ABOUT ANA
The legacy of the Cold War is a devastating one -- huge arsenals of nuclear weapons that are not needed, tons of weapons-usable fissile materials that have become security threats, an environmental legacy that has contaminated vast areas of the country and which will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to contain and manage, and an erosion of democracy due to widespread secrecy and deception practiced in the name of national security.
Founded in 1987 under the name Military Production Network, the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) is a network of more than 30 local, regional and national peace and environmental groups representing the concerns of communities in the shadows of the U.S. nuclear weapons sites and radioactive waste dumps. We have effectively worked to open up the operations of the U.S. Department of Energy to help shut down polluting, obsolete and unsafe facilities, and to stop nuclear weapons testing as well as the construction of many new bomb production plants.
The ANA has been so successful because it is structured to allow local and national organizations concerned with nuclear weapons related issues to coordinate their work and create common goals. The ANA makes this possible in two ways:
- ANA enables its members to come together to formulate common positions on issues of democracy, environmental protection, production, and testing as they relate to the U.S. Department of Energy's nuclear weapons complex.
- ANA provides support for its member organizations to develop and implement education and advocacy campaigns in their own areas and regions as well as nationally on the nuclear weapons complex and the Cold War radioactive legacy.
For ten years, working together through ANA, these groups have developed collective issue positions and cooperative strategies pertaining to organizing, research and legal action. Our member groups routinely receive extensive local and national media coverage.
Though ANA embraces all issues dealing with the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons complex, five areas were chosen by the membership for priority work this year. They currently include:
- Ending Nuclear Weapons Research, Development, Testing and Production
- Fissile Material Management and Disposition
- Nuclear Waste Storage and Repositories
- Cleanup of Contaminated Nuclear Weapons Sites
- Protecting Public Health in Nuclear Weapons Complex Communities
ANA develops detailed action plans in each of these areas, which are updated at our three annual meetings and implemented by member groups with the assistance of staff, consultants, and allied organizations. Joint program work on these priority issues is developed and carried out through Priority Working Groups. Work in between national meetings proceeds via electronic networking and conference calls.
Because of its national network and, particularly, the location of ANA grassroots groups, the ANA is uniquely positioned to hold the Department of Energy accountable at its nuclear weapons facilities. Campaigns which stopped new production facilities such as reactors, reprocessing plants, and a plutonium isotope separators were anchored by ANA member groups. We have worked together with others to stop nuclear testing and to try to bring some sanity and accountability to U.S. clean up, waste management and warhead dismantlement programs.
ANA's strength is in our shared experience and our collective vision. We will build upon the momentum of the past several years and continue to provide leadership both locally and nationally. As the ratification for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty moves forward, and as new Congressional leaders press for resumption of Cold War nuclear weapons programs, the work of ANA is more crucial than ever. If we are to be closer at the turn of the century to the common hopes of humanity forprogress towards disarmament, democracy, and environmental sanity, we must continue the hard and patient daily work in the communities that have been among the most affected by the Cold War and keep their voices at the forefront of the national and global debates.
BILL OF RIGHTS
for People in the Shadows of U.S.
Nuclear Weapons Production Facilitiesby the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability Preamble:
Over the past five decades the U.S. government has built and operated a nationwide complex of facilities for the production and testing of nuclear weapons as well as for the disposition of their radioactive and chemical wastes.. The U.S. public is becoming increasingly aware of the damage to public health and the environment resulting from these operations. Government agencies have consistently withheld information from citizens about radioactive releases whether planned, routine or accidental. Wastes have been and continue to be cast aside, resulting in contamination of the land, air and water. Minimal progress has been made on clean-up, storage, and disposal efforts. To date, the evidence is compelling that the damage caused represents a profound breach of trust with the people of the United States.
As citizens who live in the shadows of nuclear weapons production plants and related facilities, we have a legitimate interest in the recognition and observance of our fundamental rights to public safety, environmental quality, government accountability, and due process. Major reforms are required. The perpetuation of secrecy and self-regulation in the nuclear weapons production system is not tolerable in a free society. Without substantial changes in current laws and practices the people of the United States have little guarantee that the continued operation of nuclear weapons production facilities is in their best interest, or that public safety and the environment are being adequately protected.
Together We Find:
a) The extent of environmental damage at current nuclear weapons materials production sites will likely cost over $250 billion to clean up. Unless remedial action is taken in a timely fashion, the vast quantities of radioactive and hazardous chemical wastes accumulated pose an unacceptable risk to present and future generations.
b) Successive Administrations have failed to substantiate a need for continued production of nuclear weapons materials. Congress has been negligent in its Constitutional responsibility to ensure that nuclear weapons materials production activities are warranted.
c) The authority given the U.S. Department of Energy under the Atomic Energy Acts of 1946 and 1954 to control all substantive information related to special nuclear materials production is so broad as to make accountability impossible. The public is entitled to all the information necessary to weigh the rationale offered for continuing nuclear weapons materials production. Congress must forcefully acknowledge and work to protect citizens' rights to participate in the decision-making process.
d) Economic dependence of communities which host nuclear weapons research, testing, production and waste disposal facilities has a corrosive and unacceptable effect on public policy at all levels. We reject nuclear weapons production as a tool for local economic development and call on Congress to reject appeals for continued nuclear materials research, testing and production that are based on economic considerations.
e) National efforts to locate geological repositories for the ultimate disposal of high-level nuclear and transuranic wastes have been repeatedly compromised for political purposes. No objective process yet exists to guarantee the safe disposal of these wastes while, at the same time, respecting the due process rights of citizens.
f) The U.S. Department of Energy and its predecessors have historically rejected commercial nuclear industry safety requirements and environmental protection regulations at weapons production facilities. This behavior is a direct consequence of the agency's singular emphasis on nuclear weapons production, as well as the provisions in federal law that exempt the agency's activities from many state and federal environmental laws.
g) Past releases of radioactive and toxic materials from these facilities and from nuclear testing have been extensive. The federal government has an obligation to fund independent assessments of the extent of harm to public health from these releases.
h) Self-regulation by the Department of Energy is a major contributor to safety and environmental problems at the production sites. State and federal agencies independent of the Department of Energy should be commissioned to monitor and regulate safety and environmental compliance. Congress must work to ensure that adequate federal funds are provided to state and federal agencies commissioned for this role.
Based on these findings, we believe that the people of the United States are entitled to the following rights:
- Clear public proof that present and future nuclear weapons materials research, testing and production activities are essential to national security.
- Independent licensing, regulation, and enforcement of safety at nuclear weapons material production and waste sites.
- Mandatory citizen standing and participation in the licensing of proposed new research, testing, production and waste sites and the structuring of environmental protection and monitoring programs.
- Full compliance with federal and state environmental laws at all nuclear weapons materials research, testing, production, handling and waste sites.
- A process for the interim stabilization and isolation of high-level nuclear and transuranic wastes at the point of origin that maximizes worker, public, and environmental protection. The ultimate disposal of these wastes should be pursued in a manner that assures scientific credibility, protects the public health and safety, and guarantees the rights of states, local governments, and private citizens.
- A binding commitment from the federal government to pay the full costs of waste disposal, decommissioning and decontamination associated with past and present nuclear weapons material production.
- Implementation of long-term, independent health studies in communities where there have been radioactive and toxic releases from nuclear weapons production and testing.
- A binding commitment from the federal government to provide retraining, job placement, and economic diversification programs in communities which are economically dependent on nuclear weapons production.
- A fundamental standard of public policy which acknowledges that decisions to produce nuclear weapons materials not be influenced by local and regional economic pressures.