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Citizens express opposition to dangerous increased plutonium pit production

Citizens’ Hearing Held at New Mexico Capitol about Increased Plutonium Pit Production at LANL, http://nuclearactive.org/

October 8th, 2020 The Department of Energy (DOE) has approved its plans to increase plutonium pit  production at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) by 50 percent as a way to comply with what is described in the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review as a need for “an effective, responsive, and resilient nuclear weapons infrastructure” that can “adapt flexibly to shifting requirements.”

The Pentagon has stated it needs annual production of 80 plutonium pits, the triggers for nuclear weapons.  T   The DOE has approved its Supplement Analyses for four possible ways to execute thisapproved its Supplement Analyses for four possible ways to execute this.

At LANL, DOE proposes upgrades to both LANL’s Plutonium Facility and the Radiological Laboratory Utility and Office Building which is part of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement (CMRR) Project.

Despite a mission that has been re-directed and an expansion involving about $15 billion in upgrades for two major buildings and related infrastructure, DOE has decided not to undertake a new Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) for LANL.  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/downloads/doeeis-0380-sa-06-final-supplement-analysis and https://www.energy.gov/nepa/downloads/doeeis-0380-amended-record-decision  Neither our congressional delegation nor our Governor has voiced disapproval of bypassing the SWEIS.

On Wednesday afternoon, October 7th, a citizens’ hearing was held outside the New Mexico State Capitol Building. Testimony was taken about DOE’s dramatic expansion plans for LANL that involve an installation of the size and importance and with the attendant dangers of the closed nuclear weapons plant at Rocky Flats, Colorado. The event, which provided a place for dozens of citizens to express their opposition to DOE’s plans in Northern New Mexico, was sponsored by the Los Alamos Study Group.  http://www.lasg.org/

The DOE proposals are too broad and too expensive to go forward without an SWEIS with public review and comment opportunities.

Every day, new information is released about the increased hazards at LANL.  This week the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board issued a new report about the inconsistent and inappropriate consideration of potential energetic chemical reactions, or explosions, involving transuranic waste stored at LANL.  The Board conducted an analysis of transuranic, or plutonium-contaminated, wastes stored at the Plutonium Facility, the old Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Facility, the Transuranic Waste Facility, and Area G and the potential for explosions.  It found that LANL has not fully analyzed for possible explosions involving transuranic waste stored at these facilities that would result in high exposures to workers and the public.  https://www.dnfsb.gov/documents/reports/technical-reports/potential-energetic-chemical-reaction-events-involving

The Board asked DOE to respond within 120 days.

October 10, 2020 Posted by | - plutonium, opposition to nuclear, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Utah congressman takes action to stop future nuclear weapons testing in U.S.

 

October 10, 2020 Posted by | politics, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Kim Jong Un Set to Show Off Nuclear Advances in Message to Trump

October 10, 2020 Posted by | North Korea, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

USA-Russia talks continue on bid to salvage nuclear arms control agreement

US, Russia said close to deal on nuclear warhead freeze
U.S. and Russian negotiators have agreed in principle to freeze their nuclear warhead stockpiles in a bid to salvage their last remaining arms control pact before it expires next year

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer, 10 October 2020, WASHINGTON — U.S. and Russian negotiators have agreed in principle to continue freezing their nuclear warhead stockpiles in a bid to salvage their last remaining arms control pact before it expires next that year, a person familiar with the talks said Friday.

The person said it’s not yet clear if the agreement for a freeze will succeed or translate into an extension of the New START treaty expires in February.

Word of a potential freeze comes as Trump is seeking foreign policy victories during a difficult reelection campaign against former Vice President Joe Biden, who has vowed to extend New START even without Chinese participation.

An announcement ahead of the election could raise eyebrows, coming as U.S. intelligence officials say Russia favors Trump and has been working to denigrate Biden…….

Russia has had a more skeptical view of the talks, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday accusing Washington of “unilateralism.” He said the New START treaty would likely cease to exist because the conditions the U.S. has put forward for extending it “don’t take into account our interests or the experience of many decades when arms control has existed to mutual satisfaction.”

