I like Jonathan Schell's the best. It is to the point and mentions a nuclear
weapons convention.
some are much too long and some too general.
Colby Lowe
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Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 08:10:44 -0800
From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Subcritical "Clarinet" conducted at 1:58 pm PST 2/9
Dear Friends,
We are sad to announce the completion of the sixth U.S. subcritical nuclear weapons test at the Nevada Test Site since the program was begun in 1997. This test involved 6 ounces of plutonium and was exploded at 1:58 pm U.S. PST on Tuesday.
Darwin Morgan, Department of Energy (DOE) spokesperson, said " The primary objectives of Clarinet were to observe the speed and surface effects of the plutonium as it blew apart when shocked by the energy from detonating chemical-high explosives." (This plutonium is left 680 feet in the ground dangerously near groundwater that has already been found to be contaminated with plutonium and tritium from past nuclear explosions.) Morgan said Tuesdays experiment will help expand the knowledge base that scientists from the national Laboratories are developing under the stockpile Stewardship Program, a key element of the DOE's $6.2 billion defense budget the Clinton administration has requested for next year.
Corbin Harney, a Newe (Western Shoshone) elder, who's land was stolen to create the test site and other military bases, began a prayer ceremony at 9am. People from Healing Global Wounds, Shundahai Network, Alliance of Atomic Veterans, Nevada Desert Experience and other groups maintained a vigil all morning at the Mercury gates to the test site. Nine people were arrested for blocking the road at around the same time that "Clarinet" was exploded. They were cited for trespass and released. Later that afternoon others gathered in front of the Las Vegas Foley Federal Building for a small but spirited protest vigil.
We hope to hear reports from the actions that took place at the Bechtel Headquarters in San Francisco and elsewhere. Thank you especially to our friends at Tri Valley CARES for organizing that event with such short notice. We in Nevada continue to be inspired by your dedication.
Thank you to every one involved in the important work of nuclear abolition around the world. Peace.
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 08:20:40 -0800
From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: subcritical tests in two states
Thank you Greg for reminding us that the subcritical testing program involves much more then just tests at the Nevada Test Site. Just as "Clarinet" was deplorable, so too are all the ongoing nuclear weapons design, testing and production programs. We look forward to continuing to highlight these links and commit to working to end nuclear testing where ever it takes place. Thank you for your important work at Los Alamos. Peace, Reinard
At 04:02 PM 2/9/99 -0700, you wrote:
>I am not sure if the following message went out successfully this
>morning. Please forgive me if you get two or more copies.
>
>Dear colleagues all--
> Today's subcritical test "Clarinet" in Nevada is deplorable.
> Please be reminded, however, that the NTS subcritical tests are not
>the only ones being conducted. I am truly sorry to say that Los Alamos
>National Laboratory has once again begun an open-ended series of
>FULL-SCALE implosions of COMPLETE nuclear weapons primaries, made with
>Pu-242. These explosions take place in two-inch-thick tanks, which cost
>only about $40,000 and are used just once. The tanks are permanently
>deformed, and shrapnel penetrates up
>to an inch deep into the specially tough steel, developed for the hulls
>of submarines and for naval armor. The very costly Pu-242 must be
>cleaned out of the tank by some poor schmuck and reprocessed, at least
>as much as possible. DOE is proud to say this is all completely safe.
>The implosions are photographed with high-speed X-rays at LANL's PHERMEX
>facility, and the data compared with today's best implosion models. The
>capabilities of this dual
>approach--supercomputer modelling plus direct observation--are very
>high. As the title of one classified memo about LANL hydrotesting plans
>dating from the 1980s put it, "Production-quality data without NTS."
> This much has been admitted; there could however be much more to the
>story. We just don't know. We do not know how many such tests have
>been conducted in modern times (not many, we think); how many are to be
>conducted; what safety procedures are used; whether they wrap the tanks
>with duct tape first (just a joke), etc. The program is called
>"Apaloosa," and the Pu-242--the use of which most LANL scientists still
>believe to be a classified fact,
>though the cat is now out of the bag--is called "Cider."
> Since the utility and principles behind these experiments can be
>readily understood by many people, DOE Defense Programs was at one time
>arguing alongside the DOE Office of Declassification that their
>existence should be unclassified. Indeed, it was a DP official who
>recently confirmed the use of Pu-242 to the press. *****The DOE office
>that argued against declassification was the Office of Nonproliferation,
>presumably because they best understood the
>difficulties these full-scale, exact-replica tests could pose for the
>perceived universality of the CTBT.*****
> We have working drawings of the current vessels, and photographs of
>older, apparently-used vessels (judging by the radioactive tags)--which
>you can see for yourself at the plutonium facility if you come here.
> In addition to these tests, a program of flyer plate experiments
>involving Pu-239, similar in principle to the first subcritical test
>"Rebound," has begun at LANL. We have not compared the pressures
>generated in these tests to the NTS experiments; presumably they are
>smaller. The flyer plates are just 3 mm in diameter, and they are
>driven by a laser. They can be repeated in just a day. Also, flyers
>are being accelerated by a gas gun at the
>plutonium facility, which has just recently begun operation again.
> All these tests are gearing up to facilitate certification of a new
>warhead for the Trident system, a process due to either end (or to
>begin; there is ambiguity) in about 2003 at this lab. If LLNL's
>pit-reuse design is chosen instead, there will be no new-pit
>manufacturing requirement, and LANL could possibly lose hundreds of
>millions of dollars, if not billions, in manufacturing upgrades and
>operating expenses for the new pits, depending on complex
>other factors. Livermore, however, would then have a major new-system
>design and stewardship "contract." The race to drain more content from
>the CTBT has significant financial prizes to the winners.
