ftp.xmission.com/2014.06.ftp.xmission.com.tar/ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/abolition-usa/archive/v01.n088

Internet Message Format | 1999-03-11 | 44KB

From: [e-mail] (abolition-usa-digest)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #88
Reply-To: abolition-usa-digest
Sender: [e-mail]
Errors-To: [e-mail]
Precedence: bulk


abolition-usa-digest     Thursday, March 11 1999     Volume 01 : Number 088




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 18:12:06 -0000
From: "Sally Light" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fw: De-Alert Nuclear Weapons/Action month!

- ----------
> From: marylia <[e-mail]>
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject: De-Alert Nuclear Weapons/Action month!
> Date: Wednesday, March 10, 1999 5:17 PM
>
> De-Alert Nuclear Weapons in 1999? Here's How You Can Help
>
> from Tri-Valley CAREs' March 1999 newsletter, Citizen's Watch
>
> Tri-Valley CAREs joins the nationwide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability
> in designating this month as "Back from the Brink: Nuclear Weapons
> De-Alerting Action Month." We ask you to join us in efforts to educate
> ourselves and the public about the urgent need to de-alert the nuclear
> arsenal.
>
> It's 1999, and still the U.S. and Russia remain ready to launch more than
> 5,000 nuclear warheads on less than half-an-hour's notice. This
> hair-trigger alert policy leaves the world at grave risk from nuclear war
> by accident or miscalculation.
>
> We have developed an action kit to provide steps that you can take right
> away to help on this important issue. Through this focused effort we hope
> to raise public awareness about the potential for accidental nuclear war
> and pressure President Clinton to de-alert U.S. weapons and request that
> other nuclear weapons states take reciprocal actions this year.
>
> We will have action kits at our March 25th meeting. For those residing
> outside the San Francisco Bay Area, and those who cannot come to our
> meeting, you may obtain action kits by responding to this message with a
> request and your snail mail address. You may also ask to be added to the
> mailing list for our monthly newsletter, Citizen's Watch.
>
>  And, please mail the four new postcards inside this month's Citizen's
> Watch. (Note: the postcards soon will be posted as a JPEG file and
> downloadable from the Tri-Valley CAREs web site! Address at the end of
this
> message!)
>
> Time to De-Activate Nuclear Weapons
>
> by Beatrice Brailsford, Snake River Alliance
>
> from Tri-Valley CAREs' March 1999 newsletter, Citizen's Watch --
> offered as part of "Back From the Brink: De-Alerting Nuclear Weapons
Action
> Month"
>
> Nuclear war is less than fifteen minutes away. Far-fetched? In 1995 we
came
> within four minutes. When Russian radar picked up a U.S. science rocket
> launched from Norway, the "black suitcase" that Boris Yeltsin would use
to
> launch an attack was activated for the first time in history. It took
> Russian decision-makers eight minutes, operating in high emergency mode,
to
> realize the launch was not part of a surprise strike by the U.S.-less
than
> four minutes before their "launch-on-warning" deadline for ordering a
> nuclear response.
>
> Launch-on-Warning
>
> Throughout the Cold War, both superpowers understood that their
militaries'
> command-and-control centers would probably be destroyed when the first
bomb
> fell. So if retaliation (as opposed to first strike) was going to occur
at
> all, it had to occur after an enemy launch but before the first bomb
fell.
> This hair-trigger posture is called launch-on-warning, and it remains in
> effect today. (The U.S. and Russia both say their weapons are now aimed
out
> to sea. But it takes only seconds to return a missile to its original
> target.)
>
> Re-targeted, nuclear-armed missiles can travel between Russia and the
U.S.
> in about 25 minutes. It takes about 15 minutes to detonation if they're
> launched from off shore submarines. All in all, the U.S. and Russia are
> ready this evening to launch more than 5,000 nuclear warheads in half an
> hour. In the best case, the time needed for detection, communication, and
> command leaves a handful of minutes for the exercise of the judgment and
> integrity that might save the world.
>
> De-Alert Nuclear Weapons
>
> De-alerting, or deactivating, nuclear bombs increases the time needed to
> launch them-by hours, days, weeks, months, or even years. Physically
> altering bombs so they cannot be immediately launched can greatly reduce
> the risk of war by miscalculation and eliminate first strike threats and
> the risk of accidental nuclear war-even if a de-alerted bomb might stay
in
> a country's arsenal for now.
>
> There are a wealth of verifiable steps that can be taken to make the
