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December 26, 2021 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

US and NATO Nuclear Lunacy Still Raving

DECEMBER 24, 2021

US and NATO Nuclear Lunacy Still Raving

BY JOHN LAFORGE

While Civil Society and a global movement work steadfastly across dozens of fields for the abolition of nuclear weapons, planning, preparations, and rehearsals for attacks using deployed H-bombs and nuclear missiles are routine in the US military and NATO.  Two years ago, the US Joint Chief of Staff published online, then quickly deleted, its thermonuclear mass destruction plan titled “Nuclear Operations, Joint Publication 3-72.”

Before the Joint Chiefs took it down, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists managed to preserve a copy.  The manual relies on abstractions and euphemism to depict the unthinkable.  It says, “The employment of nuclear weapons could have a significant influence on ground operations.”  Of course “employment” means detonation, and “significant influence” means searing fireballs, vaporized victims, blast and shock-wave devastation, demolished hospitals and schools, vast firestorms, and permanent radioactive contamination of water, soil, and the food chain.

The manual explains that nuclear attacks create “conditions” without describing them.  It says, “Using nuclear weapons could create conditions for decisive results and the restoration of strategic stability.”  Then, as if US presidents had never said, “Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” the report pretends it can and should.  “[T]he use of a nuclear weapon will…create conditions that affect how commanders will prevail in conflict.”

US nuclear war practice takes place routinely with allied European militaries.  “Steadfast Noon” is NATO’s code name for its annual nuclear attack practice, and Hans Kristensen reports for the Federation of American Scientists that, “This is the exercise that practices NATO’s nuclear strike mission with the B61 … nuclear bombs the US deploys in Europe.”  Jan Merička wrote in European Security Journal News Oct. 19, 2017, that Steadfast Noon is designed “to simulate nuclear strikes…and was conducted from the Kleine Brogel Air Base in Belgium and Büchel Air Base in Germany, where US B61 thermonuclear bombs with the force of up to 340 kilotons of TNT are stored.”  (FYI: Hiroshima was incinerated with a 15 kiloton US bomb.)

To illustrate the Pentagon’s ho-hum acceptance of mass destruction, it recently opened in Omaha its new, $1.3 billion Strategic Command headquarters for supervising and targeting the nuclear arsenal, and it named the building after General Curtis LeMay, who, the Omaha World Herald reported, designed and conducted the incendiary bombing of 60 Japanese cities at the end of WWII, bombing that “incinerated entire cities” killing as many as 900,000 civilians.  General LeMay’s motto and that of Strategic Command used to be “Death from Above,” but after the war it was changed to “Peace is Our Profession.”

In Germany, readiness for attacks with nuclear weapons is maintained by the USAF 702nd Munitions Support Squadron, which tends to Germany’s 33rd Fighter-Bomber Wing at Büchel Air Force Base.  Headlines from last October’s bombing “theater” included, and “NATO Holds Secret Nuclear War Exercises in Germany,” “German Air Force training for nuclear war as part of NATO;” from 2017, “NATO nuclear weapons exercise unusually open”; and in 2015, “NATO nuclear weapons exercise Steadfast Noon in Büchel.”

While the uninitiated might be aghast, the US military plans and prepares all year round for nuclear attacks at its far-flung “Defense Nuclear Weapons School” of the Air Force Nuclear College.  According to the school’s website, one branch (of “Armageddon Academy”) is at the Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, the largest US military base outside the country.  Other branches are in New Mexico, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Ohio.  Outlines for this school’s ghoulish courses can been read online.  (The site may have been altered since I first reported on it in last June.)  For example, the school says boastfully that it “is responsible for delivering, sustaining and supporting air-delivered nuclear weapon systems for our warfighters … every day.”

Course outlines on the website include, “Theater Nuclear Operations, a 4.5-day course that provides training for planners, support staff, targeteers, and staff nuclear planners for joint operations and targeting.  The course provides an overview of nuclear weapon design, capabilities, and effects…. Objectives: …Understand the US nuclear planning and execution process; Understand the targeting effects of nuclear weapon employment.”  

