Alvarez noted that nuclear weapons-related spending today is the same as during the height of the Cold War, a large portion directed towards dealing with the environmental legacy that past development has left behind.  What’s more, nuclear weapons remain the Department of Energy’s single largest expenditure.

Despite the administration’s promise of change, it still continues to primarily focus its resources toward nuclear and coal, not renewable energies, Alvarez said. Taxpayers will ultimately foot the bill for the 26 new nuclear power plants that are currently on the drawing board, Alvarez added, because private investors agree that they are too risky to invest in.  The financial risks for these proposals could top $1.5 trillion.

Washington State is in a unique position as home to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the largest hazardous waste clean-up in the Western Hemisphere, and the world’s largest environmental cleanup project. Alvarez spoke about the massive amounts of radioactive and toxic waste stored there, with large quantities having leaked into nearby soil and groundwater. There are huge quantities of spent nuclear fuel at the sites, posing a threat to all life nearby, yet no steps are being taken to remedy the situation.  

Among other suggestions to address our situation, Alvarez recommended moving the DOE’s nuclear weapons program to the Pentagon, a move the administration planned in January.  However, this proposal has met stiff resistance from forces in the nuclear-weapons complex and their congressional backers. “Will the Obama administration fundamentally restructure DOE and jettison its nuclear weapons millstone?” he asked.  “We'll know the answer after stimulus funds run out next year.”

Bob Alvarez’s recent articles can be accessed here:

DOE's Nuclear Millstone, Foreign Policy in Focus, June 18, 2009

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6202

A new energy future means a new Energy Department, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 8 January 2009

http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/op-eds/new-energy-future-means-new-energy-department

More on the Hanford Nuclear situation is available on the PSR website

http://www.psr.org/chapters/washington/hanford/