Nuclear Weapons and Global Security Legislative Priorities for 2009
Promote a New Nuclear Weapons Policy/Agenda – The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) supports a fundamental re-assessment of the role and purpose of U.S. nuclear weapons. The current arsenal of some 5,000 weapons is highly reliable and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Our nation's nuclear deterrent is sound. As such, we urge Congress to continue its opposition to the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program and to any increased capacity to produce plutonium pits. Such programs would undermine U.S. credibility and its global nuclear nonproliferation efforts. UCS also supports extension of the U.S.-Russian START Treaty and will help build bipartisan and public support for Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Stop the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) – Congress should not support the plan to reprocess spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants first proposed by the Bush administration. The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership reprocessing scheme would separate out weapons-usable plutonium and other isotopes from the dangerously radioactive components of spent fuel, making it easier for terrorists to acquire nuclear weapons materials. In the near and medium term, the safest and most cost-effective means of dealing with nuclear waste is to store it at reactor sites in hardened dry casks. The long-term solution to waste management is development of an appropriate geological repository, and given Yucca Mountain's current woes, Congress should require DOE to begin the search for alternative sites. Any repository selection process should satisfy rigorous safety criteria and local public concerns. And instead of annually pouring hundreds of millions into reprocessing, Congress should support research into improving the safety and security of reactors either in operation or likely to be built in the next few decades.
Strengthen Programs to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism – UCS supports the goal of shortening the timeline for securing the remaining weapons-usable nuclear material around the globe, and Congress should provide both the funding and support for any new programs to reach that laudable goal, including providing additional funding for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). To ensure that terrorists do not gain access to weapons-usable plutonium, Congress should also eliminate the DOE's mixed oxide (MOX) program at the Savannah River Site (SRS), and instead significantly increase funding to immobilize the plutonium from dismantled warheads.
Improve Space Security – UCS strongly supported Congress' successful efforts to block the establishment of the space-based missile defense "test bed." The test bed, which would consist of prototype interceptors in space, is unworkable and needlessly provocative. Instead, Congress should initiate measures that would support the prohibition of space weaponization, and fund programs to improve the ability of our satellite systems to withstand attacks, to develop the ability to rapidly replace or bypass damaged satellites, and to compensate for lost satellite functions on a regional basis by using backup systems that are not space-based.
Improve Quality of U.S. Information on China, Expand Cooperation on Space – U.S. understanding of Chinese intentions and capabilities, including the motivation for China's test of an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon two years ago, is hindered by a lack of reliable information. This is due to inadequate Chinese language and cultural skills in U.S. intelligence agencies, and to insufficient U.S.-China communication on key military, technical, and security issues. Congress should take steps to improve the amount and quality of the information it receives on China by promoting greater contact and increased dialogue and cooperation on these issues, including space and nuclear disarmament. Congress should take steps to identify and develop areas of cooperation with China on civil space and build on the success of parliamentary exchanges such as Rep. Ike Skelton's (D-MO) 2007 delegation visit to China.
Oppose Missile Defense Deployment – The ground-based missile defense program (GMD) in Europe offers no prospect of defending the United States from a real-world missile attack, and undermines efforts to eliminate real nuclear threats to the United States. Congress should oppose the expansion of the GMD system in the United States, and prevent its deployment, including in Europe. The system is unproven, vulnerable to simple countermeasures, and needlessly provocative to Russia and China.