Another class is, “Integrated Munitions Effects Assessment … a five-day course that provides students … proficiency in creating target models, developing attack plans using … nuclear weapons….”  Students “will be able to import, edit, and modify target sites”, “Calculate probabilistic attacks against predefined targets; [and] develop attack plans using … nuclear weapons….”

I am of the mind that setting the stage for nuclear attacks is both criminal and insane.  Luckily, millions of people are involved in the newly invigorated movement to rid the world of such madness, via the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  Read it sometime.

John LaForge is a Co-director of Nukewatch, a peace and environmental justice group in Wisconsin, and edits its newsletter.

Filed Under: B61 Bombs in Europe, Nuclear Weapons, US Bombs Out of Germany, War, Weekly Column

December 11, 2021 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

German Complaint Against Iran Rings Hollow with US H-bombs Still In Country

By John LaForge, Counterpunch, December 10, 2021

“Hypocrisy is the respect that vice pays to virtue.”

—Anonymous

US Air Force photo: A German air force crew chief assigned to the 33rd Fighter Bomber Wing, at Buechel Air Base, Germany, launches a Tornado fighter/bomber on a “training mission” conducted in the US. The crews at Buechel also prepare for attacks (with the 20 US nuclear weapons on base) in courses of the Defense Nuclear Weapons School (yes, that’s its real name). This school operates a “branch” for German Tornado pilots IN GERMANY — at the Ramstein air force base.

When it comes to double-standards, sheer hypocrisy, and laughable duplicity, Germany takes the cake this week — for nuclear weapons two-facedness.

The country helped create the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), along with China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US, in which Iran agreed to dismantle most of its nuclear program and open its facilities to extensive inspections in exchange for sanctions relief.

President ‘Rump tore up United States obligations to the JCPOA, but the Biden White House has said it wants to reestablish the US commitments. Negotiations began last April aimed at just that.

Now comes a spokeswomen for Germany’s Foreign Ministry Monday Dec. 6, saying that since April Iran had “violated almost all” agreed compromises.

This is rich coming from the Germany, but at least its Foreign Ministry is familiar with nuclear lawlessness.

To be clear Iran has no nuclear weapons, according a Dec. 6 statement by CIA director William Burns. On the other hand, Germany is home to 20 US hydrogen bombs known as B61s. These H-bombs are at Germany’s Büchel air base under a program called “nuclear sharing” which stands in open violation of binding international treaties.

With US H-bombs at Büchel, both Germany and the United States violate the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which is regarded by both as international treaty law to be applied domestically under Art. 59.2 of Germany’s Basic Law or constitution, and under Art. 6 of the US Constitution. The NPT’s Article 1 prohibits Germany from receiving nuclear weapons from the United States, and its Article 2 prohibits the United States from placing its nuclear weapons in other countries.

Furthermore, the stationing of US nuclear weapons in Germany violates Art. 3 of the 1990 Two-Plus-Four Treaty of re-unification, or Final Settlement Treaty, in which Germany renounced the possession of nuclear weapons and reaffirmed its commitment to the NPT.

Additionally, in its July 1996 Advisory Opinion the International Court of Justice ruled unanimously that: “There is an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control.” This opinion applies to Germany and all UN member states with the status of treaty law.

Regular planning and rehearsals of attacks with the US H-bombs at Büchel are conducted by German Tornado jet fighters of the 33rd Fighter-Bomber Wing, with the help of the US Air Force’s 702nd Munitions Support Squadron, as is often reported. For example NATO announced on Oct. 18, 2021 the start of its nuclear attack “exercise” named “Steadfast Noon.” German Tornadoes participated as usual. According to NATO’s statement, “This exercise helps to ensure that NATO’s nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure and effective.” Headlines from last year’s rehearsal declared: “NATO Holds Secret Nuclear War Exercises in Germany;” “German Air Force training for nuclear war as part of NATO;” and “NATO Holds Secret Nuclear War Exercises in Germany.” From 2017: “NATO nuclear weapons exercise unusually open.” In 2015: “NATO nuclear weapons exercise Steadfast Noon in Büchel.”

