A friend brought us her copy of the
Sept. 1, 2003, edition of High Country News, knowing that I would
be interested in the article on Carlsbad’s bid for the new
pit facility. Never have I seen a clearer illustration of the
aphorism that where you stand depends upon where you sit. My
viewpoint may be colored by my employment history: I received my
officer’s commission from the Navy in 1961 and have been
connected with the nuclear weapon program ever since. The nuclear
genie doesn’t seem altogether evil to me. Regardless, there
are aspects of your story that are at best misleading.
Start with the Rocky Flats plant history. Indeed, there were
devastating fires. To the best of my understanding, no plutonium
contamination outside the facility boundary resulted from any of
them. Yes, workers were exposed to hazardous materials;
undoubtedly, some of them became ill in consequence. Is there any
other manufacturing activity that has been free from occupational
health issues? And the famous (or infamous) FBI raid was based
upon allegations that were never proven, then or in the 15 years
since, despite the complete dismantlement of the facility and full
FBI access to all documents. What the raid DID accomplish was the
unilateral abandonment of the nuclear weapon production program,
even though preserving the quality of the U.S. stockpile was
predicated upon newly manufactured replacement weapons.
Would a new pit facility be more damaging? Hardly. It would
not be operating under Cold War imperatives. Even at peak
production, it would produce only a fraction of the Rocky Flats
output. And we all know that the oversight by DOE and other
government agencies, not to mention concerned citizens’
groups, would be far more extensive. Something will have to change
in the world political picture before pit production would approach
the top figure quoted in your article.
Which brings us to
one of the issues of the article: whether anyone but Carlsbad
should have input into the process. That’s a phony
issue, as the Energy Department representative recognized; whether
pit production resumes depends upon the will of Congress and the
administration. Is it a bad thing to resume production, assuming
that the new warheads will simply replace old? I don’t think
so. I think that, if we are to have a nuclear stockpile at
all, it should be modern, safe and reliable. I’ll leave the
issue of whether a stockpile is needed to wiser heads than
mine.
Franklin Halasz
Albuquerque, New
Mexico
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline New nukes aren’t necessarily evil.
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