• Login

• RecentChanges
• FindPage
• HelpContents
• AbolitionOfNuclearWeapons

Nuclear Reaction: UC and the Bomb

From Hiroshima to 2008, the UC has been involved in the design of every nuclear weapon in the US arsenal...

43 miles southeast of UC Berkeley, barricaded by dozens of armed security guards and buried under a mountain of controversy, lies the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). LLNL and its twin lab, New Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), have been managed by the University of California since their inception in 1952 and 1942 respectively, under contract with the US Department of Energy (DOE). In this role, our university and its employees have been involved in the design of every nuclear weapon in the US arsenal, including those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The UC claims that the operation of the labs is a “public service” that helps to “enlighten, educate, and train students and teachers at all levels” and contributes to our “national security”. But to those of us who are less convinced about the value of nuclear weapons, the labs have long been symbols of the tragically misshapen priorities of one of the world’s most prestigious educational institutions. What the UC’s official line fails to recognize is the horrific human, environmental, and moral implications of nuclear weapons lab management.

The process of designing these weapons has had devastating environmental implications for local Bay Area and New Mexico communities. The DOE has declared the 50-mile radius around each facility as the ‘affected population’, an area that includes over seven million people. Take the grave environmental contamination caused by the labs, which are loaded down with various forms of toxic sludge and dangerous chemicals. Both the LLNL and LANL sites suffer from extreme soil and water contamination; the result of extensive on-site work, designing and testing bomb components, and LLNL's long history of leaks, spills and accidents. Both Livermore’s main site and Site 300, a high explosives testing facility, are “Superfund sites” – on Congress’ list of the most contaminated sites in the country.

Among other hazardous effects, LLNL has released a million curies of airborne radiation, roughly equal to the amount of radiation released by the Hiroshima bomb. Lab documents disclose that Livermore wines contain four times the tritium found in other California wines, and a California Department of Health Services investigation found that children in Livermore are six times more likely to develop malignant melanoma than other children in Alameda County.

Some have defended the management of the labs with the question of “If not the UC, then who?” While a reasonable question, it does not make the fact that the UC continues to play a leading role in the design of nuclear weapons any less morally reprehensible. In fact, the UC’s management has been useful for the labs in a number of ways. As a prestigious university, the UC lends an air of legitimacy to the labs which has acted to shield them from criticism. And until recently, the UC’s nonprofit status exempted the labs from fines and taxes. In September 2003, the DOE fined the University of California $137,500 for violating radiation controls when a chemist attempted to purify a radioactive material without using proper safety equipment. Because of the nonprofit status, the UC was exempt from the fine, thus removing a key financial incentive for the labs to take all the necessary (and expensive) safety precautions.

Until 2006/2007, the labs were under the exclusive management of the UC. Due to DOE concerns over safety, security, and financial management at the labs, in 2003 (LANL) and 2007 (LLNL) the contract for management of the labs was opened to competition for the first time. The UC formed two corporations with new private partners also involved in the military industry – Bechtel, BWX Technologies, and Washington Group International – to compete for the contracts. These companies, called Lawrence Livermore/Los Alamos National Security respectively, were awarded the contracts and continue to operate these labs. High-ranking UC administrative officials continue to sit on the board of both companies, and play a key role in continuing development of the US nuclear arsenal.

While the anti-nuclear movement reached its peak in the 1980s, only to diminish in size with the end of the Cold War, the issue remains urgent. In the last few years, the anti-nuclear movement was crucial in the US’s abandonment of the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetration project. While insisting that countries such as Iran uphold their commitment under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty not to develop nuclear weapons, the US continues to ignore its own commitment under article VI of the treaty to negotiate in good faith with other nuclear powers to bring about an end to nuclear weapons. In fact, the US is currently in the midst of developing a new series of nuclear weapons, known as the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW), in order to revamp to US arsenal. The Livermore lab is currently designing the first of these new bombs.

The last decade has also seen an ever-growing student movement at the UC, working to oppose the UC’s involvement in the production of nuclear weapons, and oppose nuclear weapons in general. Spring 2007 saw a cross-campus student organization, Coalition to Demilitarize the UC, stage a nine-day hunger strike. Over 40 students participated in the strike across four UC campuses, including Berkeley, to pressure the Regents to cut all ties with the nuclear weapon labs.

At the May 2007 Regents' meeting at UCSF, students demanded that the Regents consider a proposal to "sever ties" from the nuclear weapons labs. Although several regents verbally expressed sympathy for the goal of global nuclear abolition - one Regent went so far as to reference a Wall Street Journal op-ed written by right-wing conservatives such as Henry Kissinger that supported such a goal - the Regents adamantly refused to so much as consider the proposal. In response, 12 students refused to leave the Regents meeting and were arrested. More than half were Berkeley students and members of the Phoenix Coalition.

California-wide demilitarization conferences are held at a UC campus every semester, to organize and plan the next steps in this growing movement. On the Berkeley campus, a DeCal class is regularly offered to give students an in-depth look at “UC and the Bomb” (visit www.decal.org to find the class).

For more information, read this great magazine (2.8MB), visit ucnuclearfree.org; fiatpax.net; freetheuc.org; and trivalleycares.org OR email youth@napf.org

The UC's introduction to the labs can be found here.