Check for web archive captures
From Nagasaki to Now. How are we doing with reducing
the nuclear threat?
By mickielynn on 2013-08-09 16:26:12
[caption id="attachment_4779" align="alignleft" width="150"]»:Atomic bombing of Nagasaki, August 9, 1945 Atomic
bombing of Nagasaki, August 9, 1945[/caption] Today happens to be the 68th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic
bomb with a plutonium core, "Fat Boy" on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. It's also the second year after the nuclear
meltdown in Fukushima following a severe earthquake and tsunami, and there is currently a very dangerous level of
radioactive material leaking, at the rate of 3 tons of water per day, directly into the Pacific Ocean. But we'll save that
discussion for a different article! The US is now a signatory to the New Start Treaty, an optimistic indicator that perhaps we
can continue to reduce both the number of nuclear weapons called the "enduring stockpile" and those actually deployed and
ready for use. We all know that Russia has the other largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. There is a growing danger from
more nations that have also developed advanced nukes, a nuclear capability, or are in the process of doing so. [caption
id="attachment_4773" align="aligncenter" width="580"]
Estimated US-Russian Nuclear Warhead Inventories 1977-2018
Geoepe HW Bush Bill Carrio . George WBush Barack Ghama
= =. = jeieester ft
3) Russia Stockpile
EUS Stockpile
— US Deployed Strategic
— Russian Deployed Strategic
eran
START
t
i
1
i
T
1
i
i
1
i
+
1
1877 1979 1981 1883 19685 1987 1989 1691 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2006 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 ANT
Mare tenner, Facteratian of Arearicam Sciwntete, 1017
US and Russia, stockpiled and
deployed missiles, prepared by Hans Kristensen at the Federation of American Scientists in 2012[/caption] There's so much
to be written about US policy concerning our stockpiled and our strategic nuclear weapons but I'd like to concentrate on two
aspects of nuclear threat reduction. The first is about what steps President Obama can take to cooperate in the international
process to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons based on his own position as the leader of the most advanced nuclear armed
nation in the world. Some of these ideas come from a letter to the President that Peace Action is circulating asking him to
engage in a series of multilateral efforts to decrease and eventually abolish nuclear weapons. The first comes up very soon.
On September 26, 2013 the first ever United Nations High Level meeting on nuclear disarmament will take place. This
comes out of a 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference where participants agreed to meet and create a
framework for a nuclear weapons convention. At this time the United States is not yet taking part in the UN Open Ended
Working Group on Disarmament. So the first request is for President Obama to speak at the September meeting and take
part in the high level meeting. If his rhetoric is to match his actions this is very important. You may remember that he said
in a speech in Berlin, “so Jong as nuclear weapons exist, we are not truly safe.’ Here are some other asks in the letter:
¢ Participate in the UN working group on achieving a world free of nuclear weapons * Pursue vigorously
convening of the postponed conference on a Middle East Zone free of Weapons of Mass Destruction * Attend
the 2014 conference in Mexico on the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons The world and our country
must prioritize meeting human needs over weapons of mass destruction.
If you support these steps leading up to the establishment in 2015 of a convention to end nuclear weapons proliferation in a
multilateral framework which would also reduce the current stockpiles of weapons that prevent a nuclear free world then
you can sign on to the letter at the above link. These negotiations are also taking place in the context of another non-
institutional group to which the US belongs and which is charged with preventing nuclear proliferation. It's called the
Proliferation Security Initiative and the goal is to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction and their materials and
basic components. If you're interested in reading a fact sheet about the PSI and its accomplishments along with other related
organizations you can find that information on_a fact sheet. The other aspect of the attempts to decrease the stockpiles of
nuclear weapons involves evaluation and elimination of some of the less useful and more expensive weapons in our
arsenals. This is easier said than done because the defense corporations and other groups and locales that profit from
keeping these weapons are very powerful lobbies. In fact the deal that President Obama made with the Senate to obtain the
ratification of the New Start Treaty was that he would agree to modernize the nuclear arsenal and the weapons facilities that
sustain it. As United for Peace with Justice says this is "a plan that will add billions of dollars to nuclear weapons budgets
every year for the foreseeable future." | wanted to take just two examples of such weapons and weapons systems that are
found to be either non-functional or inordinately expensive to update. Let's start with the "B61 Gravity Bomb" There is
currently a plan for "life extension" of this expensive and dated weapon first built in the 1950's and 1960's. The US
currently maintains 180 of these bombs in Europe and the National Nuclear Security Agency has another 120 or so. The
original plan was to update all of them to a B61-12 version which would cost at least $10 billion. Now with budget
constraints this plan is under scrutiny and there is a much more cost effective solution that would involve just replacing the
components that are reaching the end of their service expectations. This also makes more sense because the "life extension
program wouldn't be completed before 2017 and several EU countries are already calling for these weapons to be removed
from their soil. You can learn much more about this issue on_a fact sheet published by The Arms Control Center. [caption
id="attachment_4774" align="aligncenter" width="251"]
lw. The B61 "gravity bomb" Does it need a $10 billion plus "life extension?" The B61 "gravity bomb" Does it need a $10
billion plus "life extension?"[/caption] The second weapons system which you probably have heard more about since it's
been tested for a long time with 7 out of 10 failures and continues to be funded and planned for in spite of its huge expense
and lack of success over the years since the first test in 2002. The most recent failure took place in July of this year and was
a spectacular $214 million practice run that amounted to the third failure in a row for the US's only defense system against
long-range attack. [caption id="attachment_4775" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
le July 2013, US ground based missile defense interceptor fired from Vandenberg AFB fails to hit its target. July 5 2013, US
ground based missile defense interceptor fired from Vandenberg AFB fails to hit its target.[/caption] This follows a previous
failure in May and three in 2010 but you can read more about the program inthis article and about the July missile failure
here. [caption id="attachment_4777" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
AP
Ballistic missile test in May, from Vanderberg Airforce base, one of the two bases that houses the interceptors, photo
AP{/caption] In spite of the many failures of these missiles the department of defense is planning to go ahead with plans to
deploy 14 more ground based missiles by 2017 which will be added to the 26 already deployed at Fort Greely in Alaska and
the 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It's also important to say that Boeing, one of the largest defense
corporations is the producer of these missiles. It will not give up the profits involved with the pursuit of the elusive "Star
Wars" system first fantasized in the 1980's. To bring about change we will need to deal with the inertia and the vested
interests of corporations and nuclear research and testing labs all over the United States. This will not be an easy process but
it's very important both for the safety of all people and other living beings on our Planet and also for a re-allocation of our
tax dollars to goods and services that people need to live their lives. Are There Nuclear Weapons in Your Neighborhood?
Click on the map: each peg represents a different piece of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. And here's another map:
[caption id="attachment_4776" align="aligncenter" width="575"]
U.S. Nuclear Research and Test Reactors
A Licensed/Currently Operating (31) US Nuclear Research and Test
Reactors non-nuclear power related.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4790" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
lw The Izumo, Japan's largest warship since WWII launched on August 6, 2013. "When will we ever learn?" The Izumo,
Japan's largest warship since WWII launched on August 6, 2013. "When will we ever learn?" [/caption]
