Tri-Valley CAREs
Communities Against a Radioactive Environment
On behalf of Tri-Valley CAREs and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the law firm of Meyer, Glitzenstein, and Crystal sent a detailed, 10-page letter yesterday calling on the Secretary of Energy to cancel plutonium experiments at Livermore Lab's National Ignition Facility (NIF). The plutonium experiments, also called shots, are slated to begin as early as Thursday, January 29, 2015.
The groups' letter points out the potential health and environmental impacts as well as the planned experiments' nuclear non-proliferation risks, poses key questions to the agency, and seeks to halt the plan until the questions are answered and required reviews are completed.
Livermore Lab proposes to begin, for the first time ever, up to 120 plutonium shots in NIF, without an inner containment vessel to capture plutonium debris.
Ten years have passed since the Department of Energy considered conducting plutonium experiments in NIF, and that plan has significantly changed. Most notably it no longer includes an inner containment vessel to prevent contamination.
Click here to download the Press Release...
Click here to download the letter...