Issue date: 10/13/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Matt Viramontes Photo Illustration by Matt Viramontes

10th District's Representative Ellen Tauscher has sponsored a resolution for the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, among several resolutions to counter nuclear proliferation. However, she also supported the Livermore Lab's request to double the allowable limit of plutonium stored there.
The lab has a variety of reasons to call for more plutonium, according to David Schwoegler, the Principal Public Information Officer at the LLNL. One is the Aries project, which is a way of dismantling nuclear weapons in a more environmentally friendly manner. Also, as part of the Stockpile Stewardship program, the lab is conducting studies to determine the aging effects of plutonium, and to see how it will operate at extremely high temperatures.
"The problem we face is that 80 percent of the plutonium we have on site we don't need, and we've had it boxed to be shipped, ready to leave site for the past 12 years," said Schwoegler. If the lab is to continue the work assigned to them, they will need new plutonium.
Marylia Kelley, of local nuclear watchdog agency Tri-Valley CAREs, explained that once plutonium undergoes experimentation, it becomes unusable nuclear waste. Officials in other states "know these sites have plans once they move the old plutonium out to move new plutonium in, conduct new experiments, contaminate that plutonium, and keep moving it out, so that the waste stream would continue," she said.
"We've done a lot of advocacy pointing out the obvious vulnerability of plutonium in such a populated area, and the Department of Energy (DOE) then announced that it would remove the weapons usable quantities of plutonium from Livermore Lab by the end of 2014," stated Kelley.
Her goal is to make sure that the DOE does not bring more plutonium to Livermore within the eight-year period before they claim the old stock will be removed. "The chance is too high that they'll increase it and then after eight years they won't remove it anyway." she said.
Schwoegler acknowledged the plea to relocate plutonium experimentation to another spot, noting the LLNL's nuclear facilities at the Nevada test site. He said that if the plutonium was transferred there it wouldn't cripple the lab's operation.
Eric Harpell, Professor of Physics at Las Positas College, notes that doubling the amount of plutonium at the lab does not necessarily "double the evil." His point is there is so much on site already, adding more may not add to the potential harm. Regardless, "If it gets out into the water supply it will be toxic for thousands of years," he said.
According to Simon Limage, Rep. Ellen Tauscher's Deputy Chief of Staff, Tauscher is merely attempting to reign in Bush's excessive nuclear ambitions. "It was a wide open program that wasn't really clear what it was supposed to do." he said. Tauscher and a bi-partisan assembly mandated there should be certain objectives to the program, such as ensuring that it leads to a smaller arsenal, and that it reduces the need for nuclear testing.
Kelley feels that Tauscher is walking a nuclear tightrope. "There is no question that the Livermore Lab is the 800 pound gorilla in local politics," she said. "It is the largest employer in Livermore and the third largest in Alameda County. But there is a way to preserve jobs and change the mission."
Kelley wants the lab to return to its objective of green energy research. Yet Schwoegler contends that energy is not a realistic area for the LLNL because it hasn't been their specialty for many years and there are other labs leading in that field.
Schwoegler stated there were alternate areas the lab could work in, like genetics, high speed computation, cancer research and bio-med, but he is mindful of the fact that about 70 percent of the lab's budget comes from national security funds.
He does not entirely disagree with the Tri-Valley CAREs mission. "When it comes to organizations like Tri-Valley CAREs, our disagreements are on tactics, not objectives. Both sides of this argument would like to see a world where nuclear weapons are never used again, that's our objective and that's their objective. Their tactic is by outlawing them and removing them and our tactic is by maintaining a safe and secure deterrence," he said.
Without federal funding, the Tri-Valley area could lose some of the economic strength and the scientific prestige for which it is famed. But in such a highly populated metropolitan area the question remains - is Livermore the safest possible place to conduct this type of research?

In the next edition - Is the lab safe?

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