| The 2005 UCSB Disorientation Guide (back to contents) |
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I went to the University of California and All I Got By Darwin BondGraham
Each of these weapons is capable of killings millions in mere seconds. This is what they were designed for. Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, U.S. war planners have prepared for every possible scenario in which nuclear weapons might be used again. In addition to the massive overkill targeting of Russian and Chinese cities, U.S. leaders have contemplated using nuclear weapons in wars against Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and elsewhere. They have also explored using nuclear weapons in more hypothetical scenarios. This has led to an enormous demand for numerous nuclear weapons designs, and even more numerous modifications to these weapons including everything from “earth penetrating” models, to “dial a yield” warheads (bombs that can explode with as little or as much force as desired). All of these and more exist in the US arsenal.
How have warmongers in the Pentagon, White House, and the Congress managed to build and deploy such an overwhelmingly large and absurdly sophisticated nuclear weapons arsenal? By asking the University of California to build it for them. The UC manages both the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, the two primary sites for the research and design of nuclear weapons. Both sites have also manufactured components for the nuclear weapons complex on a limited basis. What does it mean that the UC “manages” these labs? It means that the operations of these sites falls under the authority of the UC Regents and UC administration. It means that every bomb designer’s paycheck comes from the UC. It means that the Regents and UC President select all of the leadership at these labs, and steer the UC’s tremendous scientific resources into each weapons lab’s orbit. The UC has managed these labs since their inception. Los Alamos was founded in 1943 by Berkeley physicist Robert Oppenheimer, and General Leslie Groves. Livermore was founded almost a decade later. Currently both labs have budgets of over 2 billion dollars. While both conduct a variety of scientific work (still mostly related to military projects), their main mission remains nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons activities account for over the vast majority of each lab’s work (see the National Nuclear Security Administration’s budget – http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/). The NNSA budget line for “total weapons activities” accounted for $1.27 billion at Los Alamos, and $928 million at Livermore in 2004. While they have traditionally been weapons design labs, they are increasingly sites of production for nuclear weapons components, especially Los Alamos. UC’s Los Alamos lab has been producing plutonium bomb cores for several years now. Last year the government paid UC’s LANL $217 million to manufacture plutonium bomb cores for nuclear weapons. This is not all that these labs produce. Each is also a powerful source of a particularly militaristic ideology. Senior officials at both labs have historically promoted increasing budgets for nuclear weapons activities in addition to more aggressive weapons policies. Many at the labs are at the forefront of promoting biological and chemical weapons research in the U.S. Both labs have also produced tons of radioactive toxins. Livermore Lab has released tritium into local groundwater, while Los Alamos has released nearly every known radioactive substance into the atmosphere. Both sites store large quantities of plutonium, uranium, and other deadly elements. Daily operations at both labs create piles of radioactively contaminated equipment, clothing, and materials. These labs are environmental disasters. Both labs are at the forefront of the renewed nuclear weapons complex. With new weapons designs, new arsenals, new targets, and new roles for nuclear weapons planned for by the Bush administration and many in the US congress, both labs are eager to begin work. Nuclear weapons spending is higher now than it was during the Cold War. Unless it is challenged the UC is likely to remain a willing participant in this irrational and inhuman arms race. There is opposition to the status quo. The Coalition to Demilitarize the UC is a group of students, community members, and non-profit organizations working to see that the UC is no longer complicit in the production of weapons of mass destruction. We share a larger vision of a world free of nuclear weapons and war. We’re working not only to end the UC’s role in nuclear proliferation, but for a much saner, sustainable, and just world. This is one step along the way. To get involved with the Coalition contact any of the following members. Bidding for the Bomb Lab UC is not guranteed its contract to manage the bomb labs anymore. By December 1st, 2005 the DOE will select LANL’s next manager. Competing against the UC is a team headed by Lockheed Martin Corp. and the University of Texas.To take on this pair (the world’s largest weapons contracting corporation, and the university of Bush’s home state) the UC has formed a partnership with the Bechtel, BWX Technologies Inc., and Washington Group International, corporations all intimately involved in the whole nuclear cycle. Among many other things Bechtel manages the Nevada Test Site where the US tests its nuclear weapons. BWXT operates the Pantex Facility in Texas, where all US nuclear weapons are assembled. WGI operates nuclear waste disposal sites and handles other aspects of the nuclear cycle for private and government entities. Will Parrish – Nuclear Age Peace Foundation: wparrish@napf.org
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