New Nukes: Brought to You by the U.S.A.
by Sally Breen
Ella Field, Jessica Eller, PAM Program Director and Karen Wainberg, PAM board president, traveled to New York for the May 1st rally in support of the UN conference to review and protect the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), submitted to Congress by the Pentagon on December 31, 2001, revealed a blueprint for transforming U.S. warfare. The report calls for nuclear and non-nuclear offensive strike capability. To prepare for such offensive strikes, the president's budgets have proposed funding for research on new nuclear warheads, notably the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP), a "bunker-busting" nuclear bomb, intended to penetrate hard surfaces such as rock, and explode underground. The NPR estimates there are 10,000 hard and deeply-buried targets in over 70 nations.
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and numerous other arms control organizations are opposed to the development of the RNEP — or any new nuclear weapons programs. They are concerned that the medical consequences of the use of bunker-buster nuclear weapons by the United States are hardly being discussed. A recently-released report by (PSR), based on analysis by both the National Academy of Sciences and independent physicists, reveals that the RNEP cannot penetrate deeply enough to contain an underground nuclear explosion and the resulting radiation. Using a computer model developed by the Department of Defense, PSR calculates that the use of such a weapon against targets in Iran or North Korea could cause millions of deaths and lead to many more acute and long-term health effects for U.S. military personnel and local populations in the affected regions.
In one scenario, use of the RNEP against Iran could release doses of radiation high enough to cause a significant health impact, including as many as 3 million deaths.
The U.S. needs to help reduce the allure of nuclear weapons. By pursuing new nuclear weapons, the U.S. undermines global leadership and weakens the entire system of international agreements that has helped to reduce and eliminate nuclear threats. Using nuclear weapons on suspected bunkers containing biological, chemical or nuclear materials, could actually spread the dangerous material over vast regions, killing and contaminating both civilians and any troops in the area. Peace activists must insist on a change in U.S. nuclear policy.
Resources: Projected Casualties Among U.S. Military Personnel and Civilian Populations from the Use of Nuclear Weapons Against Hard and Deeply Buried Targets, Physicians for Social Responsibility, May 2005. The Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP), Unnecessary and Dangerous; the Maine Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility
Back to Peace Talk Index, Summer 2005