world
> a safer place as we move toward disarmament. A sequence of steps can
> steadily increase the time it takes to launch a warhead. Pinning open
> firing switches on missiles is a relatively easy way to de-alert them,
but
> it's also difficult to verify and easy to reverse.
>
> Storing warheads separately from their delivery systems at locations
remote
> from them under multilateral monitoring would be more difficult to
reverse
> because there would be political as well as technical barriers. The
> distance between a warhead and its missile can be increased as the world
> grows more confident that de-alerting lessens the nuclear danger.
> De-alerting, though, should not impede or replace nuclear disarmament.
> Instead, it can be carried forward in parallel with it and would be a
> concrete demonstration of the nuclear powers' commitment to the complete
> disarmament required by Article 6 of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty,
> which the U.S. has signed.
>
> Post-Cold War Catastrophe
>
> Nuclear war by accident or miscalculation has always been a real
> possibility. For instance, in 1979 and 1980, false alarms swept U.S.
> nuclear forces because of computer chip failure and human error. They
could
> have led to a mistaken launch.
>
> We are closer to inadvertent nuclear war today than we ever were during
the
> Cold War. Russia is politically unstable, and its economy is in shambles.
> Its infrastructure continues to deteriorate, including its early warning
> and nuclear command systems as well as its nuclear forces and equipment.
>
> Russia's current situation is not just Russia's problem. In the winter of
> 1995, Russia's detection and command systems, though stretched very thin,
> did not snap. If they had, the U.S. would have compounded a mistaken
launch
> with one of its own. We would have had a nuclear war, not because of
> political conflict, but because of mutually reinforcing
miscalculation-made
> in minutes.
>
> The danger of accidental devastation may be increased considerably by the
> potential effects of Year 2000 computer problems on military radar and
> nuclear weapons command and control systems worldwide. This potential is
> only months away.
>
> A Compelling Precedent
>
> Today's nuclear dangers cry for bold steps now. There is a compelling
> precedent that the first step can be taken by the U.S.
>
> In September 1991, when the Soviet Union was falling apart, President
> George Bush ordered a stand-down of U.S. strategic bombers, which had,
for
> decades, been prepared to take off in minutes. Their bombs were later
> unloaded and stored. Some missiles were taken off alert in just a few
days,
> and orders for some new weapons were canceled.
>
> President Bush took these dramatic actions unilaterally, without even
> consulting Congress. They allowed President Mikhail Gorbachev to
> reciprocate within the week and garrison the Soviet Union's rail-based
> missiles, de-activate submarines, and lower the alert level of his
> country's strategic bombers. Within months, both nations had withdrawn
most
> of their tactical weapons from forward positions (though the U.S. remains
> the only nation with nuclear bombs on foreign soil). A time of turmoil
was
> made safer by two leaders' unilateral, reciprocal moves.
>
> Let Reason Prevail
>
> Last September, Tom Daschle (D-SD) posed this question to his colleagues
in
> the U.S. Senate: "Reasonable people can only ask the obvious question:
with
> the Soviet Union dissolved and the Cold War over for nearly seven years,
> how can the U.S. and Russia continue to be one bad call away from a
nuclear
> disaster?"
>
> The answer, too, is obvious. We can't. It's time to make the next move,
and
> the U.S.-with the most powerful military on earth-can lead the way. All
> nations must begin de-alerting their nuclear weapons immediately. Every
> weapon in every arsenal must be subjected to at least one effective
> de-alerting measure as soon as technically feasible, certainly as far
> before the Year 2000 as possible.
>
>
> ++++ Please note that my email address has changed to
> <[e-mail]> on 3/1/99 ++++
>
> Marylia Kelley
> Tri-Valley CAREs
> (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
> 2582 Old First Street
> Livermore, CA USA 94550
>
> <http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there!
> Our web site will remain at this location. Only my email address has
> changed on 3/1/99.
>
> [phone] - is our phone
> [phone] - is our fax
>
> Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983,
Tri-Valley
> CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear
> Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the
> international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear
> weapons.
>
>

