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Tri-Valley CAREs' Staff Attorney Scott Yundt Writes About His Concerns With VP Biden's Speech on Nuclear Weapons Policy

TVC Administrator — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:53:11 -0500

Date: March 10, 2010

By: Scott Yundt

Published in: The Valley Times

http://www.contracostatimes.com/letters/ci_14641057?nclick_check=1

Biden's Speech

On Feb. 18, Vice President Joe Biden gave a speech about our nuclear weapons policy. Securing nuclear material around the world, keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, preventing proliferation to non-nuclear weapons states and ratifying important international treaties are all welcome, if obvious, steps in the right direction for world security.

Yet, a $7 billion budget request for the U.S. nuclear weapons complex for fiscal year 2011, $624 million greater than 2010, represents a step in the wrong direction.

It would be hard for some to reconcile this increase with the administration's "commitment to arms reduction," Biden said.

Well, I am among the "some" because new nuclear weapons plants and enhanced nuclear bombs are not my vision for arms reduction. Moreover, the fiscal year 2011 budget request decreases funding for weapon dismantlement, another step backward from real disarmament.

The nuclear weapons budget was already greater than at any time during the Cold War, even adjusted for inflation. Still, Biden said the "neglected" weapons laboratories deserve increased funding for their years of service.

He failed to mention, however, repeated findings of mismanagement, illegal accounting and gross over-budgeting that are all-to-common at the labs.

One step forward, two steps back.

Scott Yundt

Livermore

Tri-Valley CAREs

Livermore Opens Its Doors to Outsiders

TVC Administrator — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:02:51 -0500

Thursday, February 25, 2010

By: Benjamin Pimentel

Published in: The Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703315004575073701233356046.html?KEYWORDS=Livermore#articleTabs%3Darticle

Livermore, home to two major U.S. weapons laboratories, existed as a city of fences and secrets during the Cold War and for years afterward. Now, some of those fences are receding.

Both of the city's weapons labs—Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories—are moving forward on plans to build a campus where government scientists and outside researchers can work together on clean-energy technology.

Dubbed the Livermore Valley Open Campus, the project is set to rise on a roughly 110-acre parcel on the labs' sprawling property. The new facility is envisioned as a green-technology hub where scientists can apply weapons-making aptitude to other endeavors, such as renewable energy and fuel-efficient vehicles. The initiative is expected to receive financing from both the federal government, which operates the labs, and the private sector.

As part of the project, a new road is being built to connect the planned campus to the main Livermore road. Preliminary construction work has begun, and a comprehensive plan for the campus is expected by October.

"We've been hiding behind the fence for too long," says Bob Carling, director of Sandia's transportation energy center.

In Livermore, officials hope the new campus will give an economic lift to the city of 84,000 people. To complement the facility, Livermore has set up a regional incubator program involving neighboring towns, universities and businesses. The initiative is expected to create several thousand jobs and bring in an additional $500 million in investment over 10 years, according to city's economic-development department.

The new initiative—unveiled last summer by the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration—has received national attention. President Barack Obama's new budget proposal this month cited the open campus plan. Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office recently added Livermore's incubator initiative, dubbed I-Gate, to the list of projects to receive funding under a new major state program.

But the open campus also has attracted critics. Marylia Kelley, of Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, an advocacy group long opposed to the labs' nuclear-weapons development, says the project could be "a green-washing, public-relations move" meant "to give an imprimatur of environmental responsibility" to what she calls "the very dirty work of researching and developing new and modified nuclear bombs."

The skepticism underscores the mixed emotions evoked by Livermore's Cold War past. It was at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, founded in 1952, that sophisticated U.S. weapons—such as technology that made it possible to launch nuclear missiles from submarines—was developed. Sandia's Livermore campus was set up in 1956 to provide engineering support.

The labs didn't have a smooth relationship with the city. While many lab employees lived in Livermore, the scientists sometimes struggled to fit into a community of ranchers and farmers, says Cathie Brown, who served as Livermore's mayor from 1989 to 2001. Some residents joined organized protests against nuclear weapons.

The relationship between the labs and the city improved in the 1990s after the Cold War ended. The labs became more involved in municipal affairs, with some employees serving on the city council. The labs also began working more closely with universities and corporations on nonweapons research, says Sandia spokesman Michael Janes.

Lawrence Livermore, with an annual budget of roughly $1.5 billion and some 6,500 employees, helped lay the groundwork that made it possible to map the human genome. Meanwhile, Sandia, with a budget of $230 million and about 900 employees, has emerged as a center for energy research.

Still, security restrictions often hampered collaborations. Visiting scientists and business people were typically subjected to elaborate security clearances. Indeed, it takes up to 60 days to get clearance for foreign nationals, including executives with major corporations, said Ron Cochran, Livermore's top administrator. Visitors can wait months for permission to use on-site computers.

