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End funding for the CMRR Nuclear Facility at Los Alamos
The proposed Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility (CMRR-NF) is an unnecessary $4.2 billion (B) boon to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico that will help keep LANL business booming well into the future -- not just business in general but nuclear weapons production in particular.
It is a real and symbolic provocation that will undermine global efforts toward disarmament and non-proliferation.
A Modern “Pit” Factory
The CMRR project is said to replace the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) building, an old structure that the laboratory has partially abandoned. The CMR was (and is) LANL's biggest all-purpose industrial-scale chemistry laboratory, capable of pilot production and of handling radioactive materials of all kinds. It has unique facilities which will not be replaced by CMRR (e.g. hot cells for remote handling of radioactive materials).
The “replacement” part of the CMRR name is deceptive in other ways too, given that the scope of the new facility includes a storage vault for 6 metric tons (6,000 kilograms) of plutonium, which would about triple LANL's inventory. Next door, but sharing the same security perimeter, is the existing Plutonium Facility, which contains all the necessary equipment and technology for assembling large quantities of plutonium warhead cores, known as “pits.” If funded, this project would fulfill George W. Bush’s plan to build a “modern” pit facility, capable of turning out large numbers of pits for new warheads in short order, at a rate NNSA documents suggest would be 125 pits/year, surging to 200 pits/year if necessary.
Construction began on the first and smaller of two buildings in the CMRR project in January 2006. It will be complete in 2013. Current projections estimate that the Nuclear Facility will be complete in 2022.
During the Bush Administration, project funding rose slowly. House members in particular were aware that the big buildup seemed to be at cross purposes with dwindling needs and international treaties, and questioned its overall rationale. House appropriators resisted and then denied administration funding requests, but the project was kept alive by the Senate, particularly by Republican Sen. Pete Domenici’s influence in conference committee negotiations.
Nuclear Rearmament
When the Obama administration submitted its budget proposal this year, the funding request for CMRR-NF more than doubled to $225 million (M) from the $97 million it obtained in 2009. Another increase, to $305 M, is expected for 2012.
The overall project has been marked by escalating costs -- eightfold since the project's initiation -- and by an unsettling new seismic assessment that requires extraordinary compensatory measures. If built, CMRR would become the largest public project in New Mexico history by about a factor of ten.
To add to the folly, the additional pit manufacturing capability is no longer needed, because the existing spare pit inventory provides thousands of usable backups to the decreasing stockpile. All these pits will last until at least the last decades of the century. Without CMRR-NF, LANL already has a significant pit manufacturing capability, which has been only loosely managed because there is no demand for the product. Among the sane and sensible ways to cut the federal budget, cutting the CMRR-NF is one of the best, on behalf of our country and the world.
If we do build CMRR-NF, don’t ask where the money went for the schools we need, or the climate- and business-saving infrastructure, or the health and elder-care. We will have buried our hopes for a better future in a pit on a mesa in New Mexico.
Note on CMRR costs (4/19/10): Today we realized we had been misinterpreting National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA's) estimated CMRR costs since February. We gave these as $5 billion (B) for the CMRR project as a whole and $4.2 B for the Nuclear Facility. NNSA's current estimates are actually $4.2 B for the project as a whole and $3.4 B for the Nuclear Facility. Our estimates for the whole project include $400 million for dismantlement and disposal of the CMR building, which is a mid-range figure escalated to today's dollars from NNSA's prior estimates. All NNSA's estimates are still preliminary and will remain so until at least 2012.
Although our data is incomplete, it appears the current estimated cost of the CMRR project is equal to all cumulative spending at Site Y and LASL, in constant 2010 dollars, from 1943 through 1954 (11 years). During this period atomic bombs were first developed, tested, and produced (all stockpile pits were produced at Los Alamos up to 1949), three plutonium facilities were built in Los Alamos to support these activities (Building D, DP Site, and CMR), fission bombs were rapidly miniaturized, and the first hydrogen bombs were developed, tested, and deployed.
The cost of all the plutonium-related facility upgrades presently underway is somewhat more than CMRR costs and is roughly equal to all cumulative Los Alamos spending for its first 13 years, from 1943 to 1956.
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Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Technical Area (TA) -55, looking south, January 2009. Main Plutonium Facility (Building PF-4) in foreground. CMRR Radiological Laboratory, Utility, and Office Building (RLUOB) upper left. CMRR Nuclear Facility (CMRR-NF) site at upper center, where the construction yard is in this photo. © Los Alamos Study Group.