Russian diplomats have repeatedly emphasized that Moscow considers the limits on launch platforms — missiles, bombers and submarines — much more important than the restrictions on the number of warheads. Russia likely would be unwilling to accept a separate freeze on the number of warheads unless it is part of a full-fledged deal.  https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/us-russia-close-deal-nuclear-warhead-freeze-73522231

October 10, 2020 Posted by | politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Trump’s COVID infection shows why it’s time to retire the nuclear football

Trump’s COVID infection shows why it’s time to retire the nuclear football, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , By Tom Z. Collina, October 6, 2020   President John Kennedy took powerful pain medications. President Richard Nixon was a heavy drinker. President Ronald Reagan had dementia. And now President Donald Trump has the coronavirus. These conditions can significantly impair one’s ability to think clearly. And yet, as president, each had—or, in Trump’s case, still has–the unilateral authority to launch US nuclear weapons within minutes.

President Trump is followed 24/7 by a military aide that carries the “football,” the briefcase that holds all he would need to order the immediate launch of up to 1,000 nuclear weapons, more than enough megatonnage to blow the world back into the stone age. He does not need the approval of Congress or the secretary of defense. Shockingly, there are no checks and balances on this ultimate executive power.

President Trump took the nuclear football with him to Walter Reed Medical Center, where he received treatment for COVID-19. According to Trump’s doctor, the president’s blood oxygen levels had dipped. And this, according to independent health experts, can impair decision-making ability. He is taking dexamethasone, which can cause mood swings and “frank psychotic manifestations.” Yet as far as we know, at no point did the president transfer his powers to the vice president, as allowed under the 25th Amendment.

To state the obvious, we should not entrust nuclear launch authority to someone who is not fully lucid. (Reagan transferred authority temporarily before planned surgery, as did President George W. Bush before a medical procedure that required his sedation.) A nuclear crisis can happen at any time, including at the worst possible time. If such a crisis takes place when a president’s thinking is compromised for any reason, the results could be catastrophic. ……..

If the president or his advisors have reason to believe that Trump’s thinking may be compromised, nuclear launch authority should be transferred to the vice president, Mike Pence. If Pence also gets COVID, the football could then be passed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, President Pro Tempore of the Senate Chuck Grassley, and the secretaries of State, Treasury and Defense, in that order.

But kicking the football down the line does not solve the problem—and in fact shows why the system is broken. Does anyone really believe that the president pro tem of the Senate or the Treasury Secretary has spent much time preparing for nuclear war? And even if they had prepared, the central dilemma remains: All humans are imperfect, and we should not trust the fate of the world to any one person.

The whole concept of giving the president unilateral nuclear authority is built on the false assumption that Russia might launch a surprise first strike. In fact, Russia has never seriously considered a first strike against the United States for a simple reason: It would be national suicide. Both sides have to assume that an attack would provoke an unacceptable nuclear retaliation. Both nations, and much of the rest of the globe, would be obliterated. Starting such a war would be insanity………

It is time to retire the nuclear football. The only thing standing between us and nuclear holocaust is one man with COVID on heavy meds. That is the plan? Ending sole authority is better than entrusting it to any individual. In a vibrant democracy, no one person should have the unchecked power to destroy the world. https://thebulletin.org/2020/10/trumps-covid-infection-shows-why-its-time-to-retire-the-nuclear-football/

 

October 8, 2020 Posted by | health, politics, USA, weapons and war | 1 Comment

Too much power to USA president, to control nuclear war strategy: what if he is ill?

Why The President Is The Weakest Link In U.S. Nuclear Strategy, Forbes, Loren Thompson  7 Oct 20 President Trump’s hospitalization after testing positive for Covid-19 is one of many instances in which the performance of the nation’s chief executive has been impaired by medical issues.

Eisenhower had a massive heart attack in 1955. His successor, John F. Kennedy, was afflicted by Addison’s disease and various other maladies that required heavy use of painkillers. Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon Johnson, was hospitalized during the Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968.

Other presidents have seen their performance compromised by psychological issues.

Richard Nixon became clinically depressed during the Watergate controversy and took to drinking heavily. Ronald Reagan may have exhibited early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease during the closing years of his presidency.

Such frailties have long been a part of the human condition, but the advent of nuclear weapons raised alarming possibilities about where presidential disability might lead. You see, the president has unilateral authority to launch nuclear weapons, and that power is one of the few places in the federal system where no checks and balances exist.

Numerous articles were written during the 2016 presidential campaign about the prospect that nuclear launch authority might be conferred upon Donald Trump. The nation’s foremost expert on nuclear command and control, Bruce Blair, wrote a lengthy essay for Politico warning that Trump would enjoy “absolute control” over use of the nuclear arsenal, and that military personnel in the chain of command would have no legal authority to resist his orders.

