| About Complex Transformation |
|
|
|
The Bush administration and the Department of Energy market Complex Transformation as a way to reduce our nuclear arsenal. They claim that we need to make sure our current warheads are reliable before starting the dismantling process. The pure irony is that Complex Transformation would actually make our arsenal less reliable. The current nuclear arsenal meets modern safety and reliability standards. Designing and building new warheads for safety and reliability reasons is therefore unnecessar -- and dangerous. In a world without nuclear testing, abandoning well-tested warhead designs in favor of new, untested designs is asking for trouble. Even if technically feasible, the deployment of new, untested warheads may over time lead to political pressures to resume testing in violation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the US has signed but not ratified. In addition, these plans would seriously impact the health of the people and the environment around the planned sites. There is no need to rush to build new nuclear weapons. One aspect of Complex Transformation is a plan to build a larger plutonium complex at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, increasing plutonium pit production capacity to 80 plutonium bomb pits each year. Plutonium pits are the "triggers" of nuclear weapons. A study by the independent scientists known as the JASON Defense Advisory Group has determined that the current pits have a lifetime of 85 to 100 years. This finding undermines the Bush administration’s argument that our current warheads may not be reliable and need to be replaced. Since coming in to power, the Bush administration has attempted to take US nuclear weapons policy in an aggressive direction, requesting funding for new nuclear weapons such as the nuclear bunker-buster and raising the possibility of first nuclear strikes against non-nuclear countries. Complex Transformation is closely linked to the Reliable Replacement Warhead, another thinly disguised new nuclear weapon. Our work Peace Action West generated roughly 10,000 comments from members of the public in opposition to Complex Transformation through email, hand-written letters, and in person testimonial at DOE hearings. The Department of Energy received more than 100,000 comments nationwide from the public on their proposal to revamp the nation's nuclear weapons infrastructure. The record breaking number of comments demonstrates widespread public opposition to nuclear weapons. Thanks to the help of our supporters, we are continuing to make progress towards a world free of nuclear weapons. You can watch video footage from the public hearings in Livermore, CA and Las Vegas, NV. Peace Action West staff and supporters, members of the public, and colleague organizations attended and spoke against Complex Transformation. Hiroshima A-bomb survivor Mr. Kohji Hosokawa spoke about what it was like when the bomb was dropped. His story of how his sister and 200 of her classmates were killed because of the bomb serves as a reminder that real people are the victims of nuclear weapons. *Some information provided by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability |
