* New Mexico has most nuclear Warheads in
U.S.
* Protest delays new weapons testing in
Alaska.
* Russian activists protest Russian-U.S.
proposal to use plutonium as nuclear fuel.
* Tigua tribe sues to stop nuclear waste
dump.
* New Mexico has the highest number of nuclear
warheads in the nation, according to a report from the Nuclear
Defense Council, a Washington D. C. non-profit group. The report,
titled "Taking Stock: Worldwide Nuclear Deployments 1998," notes
that New Mexico's 2,450 beat 13 other states for the largest
share of the nation's 12,000 nuclear warheads. Georgia was
second, with 2,000 warheads. According to the report, the
warheads are being held in a storage complex near Kirtland Air
Force Base. Officials from Kirtland refused to acknowledge the
presence of nuclear weapons on the base. Spokeswoman Lt.
Michelle Dugan would say only that an on-site munitions squad is
responsible for "maintaining, shipping and receipt of weapons
every day." The Albuquerque storage site occupies 56 acres, a
couple of miles east of the base. The $43 million dollar complex
stores warheads for the Air Force, and also functions as a
transfer point between the Pentagon and the Department of
Energy's Pantex plant near Amarillo, where nuclear warheads are
dismantled.
"Overall, the average person doesn't have to worry about
safety... They don't put (nuclear warheads) in a garage in
downtown Albuquerque," said council senior analyst Robert Norris,
the report's co-author. He said that disarmament treaties and
the end of the cold war have resulted in a reduction of nuclear
arms, but there are still 36,000 nuclear weapons around. Russia
has 22,500 warheads, the report said. France, China and Britain
each have 500 or less. In the U.S., weapons are stored in 24
storage "depots" across the country, and in seven other
countries. There are also 500 underground missile-launching silos
in 5 states, and 18 ballistic missile submarines.
* Protests from environmentalists and
indigenous people from Alaska all the way to Turkey have caused
the U. S. Air Force to delay tests of dummy bombs, scheduled to
be dropped on the Tanana Flats in Alaska. The bombs contain
depleted uranium, a less dangerous form of the material used in
nuclear warheads. It will not explode, but is used to mimic the
weight and density of the refined uranium used in real bombs.
Critics fear that the shells may somehow break open and scatter
nuclear contamination on the Fort Wainwright bombing range, 35
miles from Fairbanks. The test is the last required by the DOE
and the Defense Department before the B61-11 officially becomes a
part of the U.S. weapons arsenal. The weapon is designed to
burrow into the ground before its nuclear warhead explodes, in
order to destroy underground bunkers. Activists claim that it is
a new weapon, and as such violates international anti-nuclear
proliferation treaties. The military claims it is simply a
modification of previous weapons.
Earlier this week 109 groups sent a letter to President
Clinton, urging him to stop the tests and the certification
process. The groups ranged from Alaska Natives who fear uranium
contamination of the environment to Turkish activists who don't
want the bomb used on neighboring Iraq. Air Force spokesmen
disclaim the risk, since the bombs will not explode. They say
that in the unlikely event of escaping uranium, a clean-up squad
will be present. Some veteran groups maintain that even the
unexploded uranium used on the outside of weapons in the Persian
Gulf War may have caused nausea, depressed immune systems and
cancer when breathed or ingested in large doses.
* Environmentalists in Russia denounced a plan
being considered by the U. S. and Russia to use surplus
plutonium, left over from Cold War nuclear bomb production, as
fuel for nuclear power plants in both countries. The plutonium
would be mixed with uranium to make mixed oxide fuel (MOX).
Russian protesters said that they believe the new fuel would be
far more dangerous and pose huge additional storage and
transportation costs. If stolen, moreover, it could be used for
weapons. The protestors accused the Russian Government of
already starting work on the program, without informing the
public. The U.S. DOE said last year it was considering the plan
along with other options, while conducting studies on the best
method of plutonium disposal.
* The Tigua Indians have filed a law-suit
to keep the government from building a nuclear dump on their land
in Sierra Blanca, in far West Texas, about 90 miles east of El
Paso. In the law-suit, filed on March 4, they ask state
officials "to vacate and remove all their equipment" from a site
at Sierra Blanca where they propose to build a low-level
radioactive waste disposal facility. According to the tribe, the
dump site is in violation of their right to possess the property.
Texas state officials refused to comment because they hadn't seen
the lawsuit.
Environmental activists have been opposing the dump for
years, because it lies in an earthquake zone and poses a threat
to the Rio Grande. The state maintains the site is safe. Tigua
tribal Gov. Vince Munoz said, "We're trying to preserve our land.
The state doesn't have the right to mess it up with a nuclear
dump."