So when CNN reported Tuesday that one of the military aides charged with carrying the president’s nuclear authentication and launch codes had tested positive for Covid-19, it should have been a reminder that a president always has awesome military power at his fingertips, waiting to be exercised on short notice.
…………..  unlike everybody else in the nuclear system, the president would have unfettered, unilateral authority to act. All the other actors in the system need a second person to cooperate in arming and launching nuclear weapons.
But not the president. As Wikipedia puts it, “The president has unilateral authority as commander-in-chief to order that nuclear weapons be used for any reason at any time.”
And once a presidential order is issued, everybody else in the chain of command is trained to execute that order. To quote longtime Pentagon nuclear specialist Frank Miller, “There’s no veto once the president has ordered a strike.”

Thus, the prosect that a president might be physically or mentally impaired is alarming………

Mr. Trump’s recent hospitalization highlights some of the things that might go wrong. A report released this week by the Northwestern Medicine healthcare system found that a third of the patients hospitalized for Covid-19 in the system’s Chicago-area facilities developed altered mental states, including confusion and delirium.

In addition, President Trump’s doctors administered a heavy regimen of drugs aimed at mitigating the health consequences of his infection. Unfortunately, one of those drugs was a steroid, and steroids are known to cause psychological symptoms in some patients such as anxiety, agitation and mood swings.

When you consider the awesome nuclear authorities vested in the president, it is unsettling to contemplate how impaired judgment or medical disability might impact decision-making in a crisis……… https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2020/10/07/why-the-president-is-the-weakest-link-in-us-nuclear-strategy/#7f5796d76aee

October 8, 2020 Posted by | politics, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Boukadoum: Algeria to ratify Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons “as soon as possible”

Boukadoum: Algeria to ratify Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons “as soon as possible”  http://www.aps.dz/en/algeria/36012-boukadoum-algeria-to-ratify-treaty-on-the-prohibition-of-nuclear-weapons-as-soon-as-possible

 05 October 2020  ALGIERS/NEW YORK (United Nations) – Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum reaffirmed Sunday during his participation in the works of the UN GA high-level meeting marking the celebration of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, Algeria’s determination to ratify “as soon as possible” the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

October 6, 2020 Posted by | AFRICA, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Pacific Island Nations determined to say NO to nuclear weapons, and support UN Treaty Ban

October 6, 2020 Posted by | OCEANIA, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

China-Saudi nuclear pact can trigger an arms race in West Asia

October 6, 2020 Posted by | politics international, Saudi Arabia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

India test-fires new version of nuclear capable Shaurya missile

India test-fires new version of nuclear capable Shaurya missile, DECCAN CHRONICLE. | AKSHAY KUMAR SAHOO
Oct 4, 2020,   Bhubaneswar: India on Saturday successfully test-fired indigenously developed hypersonic nuclear-capable Shaurya missile, an advanced version of Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) K-15 (B-05).

The test was carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from a defence facility off Odisha coast, said reports…..

The test-flight of Shaurya missile comes just a couple of days after the country successfully test-fired an extended range version of surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile BrahMos off Odisha coast.  ….. https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/041020/india-test-fires-new-version-of-nuclear-capable-shaurya-missile.html

October 6, 2020 Posted by | India, weapons and war | Leave a comment

”Peaceful” nuclear powerr for nuclear weaponry in space

US military eyes nuclear thermal rocket for missions in Earth-moon space, Space.com, By Mike Wall 1 Oct 20, 

DARPA awarded a $14 million task order to help make it happen.  The U.S. military aims to get a nuclear thermal rocket up and running, to boost its ability to monitor the goings-on in Earth-moon space.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) just awarded a $14 million task order to Gryphon Technologies, a company in Washington, D.C., that provides engineering and technical solutions to national security organizations.

The money will support DARPA’s Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program, whose main goal is to demonstrate a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) system in Earth orbit. ……. https://www.space.com/darpa-nuclear-thermal-rocket-for-moon-contract

October 5, 2020 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Trump with Covid-19 – a potential power vacuum. E-6B Mercury nuclear war command posts in flight on each coast

Covid 19 coronavirus: Why ‘doomsday’ nuclear planes have taken to the skies in the US,  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12369993  By: Jamie Seidel, 2 Oct 20,   America’s doomsday planes are in the air following news that the nation’s commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, has Covid-19.

Two US Navy E-6B Mercury nuclear war command posts were observed in flight Friday, one on each coast of the United States. They were initiating the “Take Charge and Move Out” (TACAMO) defence protocol – essentially dispersing the command and communications facilities needed to control the US nuclear arsenal.

