Nuclear-Free Future Backgrounder

Nuclear Weapons

March 19, 2008 marked the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, a war launched, in part, on the pretext of ending a nuclear weapons program that did not exist. The whole world now recognizes this fabrication as a ploy to justify a war to control access to Iraq’s oil resources and enhance U.S. power in the Middle East. The scenario seems to be repeating itself as Washington threatens Iran, accusing that country of seeking nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear power program, in violation of its obligation as a non-nuclear nation under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Yet the U.S. is in blatant violation of its own NPT obligation to negotiate “in good faith” the end of the arms race “at an early date” and the elimination of its vast and sophisticated nuclear arsenal.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy held hearings and took public comment on its “Complex Transformation” plan to modernize the very real laboratories and factories where the U.S. designs, builds, and maintains nuclear weapons. This plan would allow the government to keep thousands of nuclear weapons for many decades to come, and to build thousands more should it choose to do so. The purpose behind these plans is to retain U.S. dominance in nuclear weapons for the foreseeable future, with the ability to expand production capacity and to design and deploy new kinds of nuclear weapons if desired. The Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, General Kevin Chilton has stated: “As we look to the future–and I believe we are going to need a nuclear deterrent for this country for the remainder of this century, the 21st century–I think what we need is a modernized nuclear weapon to go with our modernized delivery platforms.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency has found no evidence that Iran has diverted nuclear material from its civilian program or that it intends to build nuclear weapons in the future. The U.S., however, retains a nuclear arsenal of some 10,000 weapons, nearly 2,000 on hair-trigger alert. With an estimated 150 – 240 tactical nuclear weapons still based in 5 NATO countries, the United States is the only country with nuclear weapons deployed on foreign soil. The U.S. is spending some $54 billion annually on its nuclear weapons programs. While this amount is just a drop in the bucket compared to the staggering level of overall U.S. military spending ($711 billion requested for FY 2009), it is larger than the entire military budgets of all but four other countries! This system of international nuclear apartheid is dangerous and unsustainable.

The United States should demonstrate leadership by fulfilling its own disarmament obligation under the NPT. This will require that it stop blocking negotiations on abolition and to take meaningful steps towards the elimination of its own nuclear arsenal. Efforts to resolve any dispute with Iran should include promoting negotiations, including with nuclear-armed Israel, on a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East.

Nuclear Power

We need to stop going to war for oil. And we need to address climate change. With concerns about global warming and energy security on the rise, countries around the world are promoting a nuclear power “renaissance.” Currently there are 435 atomic reactors generating electricity in 31 countries; 29 nuclear power plants are under construction and there are concrete plans to build 64 more. Another 158 are under consideration. Senator McCain wants to build 45 new nuclear plants in the U.S. by 2030. Senator Obama has said that while nuclear power is “not a panacea” for U.S. energy needs, it is worth investigating its further development. New uranium mines are being opened on indigenous peoples’ lands, and there is still no method of safely “disposing” of highly radioactive waste produced as a byproduct of nuclear power generation.

The Bush Administration’s dangerous Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program would expand global nuclear energy production by creating plutonium fuel to be used in a new generation of nuclear power plants through the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel – extracting the plutonium and uranium from used fuel – is the dirtiest operation of the nuclear fuel cycle and produces separated plutonium and other nuclear weapon-usable materials and vast amounts of extremely dangerous waste.

Nuclear power is incredibly expensive and depends on lavish government subsidies. The nuclear industry has received more than $100 billion in taxpayer subsidies over the past half century! Those subsidies should be redirected to solar, wind, geothermal and marine energy research and development.

Clearly, nuclear power is not the answer to global warming or future energy needs. Every nuclear power plant is a potential bomb factory and a source of radioactive waste that will remain deadly forever. To address the inherent risk of diversion to weapons posed by civilian nuclear technology anywhere, the U.S. should promote sustainable energy alternatives, at home and internationally.

Corporate Profiteering

Corporations contribute millions of dollars to political campaigns with the hope that their investments will yield profitable returns in the form of military contracts - and they do. Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and other corporations earn billions of dollars to operate nuclear facilities and build bombs and missiles for the U.S. military.

All these corporations are closely connected to the political establishment. Former corporate CEOs are high-ranking government officials, while other officials are recruited by corporations for employment after they complete their term in office. With such a "revolving door" arrangement, what's to stop corporations from driving us into unnecessary wars?

Corporations also contribute to the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear weapon proliferation, and the associated social, cultural, and environmental harm. Every stage of the nuclear cycle brings with it destruction and waste - from uranium mining to enrichment and reprocessing to weaponization and nuclear power, the nuclear industry is as dirty as it gets.