists
here say.
Aging is perhaps the most persistent foe in the modern
arms race. By 2004, the average age of the weapons in
the stockpile will be nearly 20 years, or the expected
lifespan of many of these weapons at the time they were
constructed. During the Cold War, older weapons were
retired and new ones designed to take their place.
But just as urgent is the aging of the Cold War scientists
who built the arsenal. Their ranks are dwindling fast, at
Los Alamos and at its sister, Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory in California. These are the last
U.S. scientists to design nuclear bombs, the last to run
underground tests.
"In the next 10 or 15 years, most of the people who
helped develop these devices will no longer be alive,"
said Mark Goldman, director of government programs
for Silicon Graphics Inc., which holds the $121.5
million contract to build the Los Alamos Blue Mountain
supercomputer on which the simulations will be
performed.
Weigand would not divulge exactly how many nuclear
weapons designers are still employed by the
government, citing national security concerns. Speaking
broadly, he put the figure at "a couple of hands full."
Pedicini, at 41 among the youngest desert veterans, is
one of the few scientists with firsthand knowledge of
how these weapons were built and how they behave
when they explode. It makes him a prized informant. Like
anthropologists taking oral histories, younger Los
Alamos scientists and computer programmers are
plumbing their older colleagues' memories in taped
interviews. They ask why tests were conducted in
certain ways, why one set of diagnostics was used and
not another, how certain components behaved. By
amassing these anecdotal accounts, the scientists can
glean the intangibles behind the objective test data and
create a more true-to-life simulation.
The Los Alamos supercomputer can run at nearly 3
teraflops at peak, or 3 trillion operations per second.
The ultimate goal will be to produce a 100-teraflop
system by 2004. Scientists determined that it will take
that much computing power to fully replicate the
conditions inside a bomb.
The Energy Department's weapons laboratories have
been pioneers of advanced computing. Los Alamos,
Livermore, and Sandia National Laboratory in
Albuquerque traditionally have been among the first
testing incubators for the world's fastest computers. The
labs now boast of their high-tech capability. Livermore
is especially proud of its in-progress $1.2 billion laser
facility, the most elaborate assembly of its kind,
expected to be complete by 2003. On Oct. 28, the Energy
Department announced that a system capable of 3.88
trillion calculations per second at peak performance had
been built by IBM technicians for Livermore.
Code-named "Pacific Blue," the Livermore system was
said to surpass "Option Red" at Sandia as the world's
fastest.
The next day, a Silicon Graphics spokesman said that its
Los Alamos machine -- "Blue Mountain" -- would have
a "theoretical peak performance" of 4.2 trillion
calculations per second, exceeding Pacific Blue's 3.88.
A Los Alamos spokesman later revised the estimate
downward, to about 3 trillion. Blue Mountain was up
and running a week later.
Blue Mountain will afford weapons testers an
unprecedented level of realism in their simulations, said
Steve Younger, the associate lab director for nuclear
weapons at Los Alamos. The machine now fills a tightly
guarded Los Alamos floor the size of a small hockey
rink. The disc memory is contained on a separate floor,
and the cooling system is housed in the basement. The
machine runs on 1.6 megawatts of electrical power, and
is connected by 500 miles of fiber cable.
"There is no blueprint for what we're trying to achieve
now," said Charlie Slocomb, a 27-year lab veteran who
oversees computing-related programs at Los Alamos.
When Slocomb takes a visitor inside, a red light flashes
to indicate the presence of someone without security
clearance. He marvels at the creation-in-progress,
pointing to water flowing in an elegant stream over a
blue and gold cooling box. Blue Mountain's cooling
system requires about 40,000 gallons of water a day.
The laboratory's supercomputing power also is being put
to nondefense applications. Frank Harlow, a 45-year lab
veteran, is building a simulation system to help
firefighters predict the path of wildfires. Harlow works
in a trailer lined with white boards and computer
terminals, part of the lab's 43 square miles.
With long gray hair and a hoop earring, Harlow, 70,
defies the strait-laced stereotype of the defense industry.
In fact, when J. Robert Oppenheimer founded the
laboratory 56 years ago, he fostered an idiosyncratic,
flatly structured and oddly countercultural mentality that
persists. "To think that Silicon Valley invented this
high-tech work culture would be a mistake," said Janet
Bailey, author of "The Good Servant: Making Peace
With the Bomb at Los Alamos."
But scientists here remain acutely suspicious of the
"uncleared" world, delineating between those "inside the
fence" and "outside the fence." Within the campus
border, a short drive from the downtown junction of
Trinity and Oppenheimer avenues, guides still follow
visitors into some restrooms.
Seventy percent of the laboratory's budget still goes to
defense-related programs, and the Energy Department --
which oversees stockpile stewardship -- will spend an
estimated $45 billion over the next 10 years under the
program.
Still, Cold War veterans here say, it can be difficult to
conjure urgency without an easily recognized enemy.
Nostalgia still abounds for the life-and-death headiness
of beating the Soviets, and for the sport of underground
testing.
"Blowing a huge hole in Nevada was great for the ego,"
said Jas Mercer-Smith, the deputy chief of nuclear
weapons here. Mercer-Smith is an astrophysicist who
said he once supervised a nuclear test that registered 4.8
on the Richter scale.
"A lot of people here felt betrayed by the end of testing,"
he said, and not just because they were fun. "Nuclear
weapons play the same role in society as the witches in
the Grimms' fairy tale," Mercer-Smith said. "Their job is
to scare small children. Personally, I'm worried that this
country hasn't been scary enough lately."
It's hard to be scary with nuclear weapons that can't be
detonated, Mercer-Smith said. "Historically, preserving
a technology without new innovation has not worked
well," he said. How exactly will the bombs chip, crack
and crumble when they explode?
