June 14, 2023

Bulletin 328: Toward a better pit production policy, part 2 (of interest to some); Zoom discussion on pits tomorrow 6/15/23 5 pm MDT

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Previously: Bulletin 327: Virtual presentation and discussion this Thursday 5 pm MDT; fundraising; new publications, Jun 12, 2023

Dear friends and colleagues --

1. New informal paper on pit policy

In preparation for tomorrow's discussion, we posted yesterday a June 9 letter to a few people on Capitol Hill under the title, "Toward a viable plutonium pit production plan: part 2." It's wonky but hopefully readable and outlines what we believe to be the "best" path forward on the question of when and how to re-acquire the capability to manufacture new nuclear weapons cores ("pits"). (For reference: Part 1). It could have been referenced more heavily but the initial recipients were already familiar with most of the material.

By "best" we mean a policy which maximizes arms control and disarmament possibilities within present political realities, which maximizes safety and minimizes environmental impacts, and which costs the least. In short, a politically-realistic policy which maximizes disarmament possibilities within the usual "good government" parameters.

As I (Greg) wrote to a reporter last week:

"The U.S. government will invariably try to build at least one adequate pit factory. There is zero support anywhere in government for unilateral nuclear disarmament. Since LANL's old, cramped, over-tasked facilities are neither adequate nor lasting, Congress will continue to support construction of an adequate, enduring factory in South Carolina. The only question is whether NNSA will also attempt to build and operate an inadequate, unsafe, and temporary factory at LANL, or -- stated differently, how long NNSA will continue to prop up its unrealistic promise of reliable pit production at LANL."

2. National/international Zoom presentation and discussion regarding warhead core ("pit") production tomorrow 6/15/23, 5 - 7 pm

Tomorrow, we will present on, and lead a discussion about, plutonium "pit" production, by far the largest nuclear warhead-related program in the U.S. and one that is central to all future U.S. nuclear weapons plans.

This discussion will be of interest to many "old hands" and "newbies" alike. There are a lot of misconceptions floating around; we can respectfully discuss some of those while presenting some of the background and wider context, which involves more than pits and more than nuclear weapons.

We intend this discussion to be the first in a series of long-overdue discussions about re-framing nuclear disarmament in the context of an empire in decline.

Here are the Zoom coordinates:

Time: Jun 15, 2023 05:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join the meeting at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86011967811?pwd=NnpCRXcwU3RIZmRYZVJvTGJNczdtQT09
Meeting ID: 860 1196 7811
Passcode: 636584

3. In closing

It might be interesting for some to share one thing that was generally unstated but obvious in my meetings on Capitol Hill last week. The "War against Russia" currently being waged in Ukraine, which is destroying that country, and also being waged across the global economy to Western detriment, creates a political climate in which no expense is perceived as being too great for nuclear weapons, warheads, and pits.

It is highly irrational to try and build a pit factory at LANL. One senior committee staffer went so far as to admit that doing so was a kind of temporary stopgap (to satisfy the Nuclear Weapons Council and various congressional hawks, including the New Mexico senators) until the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility (SRPPF) can be completed. "LANL's PF-4 building is old. What is the plan to replace it?", I asked. The answer: "SRPPF will replace it." Absent the war, a $10-20 billion temporary pit capability at LANL, capable of making far too few pits to sustain U.S. nuclear weapons, would never be countenanced in Congress -- or pre-2018, even at NNSA.

All this goes to the short discussion in the previous Bulletin, regarding "nuclear disarmament." If you want nuclear disarmament, work for a real peace with Russia first and foremost. The U.S. and Russia hold 90% of all nuclear weapons. It's going to take a generation to get back some of the trust the U.S. has squandered.

Thank you for your attention. See some of you on Thursday.

Greg Mello and Trish Williams-Mello, Los Alamos Study Group