Hearings Begin On Bush's Nuclear Plans, New Plutonium Plant Sparks Public Debate

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(APN) NORTH AUGUSTA, SOUTH CAROLINA � "The product is a nuclear bomb. They kill people like you and me," Allison Peeler, a college-age volunteer with Carolina Peace, said, crying during an impassioned speech here at a public hearing on Bush's plans for a new plutonium pits plant.

"A [plutonium] pit is the central core of a nuclear weapon typically containing plutonium-239 that undergoes fission when compressed by high explosives," according to a footnote in the Notice of Intent published in the Federal Register, obtained by Atlanta Progressive News. The Notice is published on pages 61731-61736 in Volume 71, Number 202 of the Register.

The first "public scoping" hearings were held here in North Augusta by the US Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). About 75 people were in attendance.

Hearings will be held subsequently in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Amarillo, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Tonopah, Nevada; Socorro, New Mexico; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Los Alamos, New Mexico; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Livermore, California; Tracy, California; and at the DOE Office in Washington, DC.

Besides DC, all these cities will be potentially impacted by at least one of four aspects of the Bush Administration's "Complex 2030," plan.

Atlanta Women's Action for New Directions (WAND) sent up a contingent to the hearings, with about 15 activists present at the evening hearing. Bobbie Paul, Executive Director, is calling the plan the "Bomb-Plex," and is also using the slogan, "Bombs: Away!"

The hearings are being held pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), which requires environmental impact statements every time a program is being considered which could have an environmental impact.

"You may think this decision to build [a new nuclear weapons plant] is a local issue, but before you sell your souls, I want to warn you, it's a global issue. The tide is turning. It will increase negative attention," Steve Leeper, Representative for the United States to the Mayors for Peace Campaign, said in his public comments.

"The use and even threat of nuclear weapons is illegal under international law," Leeper said. "The vast majority of people around the world want nuclear weapons eliminated, including 66% of Americans. It's technically feasible to eliminate all nuclear weapons. It's a political problem," and not a technical one.

NNSA SEES THE BEGINNING OF AN 18 MONTH REVIEW PROCESS

But the NNSA stresses a decision has not yet been made.

"The important part of this process is public participation, especially on alternatives," Ted Wyka, Complex 2030 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) Document Manager, told Atlanta Progressive News in an interview.

"This is the first stage. We're going to consider all inputs. There's a 90 day comment period which closes January 17, 2007. This isn't something we have written yet," Wyka said.

The goals of the Complex 2030 include, "first, to identify a site to build and locate a consolidated plutonium center, a place where we're going to do manufacturing, production, as well as research and development and surveillance," Wyka said.

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Matthew Cardinale is Editor of Atlanta Progressive News. He has written previously for the Sun-Sentinel Newspaper, Shelterforce Magazine, The Advocate Magazine, The San Francisco Bay View, and the Berkeley Daily Planet Newspaper. He has also (more...)

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