- -
 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 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, 11 Mar 1999 09:51:44 -0500
From: Norm and Karen Cohen <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) UNPLUG SALEM RALLY 3/27, 1-3 PM SALEM NUKES

Please forgive the inevitable duplications that will occur since I'm
sending this to so many lists.
Please come on out to either our rally or the events at Three Mile
Island and support these campaigns to shut down dangerous nuke plants.=20
Feel free to forward this annoucnement to your lists.

Flyers are available, please email back & we'll send you some.
Carpooling available too, please let us know.

We've got a great line-up and musicians and speakers, come on out on
March 27th!

Thanks
Norm Cohen
Executive Director, Coalition for Peace and Justice
South Jersey Coordinator, UNPLUG Salem Campaign


>                                        COALITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
>                                          PO BOX 2344, CAPE MAY, NJ 0820=
4
>                                       609-886-7988/889-8667            =
     [e-mail]
>
> Date: 03/05/99
> For Immediate Release: UPDATED with new information
>
>         ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS ADDED TO UNPLUG SALEM NO-NUKES RALLY ON MAR=
CH 27
>       The UNPLUG Salem Campaign added three speakers to the roster of p=
articipants in the rally at the Salem Nuclear Plant, to be held Saturday,=
 March 27th, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, at the access road leading to the A=
rtificial Island Complex. the new speakers included: John Guinan, Energy =
Advocate for New Jersey PIRG, Richard Mandelbaum, organizer for CATA, a f=
armworkers organization active in Southern New Jersey, and Rev. Robert Mo=
ore, who organized the first press conference at Three Mile Island in 197=
9 following the meltdown there. UNPLUG Salem also added radio personality=
 Bonnie Hart as the rally=92s emcee.
>      The rally is to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Three Mile=
 Island Partial Meltdown, and to continue to build momentum for the UNPLU=
G Salem Campaign aim:  to shut down the two dangerous Salem Nukes. The UN=
PLUG Salem Campaign aims to make this rally the largest rally at the Sale=
m Nuclear Plants in the last 20 years. The Salem Nuclear Plants are in Lo=
wer Alloways Township, near Salem, NJ, just across the Delaware Memorial =
Bridge from Wilmington, Delaware.
>       Free bus rides to the rally will be provided from Cape May and Cu=
mberland Counties. Call 609-886-7988 to reserve a seat or to arrange car =
pooling from other areas of the region.
>      Confirmed speakers at the rally now include: Wenonah Hauter, Direc=
tor of Citizen Action's Critical Mass Energy Project (Citizen Action is o=
ne of Ralph Nader's groups); Joe Mangano, Associate Director of the Radia=
tion Public Health Project (national coordinator for the Tooth Fairy Proj=
ect); Norm Cohen, Executive Director of the Coalition for Peace and Justi=
ce, and South Jersey Coordinator for UNPLUG Salem; Jane Nogaki, NJ Enviro=
nmental Federation; Madelyn Hoffman, Green Party Organizer; Tony Totah, M=
arine Biologist for Clean Ocean Action; Melissa Medford and Bernard Augus=
t, area coordinators for the =93Tooth Fairy Project=94, Alan Muller, Dire=
ctor of Green Delaware; John Guinan, NJ PIRG Energy Advocate; Rev. Robert=
 Moore, Executive Director, Coalition for Peace Action, and no-nukes orga=
nizer at TMI 20 years ago; and Maya van Rossum,  Delaware Riverkeeper. Mu=
sicians at the rally include blues singer Dennis Donnelly, folk singers G=
ood Friend, and the Eco-Chorale. The event will now be emceed by radio pe=
rsonality Bonnie Hart. We will also have a solar power demonstration area=
, featuring members of the Philadelphia Solar Power Association.
>     The UNPLUG Salem Campaign urges concerned citizens from Delaware, N=
ew Jersey, and Eastern Pennsylvania to join with us in making this rally =
the biggest demonstration at Salem in the last 20 years. This is an impor=
tant time to keep up the pressure on PSE&G and our legislators. Investiga=
tions of the NRC are going on in Congress, and deregulation in New Jersey=
 will be making it harder for nuke plants to be profitable. Add to this t=
he recent TMI-like accident at Salem II, followed by last weeks personnel=
 error at Salem II that led to the loss of alarms for over two hours, fol=
lowed by a recent battery failure at Salem II, and now a hot shutdown at =
Salem I due to low oil pressure (once again personnel error), and the tim=
e is right to demand to PSE&G that they decommission the two Salem nukes =
now.
>     The UNPLUG Salem Campaign is composed of 55 state, regional and loc=
al organizations, with the NJ Sierra Club being the latest addition to th=
e Campaign.. Other organizations in the Campaign include: New Jersey Envi=
ronmental Federation, NJ PIRG, Pennsylvania Environmental Network, Green =
Delaware, SEAC-13 (student environmental groups in the Mid-Atlantic), EAG=
LE, Clean Ocean Action, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Coalition f=
or Peace and Justice, CATA, CHORD, Delaware Valley Peace Action, Glassbor=
o Environmental Organization, Coalition Against Toxics, Fish Unlimited, S=
tockton Peace Action, the Salem Quaker Quarter (7 Quaker Meetings) and ma=
ny more.
>         For directions to the rally site, to volunteer to help out, if =
you are a musician who wishes to volunteer to perform, or for more inform=
ation, please contact: Norm Cohen, PO Box 2344, Cape May, NJ 08204; 609-8=
86-7988/889-8667
>
> CONTACT: Norm Cohen 609-886-7988
> Speakers:  Jane Nogaki: 609-767-1110; Maya van Rossum: 215-369-1188; To=
ny Totah: 609-729-3383;  Madelyn Hoffman: 973-252-0797;  Melissa Medford:=
 609-935-1277; Wenonah Hauter: 202-546-4996; Joe Mangano: 718-857-9825, B=
ernard August: 302-234-0708; Alan Muller: 302-834-3466; John Guinan: 609-=
394-8155; Bill Smith: 800-621-1964; Phila. Solar: 215-844-4196; Rev. Robe=
rt Moore: 609-924-5022; Richard Mandelbaum: 609-881-2508.
>
>

