From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
Newsgroups: alt.activism,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Will Bush Admin. Join in Nuclear Testing Moratorium?
Date: 24 Jul 92 03:04:09 GMT
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB

[Contact Tel #s at bottom]

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    According to a recent statement by Victor Mikailov, Russian
    Minister of Atomic Energy and Power, "If the U.S. doesn't stop 
    testing, we will be forced to resume testing next year."  And the 
    French conditioned their moratorium by saying, "In 1993, we will 
    see whether our example has been followed and if common sense has 
    progressed." 
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Topic 92        Nuclear Testing Mor. Fact Sheet 
ggundrey        IGC Networks Headlines Digest    3:12 pm  Jul 23, 1992 
From: George Gundrey <ggundrey@igc.org>
Subject: Nuclear Testing Mor. Fact Sheet 
/* Written  6:59 am  Jul 21, 1992 by psrnatl in cdp:psr.bulletins */ 
/* ---------- "Nuclear Testing Mor. Fact Sheet" ---------- */ 
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THE NUCLEAR TESTING MORATORIUM ACT 


The Nuclear Testing Moratorium Act would implement a twelve-month 
moratorium on U.S. nuclear weapons test explosions so long as no 
republic of the former Soviet Union conducts a nuclear test during 
that time.  In October 1991, Majority Leader Richard Gephardt 
(D-MO) and Representative Mike Kopetski (D-OR) introduced the bill 
in the House of Representatives (H.R. 3636), and in November, 
Senator Mark Hatfield (R-OR) and Majority Leader George Mitchell 
(D-ME) introduced the bill in the Senate (S.2064).  In June 1992, 
a nuclear testing moratorium passed in the House by a margin of 
237-167.  The Senate version currently has 52 co-sponsors. 

During the Bush-Yeltsin Summit in June 1992, Yeltsin reiterated 
his commitment to uphold former Soviet President Mikhail 
Gorbachev's twelve-month unilateral halt on nuclear weapons 
testing.  On April 8, 1992, France declared that it would halt its 
nuclear testing program through the end of the year, urging other 
nations to follow suit.  Nevertheless, the Bush Administration 
plans to continue nuclear testing at the pace of six explosions 
per year -- and has already exploded four this year -- two in the 
week following Yeltsin's visit.  A twelve-month moratorium would 
demonstrate U.S. willingness to negotiate in good faith toward a 
verifiable and permanent test ban treaty and would encourage curbs 
on the proliferation of nuclear weaponry. 

Why Support A Moratorium On Explosive Nuclear Weapons Tests? 

1. The main argument for continued nuclear testing -- to counter 
the Soviet threat -- has vanished with the end of the Cold War. 
According to CIA Director Robert Gates, "The threat to the United 
States of deliberate attack from [the former Soviet Union] has all 
but disappeared for the foreseeable future."  (The New York Times, 
January 23, 1992). 

2. Continued testing compromises efforts to stop the spread of 
nuclear weapons to additional countries.  U.S. reluctance to stop 
testing threatens to undermine long-term extension of the 
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1995.  As the danger of 
proliferation grows, the U.S. can no longer afford the hypocrisy 
of continued nuclear testing while simultaneously hoping to 
prevent nuclear proliferation.  Chairman of the House Armed 
Services Committee Les Aspin noted that a testing ban could stem 
proliferation of nuclear arms by providing an example to other 
countries, "We've been preaching non-proliferation to other 
nations, but we haven't been willing to give much on our own 
nuclear program.  Here's our chance." 

3. There are no nuclear weapons in production and none planned for 
the foreseeable future.  Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, 
all nuclear weapons previously planned for production have been 
canceled, and no new orders have taken their place.  Nuclear 
testing for new weapons development is thus not needed. 

4. The Pentagon has found that "safety" upgrades of the existing 
arsenal are not necessary.  Although "safety" is used as the 
primary justification for continued testing, Robert B. Barker, 
Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy, said in 
written testimony on March 27, 1992 before the Senate Armed 
Services Committee that, "The Air Force and Navy, in cooperation 
with the Secretary of Defense and the Department of Energy, 
evaluated the safety of all ballistic missiles that carry nuclear 
warheads.  It was determined that there is not now sufficient 
evidence to warrant our changing either warheads or propellants." 
Safer operational procedures, such as removing weapons from active 
runways, undercut the need for warhead safety improvements. 

5. Continued U.S. nuclear testing is a threat to the Russian and 
French testing moratoria.  Russia has not tested since October 
1990, and its moratorium will end this October -- a two-year 
unilateral halt.  But pressure from military hardliners may force 
a resumption of testing at the Russian site at Novaya Zemlya. 
According to a recent statement by Victor Mikailov, Russian 
Minister of Atomic Energy and Power, "If the U.S. doesn't stop 
testing, we will be forced to resume testing next year."  And the 
French conditioned their moratorium by saying, "In 1993, we will 
see whether our example has been followed and if common sense has 
progressed." 

6. A U.S. pledge to halt testing would help the reform movement in 
the former Soviet Union.  Repeated refusals by the United States 
to join Soviet unilateral testing moratoria (from 1985 to 1991) 
have given Soviet hardliners justification for maintaining the 
economic burden of an oversized military.  A U.S. moratorium would 
help the new democracies in the former Soviet republics shift 
their economies away from military spending. 

7. A testing moratorium would save taxpayer dollars.  In Fiscal 
Year 1993, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to spend 
$473 million in direct costs to conduct explosive nuclear tests - 
down by only $28 million from FY 1992.  Each test costs $30-60 
million or more.  Much of this money is being wasted on weapons 
that will never be deployed.  For example, a test of the nuclear 
bomb driven X-ray laser weapon is scheduled for 1992 even though 
that Star Wars program is being canceled.  Instead, these funds 
should be used for genuine post-Cold War problems such as military 
waste disposal and verifiable nuclear warhead dismantlement. 

8. Halting testing would reduce environmental damage.  Underground 
test explosions produce so much uncontrolled high-level 
radioactive waste that each test creates a potential Superfund 
hazardous waste site.  While our nation struggles to determine 
where and how to permanently isolate nuclear waste from the 
environment, the DOE continues to contaminate the Nevada Test Site 
with lethal elements that threaten the scarce groundwater of the 
region.  As of 1989, radioactivity due to underground testing in 
Nevada is estimated to include 2.8 million curies of Strontium-90, 
4.4 million curies of Cesium-137, and 110,000 thousand curies of 
Plutonium-239.  At least 30 of the 730 underground tests at the 
Nevada Test Site have also vented radioactive fallout into the 
atmosphere.  A moratorium would allow balanced discussion of 
whether resumed testing is worth the risks it poses. 

For more information contact: Daryl Kimball at Physicians for 
Social Responsibility (202-785-3777); or  Tom Zamora or Peter Gray 
at Friends of the Earth (202-547-5909 or 202-547-5883). 

July 20, 1992