New Mexicans to Attend the 23rd Annual Alliance for Nuclear Accountability DC Days

April 1, 2011

Scores of activists from across the nation will present their concerns about U.S. spending policies for nuclear power plants, nuclear weapons, and cleanup projects in dozens of meetings with leaders of Congress and the Obama Administration from April 4th through April 6th as part of the 23rd Annual Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) DC Days. www.ananuclear.org New Mexicans who will attend include Susan Gordon of ANA; Don Hancock of Southwest Research and Information Center; Jay Coghlan and Scott Kovac of Nuclear Watch New Mexico; Bud Ryan and Stuart Overbey, producers of the new documentary, The Forgotten Bomb; and Joni Arends of CCNS.

ANA is a national network of over 30 organizations that addresses issues of nuclear weapons production and waste cleanup.

On Monday, April 4th, ANA will hold a news briefing at the National Press Club to release a new report analyzing reactor subsidies, weapons production and clean-up projects, stressing their major environmental and safety dangers as well as their mammoth cost overruns. The report is called "Nuclear Reality Check$: The U.S. Department of Energy's Most Dangerous, Budget Busting Proposals." Leaders of the ANA will present.

Michele Boyd, Director of the Safe Energy Program for Physicians for Social Responsibility, will discuss the multi-billion dollar federal loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors, an investment the private sector viewed as too risky even before the disasters at the Fukushima Daiichi facility.

Tom Clements, the Southeastern Nuclear Campaign Coordinator for Friends of the Earth, will speak about the inherent risks in the proposal by the Department of Energy to use dangerous mixed-oxide (MOX) plutonium reactor fuel, as confirmed by MOX contamination at the Daiichi 3 reactor.

Susan Gordon, ANA Director, will speak about the proposed construction of huge, new, nuclear weapons production plants and warhead redesign projects, which are far over budget, many years behind schedule, and a threat to U.S. global non-proliferation goals.

Finally, Tom Carpenter, Executive Director of Hanford Challenge, will contrast the underfunding of projects for the cleanup of nuclear contamination with the escalating construction costs at high-risk facilities, such as the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, which is now 240 percent over-budget and off schedule by a decade.

On the evening of Tuesday, April 5th, ANA will host an Awards Reception honoring leaders in the movement for more responsible nuclear policies. Awardees include U.S. Senator John Kerry, whistleblower Walter Tamosaitis, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom activist Carol Urner, and Chernobyl accident cleanup leader Natalia Mansurova.

Joni Arends, of CCNS, said, "DC Days provides an opportunity for ANA members to network, gain strength, and meet face-to-face with decisionmakers. It is great event!"

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