Bulletin 285: NNSA: LANL pits critical for new warhead; full page ads; why LANL can't make enough pits; join us in Santa Fe Sept. 30

September 22, 2021

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Previously: Bulletin 284: How deep a ‘pit’ will the new administration dig at Los Alamos before stopping?, Sep 17, 2021

Dear friends and colleagues --

A. PLEASE FORWARD: Albuquerque Journal and Santa Fe Reporter print our fact sheet; Santa Fe New Mexican recants; 18,000-piece mailings going out

On Sunday 9/19/21 the Journal printed our fact sheet on p. A4, including in its northern edition. Today the Santa Fe Reporter printed a slightly larger fact sheet across two full pages.

Please forward one of these (the second one is a little better) to your contacts by email or social media. We are very lightly staffed and depend on your outreach help! Especially: reach out to organizations and groups, which may wish to contact us for further information or send a representative to the September 30 meeting (see below).

We are grateful to the donors who have made these and other forthcoming ads possible.

On Monday afternoon the New Mexican contacted us to say they would be happy to run the ad we sent them the previous week, too late for this ad.

Also, we are in the process of mailing 18,000 direct mail pieces to carrier routes in Santa Fe, building on the 2,000 door hangers distributed by awesome volunteers.

It would be easy to think all this advertising can, by itself, do work. It doesn't and it won't. There's nothing magic about it. It's worthless without various forms of solidarity large and small. PLEASE HELP US. If you see a spark, inspire it!

It would be easy to think is this all about plutonium pits, or nuclear weapons. Please disabuse yourself of such narrow notions. This is about the new Cold War. It's about the failure of the United States to let go of its pretensions to empire, now in tatters but literally soldiering on. It's about upside-down, anti-human and anti-environmental priorities. It's about the survival of humanity.

What is the special role of northern New Mexico in all this? Being a passive or willing host for the production of a new generation of nuclear weapons. Want to stop the coming war with China? Stop pit production. If you live here, that's what you can do, with power. If you are willing.

B. "Pits produced at [LANL] are key to meeting W87-1 [the new strategic missile warhead] military requirements and production."

So said Jill Hruby, NNSA Administrator, in a letter to Liz Cheney obtained by the Aiken Standard ("Unforeseen disruptions to Los Alamos pit production would jeopardize new warhead, warns NNSA boss," Sep 18, 2021, mirrored on our web site here). She could not have been clearer.

We said the following, in bold type:

"Pit production in the late 2020s and early 2030s enables Livermore's W87-1 warhead program. It has no other purpose," said Greg Mello with the Los Alamos Study Group, a New Mexico-based policy organization. "LANL pit production is a very expensive way to keep Livermore lab in high clover while providing a multiple-warhead option for the Air Force's new missile. It's a gravy train for all three weapons labs."
Relying on Los Alamos for the warhead components, Mello suggested, is quixotic: "Realistically, the United States is not going to depend solely on a pit facility that is too small, too fragile, too crowded and too old."

LANL production is slated to begin in fiscal year (FY) 2023 with one (1) "War Reserve" (WR) pit. In FY24, 10; in FY25, 20; in FY26, 30. These deadlines may or may not be met. For the moment, NNSA is optimistic. They would be.

Much depends on whether some of the hare-brained transportation and housing schemes (busing "2,000-3,000" workers to the site daily; installing trailer parks on Indian Pueblos) work out, and whether enough qualified workers can be recruited and trained.

There are practical challenges in building up this capability in such an awkward location and in smoothly operating the resulting jerry-rigged factory, some of which we have discussed previously. We expect to hear more about these problems in the coming months.

"Disruptions" are inevitable. What is unforeseen are their nature, duration, and consequences -- to workers, the production schedule, and the public.

A lot depends on whether there is any push-back to these schemes in northern New Mexico. When there is widespread sentiment against a program or project, whistleblowers come forward. Politicians find backbones. Editors get interested. Lawyers perk up. Dots start to connect for people about what their taxes are paying for, vs. what they actually need. It is an emergent process.

C. There will be an important information and planning meeting in Santa Fe on Thursday Sept. 30, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm.

PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND SPREAD ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

This will be at St. John’s United Methodist Church, 1200 Old Pecos Trail (map) in the "Gathering Room." This is a large hall with superior outdoor cross-ventilation. Wear a mask as usual. (As always, N95 & KN95 are best; the others are almost useless.) We will have at least one other expert present, via Zoom as required.

In Bulletin 284 we called this an "action-planning" meeting, with background for those new to nuclear disarmament. That was a bit too ambitious for a large group. We will be working on forthcoming actions between now and then. Stay tuned.

That's it for today. Look for more very soon.

Best wishes,

Greg and Trish