Tri-Valley CAREs
Communities Against a Radioactive Environment
Dr. Robert Gould, SF Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility, (510) 845-8395
Andy Lichterman or Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation, (510) 839-5877
New Exhibits At Livermore Lab Invite Workers, Others To Question National Ignition Facility, Lab's Radioactive Releases
Watchdog Groups To Unveil Two Eye-Catching Displays At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Visitors Center On Wed., Dec. 12 At 1 PM
WHAT: Installation ceremony for two visually stunning, multi-color wall displays to be placed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Visitors Center by organizations opposed to ongoing nuclear weapons development and radioactive emissions at LLNL. One of the professionally-designed six foot by four foot panels will feature a skull, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) target chamber, information about NIF's nuclear weapon design applications and the admonition to current and prospective LLNL workers, "Your mind is a terrible thing to waste." Its companion display will depict the hazards of nuclear development at LLNL and warns viewers, "Your health is a terrible thing to waste."
WHEN: Wednesday, December 12 at 1 PM
WHERE: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Visitors Center, Greenville Road entrance (from I-580, take Greenville Road south to LLNL).
WHO:- DEBORAH READE, graphic artist and the displays' designer, will participate in the installation ceremony and discuss the power of the imagery. Reade also designed the NIF billboard in Livermore, installed last summer, and similar billboards around the Los Alamos Lab in New Mexico.
- MARYLIA KELLEY, executive director at the Livermore-based Tri-Valley CAREs, will discuss the displays' message and role in the campaign calling on scientists and engineers to renounce work on NIF and other nuclear weapons projects at LLNL.
- JACKIE CABASSO, executive director at the Western States Legal Foundation in Oakland, will speak on the weapons activities at LLNL and the impacts on public health and the environment.
HOW: These displays are made possible by a California Supreme Court decision. The Court ruled, in essence, that LLNL was using the Visitors Center - and public tax dollars - to promulgate one, single perspective on issues. The Court then ordered LLNL to set aside wall space and literature racks for "alternative views."
WHY: The new displays will speak directly to LLNL employees, those considering employment at LLNL, local school children on field trips and others. The two panels challenge the viewers to consider NIF and nuclear weapons work in a new light, one much different than can be found in any of the myriad other displays at the LLNL Visitors Center. The new displays invite the viewers to reflect on NIF's relationship to advancing nuclear weapons science. Further, the displays point to the harmful health and environmental impacts of nuclear development.
The displays are a joint project of Tri-Valley CAREs, San Francisco Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility and Western States Legal Foundation. Photo and interview opportunities will be available at the event.
