Nuclear Weapons & Global Security - Spring 2009
Contents
1. Summary
2. Senate is Key to Progress on Nuclear Weapons Policy
3. Nuclear Reprocessing: Undermines Non-Proliferation, No Waste Remedy
4. Policy and Budget Battles Loom for Unproven Missile Defense
Program Updates
Clean Energy
Clean Vehicles
Food and Agriculture
Global Warming
Invasive Species
Nuclear Weapons and Global Security
Scientific Integrity
Summary
In 2008, UCS released Toward True Security, outlining steps the next president should take to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons. In his historic Prague speech this April, President Obama called for the implementation of many of these steps, laying out a bold, yet pragmatic plan to transform U.S. nuclear weapons policy. On the issue of nuclear reprocessing, UCS activists sent a clear, unequivocal message to the administration that reprocessing nuclear waste is dangerous, unnecessary, and will do nothing to solve the problem with spent fuel from commercial reactors by submitting more than 11,000 of the 14,000 public comments received on the topic. And tough budget battles loom over funding for costly, unproven missile defense programs that UCS and its activists have taken the lead in opposing over the last several years.
Senate is Key to Progress on Nuclear Weapons Policy
With the help of our supporters, UCS has long advocated for the need to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons, based on the understanding that nuclear weapons are now a national security liability that does not protect us from the threats we face. In an historic April 5 speech in Prague, President Obama articulated a bold new approach to work with other nations to reduce nuclear arsenals and eventually eliminate them. After the speech, thousands of UCS activists wrote to their senators, urging them to approve this pragmatic plan, including ratification of a new U.S.-Russian agreement cutting each country’s nuclear stockpiles and Senate approval of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which bans explosive testing of nuclear weapons worldwide. President Clinton signed the CTBT in 1996, but the Senate voted against ratification in 1999 and the treaty has yet to enter into force. Both these agreements will require approval by 67 senators, and we have our work cut out for us to reach that goal.
Nuclear Reprocessing: Undermines Non-Proliferation, No Waste Remedy
In an important victory, the worst aspects of the Bush administration’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program to reprocess spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors have officially been scrapped. In the early months of 2009, UCS activists submitted more than 11,000 comments opposing reprocessing in the public comment period of the Department of Energy’s required environmental impact assessment of GNEP. With debate continuing on nuclear power and what to do with the waste, UCS will continue to provide expert analysis and advocacy, including highlighting the fact that not only will reprocessing the spent fuel undermine efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and make it easier for terrorists to obtain nuclear weapons materials, but it will do nothing to solve the issue of nuclear waste.
Policy and Budget Battles Loom for Unproven Missile Defense
UCS scientists and activists have led the fight against unproven, costly, and provocative anti-missile schemes since President Reagan launched the “Star Wars” missile defense system in 1983. Last fall, nearly 13,000 UCS activists helped convince Congress to stop deployment of the Bush administration’s provocative, untested anti-missile system in Eastern Europe until it can be shown to be effective. More recently, Director of the UCS Global Security Program David Wright has provided independent technical analysis of recent Iranian and North Korean missile launches while highlighting that it is far more effective to stop each country’s missile programs through diplomacy than with flawed technology. In its Fiscal Year 2010 budget request, the Obama administration has proposed nearly $1.4 billion in reductions in anti-missile programs, including stopping procurement of additional interceptors for the inherently flawed ground-based system. We will have to work hard to defend these cuts and overcome support from defense contractors, other special interests, and some in Congress.
