THE ATOMIC COLD WAR between the U.S.and Russia ended in 1990, and now thefate of plutonium, the essential ingredientin nuclear bombs, has come to rest.

Differing factions hotly compete toestablish the future of 50 tons, roughly onehalf, of U.S. plutonium stocks: to immobi-lize plutonium as a nuclear waste; to man-ufacture a new and experimental type ofnuclear fuel called MOX; or to manufac-ture more nuclear bombs. Vested interestsrush to advance their favored programbefore the winds of politics change — butplutonium waits.

In South Carolina, in New Mexico, inWashington, California and Texas, inwarehouses, in silos and submarines —plutonium waits. With a half-life of 24,600years, and a hazardous life ten times thatlong, plutonium can afford to wait!

THE “NATURE” OF PLUTONIUM IS UNIQUE —literally the brainchild of human ingenuity— plutonium does not occur in nature. Assuch, plutonium has no “home” from

which it came or to which it can bereturned, and it poses the gravest of chal-lenges to human society.

Plutonium is a “side effect” of nuclearpower in a nuclear reactor. Uranium fis-sion (nuclear power) was developed foronly one purpose — to create plutoniumfor weapons of mass destruction — TheBomb. The U.S. made about 100 tons ofplutonium; Russia about 180 tons. When

you contemplate that an atom bomb can befashioned from as little as 15 pounds ofplutonium in a home basement — it hitshome that plutonium security is indeed aserious, even urgent, matter.

It was an afterthought to make electrici-ty from the great heat generated in the ura-nium fission process. It was exportednuclear technology for energy that gaveIndia The Bomb; gave Pakistan TheBomb; gave Israel The Bomb; gave NorthKorea, Iran, Libya — you get the picture!

PLUTONIUM’S TOXICITY IS INFAMOUS —one particle lodged in a lung sentences itshost to lung cancer. It is said that if onepound of plutonium could be evenly dis-tributed it would cause lung cancer inevery human on earth. With a half-life

NEWSLETTER of GEORGIANS AGAINST NUCLEAR ENERGY FALL 2005

GANE • P.O. BOX 8574 • ATLANTA, GEORGIA 31106 • 404-378-GANE (4263)

PLUTONIUM WAITS

Trinity: 5:30 a.m., July 16, 1945 The atomic age begins with the Trinity atomic blast in theAlamogordo Desert of New Mexico. Trinity was the prototype of the plutonium bomb that pulverizedNagasaki. It detonated with unexpected violence, four times the Los Alamos Lab’s estimates.

Photo by Berlyn Brixner courtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory.

PLUTONIUMFUTURESand the Southby Glenn Carroll

continued on next pagenew nukes? new bombs? nuclear waste? oh my!!!

2 GANESAYER Fall 2005

of over 24 millennia it challenges the limits of human imagination to grasp theenvironmental risk posed to Earth’s inhab-itants by hundreds of thousands of poundsof plutonium.

Plutonium poses a tremendous securitythreat because of the ease with which,once obtained, it can be made into anuclear bomb. Yet, despite its capacity forexploding with a force that can destroyentire cities, or cause lung cancer with oneparticle, plutonium is a “low-activity” ele-ment that can be safely carried in the coatpocket of a would-be thief. Plutonium istoxic if ingested, but exposure to plutoni-um is not instantaneously lethal. It is plu-tonium’s vulnerability to theft or diversionwhich imparts the real urgency to providepermanent security for plutonium.

There are three proposals for U.S. pluto-nium which seek to establish the future useof plutonium stocks not currentlydeployed in our vast arsenal of nuclearmissiles. Savannah River Site (SRS) onGeorgia’s border is included in every plu-tonium scenario.

OPTION #1: PLUTONIUM IMMOBILIZATIONPlutonium immobilization is the optionadvocated by environmentalists. In pluto-nium immobilization, nuclear waste origi-nally generated in manufacturing plutoni-um would be used as a “high-radioactivi-ty” barrier to protect plutonium from theftor use in weapons.

At the end of the Cold War — the U.S.and Russia both faced the huge environ-mental fallout of decades of nuclear wastefrom the arms race. SRS, for instance, has35,000,000 gallons of high-level waste —industrial solvents contaminated withextremely hot radioactive elements. Thehigh-level waste is the result of meltingnuclear fuel rods, in which the uraniumwas fissioned into plutonium, in order toextract the plutonium for atom bombs. Thehigh-level waste tanks at SRS were notdesigned for permanent storage and arebeginning to leak and threaten the mostsignificant freshwater aquifer in NorthAmerica. A factory has been built to con-vert the highly radioactive liquid wasteinto solid glass logs. These high-levelwaste logs are still lethally hot, but immo-

