1) Summary
2) Cold War complex facing obstacles
3) Nuclear weapons—Leadership, vision and policy
4) Flawed nuclear reprocessing plan

Summary

In January, thousands of UCS activists submitted comments to the Department of Energy (DOE) on its ill-advised plan to rebuild a Cold War-style nuclear weapons infrastructure, while a prominent group of former officials urged U.S. policy makers to embrace a “world free of nuclear weapons.” With votes now occurring, UCS activists told Congress “we need leadership,” not the new generation of nuclear weapons the Bush administration has proposed. In March, thousands of UCS activists asked the DOE to abandon its proposed nuclear reprocessing scheme.

Cold War-Style Complex Facing Obstacles

“Just say no” seems to be the message from a growing chorus of experts, policy makers, and citizens to the Bush administration’s plan to design and build a new generation of nuclear weapons and rebuild a Cold War-style nuclear weapons infrastructure. Known as “Complex 2030,” the new infrastructure would rebuild every warhead in the U.S. nuclear arsenal with a new, unnecessary nuclear weapon design. In January, nearly 20,000 UCS activists wrote to the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of a mandatory environmental impact review of the administration’s plan. Their message—this program is unnecessary and could seriously undermine global efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. This spring, UCS Board member Richard Garwin testified before Congress highlighting the problems with the plans for new nuclear weapons. This summer, key votes will occur on the administration’s $129 million funding request for the new weapons and the DOE will release its draft environmental impact statement on Complex 2030 and then hold hearings to solicit the public’s comments. Look for actions in the months ahead opposing these dangerous new plans.

Nuclear Weapons—Leadership, Vision and Policy

The national and congressional debate on the new nuclear weapons is the forerunner to a larger goal – a thorough national re-assessment of the role, rationale, and future of nuclear weapons and US nuclear weapons policy. In January, former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former Secretary of Defense William Perry and former senator Sam Nunn stunned the foreign policy establishment by publicly calling for the United States to embrace the vision of a “world free of nuclear weapons.” UCS activists are in agreement, sending thousands of letters to their members of Congress calling for leadership, not new nuclear weapons. Key policy makers are responding and are conducting hearings and calling for a fundamental review of U.S. nuclear weapons policy. UCS will continue to push hard for policies and initiatives that move us toward the goal highlighted by Kissinger, Shultz, Perry and Nunn.

Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing: High Risks That Won’t Fix the Problem

In early April, the Department of Energy (DOE) extended the deadline for comments on its controversial Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program until June 4. If you haven’t provided your input already, you still can take action. Already, thousands of UCS activists have written the DOE to express their concerns about this costly, dangerous plan to resume U.S. commercial reprocessing—the extraction of weapons-usable plutonium from spent fuel from nuclear power reactors—for the first time in more than 30 years.

The commercial reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel will not only fail to offer a real solution to the problems associated with the storage and disposal of nuclear or radioactive waste, but will make it easier for terrorists to obtain the materials needed for a nuclear bomb and undermine the U.S. goal of halting the spread of the technologies and materials that can be used to make nuclear weapons.

In Congress, the Bush administration’s $405 million Fiscal Year 2008 request for GNEP funding is meeting significant and growing opposition in the House, while the Senate’s position is less clear. Key votes on GNEP funding may occur in early to mid-summer.