Tri-Valley CAREs
Tri-Valley CAREs works to strengthen global security by stopping the development of new nuclear weapons in the US and by promoting the elimination of nuclear weapons globally. Tri-Valley CAREs monitors nuclear weapons and environmental clean-up activities throughout the US nuclear weapons complex, with a special focus on the Lawrence Livermore Lab and surrounding communities.
Contaminated Soil
Date: May 17, 2012
By: Jo Ann Frisch, Tri-Valley CAREs Board Member
In: The Independent
Plutonium was found in soil in Big Trees Park and along Arroyo seco.
Digging in contaminated soil can cause plutonium particles to become airborne and, if inhaled, can cause cancer.
Livermore Lab is going to dig a trench along Susan Lane, paralleling Arrouyo Seco, and across Charlotte Way to Big Trees Park where it has a groundwater pumping station. The digging is for an underground pipeline to pump contaminated water from our aquifer back to the Lab.
So far, the Lab has ignored 130 neighborhood requests to use moniotrs to detect radiation particles during costruction. The Lab says it will only measure wind speed and regular dust, like any other construction site. That will not tell us if the dust is radioactive.
Costruction preparation began May 14. Trenching begins May 21. I call on the Lab to do the right thing and monitor for radioactivity while digging in contaminated soil.
For immediate release, Thursday, May 17, 2012
House NDAA Will Compromise Nuclear Oversight and Risk Health and Safety
at Livermore Lab and other Nuclear Weapons Sites across the Nation
Date: May 16, 2012
By:
Published in: The Tri-City Herald
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/05/16/1941530/h...
Hard-won safety protections for Hanford workers could be lost under a bill the U.S. House may consider today, according to the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council.
However, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., disagrees that the bill would affect Hanford.
The fiscal 2013 Defense Authorization Act would substitute Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety standards for Department of Energy standards in DOE's nuclear weapons complex, according to fact sheets developed by national organized labor groups.
Some DOE standards are stricter than OSHA standards, including the beryllium standard. DOE's standard is 10 times as protective as OSHA's.
The bill would transfer health and safety responsibilities from DOE's Office of Health, Safety and Security to the quasi-independent National Nuclear Security Administration. The ability to impose fines for violations would be lost, according to the organized labor fact sheet.
Key Defense Authorization Amendment Will Preserve Independent Oversight and Protect Lives at Livermore Lab and other Nuclear Weapons Sites across the Nation
LIVERMORE – Today, Bay Area Rep. George Miller (D-CA-07) introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to prevent a dangerous rollback of 25 years of safety standards at the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons facilities, including the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Tri-Valley CAREs, a Livermore Lab watchdog for nearly 30 years, lauded Miller’s leadership.
“The Miller amendment is critical for worker and community safety,” said Marylia Kelley, a Livermore resident and Tri-Valley CAREs’ Executive Director. “Sweeping changes introduced into the National Defense Authorization Act in committee would overturn the ‘adequate protection standard’ that has governed safety for more than two decades.”
Date: 4-26-12
Published in: Huntington News (West Virginia)
By: Scott Yundt, Tri-Valley CAREs Staff Atttorney
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/30220
The criteria for approval are expressly spelled out in the Act itself.
Historically, if a claimant suffered from what was believed to be CBD, but died and received a diagnosis of another lung condition other than CBD, before 1993, they could still qualify for benefits if they satisfied three of the five statutory pre-1993 criteria.
Thus, approval did not require a firm diagnosis of CBD. Yet, in recent cases it has been the Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation’s (DEEOIC’s) position that a claim for CBD cannot be approved without a firm diagnosis.
This is evident in DEEOIC’s latest claims examiners’ training manual.
Insist on ceasing NIF project funding- A Letter to the Editor by TVC Board Member Jo Ann Frisch
Date: April 25, 2012
Published in: The Oakland Tribune
By: Jo Ann Frisch
Ten years after Lawrence Livermore National Lab's National Ignition Facility was scheduled to be completed, it has cost us nearly $7 billion. The original cost was $677 million. Despite being $6 billion over budget and still not achieving ignition, it continues to be funded.
NIF's mission was threefold: 1) nuclear weapons design; 2) nuclear weapons effects tests; 3) develop inertial fusion energy. However, its energy goals appear to be impossible.
The lab's next budget request fully walks away from any promise of ignition, citing the "physics uncertainties" associated with ignition.
