Tri-Valley CAREs’ Livermore Action Highlights the 4th “Banniversary” of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

In the early morning, as thousands of scientists, engineers and rank and file employees arrived for their jobs at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Tri-Valley CAREs members held banners at the West Gate entrance to remind them that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which went into force 4 years ago today, proclaims the nuclear weapons work done at the lab to be illegal under international law.

Livermore Lab’s current fiscal year budget request topped $2.5B for the first time and 85% of it is for “nuclear weapons activities.” The treaty, which as of this writing has 94 signatories and 73 states parties, specifically prohibits the “development” of nuclear weapons, which would include things like the the new W87-1 warhead that Livermore Lab is designing for the new Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

Today, activists around the world gathered at nuclear weapons sites, military bases, city centers, and in front of government buildings as they do every year on the anniversary of the treaty entering into force to bring attention to the treaty – and to the urgent need for nuclear weapons states to sign, ratify and comply with it. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons serves as an international acknowledgement of the “catastrophic humanitarian consequences that would result from any use of nuclear weapons” including “by accident, miscalculation or design.”

Tri-Valley CAREs stands in solidarity with the countries that have signed and ratified the treaty, which span the globe, and we urge the public in the U.S. and other nuclear weapons states to continue to take action to get their governments to observe the framework of this treaty.

We are looking forward to amplifying an expanded version of House Resolution 77 – “Embracing the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” soon to be released in the new session of Congress, which serves to bring attention to the treaty in the halls of Congress. Stay tuned for more on that soon!

Today, take a moment to celebrate the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. To read the treaty, click here.