The Dept. of Energy (DOE) has just released a "Notice of Intent" to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) for a massive reorganization and refurbishment of the nuclear weapons complex. This giant shift in operations is being offered as a supplement to the 1996 Stockpile Stewardship and Management PEIS in an attempt to mask the scale of the proposed changes.

In reality, DOE's "Complex 2030" is reminiscent of the worst of the nuclear bomb proposals of yesteryear; Dr. Strangelove bursting forth into the 21st Century.

Activists are calling the plan "Bombplex," and pointing out that the nation should be headed toward disarmament long before the year 2030, not a scheme to revitalize nuclear weapons production capability in order to manufacture the new "Reliable Replacement Warhead," which will potentially drive a new nuclear arms race.

In testimony to Congress in April 2006, DOE's Tom D'Agostino said: "we seek an ability to design, develop, certify and begin production of refurbished or replacement warheads within 48 months of a decision to begin engineering development - these timelines would restore us to a level of capability comparable to what we had during the Cold War."

At a time when the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is in danger of unraveling, it is madness to propose rebuilding the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. "Do as I say, not as I do" is not a viable foreign policy and will only make the world more dangerous.

The stated goals of DOE's "Complex 2030" include:

• Production of Reliable Replacement Warheads, a series of new nukes starting with the design of a new submarine-launched nuclear warhead. The RRW program envisions a new weapon design every 5 years and the production (actual building) of more than 100 new nuclear weapons each year.

• A new plutonium pit (bomb core) production facility, capable of making 125 pits per year. This would be for a single shift, multiple shifts could reach the Cold War levels of Rocky Flats.

• More dismantlement of retired nuclear weapons.

• Consolidation of special nuclear materials used in weapons to fewer sites in the complex and fewer locations within the sites to reduce the cost of security.
  

Tell DOE that new nuclear weapons are dangerous, polluting, expensive, immoral, provocative and contrary to our disarmament obligations. Tell the DOE that you do support dismantling nuclear weapons. And, be sure to tell DOE to consolidate nuclear materials like plutonium and highly enriched uranium in order to store them more safely -- but not to use these dangerous materials elsewhere in new bomb projects as DOE currently envisions.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."