GANESAYER Fall 2005

EditorsGlenn Carroll, Marci Culley, Carol Stangler

Layout & ProductionGlenn Carroll

ContributorsJohn Bowler

Dr. Helen CaldicottGlenn CarrollTom ClementsMarci CulleyDiane Curran

Robert del TrediciBarbara Donachy

Tom FergusonJoan O. KingRobert Knoth

Satoru KonishiLos Alamos National Laboratory

Michael MariotteHeather McCalman

Sayuri MiyazakGary Oliver

Andy PartridgeToge SankichiJennifer TurnerStephen Wing

with support fromThe Compton Foundation

Fund for Southern CommunitiesGreenpeace International

Guacamole Fund/Bonnie RaittPloughshares Fund

R.E.M.The Sapelo Foundation

Turner Foundation

GANE Board of DirectorsCarol Stangler, President;

Glenn Carroll Coordinator, Betsy Rivard Treasurer; At-Large: Tom Clements, Dr. Marci R. Culley,

Tom Ferguson, Joan O. King, Dr. Gerald Rudolph

PLUTONIUM continued from previous page

GANE WAITS FOR PLUTONIUM In April 2005, GANE organized the Plutonium Beach WatchAction Camp on Sullivan’s Island, SC. Activists from GANE, Greenpeace, Charleston Peace, CarolinaPeace Resource Center, Nuclear Information Resource Service, and Aiken Peace maintained a 24-hourwatch for 11 days to expose inadequate security for 300 pounds of U.S. weapons-grade plutoniumbeing shipped through Charleston Harbor. The plutonium arrived from France where it was made into

WE REMEMBER YOU.

JANET

WHEN WE GATHER OUR POWER

WHEN WE SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER

WHEN WE WALK IN COMMUNITY

WHEN WE STAND FOR LIFE

IN THE DEATH CULTURE OF THE NUCLEAR

WHEN WE LAUGH AND TAKE HEART

AS IF THE FORCE SHAPING

OUR WORLD IS PEOPLE

POWER IN DEED

WE REMEMBER YOU.

Janet LoweGANE FOUNDER

1953 - 1981

HALF LIFELIVING WITH THE EFFECTS OFNUCLEAR WASTE

WHEN THE G-8 SUMMIT MET under heavy guardon Georgia’s toney Sea Island in the summer of2004, Greenpeace and GANE brought a powerfulphoto exhibit to Savannah to highlight the dangersof plutonium processing.

Photographer Robert Knoth’s images create ahaunting record of the health and social effects ofplutonium processing on the people who live nearthe notorious Russian plutonium facility Mayak.After five decades of environmental devastationfrom Russia’s primary nuclear weapons factory,Mayak is currently proposed to be the site of a new plutonium MOX fuel factory.

Half Life was also exhibited in Bluffton, SC, and South Carolina State University at Orangeburg.The provocative exhibit became a forum for publiceducation and discussion about a similar plutonium processing facility in the United States,Savannah River Site. SRS is where the U.S. pluto-nium MOX fuel factory is proposed to be built.

The G-8 Summit’s trend for the last severalyears has been to ignore the plutonium and MOXissue. Without G-8 support and funding for theRussian MOX program, the MOX program remainsstalled in both the U.S. and in Russia.

Fall 2005 GANESAYER 3

bilize the waste so it no longer threatens tomigrate into water supplies. Plutoniummay be mixed with the hot waste in theglass-making process which would immo-bilize it from entering the environmentwhile placing a deadly high-radiation bar-rier to protect the plutonium from theft orfuture use as nuclear weapons.

Understandably, the nuclear industrywhich made such strenuous efforts to man-ufacture plutonium in the first place has adeep resistance to categorizing plutoniumas a waste and treating it as such.Nevertheless, plutonium immobilizationin waste is a noble concept and is the bestdisposition track for nearly 10 tons of“orphan” plutonium not suitable for use asreactor fuel or nuclear weapons alreadystranded at SRS near Augusta, GA.Environmentalists see plutonium immobi-lization as “win-win-win” because it willstabilize dangerous nuclear waste whilesecuring deadly plutonium from the envi-ronment and from use as weapons.Plutonium immobilization is a humanitar-ian mission which will utilize the experi-enced workforce at SRS.

OPTION #2: PLUTONIUM MOX FUELIn 1996, the U.S. entered into an agree-ment with Russia to “dispose” of a size-able amount of surplus plutonium byremanufacturing it into an experimentaltype of reactor fuel and using it in reactorswhere a high-radiation matrix would becreated around the low-activity weaponsplutonium. SRS was selected as the U.S.site to manufacture the fuel. GANE hassustained a legal challenge to the MOXfactory since 2001 and the factory remainsstalled in controversy. See story p. 7.

Environmentalists oppose MOX forseveral reasons. First, the plutonium mustbe dissolved in industrial solvents to “puri-fy” it before it can be made into MOX.This process would create a significantamount of hazardous industrial solventscontaminated with dangerous radioactiveelements which would worsen the ColdWar nuclear waste hangover at SRS.