- -
 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 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, 11 Mar 1999 13:46:53 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Nukes in Question Period

>Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 11:33:49 -0500
>Subject: Nukes in Question Period
>Priority: non-urgent
>X-FC-MachineGenerated: true
>To: [e-mail]
>X-FC-Forwarded-From: [e-mail]
>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>
>Hansard, 10 March 1999
>
>NUCLEAR WEAPONS=20
>
>Mr. Svend J. Robinson (Burnaby=97Douglas, NDP): Mr. Speaker, my question is
>for the
>Minister of Foreign Affairs.=20
>
>Today, former U.S. defense secretary Robert McNamara is in Ottawa urging
>that Canada push
>within NATO for a no first use policy on nuclear weapons. While the
>minister has called for a
>review of NATO nuclear policy, he has refused to say where he stands on
>present NATO policy.
>When will the minister show leadership and join former secretary McNamara
>and others in clearly
>calling on NATO to change its dangerous cold war, Reform supported policy
>and adopt a clear
>policy of no first use of nuclear weapons?=20
>
>Hon. Lloyd Axworthy (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I
>can certainly give
>you the last part of that question. I had a very informative meeting with
>the former U.S. secretary of
>defense along with the former head of the strategic air command. They were
>very helpful in
>supplying information about what is happening in the United States.=20
>
>I would like to remind the hon. member that once a committee tables a
>report, the Government of
>Canada has a responsibility to table its response. That response is now
>being worked on. We have
>150 days. It is part of the cabinet process. As soon as the timetable is
>met, we will be tabling a
>report. I am sure the hon. member will be very interested in the result.=20
>
>--=20
>Bill Robinson, Project Ploughshares,
>Conrad Grebel College, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada  N2L 3G6
>Phone: [phone] x264  Fax: [phone]
>E-mail: [e-mail]
>http://www.ploughshares.ca
>
>Project Ploughshares is a member of the Canadian Network to Abolish
>Nuclear Weapons (http://watserv1.uwaterloo.ca/~plough/cnanw/cnanw.html)
>=20
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty
to eliminate nuclear weapons.

- -
 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 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, 11 Mar 1999 17:30:14 -0500
From: "NGO Comm. on Disarmament" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Ladies and Gentlemen...

I got some good news, I got some bad news.

THE 1999 NPT PREPCOM WILL TAKE PLACE IN NEW YORK, MAY 10-21.
States Parties will be notified officially tomorrow.

It seems relatively certain that the NGO oral presentations will
be scheduled for the afternoon of Tuesday, May 11.

Regarding other NGO panels, workshops and other events, please inform
the NGO Committee on Disarmament as soon as you are clear about any
plans to organize such events.

Please excuse me if you receive this message more than once.

Peacefully,
Roger Smith




*    *    *    *    *    *    *
Roger Smith
Network Coordinator
NGO Committee on Disarmament
777 U.N. Plaza #3B, New York, NY 10017, USA
tel [phone]  fax [phone]
[e-mail]    http://www.peacenet.org/disarm/


- -
 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 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, 11 Mar 1999 17:14:13 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Action Alert-Letter to Germany

Dear Friends,
Our Abolition 2000 colleague in Germany, Xanthe Hall at IPPNW, has
requested that US Abolition groups send letters to German Foreign Minister,
Joschka Fischer, thanking him for his courageous stand in challenging US
nuclear policy.  He needs to hear from lots of Americans that his actions
are popular with us and are supported.  Below is a sample letter which you
may use to write your own letter.  Many thanks for your help with this
important initiative.  Peace, Alice Slater

