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UK Base Would Dump 50 Times More Waste

Nukewatch Quarterly Spring 2021

The British Navy is being condemned for planning to increase up to 50 times its discharges of radioactive waste into the ocean from its giant submarine base near Helensburgh, Scotland. The Ministry of Defense has asked to increase the dumping as it plans to expand the number of submarines and nuclear weapons stationed at its Faslane and Coulport bases. The liquid radioactive waste comes from the reactors that drive submarines, and from the processing of their nuclear warheads. The waste would be discharged using a proposed new pipeline.

Proposed discharges of radioactive cobalt-60 — one of the main radioactive wastes from submarine reactors — are projected to be 52 times higher than the average annual discharges over the last six years. The Navy projects annual discharges of radioactive tritium to be 30 times higher than discharges in 2018.

The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament accused the military of endangering the population it’s supposed to protect. “There is no safe dose of radiation for a pregnant mother or an infant. The local harms caused by weapon systems make a nonsense of defense,” said campaign chair, Lynn Jamieson. “Increases in radioactive discharges at Faslane are unacceptable,” she said.

Faslane houses four nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed Vanguard class submarines — which carry Trident missiles “leased” from the United States — a nuclear-powered Trafalgar class sub, and three new nuclear-powered Astute class subs. Four new Astute class subs are scheduled for the Clyde Naval Base, and in the 2030s may include a fleet of new Dreadnought class submarines armed with Trident missiles. — The Ferret (Scotland), March 1; and Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Feb. 19, 2021

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Kings Bay Plowshares 7 Sentencing Update

Nukewatch Quarterly Spring 2021
By Christine Manwiller

Nearly four years after their heroic nuclear disarmament action, five of the KBP7 defendants have been sentenced and five are serving sentences. Last October Fr. Steve Kelly was sentenced to 33 months incarceration (he has been imprisoned since the 2018 action), three years of supervised release and restitution in the amount of $33,501 (shared with other defendants); and Patrick O’Neill was sentenced to 14 months in prison, with the same probation and shared restitution. Carmen Trotta and Clare Grady were sentenced in a November hearing conducted by video conference. Carmen was given 14 months, and Clare was given “one year and one day.” Due to being a cancer survivor and a having a diagnosis of Lyme disease, Grady may be required to serve only half a year with credit for time already served. Martha Hennessy, was sentenced to 10 months incarceration. Martha, Carmen, and Clare received the same three years supervised probation and restitution.

Mark Colville has refused to waive his right to appear in open court, so has been granted a delay until Covid restrictions are lifted. He is scheduled for sentencing on April 9. Liz McAlister has already completed time served (17 months). Carmen and Martha both reported to federal prisons to begin their sentences Dec. 14, 2020. Patrick began his 14-month sentence on Jan. 14, and issued a statement that said in part, “I’m going in there with hope. There’s cause for optimism right now.” Clare started her sentence on Feb. 10, 2021. — To write the resisters, follow this link for addresses and instructions about mail restrictions: http://www.nukeresister.org/inside-out/; or https://kingsbayplowshares7.org/

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Bomb Test Blowback

Nukewatch Quarterly Spring 2021

Winds from the Sahara Desert blew north over Spain, France, the UK, and Ireland in February, carrying tons of the desert’s dust. The dust, heavy enough in places to tint the sky orange, caused a measurable spike in atmospheric radiation, and after investigating the French Association for Control of Radioactivity in the West (ACRO) announced that the dust is literally radioactive blow back from France’s colonial Cold War-era nuclear bomb tests. In 1960, France began detonating nuclear weapons above- and under-ground in the Algerian Sahara, contaminating local populations, the surrounding desert, and the French troops assigned to the experiments. (It detonated another 193 nuclear weapons on French Polynesia.) ACRO researchers gathered some of the dust from car windshields and its lab analysis found cesium-137, a radioactive isotope not found in nature but produced in great quantities by nuclear weapons blasts. How much was inhaled or ingested across Europe is unknown. ACRO said in a statement, “This radioactive pollution — still observable at long distances 60 years after the nuclear fire — reminds us of … perennial radioactive contamination in the Sahara for which France bears the responsibility.” — Guardian, Mar. 9; IFL Science online (UK), Mar. 4; and Euronews.com, March 1, 2021

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Kill Bill Challenges Missile Contracts

Nukewatch Quarterly Spring 2021

Legislation to kill the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM) was unveiled March 4 by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland and Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Connecticut. If passed, the bill would prohibit research and development, production, and deployment of the new submarine-launched missile. The two said that the Obama White House decided that a similar weapon was redundant and had it retired. In a related matter, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., urged President Biden, March 2, to cancel the SLCM-N program, and asked the president to “pause further development” of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent — a planned $264 billion replacement for today’s 400 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles. In their letter, Markey and Khanna also urged Biden to adopt a “no first-use” doctrine for nuclear weapons, reminding the president that “there is no such thing as a winnable nuclear war.” –Defense News, March 4, 2021

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Reactor Closures Leave Long-term Risks Behind

Nukewatch Quarterly Spring 2021

Five nuclear reactors in the United States will close in 2021— a record for one year — four in Illinois, and one in New York state. The shutdowns reflect a long-term shift from poison power to safe energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal and “negawatts” derived from efficiency and conservation. Over the next 30 years, 24 reactors are projected to close, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Shutting down nuclear reactors in the United States will slow the accumulation of radioactive waste and the industry’s push to move it away from reactor sites. Yet the dilemma of designing, testing, building, and enacting extremely long-term waste isolation remains.

Without a central federal waste repository, each of the country’s 56 operating reactor stations have to manage and guard their own waste — for decades. This ad hoc arrangement was intended to be temporary, so even the 36 US reactors that have closed continue to store their waste on site. This open air parking lot system poses risks from floods, earthquakes, sea level rise, and plane crashes, and it creates easy targets for groups who might want to use radioactive waste to harm human health.

In Japan where most of the power reactors remain closed after the Fukushima catastrophe, former prime ministers Naoto Kan and Junichiro Koizumi urged the current Japanese government to abandon plans to reopen reactors or build new ones. At a joint press conference March 1, Koizumi praised Japan’s abundant solar, wind, and hydropower electricity sources. “Why should we use something that’s more expensive and less safe?” — Kyodo News, March 1; and Houston Chronicle, Jan. 12, 2021

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