U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex: Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory at High Risk, October 16, 2006
1. On the site visit to Y-12 were POGO’s Executive Director Danielle Brian, Senior Investigator Peter Stockton, and unpaid consultant Ron Timm. Ms. Brian did not attend the site visit to ORNL.
2. Ferguson, Charles. The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism. Monterey Institute of International Studies Center for Nonproliferation Studies, CA, 2004. Foreword.
3. The Monterey Institute of International Policy Studies’ Center for Nonproliferation Studies is an affiliate institution of Middlebury College. It contains four graduate schools, multiple research centers, and numerous special programs. The Center for Nonproliferation Studies is the largest non-governmental organization in the world devoted to curbing the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and is the only organization dedicated exclusively to graduate education and research on nonproliferation issues.
4. Four Faces, pp 321-322.
5. “Over 50 Reports, Hearings, Testimonies and Commissions in the Past Five Years Concluding that DOE has Serious Security Problems.” Project On Government Oversight, January 22, 2002. http://www.pogo.org/p/environment/eo-020114-nuclear.html.
6. Two departments in the Department of Energy have responsibility for nuclear weapons facilities: NNSA, which oversees seven nuclear weapons sites, including Y-12; and the Office of Energy, Science and the Environment (ESE), which oversees five sites containing weapons-grade nuclear material, including ORNL.
7. Admiral Mies is a former Commander in Chief of the United States Strategic Command, the unified command responsible for command and control of all U.S. strategic nuclear forces supporting the national security objective of strategic deterrence.
8. Meis, Admiral Richard W. NNSA SECURITY: An Independent Review. April 2005. http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/docs/reports/2005-05-02_Mies_Executive_Summary_and_Report.pdf. Downloaded October 16, 2006.
9. The Meis Report was so critical that it was withheld from the public for over a year. On June 29, 2005, POGO requested the report under the Freedom of Information Act. Days prior to releasing the report to POGO, NNSA put out a press release claiming it had implemented 70 percent of Mies’ recommendations. The claim was bizarre given that basic security problems cited in the Mies Report would take years to remedy. “Controversial Nuclear Security Report Released.” Project On Government Oversight, September 2, 2005. http://pogo.org/p/homeland/ha-050901-doe.html/.
10. Bunn, Matthew. “The Nuclear Campus.” Boston Globe op-ed, October 20, 2005.
11. An improvised nuclear device (IND) explosion is qualitatively different from a “dirty bomb.” While exploding plutonium or highly enriched uranium with a bomb would cause a major dispersion of highly radioactive materials, as occurred at the Chernobyl Reactor in the Ukraine, an IND explosion could cause a chain reaction on par with the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. An IND can be created at a number of DOE sites because of the presence of nuclear weapons or special nuclear materials in bomb-grade quality and quantity. This can cause nuclear detonations of varying sizes. Little time is required to accomplish this act.
12. For more information about POGO’s investigations into the security of the nuclear weapons complex, visit POGO’s website at http://www.pogo.org/p/x/2004nuclearweapons.html.
13. Ron Timm, an unpaid consultant to POGO who has contributed to this report, owns the patent on these technologies.
14. U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex: Homeland Security Opportunities. Project On Government Oversight, May 2005. http://www.pogo.org/p/homeland/ho-050301-consolidation.html.
15. In 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld established the Scowcroft Commission, headed by General Brent Scowcroft, to review security of nuclear weapons facilities. The Commission’s report was completed in March 2002 and classified as a top secret document. Despite requests, an unclassified version of the report has never been released to the public. See “Testimony of Danielle Brian, POGO Executive Director.” Hearing before the House Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations, September 24, 2002. http://www.pogo.org/p/environment/et-020903-nukepower.html.
16. The Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) was chartered in January 1990 to provide the Secretary with timely, balanced, external advice on issues of importance to the Secretary. Shortly after completion of its report on consolidating the nuclear weapons complex, the Secretary disbanded the Board as of May 20, 2006. http://www.seab.energy.gov/publications/NWCITFRept-7-11-05.pdf. Downloaded October 16, 2006.
17. Then-DOE Secretary Spencer Abraham appointed the Mies Commission, headed by Admiral Richard Mies, to conduct an independent assessment of security at nuclear weapons facilities. DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration kept the report secret until forced to release it in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from POGO in 2005. http://www.pogo.org/p/homeland/ha-050901-doe.html.
18. Bunn, Matthew and John P. Holdren. “ A Tutorial on Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear-Explosive Materials: Nuclear Weapons Design and Materials.” Securing the Bomb 2006. Managing the Atom Project, Harvard University. September 6, 2006. http://www.nti.org/e_research/cnwm/overview/technical2.asp. Downloaded October 16, 2006.
19. The HEU was not dropped from a significant height, and the scientist was able to kick away the piece that was dropped before a reaction could take place.
20. Alvarez, Luis W. Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist. Basic Books: New York, 1987. p 125.
21. Wald, Matthew L. “Suicidal Nuclear Threat Is Seen at Weapon’s Plants.” The New York Times, January 23, 2002.
22. WMD 411. Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, 2004. http://www.nti.org/f_wmd411/f1a4_1.html. Downloaded October 16, 2006; and “The Destructive Power of Nuclear Weapons: Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” Nuclear Terrorism Tutorial: Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, 2005. Chapter 2. http://www.nti.org/h_learnmore/nuctutorial/chapter02_08.html. Downloaded October 16, 2006.
23. Matthew McKinzie, Ph.D., Scientific Consultant, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) performed the simulation using the U.S. Department of Defense computer code HPAC (Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability, version 3.2.2).
24. The calculation assumed that the explosion was caused by a fission reaction, and was at ground level at Y-12 on a clear November day with winds blowing eastward at four meters per second (13.12 feet per second). In this scenario, the most intensely radioactive zone in the fallout plume is calculated to extend no more than 10 miles from the explosion site.
25. “Oak Ridge National Laboratory Fact Sheet.” UT-Batelle, 2006. http://www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/fact.pdf; and “Y-12 National Security Complex: Fact Sheet.” BWXT Y-12, 2006. http://www.y12.doe.gov/about/factsheet.php. Downloaded October 16, 2006.
26. The Nuclear Explosion Prompt Effects include the initial blast wave, high winds, heat radiation, thermal radiation, and initial pulse radiation.
27. The Postulated Threat is the intelligence community’s best estimate of the threat faced by nuclear facilities. This includes the number of adversaries, lethality of their weapons, and the size of a truck bomb that terrorists might use.
28. Pantex, where nuclear weapons are assembled; Nevada Test Site (which has no nuclear weapons, but was mistakenly included); and the Transportation Division, which transports nuclear weapons.
29. Since the 1960s, nearly all U.S. nuclear warheads have been equipped with safety locks or “PALs” (Permissive Action Links). If a warhead is stolen, it would be virtually impossible to detonate without a top-secret code.
30. Nuclear Security: DOE Must Address Significant Issues to Meet the Requirements of the New Design Basis Threat. Government Accountability Office (GAO-04-701T), April 27, 2004. p 12. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04701t.pdf#search=%22gao-04-701T%22. Downloaded October 16, 2006.