Japanese A-bomb survivors unhappy at U.S. subcritical atomic test

Victims of atomic bombings in Japan expressed their disappointment at U.S. President Barack Obama after his administration carried out its first subcritical nuclear test last month. Haruko Moritaki, 71, co-director of the Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (HANWA) said: "It was a sign that the U.S. government is poised to maintain its nuclear development and capability while advocating a world without nuclear weapons. Such a contradiction is unforgivable. Furthermore, his approach can give countries like India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea an excuse to hold onto their nuclear arsenals."

Maj. Gen. Saighal makes a compelling case for "paradigm shift in nuclear disarmament."

Retired Indian Major General, Vinod Saighal, delivered a rousing speech to the plenary audience at last month's International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War World Congress in Basel, Switzerland. His presentation came after the disappointing remarks of Laura Kennedy, U.S. Amabassador to the UN Conference on Disarmament who reiterated the Obama position that as long as there were nuclear weapons in the world, the U.S. would maintain its nuclear deterrent; and that the administration was committed to expanding nuclear energy. Saighal tied the slow pace of nuclear disarmament (and indeed the re-arming of the U.S. arsenal) to the very real climate crisis also not addressed by powerful nations. He pointed out:

"The Obama Administration publicly disclosed the (previously classified) total number of operational US nuclear warheads in existence today - which stands at just over 5,000. While this step was a move in the right direction in terms of drawing attention to the United States’ massive stockpile, it was cynically pursued alongside a quiet announcement by the Department of Energy (originally made in September 2009) that the US is moving forward with developing a new generation of nuclear weapons, rather than working toward nuclear disarmament as legally required under the NPT."

And later stated among many excellent points:

"People around the world are not unaware of the concomitant threats to planetary habitability that could make life on the planet nightmarish for the coming generations. Instead of acting in unison to ward off these threats while it is possible to do so most nations spend their time bickering for narrow gains that will cease to be relevant after as short a time span as 10 to 20 years.  As suggested by the title of the talk the vast majority of those who care must go beyond the existing paradigms in their search for global solutions. Not tomorrow or in the coming decades, but right away. Time is no longer on the side of the human race."

Read the full speech.

8 "peace planters" arrested at KC nuke weapons plant groundbreaking ceremony

This just in from Ann Suellentrop, lead organizer for the action and recipient of the 2010 Alliance for Nuclear Accountability activist of the year award:

"Eight peace activists were arrested yesterday at the "Plant Peace, Not Nukes! - Groundbreaking for Works of Mercy, Not Works of War" held at the entrance of the planned site for the new nuclear weapons parts plant in KC MO [Kansas City, Missouri]. It was an alternative ground breaking ceremony to the billion-dollar replacement for the Honeywell nuclear weapon parts plant that was taking place at the same time in which local and national officials touted the new plant's local economic and national strategic importance to 500 guests. The eight peace activists broke off from the larger group of 70 "Peace Planters" and stood or knelt in front of three large VIP buses, as they tried to come onto the site and attend the official ground breaking ceremony. The buses were delayed for about 10 minutes until KC Police were able to arrest the eight activists and clear the entrance so the buses could continue on to the site." See Ann's full report here. See the National Catholic Reporter's coverage of the protest here, including a slideshow of photos.

In this article, the head of the construction company that will build the plant -- and get paid many millions in taxpayer dollars for the job -- tried to justify doing so by saying that "dozens" of countries, including rogue states, already have "the bomb," and thus we must deter their attack. At last count, "only" 9 countries have nuclear weapons (in chronological order, the U.S., Russia, U.K., France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea). Perhaps he should have said "will have" the bomb, as the building of this replacement plant is a clear signal to the world that the U.S. does not intend to live up to its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty obligation to abolish its nuclear weapons arsenal anytime soon -- a sure recipe for further proliferation, as other countries can claim they are seeking to defend themselves against U.S. aggression. "Do as I say, not as I do" is guaranteed to fail as a non-proliferation policy!

Ironically, the Kansas City Plant (which builds the "non-nuclear" parts of nuclear weaponry, such as guidance systems, electronics, structural components, etc.) just so happens to be located right where the 1983 t.v. movie The Day After -- about a catastrophic nuclear war between the U.S. and U.S.S.R -- was set. In non-fiction reality, the bomb making facility all but guarantees that Russian nuclear warheads are still targeting Kansas City.

Come and get it - free plutonium sludge to fertilize your organic garden

Back in 1968 Janis Turner and her husband rejoiced at the opportunity to receive “free sludge” from Livermore Water Reclamation Plant (LWRP) for a garden that for 35 years had fed family, friends, and others with organic produce. Fifteen years after the first distribution, plutonium levels tested high in sludge drying beds. Sludge giveaways stopped in 1976. But, plutonium continued to be dumped into Livermore’s sewer system. By 1987, the area became designated a superfund clean-up site.

Iran Opens Its First Nuclear Power Plant

Thirty-six years after construction began under the shah, Iran finally opened its first nuclear power plant at a ceremony on Saturday. Although Iran denies that it is using its civilian nuclear program to mask a plan to build a bomb, many Western countries are dubious. The New York Times.