These aircraft are activated by the Pentagon when it is deemed necessary to communicate with the US Navy’s secretive nuclear missile submarines, stealth bombers and missile silos.

The move underscores the potential severity of the situation.

The President of the United States is also the commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces, including its nuclear forces. The incapacitation of whoever holds this position could be seen as an opportunity by potential belligerents.

Covid-19, which has so far killed 200,000 US citizens, is particularly deadly among older sufferers. President Trump is 74 years old.

It was announced this morning that he is already experiencing “mild symptoms”.

The two E-6Bs appeared on flight tracking systems 30 minutes before Trump announced his condition.

It’s no accident the aircraft were seen.

Military aircraft and ships usually fly with their radio identification transponders turned off in order to avoid being tracked and identified.

Doomsday Planes

Based on Boeing 707 airliner airframes, the E-6B aircraft have been built to be particularly resistant to electronic warfare and the electromagnetic-pulse generated by nuclear bursts.

About 16 of the aircraft were delivered from 1986. The fleet underwent a major upgrade in 2006.

Their job is to get into the air in the time of crisis. But an unknown number is also maintained aloft at any one time.

In the event of war, their job is to relay commands from the president and defense secretary directly to the deterrent nuclear force. The heart of this force are the Ohio-class nuclear ballistic-missile submarines hiding deep in the world’s oceans. Their immense payloads of nuclear missiles constantly threaten the prospect of a devastating retaliatory blow.

I would expect them to pop up if he tests positive,” US open-source intelligence hobbyist Tim Hogan tweeted with flight tracking maps identifying the flights.

“It’s the plane that has the ability to order the killing of everyone on earth if someone attacks the US with nukes in a first strike. It can talk to our missile subs under water even if DC is gone.”

Talking to submarines deep underwater is no easy task.

Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio can reach about 20m beneath the ocean’s surface. But its transmission speed is very slow and require large, high powered emitters for broadcast. In order to operate this equipment, the E-6B must unspool a kilometres-long wire to act as an aerial.

Command and Control

The US Constitution deals with the prospect of a president who is physically or mentally unable to discharge his duties. The role “shall devolve on the vice president”, it states.

What it doesn’t make clear is how the judgement to “devolve” should be made, or by whom.

The 25th Amendment, enacted in 1967, is supposed to provide a framework for this decision. But it was not initiated in 1981 when President Ronald Reagan was shot. For 10 days Reagan lay near death. But his key powers were not transferred to Vice President George H. W. Bush.

This has raised further questions about how presidential powers would be divested in an emergency. The 25th Amendment calls for a signed statement from the serving President, or if “the vice president and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide” a similar statement.

Congress and vice presidents, however, may be hesitant to act out of fear of being accused of attempting to seize power.

The resulting power vacuum, especially in the role of US Commander-in-Chief, potentially poses a strategic risk in times of international – and internal – crisis.

October 3, 2020 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

As Donald Trump gets coronavirus, USA’s ”doomsday” planes take flight

Donald Trump Tests Positive For COVID—And America’s Nuclear Doomsday Planes Launch Controversy, Forbes, 
David AxeContributor  2 Sept 20,  U.S. president Donald Trump tested positive for the novel-
coronavirus on Friday morning. Shortly before the news broke, the U.S. Navy’s doomsday planes launched on both American coasts.

Some observers asserted that the two things were related. But military spokespeople and some experts explained it was coincidence.

The E-6B Mercury is one of the Pentagon’s airborne nuclear command posts. The four-engine planes—derivatives of the Boeing 707 airliner—carry special communication systems and crews for commanding the Navy’s Ohio-class nuclear ballistic-missile submarines.

The Navy has 16 Mercuries. One often is in the air, and it’s not unheard-of for two or more to be airborne at the same time. But the timing of Friday’s twin sorties seemed noteworthy to some.

In an atomic war, the E-6s would relay orders to the Ohio boomers, helping the boats’ crews to target enemy cities and military bases with nuclear-tipped Trident submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or SLBMs.

