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BLUE RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE LEAGUE
PO Box 88 ~
Glendale Springs, North Carolina 28629 ~ Phone
(336) 982-2691 ~ Fax (336) 982-2954 ~ Email:
BREDL@skybest.com
PRESS
RELEASE
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 27, 2004
CONTACT:
Louis Zeller:
cell (704) 756-7550
office (336) 982-2691
Citizens
Charge US With Nuclear Treaty Violation
Today at a press
conference at the United Nations, the Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League charged the United
States with violation of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and called for
international inspections of weapons facilities
in South Carolina.
Louis Zeller, BREDL campaign coordinator,
outlined the risks of violating the treaty,
saying, "The United States is funding a new
nuclear bomb factories at a dangerous time. The
eyes of the world are on us. The United States
cannot continue to break a law which is vital
ending the worldwide threat of nuclear
weapons." The NPT was signed into law in
1969 and requires nations with nuclear weapons to
abolish them to prevent other nations from
acquiring them. Zeller wrote part of the
statement being delivered at the UN's annual
meeting on the treaty.
An excerpt from the non-governmental
organization's (NGO) statement to the Preparatory
Committee Meeting of the States Party to the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty delivered this
day at the UN states: "A half century of
radioactive contamination is causing an invisible
yet real epidemic. The cumulative impact of new
plutonium plants and past contamination at SRS
would result in more death and disease to the
people in this region."
Zeller cited government documents, testimony, and
financial figures which detail US violations: the
2005 US budget allocates 336 million dollars for
a new factory to make plutonium weapons and over
6 billion dollars on nuclear weapons development;
a Bush Administration report to Congress
acknowledges that the US is doing weapons
research which was prohibited in 1994; and, the
US, unlike Russia, has failed to ratify a treaty
to prohibit all testing of nuclear weapons. The
Savannah River Site is considered by many to be a
leading contender for the new plutonium weapons
plant.
Zeller concluded, "Nuclear rivalry halted
with the end of the Cold War, but today it is
being re-ignited by the actions of the United
States. South Carolina should not be the cradle
of a new nuclear arms race."
-end-
Press Statement of Louis Zeller
April 27, 2004
For two decades,
the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League has
worked to block nuclear waste dumps and other
dangerous nuclear projects. Over the last few
years we have become increasingly alarmed about
activities at the Savannah River Site in South
Carolina. SRS is a 310 square mile federal
complex employing more than 12,000 people largely
involved with managing the toxic legacy of the
Cold War. Environmental cleanup at SRS is a
massive undertaking complicated by new polluting
activities from ongoing tritium production, new
plutonium disposition plans, and the real threat
of a new atomic bomb plant.
The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
opposes the United States Department of Energy's
proposal to build new plutonium warheads at the
Savannah River Site or any of the sites proposed
by the US Department of Energy. Simply stated,
the United States does not need more nuclear
weapons. The Department of Energy falsely claims
that aging plutonium may be unreliable. When
pressed for proof, the Department of Energy
admits that no plutonium problems due to aging
have been identified. None. Rather, the purpose
of the plant would be new nuclear weapons.
The Savannah River Site in South Carolina has
other new fissile materials facilities already
scheduled for construction. Under a program to
fuel commercial nuclear power reactors with
weapons-grade plutonium, the Department of Energy
seeks to build a plutonium fuel factory at the
Savannah River Site. Federal funding for
plutonium fuel would support new weapons
capability; fuel operations will include a new
plant to purify plutonium by liquid acid
processing which is also essential for production
of nuclear weapons. A new nuclear warhead plant
proposed by the National Nuclear Security Agency
could produce up to 450 new plutonium triggers
annually for both current weapons and nuclear
weapons yet to be designed. Business leaders and
elected officials in South Carolina are lobbying
for the new bomb plant to be built there, too.
The US Department of Energy published its plans
for weapons production at SRS in a report
entitled, Managing the Nation's Nuclear
Materials: The 2025 Vision for the Department of
Energy. The most ominous statements are:
"dormant elements of the nuclear forces must
be reconstituted," and "there is an
opportunity to use the Savannah River Site
canyons to process surplus residual plutonium
that is considered separable into weapons-grade
plutonium." In 2005 the federal budget
includes $6.57 billion for nuclear weapons
research and development nationwide.
The central issue before us today is United
States violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty. Construction of new weapons is immoral,
unnecessary and illegal. In 1969 Congress
ratified and President Nixon signed the Nuclear
Non-proliferation Treaty which commits the nation
to stop nuclear testing, to eliminate stockpiles,
to end the manufacture of nuclear weapons, and to
put an end to the arms race. We submit that the
United States is now the principal violator of
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Therefore,
we ask all who hear this message to support the
"People's Resolution for United States
Adherence to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty" and to mobilize public opinion for
nuclear disarmament. We must prevent the South
from becoming the cradle of a new arms race. Our
lives depend on it. No new nuclear weapons at
Savannah River.
CLEAN UP, DON'T BUILD UP!
Louis A. Zeller
Southern Anti-Plutonium Campaign Coordinator
More info: See
and sign the resolution
SOUTHERN ANTI-PLUTONIUM
CAMPAIGN
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