obama's 2nd and 3rd subcritical nuclear test

U.S. Conducted 2nd and 3rd Subcritical Nuclear

Experiment under Obama…

who expressed in Prague in April 2009 his commitment 'to seek the peace

and security of a world without nuclear weapons.’

NuclearCrimes.org July 2011

Subcritical Nuclear Experiments (SNEs)

• Subcritical experiment program announced by U.S. Energy Department in October 1996

• First ‘subcrit’ conducted in 1997• Subcrits entail underground detonations of high

explosives and small amounts of plutonium• No ‘chain reaction’ is sustained, although some

fissioning of plutonium occurs• There have been 26 subcritical experiments

through present

SNEs – zero-yield tests at low-yield facility?• Subcrits are conducted

nearly 1,000 feet underground at former LYNER facility – now named the U1a facility - at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), the former Nevada Test Site

• LYNER stands for Low-Yield Nuclear Experimental Research

• Subcrits are considered ‘zero-yield’ experiments but technically involve a very, very small ‘nuclear energy release’…and subcrits aren’t subject to international verification

SNEs – The Courtesy Gesture• In 1997 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

initiated a courtesy protocol of giving a 48 hour notice, via press release, before each subcritical test

• For example, the Aug. 28, 2006 issue of the Las Vegas Sun carried an article titled ‘U.S. to conduct non-nuclear experiment at Nevada Test Site’– Article excerpt “The planned test, scheduled

Wednesday, would be the 23rd subcritical experiment since 1997 at the 1,375-square-mile federal reservation 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas.”

SNE – So long courtesy gesture!• DOE dispensed with 48 hour notice courtesy in

September 2010, when it issued a press release on Sept. 16, 2010, the day after the 24th subcritical experiment dubbed ‘Bacchus’

• DOE issued a “quarterly report” (PDF file) in June 2011 indicating – in a tiny table – that it held two more subcrits after Bacchus (in December ’10 and February ‘11):

SNEs – Three Lumps or One?• Bacchus was the first of three

planned subcritical tests• Although the other two subcrits

(previously given the names ‘Barolo A’ and ‘Barolo B’) were part of the ‘Bacchus series’ that doesn’t give the DOE the right to treat 3 subcrits as a single ‘lumped experiment’

• Barolo A and B were conducted on December 1, 2010 and February 2, 2011, respectively (source: Kyodo News)

SNEs – A Very Delayed Matter

• DOE’s 3-page ‘quarterly report’ was released in June, not accompanied by any press release, didn’t mention names of the tests

• The story about Barolo A and B was only addressed in the Japanese media - in mid-July; the Western media hasn’t picked up the story

• DOE’s lack of respect for the sensitivity of peace groups and other nations to these provocative experiments amounts to a blatantly offensive act

SNE – OUTRAGE!• Letter of Protest from Mayors For Peace, July 20, 2011

• ‘…these tests have aroused profound suspicion regarding your intentions and have betrayed the hopes of the hibakusha and the millions of others who seek a nuclear-weapon-free world…this testing of weapons is utterly unacceptable..."

SNE – Implications of DOE PR decision

• Why has U.S. DOE fully mothballed its own 48 hour advance notice courtesy gesture for subcritical nuclear experiments?

• How sure can we be that if the DOE’s actions are replicated by India or North Korea that spiraling global fears that a small nuclear test was carried out won’t instigate a new arms race?

• The DOE is setting a highly dangerous precedent with its subcritical tests, which threaten world peace