Citizen Action NM Sues for Release of Hidden Sandia National Lab Documents

From Citizen Action NM:
Documents detail labs’ role in design and production of new nuclear weapons

Citizen Action New Mexico, a non-profit public interest group, has filed a lawsuit in the federal District Court of New Mexico against the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), for the release of unclassified documents containing information on nuclear weapons programs at the Sandia National Laboratories.

The documents are called “Ten Year Comprehensive Site Plans” (TYCSP). All nuclear weapons laboratories and nuclear weapons production plants run by the DOE/NNSA are required to annually create these plans which serve as the foundation for the strategic planning of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and the implementation of the Bush Administration’s 2001 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). The NPR expanded the rationale for the potential use of nuclear weapons and targeted countries, and argued the need for the new design of nuclear weapons.

Citizen Action filed two separate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on August 30 and November 14, 2005, requesting copies of the TYCSPs. To date no information on Sandia’s nuclear weapons programs has been released.

Sandia designs and engineers the “non-nuclear components” for nuclear weapons - over 6,300 parts of a nuclear bomb’s 6,500 individual components. Sandia also designs the casings for nuclear bombs, mates the nuclear warheads to weapons delivery systems, and conducts “weapons effects” research to guarantee that nuclear weapons will work in the severe radioactive environments of a nuclear war.

Sandia is currently working closely with both the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories on new designs for new nuclear weapons.

Sue Dayton, Director for Citizen Action New Mexico, said her organization has in the past been primarily involved with clean up of radioactive and hazardous wastes from past nuclear weapons programs at Sandia. However, she noted the growing interest among members of the public regarding Sandia’s key role in developing new types of nuclear weapons - as well as its growing role in the production of nuclear weapons. 

“We plan to provide information to the public about the scope of Sandia’s nuclear weapons design and production programs, their potential impacts on the health of surrounding communities and the environment, and their links to weapons manufacturing at Los Alamos. More broadly, we want to open up a public dialogue on the impacts of Sandia’s nuclear weapons programs on international non-proliferation efforts and treaties in which the U.S. should lead by example. The Plans that we are suing for will shed some critical light on an important agenda at Sandia that has been beneath the radar of the public for some time.”

For more information contact: Citizen Action New Mexico at 262-1862 or www.radfreenm.org. Citizen Action is a project of the New Mexico Community Foundation and a member of the New Mexicans for Sustainable Energy and Effective Stewardship (NMSEES).