>To US abolition groups
>Please consider signing this letter and sending it to Joschka Fischer.
>Thank you
>
>Xanthe Hall, IPPNW
>
>
>SAMPLE LETTER for Abolition Groups
>
>To Foreign Minister
>Joschka Fischer
>Auswaertiges Amt
>Adenauer Allee 99-103
>D-53113 Bonn
>GERMANY
>
>
>Dear Sir,
>
>I am writing to thank you for your continued efforts to initiate a debate
>on the policy of
>first-use of nuclear weapons in the review of the NATO strategic concept,
>and to
>encourage you to remain vocal on this issue.
>
>Our organization supports the abolition of all nuclear weapons and the
>negotiation of a
>treaty to regulate their elimination (Nuclear Weapons Convention). We
>belong to the
>Global Network for the elimination of nuclear weapons - Abolition 2000 -
>which is
>supported by over 1300 organizations, and works for the immediate
>commencement of
>negotiations for a convention to be completed by the year 2000. This
>initiative was
>started in 1995 at the NPT Review and Extension Conference.
>
>If nuclear weapons are to be abolished, the present deadlock in
>disarmament has to be
>broken. The dependence on nuclear weapons to give a false sense of
>security has to be
>reduced and eventually given up, when it is understood that they make us
>less safe and
>have nothing to do with our security needs.
>
>The coalition agreement between the Green and Social Democratic Parties
>states that a
>new dynamic may be achieved through unilateral disarmament initiatives. It
>is our belief
>that a clear signal by NATO at this time that they are willing to
>significantly reduce the
>role of nuclear weapons in the strategic concept, renounce first-use and
>even remove the
>remaining few US nuclear free-fall bombs based in Europe, would help to
>revitalize the
>disarmament process.
>
>As a US non-governmental organization, we wish to express our profound
>disappointment at the lack of willingness of the US government to debate
>the role of
>nuclear weapons in the strategic review. An opinion poll showed majority
>of US citizens
>(87%) would like to see the US negotiate an agreement to abolish nuclear
>weapons, a
>desire which is not reflected by the US administration in disarmament
>fora. The foreign
>policy of the US leads the international community to believe that the
>United States is
>not in favor of giving up nuclear weapons at all, whereas in actual fact
>the majority of
>people in the US say they would feel safer knowing that the US and other
>countries had
>none (84%) and that the US spends too much on its nuclear weapons program.
>These
>figures are relatively unknown outside of the disarmament community, but
>may be of
>interest to you in promoting your initiative for the reduction of the role
>of nuclear
>weapons within NATO.
>
>I wish you success and courage in the debate on no first-use and encourage
>you to
>remember that there are many of us in the United States that are looking
>to Germany to
>continue to take the lead on this extremely important issue.
>
>Yours sincerely,
>

Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty
to eliminate nuclear weapons.

- -
 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 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, 11 Mar 1999 18:53:24 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) STAR WARS-trouble brewing

 China, Russia Discuss Missile Plan

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-China-Russia-US.html

March 11, 1999, Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) -- China and Russia have held talks about a proposed U.S.
anti-missile umbrella and are united in their opposition to the system, a
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said today.

Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao gave no details on the Chinese and Russian
``consultations'' about the proposed Theater Missile Defense system. He
also refused to say what if any action the two countries would take in
future.

But the Japanese news agency Kyodo, quoting an unnamed Russian government
source, reported Wednesday from Moscow that security experts from the
foreign and defense ministries of China and Russia have been meeting every
two months to exchange information about the anti-missile system.

The talks began late last year at China's request, and the two sides will
likely end up making a decision on a united approach, possibly jointly
asking that the United States and Japan terminate development of the
program, Kyodo's source said.

Zhu, the Chinese spokesman, said the two sides held talks ``because this
issue has bearing on global and regional security and stability and affects
the security interests of many countries.''

China fears the system, also known as TMD, could spark a costly arms race.
It also is determined to ensure that any anti-missile umbrella is not
extended to cover Taiwan, the island that China regards as part of its
territory.

``China and Russia have both indicated and made clear their opposition to
TMD,'' said Zhu. ``Russia is opposed to TMD and we have also expressed our
strong opposition to this, so the two sides share a position on this
issue.''

The United States has rebuffed Chinese concerns, saying it is still
studying the system and has not decided yet whether to use it.