Second, MOX is much more expensivethan plutonium immobilization. Third, theplutonium must be ground back in to a

WAITS

continued on next page

test MOX fuel for Duke Power’s Catawba nuclear plant in Rock Hill, SC, near Charlotte. We witnessedthe ship sneak into the harbor with its lights off after sunset on April 11. Eight hours later we took tothe highway and tracked the three-truck plutonium convoy to Savannah River Site. The plutonium hadto go to SRS because Duke failed to meet plutonium security requirements at Catawba. Jennifer Turnerwields a camera as Glenn Carroll drives with the convoy. Good thing we weren’t the bad guys!

phot

o by

Jen

nife

r Tu

rner

Robert Knoth, 2000, silver gelatin printThe caption on this grim confrontation with the effectsof plutonium processing on human life: “The museumof embryology has a morbid-looking collection ofembryos and foetuses, life that never came intobeing.”

take action ON PLUTONIUMPlutonium waits — but YOU don’t have to wait —

help shape plutonium’s destiny!

Congressman David Hobson controls the purse strings onwhich plutonium projects receive funding.

Help set plutonium funding priorities by writing or calling:

The Honorable David Hobson

U.S. House of Representatives

Chairman, Energy & Water Development Subcommittee

2346 Rayburn Building

Washington, D.C. 20515

202-225-4324 FAX: 202-225-1984

http://www.house.gov/hobson/formmail.htm

PLUTONIUM WAITS

powder which is its most toxic form andthe form in which it can have a criticalityaccident and explode; be released and dispersed in the environment; undergospontaneous combustion; and/or enter thelungs of plutonium workers and cause cancer.

And, in the final analysis, handling sucha huge quantity of weapons-grade plutoni-um through several stages of processing,storage and transport as fresh “low-activi-ty” fuel increases its vulnerability to theftand diversion — the exact opposite of theprogram’s stated mission to provide pluto-nium security!

The new experimental MOX fuel wouldbe extremely volatile demanding the high-est skill from nuclear operators to preventaccidents. Catawba and McGuire, theDuke Power reactors selected for theMOX program, are all near Charlotte, NC,a major population center. The MOX reac-tors are of a peculiar design which has lit-tle more than one-half as thick contain-ment as other reactor types. This particular“ice condenser” reactor design was aban-doned after a small number were builtbecause it failed to work as designed.Studies predict 25% to 50% more fatalitiesfrom a reactor accident involving MOXfuel, and the reactors chosen for MOX areunfortunately the least safe type.

OPTION #3: PLUTONIUM PITS More Atom Bombs?!The third prospect for surplus plutoniumstocks defies reason — make a Modern PitFacility to make more atom bombs!

The reasons why the U.S., and theworld, do not need more atom bombsseem obvious, especially in the U.S., themost heavily armed nation on Earth. Andyet, the public has been asked twice toattend public meetings and voice reasonsfor and against more nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons designers voiced concerns that weapons in the arsenal containing 50-year-old plutonium mighthave “only” the destructive power of 40 or50 Hiroshima bombs.

SRS workers voiced the desire for jobsto prevent layoffs at the factory complex.

Environmentalists and peace activiststalked about jobs for environmental clean-up, plutonium immobilization, and devel-oping nuclear waste management as anational security priority and regionaltechnology export.

You wrote postcards and letters andgave testimony of your understanding thatatom bombs destroy the environment bothin their manufacture and in their use.

And Congress has, as of this moment,postponed funding to pursue a Modern PitFacility!

* * *

IMMOBILIZATION? MOX? BOMBS?While the people debate, plutonium waits.———————Glenn Carroll is coordinator of GANE andGANE’s legal challenge to MOX.

continued from previous page

4 GANESAYER Fall 2005

THIS WORLD OVER

Ah well, that’s this world overAh well, next one begins

Will you smile like any motherAs you bathe your brand new twins?Will you sing about the missilesAs you bathe odd numbered limbs?

Ah well, that’s this world overAh well, next one beginsAh well, that’s this world overYou sadly grin

Will you tell them about that far off and mythical land

About their leader with the famous face?Will you tell them that the reason nothing ever

growsIn the garden anymoreBecause he wanted to win the craziest raceThat’s this world over

Will you smile like any fatherWith your children on a Sunday hike?When you get to a sea of rubbleAnd they ask what was London like?

You tell them ah well, that’s this world over

Will you tell them about that far off and mythical land

And how a child to the virgin cameWill you tell them that the reason we murderedEverything upon the surface of the worldSo we can stand right up and say we did it in His

name?

That’s this world overOr so it seemsThat’s this world overThe end of dreams

That’s this world over, over over and out

This World Over

— ANDY PARTRIDGE

Words and Music by Andy Partridge(c) 1984 EMI VIRGIN MUSIC LTD. All Rights Controlled andAdministered by EMI VIRGIN SONGS, INC. for the U.S. andCanada All Rights Reserved International Copyright SecurityUsed by Permission

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