Plutonium to LLNL from Rocky Flats

[marylia@earthlink.net (marylia)]

Hi peace and environmental advocates:

The following is an article about plutonium shipments to Livermore Lab in
California from Rocky Flats in Colorado. These plutonium pits and other
plutonium parts from Rocky Flats are part of the Dept. of Energy's
materials disposition program. The plutonium slated to come to Livermore
Lab from Los Alamos in New Mexico -- which was the subject of a recent
press release I posted -- is part of the Dept. of Energy's nuclear weapons
research, development and testing program, called "Stockpile Stewardship.
Therefore, Livermore Lab is slated to get plutonium from two separate DOE
programs. Perhaps the Livermore Lab will be changing its name to "Pits R
Us"...

Livermore Lab Gets Rocky Flats Plutonium: Shipments Proposed 'til 2002

by Marylia Kelley
from Tri-Valley CAREs' August 1999 newsletter, Citizen's Watch

On July 30, a jubilant Kaiser-Hill press release announced the "offsite
shipment of all plutonium pits from Rocky Flats to the Pantex Plant and Los
Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories by June 1999 (16 years
ahead of DOE's commitment in the Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement)."

Kaiser-Hill runs Rocky Flats under contract to the Dept. of Energy (DOE).
Plutonium "pits" are the cores of nuclear bombs -- so called because the
plutonium is situated in the bomb the way an apricot pit sits inside the
fruit. Rocky Flats is the notorious Colorado facility shut down by the FBI
in 1989 due to massive environmental problems and plutonium contamination.

And, they are celebrating because they shipped some of this plutonium to
Livermore. Ahead of schedule.

Phone calls to the Rocky Flats plant yielded some additional information.
Apparently plutonium pits began coming to Livermore quietly in 1995.
Livermore Lab was the site chosen to disassemble, melt and recast the
deadly metal. Subsequently, that 1995 plutonium was shipped back to Rocky
Flats for storage.

Another load of plutonium pits came to Livermore Lab in June of this year
-- the truck going first from Rocky Flats to Los Alamos in New Mexico and
then to Livermore. All Rocky Flats would say is these were "special" pits
used as "stockpile reliability evaluation program units" for bomb
shelf-life experiments and testing machine techniques. The Rocky Flats'
spokesperson alluded to possible further experiments to be conducted on the
pits by Livermore and, perhaps, disassembly of some of the pits afterward
at the Lab.

DOE and Rocky Flats officials refused to say whether there were other
shipments or how many plutonium pits were sent from Rocky Flats to
Livermore Lab.

DOE went so far as to require Tri-Valley CAREs to submit all its questions
about Rocky Flats plutonium in writing. The Department then refused to
answer any of them. None of our questions involved bomb design details. All
were aimed at finding out the potential hazards to which we in the
community are subjected. We will soon submit a Freedom of Information Act
request.

                                        More Plutonium Coming to Lab

Rocky Flats' plutonium pits are, unfortunately, only the beginning.
Recently Tri-Valley CAREs received documentation from the Defense Nuclear
Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) that DOE proposes to ship up to 89
"classified plutonium metal items" to Livermore Lab, beginning in October
of this year and continuing until February 2002.

According to a letter from DOE to DNFSB, plutonium parts at Rocky Flats
that are bonded to other hazardous materials, such as beryllium, may cause
problems that cannot be handled by  the casting and oxidation facilities at
DOE's Savannah River Site in South Carolina, where two huge plutonium
processing canyons are located. Therefore, DOE proposes to send these
particularly troublesome plutonium parts to Livermore.

Livermore Lab is listed as either the number one or number two-favored
option to receive 56 Plutonium/Tantalum targets, 6 Plutonium/Vanadium
hemishells (half-pits), 2 Plutonium/Depleted Uranium hemishells and 25
Plutonium/Beryllium hemishells. Beryllium, in particular, is used in bombs
along with plutonium to maximize the neutron output. DOE's proposal makes
no mention of any safety measures, precautions or risk-reduction methods to
be employed.

                                  Lab to Burn Plutonium in Furnace

The proposal does specify that the Lab will put any plutonium it receives
that had been bonded to what DOE calls "classified substrate materials
(e.g. Beryllium, Vanadium, Depleted Uranium)" into a furnace. This
dangerous action is intended to separate the plutonium from the other
materials. The process is called HYDOX (short for hydride-oxidation). Each
item will be placed in a burner, where high temperatures will create a
"heat bath." A vacuum will be created in the compartment around the
plutonium hemishell or target and its substrate material. Hydrogen will
then be pumped in. Plutonium metal plus hydrogen gas at high-temperature
creates plutonium hydride. The plutonium will subsequently be turned into
an oxide, according to DOE.

Tri-Valley CAREs has a number of internal Livermore Lab documents that
demonstrate dramatically how the process of  oxidizing plutonium spews tiny
particles, clogs filters and results in emissions to the environment.
The goal, says DOE, is to create nuclear waste -- specifically transuranic
(TRU) and mixed TRU waste (some of it will become "mixed waste" due to
plutonium contamination left in the substrate material). DOE plans,
eventually, to ship the wastes to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New
Mexico for disposal.

                                        Why Livermore Lab?

The documents we obtained offer simply that Livermore Lab has the
"research, development, and demonstration missions to
declassify/disposition classified TRU waste." This implies there is an
experimental element to the proposal, creating a further hazard if, indeed,
difficult to handle plutonium parts are brought to the Lab to "research" or
"work the bugs out" of the method used to turn them into wastes for
disposition.

The Lab's plutonium facility, where these operations would occur, covers
approximately 4 acres of ground; contains 880 pounds of plutonium, nearly
enough for 100 modern nuclear bombs; lies adjacent to more than one
earthquake fault; has documented problems with its air filters; sits within
sight of nearby homes; is located in the SF Bay Area with more than 6
million people living within a 50-mile radius; and has been shut down
(again) not long ago due to 25 plutonium safety violations. In fact, the
building is just now resuming "normal operation."

Further, the HYDOX process that will be used to turn the targets and
hemishells into TRU and mixed wastes is not even mentioned in the waste
permit the state  just issued to the Lab. As best we can tell, the state is
completely failing to regulate this risky activity, even though it has the
responsibility for mixed waste. (One more reason we are challenging the
permit and demanding an environmental review.)

The community has every right to know about DOE's plans for Rocky Flats'
plutonium. How much is already at Livermore? What experiments are being
performed on the pits shipped to the Lab this past June? Exactly what is
being planned for the future? Will the public have a voice?

Consider how crucial these issues are as you take your next breath and your
next drive on the freeway. Stay tuned!



Marylia Kelley
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94550

<http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there!

(925) 443-7148 - is our phone
(925) 443-0177 - is our fax

Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley
CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear
Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the
international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear
weapons.