_______
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty
to eliminate nuclear weapons.

- -
 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 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, 11 Mar 1999 20:17:25 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: NATO NUCLEAR FLASH 99-14

Dear Friends,
Below are some news stories about NATO.  As you can see, things are heating
up and the non-nuclear NATO states' (except for Turkey) challenge to US
nuclear policy at the UN continues.  All the more reason to show up at the
NATO CITIZEN"S SUMMIT, April 23, in Washington, DC, 10:00 am, on the mall,
corner of 14th St and Constitution Ave., the first day of the NATO 50th
Anniversary meeting of NATO governments.  HELP US TO SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE:
DE-NUKE NATO and widen the breach between the US and NATO allies on the
pace of nuclear abolition.  Peace, Alice Slater

>Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 17:24:53 -0500
>Subject: NATO NUCLEAR FLASH 99-14
>Priority: non-urgent
>X-FC-MachineGenerated: true
>To: [e-mail]
>Cc: [e-mail]
>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>
>X-Sender: [e-mail]
>X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.5 (32)
>Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 14:47:33 -0800
>To: [e-mail]
>From: [e-mail] (NNN-Net)
>Subject: NATO NUCLEAR FLASH 99-14
>X-Unsubscribe: To leave, send 'leave NNNNlist' to [e-mail]
>
>
>NATO NUCLEAR FLASH 99-14
>**************************
>(March 10, 1999)
>
>
>Table of Contents:
>
>1. NATO Expansion Highlights Problems, Success.
>2. Rumors About Nuclear Language.
>3. Solana Address to the Royal United Services Institute.
>4. U.S. Military Chief Remarks on "The Transatlantic Commitment".
>5. NATO Conference Opens in London in Run-up to Jubilee Forum.
>6. On Eve of Joining NATO, Czech Foreign Minister Pledges No Nuclear
>Weapons.
>
>
>-------------------
>
>1. NATO Expansion Highlights Problems, Success.
>
>March 10, 1999 - Ceremonies on Friday celebrating the adoption of three new
>members into NATO are meant to celebrate the allies' ability to change with
>the times, drawing old adversaries into a reunited, secure and free Europe.
>But the occasion is expected to be an anti-climax, which will serve to
>underscore problems dogging the United States and Europe six weeks before
>NATO's 50th anniversary summit in Washington.
>
>NATO has no intention of withdrawing the remaining 100-150 U.S. tactical
>nuclear weapons from Europe, but it is seeking a way to satisfy German and
>Canadian interest in at least discussing possible future changes in nuclear
>doctrine.
>
>* The full report is available at:
>http://www.nautilus.org/nnnnet/news/031099reuters.txt
>
>
>2. Rumors About Nuclear Language
>
>March 10, 1999 - With the date for the April NATO Summit approaching,
>rumors continue to circulate about the timeline and proposal language of
>the nuclear paragraphs of the Strategic Concept.  Some officials believe
>the language may be finalized by the middle of this week, while others feel
>there is little chance for a conclusion at this point.
>
>German embassy sources feel confident that there will be an agreement for a
>post-Summit task force to deal with nuclear policy issues, but does not
>expect the mandate finalized until perhaps the first week of August.
>
>* For the full report, go to:
>http://www.nautilus.org/nnnnet/news/young030999.txt
>
>
>3. Solana Speech at the Royal United Services Institute.
>
>March 9, 1999 - In a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
>in London, NATO Secretary General Javier Solana said that the NATO Summit
>will take a "fresh look" at the risks and challenges facing the Atlantic
>community today and into the next century, and set the new security agenda.
>Although not mentioning nuclear issues specifically, he said that the
>Summit will launch an initiative to enhance NATO's role in coping with the
>spread of weapons of mass destruction.
>
>* The full speech is available at:
>http://www.nato.int/docu/speech/1999/s990309a.htm
>For a text-only version, go to:
>http://www.nautilus.org/nnnnet/speeches/solana030999.txt
>For a Tass news report about the speech, go to:
>http://www.nautilus.org/nnnnet/news/030999tass.txt
>
>
>4. U.S. Military Chief Remarks on "The Transatlantic Commitment".
>
>March 8, 1999 - NATO should broaden the current definition of collective
>defense to better meet the challenges of the 21st century, U.S. Chairman of
>the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Henry H. Shelton said in his address to
>the "NATO at 50 Conference" sponsored by the Royal United Services
>Institute in London.
>
>"Tomorrow's alliance must not only defend NATO's enlarged borders, it must
>also, as President Clinton has said, "defend against threats to our
>collective security from beyond those borders -- the spread of weapons of
>mass destruction, ethnic violence, and regional conflict."
>
>* Shelton's full speech is available at:
>http://usa.grmbl.com/s19990309c.html
>For a text-only version, go to:
>http://www.nautilus.org/nnnnet/speeches/shelton030999.txt
>
>
>5. NATO Conference Opens in London in Run-up to Jubilee Forum.
>
>March 8, 1999 -- A NATO conference pegged to the upcoming celebrations
>marking the 50th anniversary of the North Atlantic Alliance opened in
>London on March 8. The participants in the conference will try to assess
>the past and the future of the Alliance with a focus on the current
>situation in such trouble spots as Kosovo.
>
>* The full report is available at:
>http://www.nautilus.org/nnnnet/news/030899tass.txt
>
>
>6. On Eve of Joining NATO, Czech Foreign Minister Pledges No Nuclear
>Weapons.
>
>March 7, 1999 - "Provided that world peace is not threatened, no nuclear
>weapons will be deployed in the Czech Republic," the Czech Republic Foreign
>Minister Jan Kavan said during a televised debate on NATO membership,
>essentially declaring a "Nordic" nuclear policy.
>
>General Jiri Sedivy, Czech Army Chief of General Staff, rejected concerns
>about nuclear weapons deployment as unreasonable and groundless, stating
>that there are "no immediate plans" to deploy nuclear weapons in the
>country. But Chairman of the Czech Foreign Affairs and Security Committee,
>Michael Zantovsky, added that no official measures had been adopted that
>define the conditions for a potential deployment of NATO nuclear weapons in
>the Czech Republic.
>
>* The full report is available at:
>http://www.nautilus.org/nnnnet/news/030799ct1.txt
>
>
>END
>
>NOTE: Visit the Non-Nuclear NATO Network web site at:
>http://www.nautilus.org/nnnnet/index.html for the full text of these and
>many other documents about the debate over NATO's nuclear policy. The web
>site also contains previous NATO NUCLEAR FLASH messages, and is
>continuously updated with links to new and older documents.
>
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Produced by the Nautilus Institute
>with contributions from the Fourth Freedom Forum and BASIC.
>
>For further information contact:
>
>Hans M. Kristensen, The Nautilus Institute
>    [e-mail]
>Alistair Millar, Fouth Freedom Foundation
>    [e-mail]
>Stephen Young, BASIC
>    [e-mail]
>Tim Savage, The Nautilus Institute
>    [e-mail]
>Wade Huntley, The Nautilus Institute
>    [e-mail]
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-
>
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty
to eliminate nuclear weapons.