A recent report from the National Nuclear Security Administration states the "useful data collection remains below the rate which has previously been" necessary for assuring success.
Date: April 19, 2012
Published in: The Independent
By: Lee Torres
More Green Funds
The Lawrence Livermroe National laboratory is known to many Livermore neighbros as a developer of green technology. They do sonme gret work researching energy efficiency and developing renewables, but not enough. As a Livermore resident, I would like to see the lab do more with its vast resources.
For the lab's 2013 budget, DOE officieals requested over 1.1 Billion dollars. A staggering 87.7 % (987million) of that budget is to be allocated toward nuclear weapons activiites, while a paltry .58% (6.6 million) is designated for renewable energy research. Channeling more of LIvermreo Lab's vast resources toward promoting cleaner, safer and cheaper sources of energy could pave the way for true, longterm energy independence. Part of the Livermore Lab's mission concerns "enhancing the energy and environmental security of the nation." Allocating more money toward that coal would be an investment in the right direction.
NIF Funding
Date: April 12, 2012
By: Jo Ann Frisch
Published in: The Independent
NIF Funding
Ten years after Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s National Ignition Facility was scheduled to be completed, it has cost us nearly $7 billion. The original cost was $677 million. Despite being $6 billion over budget and still not achieving ignition, it continues to be funded.
NIF’s mission was 3-fold: 1) nuclear weapons design; 2) nuclear weapons effects tests; 3) develop inertial fusion energy. However, its energy goals appear to be impossible.
The Lab’s next budget request fully walks away from any promise of ignition, citing the “physics uncertainties… associated with ignition.”
A recent report from the National Nuclear Security Administration states the “… useful data collection remains below the rate which has previously been … necessary for assuring success.”
Will NIF ever achieve its goal of ignition? Will it continue to be funded in spite of its failure? Contact your legislators and tell them to stop funding a failed boondoggle!
Nuclear Workers
Date: April 12, 2012
By: Bev King, Tri-Valley CAREs Board of Directors
Published in: The Independant
Nuclear Workers
Date: April 6, 2012
By: Brian Edwards Tiekert
KPFA Evening News Segment- From minute 32:52-37:26
http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/79429
Good Friday Protest
Date: March 29, 2012
Published in: The Independent
Good Friday Protest
The annual Good Friday protet will be held April 6 near the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
The theme, "Occupy Good Friday, Proclaim Good News to the Poor." Keynote speaker is Nochola Torbett, founding director Seminary of the Street, Marylia Kelley, of Tri-Valley CAREs, will discuss nuclear weapons activities.
The event begins at 6:45 a.m. with music followed by a 7 a.m. program at the corner of Vasco Road and Patterson Pass Road in Livermore. The service will include a call to action, procession, stations to visit and a chance to proclaim legal witness and to risk arrest at the gates of the Lab.
A community gathering will be held at about 10 a.m. at Asbury Unitied Methodist Church, 4743 East Ave., Livermore. Refreshments and light breakfast foods will be provided.
For information go to www.trivalleycares.org
Date: 4-4-12
By: Robert Jordan
Published in: Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times, Valley Times
for immediate release April 4, 2012
FORMERLY SECRET PERFORMANCE REPORT REVEALS PROBLEMS WITH THE NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY AND SECURITY AT LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY
The 2011 Performance Evaluation Report (PER) for Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, the private contractor managing Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, was released yesterday by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in response to a March 28 legal challenge by Nuclear Watch New Mexico. Among other management deficiencies, the Report indicates that Livermore Lab’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) continued to miss milestones and violate accounting practices.
Date: Sunday, April 1, 2012
Story By: David Pogue
On: CBS Sunday Morning (national)
Energy from lasers: Sure shot or dead end?
Click to Watch: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7403916n&ta...
Group Will Distribute a Major New Report Proposing Cuts to Weapons Budget
Livermore- Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) will send a delegation to Washington, DC from March 17 through 21 to expose U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) “Nuclear Budget Busters.” These seven nuclear weapons and nuclear energy projects, including the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will waste billions in taxpayer funds, damage the environment and undermine the nation’s non-proliferation goals.
In approximately 80 meetings, the Tri-Valley CAREs delegation will be working with colleagues from a dozen other states who are participating in the 24th annual Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) "DC Days." The activists expect to meet with Senators and Representatives from California, leaders of congressional committees that oversee nuclear issues, and key federal agency staffers.