"We can't know for sure any more," he said. "But we
built these things, and now we're stuck taking care of
them."
- ------------------------------
3. http://www.abcnews.com/sections/world/DailyNews/starr981123.html
Pentagon Fears Rogue N. Korea Nuclear Program
Building an Atomic Economy?
By Barbara Starr
ABCNEWS.com
In 1994 Washington agreed to give North Korea two advanced nuclear reactors
and 500,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil a year in return for Pyongyang
halting its nuclear program.
"This is not something that can go on forever." -U.S. Defense Secretary
William Cohen
W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 23 - Four years after North Korea vowed to halt
development of nuclear weapons, the Clinton administration is growing
increasingly convinced Pyongyang is pursuing the atomic bomb with a
vengeance. Washington's most urgent concern is a suspected underground
nuclear facility under construction at Kumchang-ni, some 25 miles northeast
of Yongbyon. Yongbyon is the site where North Korea is believed to have
made enough plutonium for one or two bombs before the 1994 accord in which
it promised to halt nuclear development. The Kumchang-ni site, which
includes a massive underground excavation, has been under construction for
some years. But recent activity there has been especially disturbing to the
United States. Based on its analysis of satellite imagery, the Pentagon
believes the North Koreans are building either an underground power plant
or nuclear fuel processing facility. North Korea denies the allegations.
No Nukes Deal Violated?
Washington's conclusion is based on the size of the excavation and
construction of several dams nearby. U.S. intelligence estimates the
project will take four to six years to finish, although an accelerated
effort could see the plant done in as little as two years. The facility,
when finished, will be able to produce enough plutonium to build eight to
10 nuclear weapons a year, analysts believe. In October 1994, North Korea
signed a so-called framework agreement in which it froze its nuclear
weapons program in exchange for billions of dollars in aid. The agreement
specifically focused on a plutonium facility then under construction at
Yongbyon. But all military nuclear programs were to be abandoned as part of
the agreement, in favor of fuel oil shipments and construction of
commercial nuclear power plants.
Stopping Short of Official Rebuke
While the Clinton administration has not yet publicly confirmed the
existence or purpose of the site, Defense Secretary William Cohen strongly
implied that North Korea has violated the 1994 agreement by developing an
underground nuclear facility. "This is not something that can go on
forever," said Cohen. "We are concerned about reports that we have had
about the developments in North Korea as to whether they are complying with
the agreed framework. We are going to need inspection of the site or sites
that might be involved." Cohen declined however to verify reports that U.S.
and South Korean scientists have already found traces of plutonium in water
and soil samples at both Kumchang-ni and Yongbyon.
A Pattern of Belligerence
The underground nuclear facility is just one part of North Korea's overall
effort to expand its weapons development efforts. It is widely assumed
that Pyongyang wants to place atomic weapons on its ballistic missiles. To
accomplish that goal, the North also is stepping up its missile development
efforts. So far, the severe economic crisis in the North doesn't appear to
be hampering any of the programs. In late August, North Korea for the first
time tested a three-stage Taepo Dong I missile with a range of 1,250 miles.
Now the United States believes an underground launch facility at Yongo Dong
could be completed next year. Two additional launch facilities at
Sangnam-ni and Yongnim Up may be completed in the next three to four years.
Still another facility is under construction at Chiha-ri to handle Scud
missile launches.
Missiles for Sale
While North Korea clearly is pursuing both nuclear weapons and ballistic
missiles for its own military forces, it also is trying to export both as
commodities that can earn the government desperately needed cash. North
Korea has already exported the No Dong missile to Iran for its Shahab
ballistic missile program and to Pakistan for its Ghauri ballistic missile
program. U.S. intelligence analysts also believe that North Korea may
eventually try to market the Taepo Dong as a launch vehicle for nations
trying to deploy satellites. Recent talks between U.S. and North Korean
officials on possible inspections of the underground facility adjourned
without any agreement. Now U.S. officials hope to resume the talks. While
the 1994 agreement may be fraying at the edges, for the moment, there may
be no other option but to hold on to it.
[Photo] North Korea is alleged to have sold missiles to the other countries
pictured here. Click a country name, [Iran, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan,
Syria], to see where various missiles could hit: a Scud C missile (Range:
550 kilometers), a No Dong missile (Range: 1,000 kilometers), or a Taepo
Dong 1 missile (Range: 2,000 kilometers). (ABCNEWS.com)
- -----------------------------------
[I include this in case there are any activists near Bethesda that would
like to attend this meeting. You might have to buy a share of stock to
raise your voice.]
4. http://nt.excite.com/news/bw/981125/usec
USEC Annual Meeting Date Set
BETHESDA, Md.
(BUSINESS WIRE) - USEC Inc.
(NYSE:USU) has set the date for its first Annual
Meeting of Shareholders. The meeting will be
held on February 2, 1999 at 10 a.m. at the
Bethesda Marriott Hotel, 5151 Pooks Hill Road,
Bethesda, Maryland. Shareholders of record on
December 4, 1998 will be entitled to attend and
vote at the meeting, or vote by proxy.
USEC Inc. is the world leader in production and
sales of uranium fuel enrichment services for
commercial nuclear power plants. A global
energy company with customers in 14 countries,
the Company's operations involve approximately
5,000 people. With headquarters in Bethesda,
Maryland, the Company manages production
plants in Kentucky and Ohio, and is developing an
advanced laser enrichment technology in
California.
_______________________________________________________________________
* NucNews - subscribe: prop1@prop1.org - http://prop1.org ("Nuclear") *
_______________________________________________________________________
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