- -
 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 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, 11 Mar 1999 19:15:03 -0000
From: "Sally Light" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) LLNL's Plutonium Facility - Press Release

Hello: I apologize that the press release that follows loses all its
formatting and its fancy typefaces when emailed. Still, I think you will
find it readable and of interest... Peace, Marylia

Contact:
Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, [phone]
Sally Light, Program Analyst, [phone] or [phone]

For Release 3/11/99

Livermore Lab's Plutonium Facility -- A Ticking "Time Bomb"?

Community group calls on Energy Secretary to close plutonium
facility; conduct immediate investigation of filter problems.
Formerly secret documents form basis for group's demand.

On March 11, 1999, Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive
Environment) will send a letter to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson
demanding that he immediately shut down operations in the main plutonium
building at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) while a
thorough, open investigation of the problem-riddled facility is carried
out.  The main plutonium facility at LLNL, called Building 332, houses 880
pounds of plutonium, enough for nearly 100 modern nuclear bombs.

Tri-Valley CAREs, the Livermore-based environmental "watchdog" over the
weapons laboratory, has recently received documents from the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) in response to its Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) request for information concerning LLNL's High Efficiency
Particulate Air (HEPA) filters in its plutonium facility.  The documents
were not provided until Tri-Valley CAREs, after waiting almost nine months
for a response to its April 1998 request, filed a FOIA lawsuit against DOE,
the Livermore Lab's parent agency.

These formerly secret documents, which total approximately 500 pages, can
be made available to reporters upon request at Tri-Valley CAREs' office.
They are the basis for the group's urgent letter to Secretary Richardson.
Several documents are excerpted below.

The DOE documents reveal a long history of serious problems with Bldg.
332's HEPA filters, which are supposed to protect Lab workers and the
public by preventing the release of plutonium into the air.  Plutonium, a
radioactive material derived from neutron bombardment of uranium 238, is
used in the making of nuclear weapons. Plutonium 239, the weapons grade
isotope oft used at Livermore Lab, has a "half-life" of over 24,000 years.

Among the documents are many memos from LLNL's own filter experts outlining
serious technical concerns about Bldg. 332's filter system and containing
chilling warnings about potential and actual failures.  Other documents
describe accidents that spread plutonium around Bldg. 332, which includes
many rooms and, in its entirety, covers most of four acres.