These unlawful and even criminal violations of the NPT, the 2+4 Treaty, the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, as well as the UN Charter, and the Nuremberg Principle’s prohibition of any “planning and preparation of wars in violation of international treaties…” make Germany’s chastisement of nuclear weapons-free Iran particularly absurd.

In order to end earn more than a comic’s voice in the JCPOA negotiations, Germany must end its violations of binding international law, by seeing the US nuclear weapons permanently withdrawn.

John LaForge is a Co-director of Nukewatch, a peace and environmental justice group in Wisconsin, and edits its newsletter.

Filed Under: Direct Action, Nuclear Weapons, US Bombs Out of Germany, Weekly Column

October 13, 2021 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

NRC Conducting “Open Investigation” into Allegedly Counterfeit, Substandard US Reactor Parts, & Impossibility of Evacuating Seabrook

By John LaForge

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has confirmed that it is investigating allegations that counterfeit, substandard parts are currently being used in scores of nuclear reactors across the United States, and further that emergency responders in New Hampshire’s National Guard and the Massachusetts State Police have been gagged by orders not to reveal that it is impossible to conduct a safe evacuation of the Seabrook reactor during an emergency. The use of bogus equipment inside operating reactors, and a failed evacuation during a reactor accident raise both the chances and the consequences of a major reactor disaster across the country and particularly at Seabrook, located on the New Hampshire seacoast 40 miles north of Boston.

In a January 15, 2021 email to We the People — a whistle-blower protection group in Rowley, Mass. — the OIG’s Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Malion Bartley wrote that his office “has an open investigation and is reviewing the concerns you provided and your supporting documents.” Bartley’s email, made public only recently, follows a December 14, 2020 letter in which Bartley confirmed, “The Office of the Inspector General, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is reviewing your allegation regarding counterfeit and substitute parts in nuclear plants around the United States.”

For over 35 years We the People has demanded an investigation into whistle-blower declarations that reactor manufacturers have installed counterfeit, substandard parts in reactors across the United States. The allegations are based on tape recorded conversations with several nuclear industry and NRC whistle-blowers.

Municipalities near Seabrook are also demanding answers. Mayor Kassandra Gove of Amesbury, Mass., ten miles from the Seabrook reactor, wrote this past August 27 to the NRC’s Inspector General Robert Feitel reminding him, “the City has previously asked for a public hearing by the NRC on the public safety and evacuation plan for Seabrook Station,” and further that “The NRC should seek to ensure both the safety of … the parts being used within the facility itself, as well as the evacuation plans in the case of a catastrophic event.”

Mr. Bartley’s December 14, 2020 letter insists that We the People provide the OIG with personal contact information for the whistle-blowers who are being protected by the nonprofit group. The inside informers have divulged to the group’s director, Stephen Comley, Sr., the sorts and locations of the fake parts that he alleges currently endanger the operations of the entire fleet of nuclear reactors in the United States.

Comley has replied to the Inspector General’s office that because protection of the nuclear whistle-blowers is paramount, he needs guarantees from the NRC and OIG that no retaliation will be taken against them. We the People has refused to reveal any whistleblower’s identity to the OIG unless the courageous informants give their permission.

The OIG’s Senior Special Agent William Johnson wrote an email to We the People on December 17, 2020, complaining that his office was “disappointed that you are choosing not to provide said requested information unless certain conditions you insist upon are met by our office.”

The Christian Science Monitor reported in July 1994 that the NRC regularly retaliated against agency whistle-blowers who warned of unsafe operations.  “NRC officials were turning over whistle-blowers’ identities to one of the nation’s largest utilities, the Tennessee Valley Authority” in violation of federal policy, the Monitor reported. The article, written as a result of a tip from We the People, noted that whistle-blowers “are a major source of vital information about safety risks at nuclear power stations” and that “the NRC is frequently charged by safety advocates with being too cozy with the multibillion-dollar nuclear industry.”

