Overhauling weapons production

Article Abstract:

The US Department of Energy's nuclear weapons production complex has been paralyzed in recent years by safety deficiencies and environmental problems at its 15 weapons sites throughout the US. The DOE announced proposals in Feb 1991 that call for a smaller complex that could no longer produce fissionable plutonium but that would make weapons from retired warheads and existing supplies of plutonium. Treaties pending call for the current 20,000 nuclear weapons cache to be cut in half; the DOE has plans for cutting the number of weapons by from 15 to 70 percent. Problems with nuclear cleanup have transformed the DOE into an environmental agency: its cleanup budget of $4 billion in 1991 exceeds the $1.6 billion Superfund budget of the Environmental Protection Agency for cleaning up the worst US toxic waste sites. The DOE's plans for its nuclear weapons complex are described.

Planning, Weapons industry, Activism, Political protest, Trends, Strategic Planning, Political Issue

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Origin of a culture

Article Abstract:

The US Department of Energy is a direct descendant of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), and as such it retained many of the organizational characteristics of its predecessor. Many of the current problems troubling the DOE can be traced back to the secrecy, isolation and lack of outside assessment engendered by its AEC past. Following World War II Congress was most concerned with the security of the US nuclear weapons capability, giving less importance to technical issues of weapons production. The power given to the AEC was unprecedented among peacetime government agencies, and it soon focused almost exclusively on weapons production, pushing its initial hopes of peacetime uses of atomic energy to the background. AEC engineers were not concerned with dealing with nuclear waste; examples of the damage done by this disregard for the environment are described.

Management, History, Security, United States. Atomic Energy Commission

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Lilco contemplates life without Shoreham

Article Abstract:

A proposed agreement between Long Island Lighting Co (LILCO) and New York State would give the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), a state agency, the job of closing Shoreham nuclear power plant, making it the first such plant in the US to be closed before full operation is achieved. Two legal settlements in mid-Sept, 1988, however, increase the possibility the plant could gain an operating license. Only LIPA approved the proposed agreement by the deadline of Sep 22, 1988. LILCO's shareholders meeting was delayed until Oct and the NY legislature and public utilities commission have not responded. Issues in the controversial proposal include New York's critical need for more power, disagreements about utility rates and the financial terms for LILCO, and obstacles to dismantling Shoreham.

Cases, Laws, regulations and rules, Electric power plants, New York (State), Government Regulation, Power Plants, New York, New York (State). Long Island Power Authority, New York. Long Island Power Authority, Long Island Lighting Co., LIL

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