It could be no accident that E-6s were airborne over both coasts in the minutes before Trump’s announcement that he was infected, tweeted Tim Hogan, an American open-source intelligence practitioner. “I would expect them to pop up if he tests positive.”……….  https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2020/10/02/donald-trump-tests-positive-for-covid-and-americas-nuclear-doomsday-planes-launch/#3022db8658ba

October 3, 2020 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Call to Indonesia to ratify UN Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty

“Indonesia running in circles in bid to ratify anti-nuclear weapons treaty”.  Dian Septiari The Jakarta Post Jakarta   /   Fri, October 2, 2020

Indonesia is still dragging its feet in the ratification of an international treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons that it signed more than three years ago, even as its neighbors have one by one made good on their commitments. Malaysia was the latest to submit its instrument of ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on Wednesday, making it the 46th country to pass the treaty into law. Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the country’s ratification brought the international community one step closer to amassing the 50 national endorsements needed to bring the treaty into force, Bernama reports.

Adopted on July 7, 2017, the treaty prohibits all activities related to nuclear weapons, including their development, testing, manufacturing, acquisition, possession, stockpiling, use and stationing. In Southeast Asia, Thailand was the first nation to sign and ratify the treaty, only a few months after it was adopted. Vietnam ratified it the following year, followed by Laos in 2019. Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah said Indonesia was one of the first 50 countries to sign the treaty in 2017, but the ratification itself was still ongoing. “Of course, ratification cannot be done instantly, because it involves many stakeholders and progress is currently a bit constrained by the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi is expected to participate virtually at the High-Level Meeting on Friday to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, which fell on Sept. 26. Muhadi Sugiono, a campaigner for the Nobel Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), expressed regret that the ratification of the nuclear prohibition treaty had not been made a priority issue in Indonesia’s foreign policy.

………. As the de facto leader of ASEAN, Indonesia is expected to shore up resources against global nuclear proliferation, which the bloc collectively agrees to oppose through the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) treaty. As a member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and a coordinator of its working group on disarmament and nonproliferation since 1994, Indonesia was among cosponsors of the 2017 United Nations General Assembly resolution to enforce the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty. Various observers have since called on Indonesia to make good on its

advocacy.

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/10/01/indonesia-running-in-circles-in-bid-to-ratify-anti-nuclear-weapons-treaty.html.

October 3, 2020 Posted by | Indonesia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The American election- what will the nuclear order look like after this?

image from MENAFN.COM

THE U.S. ELECTION AND NUCLEAR ORDER IN THE POST-PANDEMIC WORLD  Limitless Life,    LEON V. SIGAL, SEPTEMBER 29 2020Abstract

U.S. power and prestige may have diminished in recent years, but the United States still plays a pivotal role in international institutions, alliances, and mass media, so who becomes its president and which party controls Congress matter a lot for the global nuclear order. However unlikely it is that Donald Trump’s expressed desire to contest the election’s outcome could succeed,  whether the nation can avert a violent backlash among disappointed partisans is less clear.

Nuclear weapons are often thought to be the esoteric domain of experts. Yet one need only recall that although mass activism does not guarantee policy change, three of the most significant developments in recent decades – the ban on above-ground nuclear tests, the INF
Treaty, and the collapse of the Berlin Wall – would not have happened without mass protests in many countries. And citizen involvement, organized by NGOs, can even facilitate monitoring of arms agreements and nuclear developments in some countries.

The public’s understandable preoccupation with COVID-19, economic distress, racial animus, and climate change leave scant scope for paying heed to nuclear risks, which makes mobilization of a mass anti-nuclear movement unlikely. Absent popular action, however,
positive change to the global nuclear order will continue to be marginal and fitful. This makes the international milieu critical for the nuclear future – a milieu that a president can influence but not determine.
President Trump’s reelection is likely to have a pernicious effect on that milieu, hindering international cooperation to limit nuclear weapons and accelerating a qualitative arms race that could endanger crisis stability. Yet two of Trump’s more positive impulses are likely to continue. He is unlikely to increase the risk of an intense crisis leading to nuclear war because he wants to avoid U.S. involvement in any wars, not start new ones. He will also try to sustain negotiations
with North Korea to curb nuclear developments there, though whether he is prepared to satisfy Pyongyang’s stiffer demands remains in doubt.His opponent, Joseph Biden, will face those same demands. Personnel is policy, and the Biden administration will likely be staffed with officials who served under President Obama. That means a return to shoring up alliances and international cooperation. It also means continuity with Obama’s nuclear policies. Whether he will curtail Obama’s modernization plans is not clear, but in contrast to Trump, he will try his best to restore the JCPOA, which could head off nuclear weapons development not only in Iran but also in Saudi Arabia. He will also strive to save START, seek technical talks with China, and not abandon the Open Skies accord……….. https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/2663585/posts/2938659215

October 1, 2020 Posted by | 2 WORLD, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

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