On Sept. 13, 2021 Special Agent Johnson again wrote in an email to Comley, “Please forward to the OIG the contact information for these additional state troopers that you say you spoke with. … They are in law enforcement, and the NRC OIG is a law enforcement agency. We can be trusted.” After sharing his agency contact information, Johnson wrote, “I look forward to talking to these other state troopers who will confirm your allegation that no safe evacuation of Seabrook Station would be possible in an emergency.”

Nuclear watchdogs and We the People are waiting to hear whether the whistle-blowers’ precautionary guarantees — insuring their anonymity and personal security — will be granted by the OIG. ###

 

 

Filed Under: Counterfeit Reactor Parts, Nuclear Power, Weekly Column

October 6, 2021 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Amesbury, Mass. Mayor’s Letter to NRC 27 August 2021

Filed Under: Counterfeit Reactor Parts, Nuclear Power, Weekly Column

September 1, 2021 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Point Beach Courts Disaster, Sirens Off

By John LaForge

A change has been made to the “emergency response” protocol at the old Point Beach nuclear reactors on Lake Michigan, south of Green Bay. The operator, NextEra Energy Point Beach, has replaced the site’s disaster warning sirens.

No more will the familiar wail warn of potentially catastrophic radiation releases or spills from the two reactors — which are 51 and 49 years old, respectively, well past their originally licensed maximum of 40 years.

The siren system has been replaced with an “Integrated Public Alert and Warning System” (IPAWS). NextEra says on its website that emergency alerts will be broadcast on public radio and through cell phone alerts, but not sirens.  They assure us: “If you have functional needs or do not own a cell phone, contact your emergency management agency to be registered for notification and assistance.”

That is, the system will send disaster warnings only to radios and cell phones. Are yours always on all night? The lack of sirens to wake sleeping nearby populations assumes that nuclear accidents only happen in daytime.

In fact, the Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, partial meltdown in 1979 started at 4 a.m.; the 1979 Churchrock, New Mexico, uranium mine waste spill broke at 5:30 a.m.; and the 1986 Chernobyl explosions and meltdown began at 1:23 a.m.

“I sure hope everyone has their TV, radio, computer or cell phone on in the middle of the night when the [IPAWS] alarm is sounded,” Michael Keegan of Don’t Waste Michigan, a watchdog of Point Beach and the 28 other operating reactors on the Great Lakes, wrote in an email.

Paul Gunter, at Beyond Nuclear in Takoma Park Maryland, specializes in reactor hazards and operations. He wrote in an email, “Removing the audible stationary sirens from within the emergency planning zone will significantly diminish the reactors’ early warning notification system and the radiological defense-in-depth strategy.”

Gunter points to the “bathtub curve” (pictured) depicting failure rates in every technology from toasters to nuclear reactors. “At startup, high rates of failures result from design flaws, mis-assembly and defects. A period of stable operations ensues, but over time, the aging of systems, structures and components leads to material degradation and a steeper rate of failures,” Gunter wrote.

In 2005, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted NextEra’s request to give Point Beach reactors 20-year license extensions, letting it produce radioactive waste for 60 years. Adding more risk to the reactors’ “golden years,” NRC in 2011 approved a 17 percent increase in power output from both units. The approval seems like dear old gramps gunning the engine of his jalopy, racing down main street and running red lights with the whole family involuntarily along for the ride.

Germany’s recent deadly flooding event, which killed at least 210 people, provides a tragic example of how retiring the sirens can be catastrophic. As the Los Angeles Times reported on July 24, 2021,“Residents of flood-stricken German towns say they got inadequate warning of deluge”; sirens in some towns failed when the electricity grid crashed; elsewhere there were no sirens at all. The Associated Press reported July 25 that Germans said warning systems failed and “At least 132 people were killed in the Ahr Valley alone.”

After nuclear waste, emergency and disaster response have always been the bane of nuclear reactors — our only industrial machines required to have evacuation plans before start-up. Taking down warning siren systems only increases the likelihood of catastrophe. It amounts to reckless endangerment. ###

Filed Under: Chernobyl, Environment, Environmental Justice, Nuclear Power, Weekly Column

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