                                Excerpt from FOIA-ed memo of 6/6/90:  "I
hope it doesn't take a release like we had in late 1979 - early 1980 to
spring the money necessary to solve the current problems." -- James S.
Johnson, LLNL to Chuck Folkers, LLNL

"The records indicate that measurable plutonium releases to the outside air
occurred in 1979-80 due to HEPA filter failure," stated Sally Light,
Tri-Valley CAREs' Nuclear Program Analyst.

 "According to these documents," Light continued, "at least one type of
Bldg. 332's HEPA filters is not totally qualified for nuclear applications.
Further, the documents show that these filters, which are made by hand
from glass paper and glue, may fail when wet, hot, cold or under too much
air pressure, as well as when too old. Livermore Lab experts state in the
documents we received that HEPA filters should remain in service for only 8
years maximum. Knowing this, the Lab has continued to use some of the
filters in the plutonium facility for 20 to 30-plus years!"

                                Excerpt from FOIA-ed memo of 3/6/95:  "Old
filters should be discarded or only used in non-critical applications
because aged filters are structurally weak." -- Werner Bergman, LLNL to Ray
Kahle.  And, on 2/16/95:  "LLNL has stored filters to 10 years prior to use
and has functioning filters with 32 years of service." -- HEPA Filter
Studies, by Werner Bergman, LLNL

Light went on to say that there is a risk of major plutonium releases if a
fire -- always a possibility with plutonium -- occurs in Bldg. 332, causing
the "blow out" of plutonium-laden filters when fire sprinklers turn on.
"We are extremely concerned about this possibility, because a major
plutonium fire and HEPA 'blow out' has already actually happened at another
DOE facility, Rocky Flats, in Colorado," she said.

                                Excerpt from FOIA-ed memo of 3/6/95:  "As
stated in all three documents, the most important issue is the potential
for HEPA filter blow out during fire conditions." -- Werner Bergman, LLNL
to Ray Kahle

According to Marylia Kelley, Executive Director of Tri-Valley CAREs, HEPA
filters work similarly to a filter in a coffee pot, which doesn't prevent
numerous small coffee particles from passing through.

"Even when the HEPA filter is working perfectly, it does not capture 100%
of the plutonium.  If the filters are allowed to get old, crusty, brittle
and failure-prone, as the ones in Bldg. 332 have, then this may show one
possible pathway by which plutonium made its way into the surrounding
community, including Big Trees Park," Kelley explained, referring to the
recent "plutonium in the park" controversy. Community concern continues to
rise as elevated levels of plutonium were discovered for a third time at
Big Trees Park, just one half mile west of the Lab and next to an
elementary school.

Kelley also stated that some of the DOE documents include Lab memos
describing the long-standing inadequacy of funding for research into both
filter problems and their remedies.  A recent memo shows a Livermore Lab
employee trying hard to juggle and stretch what little DOE funding there
was in order to even partially address existing filter problems.

                                Excerpt from FOIA-ed memo of 3/21/98:  "I
no longer have any support for HEPA filter tasks and cannot charge my other
projects... Because of the serious accusations regarding these filters and
the potential consequences to Bldg. 332 and the Lab, I quickly conducted a
series of tests (using about 100k dollars of my DOE monies initially
intended for other filter tasks) to mitigate the most serious questions
regarding the closed filters." -- Werner Bergman, LLNL to Tim Roberts, LLNL


"Historically, there's been very little guidance from DOE as to the filters
for the entire nuclear weapons complex.  Instead, each facility has been
left largely on its own," Kelley said.

                                Excerpt from FOIA-ed document of 2/16/95:
"DP [Dept. of Energy's Defense Programs] facilities have many old HEPA
filters because there is no guidance and no disposal site" -- HEPA Filter
Studies, by Werner Bergman, LLNL

"We will continue to monitor the serious HEPA  conditions at Livermore
Lab's plutonium facility, as well as the other problems there, including
the epidemic of plutonium criticality safety violations that resulted in
the months-long shut down of Bldg. 332 during 1997-98," said Sally Light.
"As a priority, we are urging the community to join us in writing the
Secretary of Energy, as well as Representative Ellen Tauscher, to demand
that Bldg. 332 be closed while an immediate, thorough and open
investigation of these serious risks to public health and the environment
is undertaken."

- -30-

A copy of the letter to Secretary Richardson is available by fax on
request.

++++ Please note that my email address has changed to
<[e-mail]> on 3/1/99 ++++

Marylia Kelley
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94550

<http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there!
Our web site will remain at this location. Only my email address has
changed on 3/1/99.

[phone] - is our phone
[phone] - is our fax

Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley
CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear
Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the
international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear
weapons.





- -
 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 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.

------------------------------

End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #88
**********************************

-
 To unsubscribe to $LIST, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 with "unsubscribe $LIST" 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.