Contents

1. Summary
2. Administration Nuclear Plans Have Little Support
3. Support for New U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy Grows
4. Reprocessing Plan On the Skids
5. Nuclear Power Information Tracker

Summary

More than 23,500 UCS activists have submitted comments to the Department of Energy (DOE) opposing Complex Transformation, a plan to recreate a Cold War-like infrastructure for designing, developing, and producing new nuclear weapons. These efforts represent nearly a fourth of all the comments the DOE received nationwide. In addition, all of the 2008 presidential candidates are now discussing the future of U.S. nuclear weapons policy. Meanwhile, the Bush administration's controversial plan to reprocess spent fuel from nuclear reactors has been slowed considerably.

Administration Nuclear Plans Have Little Support

First announced in 2006 as Complex 2030, Complex Transformation is an ambitious DOE plan to upgrade the entire U.S. nuclear weapons complex and reestablish the ability to research, develop, and manufacture new nuclear weapons. A mandatory environmental review allowed the U.S. public to submit comments on the DOE's ill-advised draft plan. Our appreciation goes out to all the UCS activists who attended Complex Transformation hearings and the more than 23,500 who submitted comments to the DOE—out of a record 104,000 comments overall.

Our message was simple—instead of recreating the capacity to produce new, unnecessary nuclear weapons, the DOE should shrink the oversized weapons complex and safely maintain existing weapons as our nuclear stockpile is reduced. The comment period ended on April 30, and the DOE has acknowledged that the vast majority of comments opposed the DOE's plans to build new nuclear weapons. In the fall, the DOE will announce its final plans, which will be subject to congressional approval.

Support for New U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy Grows

Over the past 18 months, UCS has been engaged in a comprehensive initiative to build political and public support and momentum for a fundamental re-evaluation of U.S. nuclear weapons policy, including practical policy steps that will reduce the threat posed by these horrible weapons. Working with a host of other national and local groups, UCS has pressed policy makers and presidential candidates to make nuclear weapons a priority issue. All three viable presidential candidates have declared that the United States should reduce nuclear arsenals worldwide—starting with its own—and should re-affirm its commitment to global nuclear disarmament. Moreover, nearly 10,000 UCS supporters wrote their legislators, helping to successfully urge Congress to mandate that the next president conduct a comprehensive nuclear policy review.

In February, UCS published Toward True Security: Ten Steps the Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy and in April released a Scientists' Statement on U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy endorsing the recommendations in Toward True Secuirty. Nearly 100 prominent physicists, including 23 Nobel Prize and 10 National Medals of Science awardees, signed the statement, and we are recruiting more. The statement calls on the next president to profoundly change our country's nuclear weapons policy by taking practical, unilateral steps that will make the country safer and lay the groundwork for a world without nuclear weapons.

Reprocessing Plan On the Skids

The Bush administration had planned to publish a "record of decision" next month on whether and how to proceed with the proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program, its ill-advised plan to reprocess spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors. UCS strongly opposes the GNEP plan because reprocessing separates plutonium from other nuclear waste contained in spent nuclear fuel; once separated, the plutonium can be used to fuel reactors or to make nuclear weapons. Fortunately, thanks in part to our work, Congress has provided significantly less funding for the program than the administration has requested. As a result of lower funding and the many flaws and changes in the DOE's own plans, last month the administration announced that the record of decision would merely be a recommendation for the next administration. Construction on the proposed large-scale reprocessing facility and the new, unproven nuclear reactor design will not begin. This is a significant victory.

Nuclear Power Information Tracker

UCS launched our Nuclear Power Information Tracker. This great online, interactive resource offers the public and policy makers a wide range of information about each of the country's 104 U.S. nuclear power plants, including location, reactor type, operational status, and known safety problems.