Date: March 13, 2012
By: Abby Martin- Featuring Marylia Kelley and Scott Yundt
Produced by: Mediaroots (www.mediaroots.org)
http://www.mediaroots.org/lawrence-livermore-lab-the-continued-nuclear-arms-race.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd...
MEDIA ROOTS — Abby and Robbie Martin grew up in Pleasanton, CA, a city located ten miles from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a secret nuclear weapons production facility. They initially set out to explore the psychological impacts of taking nuclear testing into virtual space. But as their investigation unfolded, they found that the LLNL—in conjunction with Site 300—has built an impressive greenwashing PR campaign cloaking a sinister reality.
Date: March 8, 2012
By: Jo Ann Frisch
Published in: The Independent
DOE Finances
Families across America are tightening their belts. But, the Department of Energy's (DOE) overall 2013 budget request is 41% higher than 2012. The request for DOE's nuclear weapons activities is $7.6 billion. If granted by Congress, it would be the largest in our nation's history.
Livermore Lab's portion of the DOE request is more than $1 billion. Nuclear weapons activities make up 88% of that. Scarcely 2% would be allocated for cleanup of pollution. And only 1% would go to renewable energy research.
There are millions of wasted dollars in the budget request. One example is the money squandered on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Taxpayers have already spent $7 billion on this mega-laser. Ignition was first promised in 2003. It has still not been achieved. The 2013 request for NIF is several hundred million. Instead, that money should go to cleanup and renewable energy research.
Letter to the Editor- "Cautionary Anniversary" by Stephanie Ericson, Tri-Valley CAREs Board Member
Date: March 8, 2012
By: Stephanie Ericson
Published in: The Independent
Cautionary Anniversary
March 11 marks the anniversary of Japan's earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands, dislocated tens of thousands and caused meltdowns in three reactors in Fukusima, spewing radiation in to the air and ocean. Herioc efforts by Japanese nuclear workers notwithstanding, the plant was declared "stabilized" only recently.
Yet huge problems persist. Crushed trucks, equipment and towers remain in place, many repairs are makeshift, annd radiation leaks, though much reduced, are still high, peaking at more than 1000 times past levels. It will take 30 years to decommission the reactors. Meanwhile, vulnerabilities remain, and the tanks storing 100,000 tons of contaminated water will run out of space in April.
Global warming is real and potentially catastrophic, but nuclear power is not a green alternative. Our society and government must firmly commit to massive investment in renewable energy sources and conservation. Leaders who do not prioritize renewables over nuclear power deserve our healthy skepticism.
Date: March 8, 2012
By: Beverly King
Published In: The Independent
Heed the Warning
March 11, 2012 will mark the one year since the Fukushima disaster.
Going inside the nuclear plant is still dangerous. According to the plant chief the Fukushima nuke plant is still vulnerable. Workers are allowed in for only a few hours at a time and only for a few minutes at a time in the highest radiation areas.
A remotely-operated robot recetly detected radiation at 220 millisieverts per hour in Reactor #2. Exposure to 1,000 millisieverts can cause acute radiateion sickness, a level that would be achieved in less than 5 hours.
The cleanup goal is to remove the fuel from the reactors and dismantle them. The Japanese government warns that it could take 40 years.
The people and the environment are suffering terrible damage. Yet new nuclear power plants are being proposed while older ones are leaking readioactive tritium on a daily basis.
Nuclear energy - be it for weapons or power generation - is potentially lethal. Fukusima is a warning we should heed.
Letter to the Editor- "More Safeguards" by Janis Kate Turner, Tri-Valley CAREs Board President
Date: 2-23-12
Printed In: The Contra Costa Times and The Valley Herald
Some of my neighbors and I are concerned that the Department of Energy and Livermore Lab will not undertake the safety measures necessary to ensure that the cleanup of off-site contaminated groundwater emanating from Livermore Lab does not result in additional public health impacts to our neighborhoods. I understand that nuclear weapons activities at the Livermore Lab main site have polluted our groundwater and soil.
Generally, I support the effort to build a pipeline to capture the off-site groundwater contamination, pump the toxic water into the pipeline and bring it back to the lab site in order to clean it in an existing groundwater treatment facility. However, the pipeline extension will go through soils known to be contaminated with plutonium, a long-lived radioactive element that is dangerous in microscopic quantities.