"It's bad enough that they have to leave their Blackberrys and iPhones at the door," Mr. Cochran says.

Under the open campus plan, much of this is set to change. The labs will still maintain secured areas for weapons-related work, but visiting researchers will have easier access to resources. Private entities, including corporations and universities, will be able to set up operations and even build facilities on the campus.

"We have this 60-year heritage of being a highly secured laboratory," says Mr. Janes, the Sandia spokesman. "There were reasons why that model was set up. But things are changing."

Tri-Valley CAREs

Tri-Valley CAREs Board of Director's President Martha Priebat Writes About Her Concerns Over the Recent NIF Media Blitz

TVC Administrator — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:20:04 -0500

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

By: Martha Priebat

Published in: The Valley Times

http://www.contracostatimes.com/letters/ci_14366235 (Scroll down to third letter or read below)

Dear Editor,

On January 28, 2010, Livermore Lab reported a “successful firing” of its NIF super laser. The timing of the Lab’s hype of this “success” with NIF is ironic given that just three days later LLNL asked congress for an additional $50 million for the NIF program over last year.

Despite its purported recent success, many scientists do not foresee ignition ever occurring at the facility as promised. Additionally, NIF has exceeded its original $600 million estimated life-time cost many times over (Now projected to be $6 billion). Additionally, the project originally promised ignition in 2000, but has since pushed that goal by an entire decade due to numerous technical problems, most of which continue to go unresolved.

This over budget, underperforming program continues to receive full funding because of its touted goal of “unlimited renewable energy.” Yet, only 15% of the research done with NIF is for non-weapons (including energy) related research. 85% is related to nuclear weapons R&D.

Further, the article ignores the issue of safety with regards to the releases of radioactive emissions from NIF inside the city limits of Livermore, close to homes, schools and shopping centers.

I find it difficult to celebrate this “successful firing.”

Sincerely,

Martha Priebat

Board President, Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (CAREs)

Livermore, CA

Tri-Valley CAREs

Interview with Marylia Kelley on the Dangers Posed from Modernization of the Nuclear Weapons Arsenal

TVC Administrator — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:00:38 -0500

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

By: Kellia Ramares

Published at: Brodcaster At-Large

http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/contplay/index.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbroadcasteratlarge.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2Fnbceweapons

Click on the url above and click on the 'playlist' icon, which will show three options, the third of which is Part TWO of an in-depth interview by journalist Kellia Ramares with Tri-Valley CAREs' Marylia Kelley covering the dangers posed by the DOE's proposed modernization of the nuclear weapons complex. It is posted on website "Broadcaster At-Large."

Tri-Valley CAREs

Report Finds Livermore Disguised Fusion Lab's True Cost

TVC Administrator — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:59:30 -0500

Date: Friday, Dec. 11, 2009

Published in: Global Security Newswire

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20091211_8200.php

In a seeming effort to disguise the real cost of its National Ignition Facility, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California used inappropriate accounting methods to understate expenses at the nuclear fusion program by $80 million in this fiscal year, according to a recently divulged federal report.

The October report by the National Nuclear Security Administration's Field Financial Management Office found that managers at the laboratory shifted expenses associated with the program to other projects at Livermore to hide the true cost of the nuclear fusion facility, the Oakland Tribune reported Wednesday. The NIF program is now expected to cost up to $4 billion, 300 percent more than originally estimated.

By firing 192 lasers at minuscule targets, the facility seeks to create the conditions necessary for nuclear fusion. Advocates say that the technology could be used to monitor the safety and reliability of U.S. nuclear weapons and to create an additional energy source. The giant
laser system is expected to be fired in a test next year.

"[The laboratory's] other programs continue to subsidize the NIC [National Ignition Campaign] through higher indirect cost allocations," the report <http://www.trivalleycares.org/new/govdocs/OFFM%20Inspection%20report%20on%20NIF.pdf>
states, adding that the employment of understated rates "materially misstates the actual costs reported by [the laboratory] for the NIF/NIC and other impacted laboratory programs."

"The laboratory's accounting practices are in accordance with accepted cost accounting standards and are disclosed yearly," Livermore spokeswoman Linda Seaver said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, which received the leaked report, has called for the U.S. Government Accountability Office and Congress to launch an investigation into the matter and to hold the laboratory's management responsible for any illegal acts.

"This illegal scheme circumvents the United States Congress, which sets NIF's budget each year, and violates our nation's most basic federal contracting laws," Marylia Kelley, executive director of the watchdog organization, said in a press release.

"Livermore Lab is systematically disguising the true costs of the NIF," she added. "When calculated over the life of the project, these hidden costs total more than $2 billion" (Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment release <http://trivalleycares.presstools.org/node/34643>, Dec. 10).

Tri-Valley CAREs