Radioactive Report Card Press Release > Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

Radioactive Report Card Press Release

published Monday, April 23, 2007

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Alliance for Nuclear Accountability
A national network of organizations working to address issues of
nuclear weapons production and waste cleanup

for further information, contact

Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773

April 22 – 25, 2007 (202) 544-0217

for use after 10am, Monday, April 23, 2007, Rayburn House Office Bldg. 2322 News Conference

“RADIOACTIVE REPORT CARD” FLUNKS U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAMS;
ALLIANCE FOR NUCLEAR ACCOUNTABILITY SEEKS NEW BUDGET PRIORITIES;
EXPERT REPORT BLASTS GLOBAL NUCLEAR ENERGY PARTNERSHIP
AS “COSTLY RADIOACTIVE WASTE SHELL GAME”

Leaders of groups representing communities downwind and downstream from U.S. nuclear weapons facilities today issued a “Radioactive Report Card” assigning low grades to the Bush Administration’s Department of Energy (DOE) bomb production and cleanup programs.

The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) gave DOE an “F” in “Budget Priorities” and a “D” for “Environmental Compliance.” ANA did, however, award DOE a B+ for “Public Relations Rhetoric” commenting that “High-sounding promises about health, safety, environment and national security are not being fulfilled.”

Each ANA grade came with a recommendation for “improvement needed” by DOE, such as “Tell the truth. Obey the law. Deal honestly and openly with the public.” “DOE is pursuing a ‘new weapons at any cost’ policy which keeps production spending higher than the Cold War average,” charged Jay Coghlan, director of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico. “Misleading schemes, such as the so-called Reliable Replacement Warhead program and Complex 2030, will leave the nation’s nuclear arsenal less reliable and the public less safe. That’s why we gave DOE an ‘A’ for unnecessary weapons production.”

Beatrice Brailsford, program director of Idaho’s Snake River Alliance, added, “DOE’s desire to do cleanup on the cheap jeopardizes binding clean-up agreements and threatens crucial water supplies such as the Columbia, Savannah, and Ohio rivers and the Snake River Aquifer. Politics, not science, has driven decisions to keep untreated highly radioactive wastes in leaking storage tanks.” The ANA report card gave DOE a C- for “Waste Cleanup,” noting “inadequate funding and poor project management,” and an “Incomplete” for the unproven, long-term monitoring work of its Office of Legacy Management.

“DOE has targeted the southeastern U.S. for its version of a nuclear weapons theme park,” explained Bobbie Paul, director of Atlanta Women’s Action for New Directions. “Proposals such as the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) and plutonium reactor fuel increase the risk of radioactive contamination in the region. At the same time, DOE is not seeking adequate funds for environmental programs at the Savannah River Site.”

John Hadder, president of Healing Ourselves and Mother Earth (H.O.M.E) in Reno, Nevada, said DOE deserved a grade of “D” for its attempted “Nuclear Power Revival.” Hadder noted, “Falsified scientific data is just the latest chapter in the troubled saga of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. DOE should cancel Yucca Mountain and develop a scientifically sound, socially responsible policy for managing radioactive wastes.”

Robert Alvarez, a former senior DOE policy advisor, joined the ANA leaders to release a new report analyzing the GNEP program. “GNEP is a costly radioactive waste shell game,” Alvarez said. “The program is likely to squander billions in taxpayer dollars on an unproven technology that will generate unprecedented amounts of contaminated materials without plausible paths to manage them.” The study is titled, “Radioactive Wastes and the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.”

During the coming week, more than 80 ANA activists from across the country have scheduled scores of meetings with members of Congress, their staffs and Administration officials. On Tuesday evening, April 24, ANA will celebrate 20 years of grassroots organizing at an awards ceremony recognizing leaders in the effort to stop unnecessary nuclear weapons production and radioactive contamination. Honorees include U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, Russian activist Andrey Talevlin, Rocky Flats organizer Adrienne Anderson, and whistleblower Robert Gilkeson. The event will take place in Room G-11 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

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- The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability 2007 “Radioactive Report Card” is attached

- Copies of a detailed “Radioactive Report Card Grade Book,” the report on GNEP by Robert
Alvarez, and an ANA briefing kit on current nuclear weapons issues are available on request

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