The initial phases of CMRR-NF construction could begin late this year, or early next year if approved by Congress.
New this Week (Aug 30 - Sept 4, 2010)
Los Alamos Study Group files suit over LANL plutonium facility, (pdf 184 KB) Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor, article, Aug 30, 2010
From last Week (Aug 23 - 28, 2010)
"New START", the proposed CMRR Nuclear Facility and the LASG lawsuit against the DOE and NNSA, Op-Ed News, Malten, article, Aug 27, 2010
Shooting an Arrow at the Beating Heart of Nuclear Weapons, The Faster Times, blog, Aug 24, 2010 (also here: Foreign Policy in Focus, blog, Aug 23, 2010)
Bulletin #97, CMRR litigation: One simple thing you can do to help, (pdf 51KB), Aug 22, 2010
Nuke lawsuit part of bigger battle, Los Alamos Monitor, article, Aug 19, 2010
Greens Sue To Stop New Plutonium Plant At Los Alamos Lab, (pdf 370KB), Energy Daily, article, Aug 18, 2010
Nuke Pit Facility Just Make-Work Project, Albuquerque Journal, Neils, op-ed, Aug 18, 2010
Sen. Udall responds as nuke group sues government, KSFR - Santa Fe Public Radio, Aug 17, 2010
Suit Targets Plutonium Lab, Albuquerque Journal North, also in the main Albuquerque Journal, article, Aug 17, 2010.
Suit filed against Los Alamos, The Great Beyond, blog, Aug 17, 2010
Los Alamos Study Group files lawsuit against Department of Energy, NNSA, Taos HorseFly, Mello, press release, Aug 16, 2010
Suit seeks to stop work on CMRR in Los Alamos, blog, Aug 16, 2010
Group files suit to halt LANL nuke facility, Santa Fe New Mexican, article, Aug 16, 2010.
NM Watchdog Group Sues To Halt Plutonium Factory, CBS2, Chicago, article, Aug 16, 2010, also here: Albany Times Union, and San Francisco Examiner. And here: Global Security Newswire, 9and10 news.
Los Alamos Study Group's "Complaint for Declaratory Judgment and Injunctive Relief under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969," (pdf 1.5MB), Aug 16, 2010
Los Alamos Study Group Files Suit against Department of Energy, NNSA, to Halt Design of $4 Billion Los Alamos Bomb Factory, press release, Aug 16, 2010
RLUOB construction in the early stages, looking east. The face of the excavation shown is about 40' tall. CMRR-NF will require a pit at least three times this deep - a challenging problem on this crowded site.
CMRR-NF will require many times more construction materials than the RLUOB.
More CMRR-RLUOB construction photos here
From previous weeks (Jun 14 - Aug 14, 2010)
LASG letter to Senators Kyl, et.al., Jul 30, 2010
Nuclear Matters: A Practical Guide, 2008 edition, Office of the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters. (In-depth discussion of nuclear weapons written for the military.Good overview of the nuclear weapons enterprise and its terminology from the military perspective.)
Activist Group Calls for "Hard Look" at CMRR-NF, Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor, article, Jul 5, 2010
Lab Watchdog Threatening Suit, Albuquerque Journal, article, Jul 2, 2010
Group urges case against new facility at LANL, The New Mexican, article, Jul 1, 2010
NM Group Wants Another Look At Los Alamos Building, NewsWest9.com, Associated Press, article, Jul 1, 2010
A New Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is needed for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility (CMRR-NF) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), LASG letter of intent, Jul 1, 2010, (pdf 1.5MB)
Citizens call on nuclear agency to abide by environmental laws, analyze impacts of proposed warhead factory and alternatives, press release, Jul 1, 2010
Study: CMRR is especially dispensable, Rio Grande Tribune, Snodgrass, article, Jun 30, 2010
Congress Chafes Over Nuke Costs, Albuquerque Journal, Fleck, Jun 29, 2010
Nuclear weapons accounts don't add up, Santa Fe New Mexican, article, Jun 26, 2010
LANL management is lying about CMRR. Enough is enough. Throw the bums out, Santa Fe New Mexican, Mello, letter to the editor, Jun 25, 2010
GAO report: Nuclear Weapons - Actions Needed to Identify Total Costs of Weapons Complex Infrastructure and Research and Production Capabilities, Jun 2010 (pdf 1.5MB)
LANL construction forum, Española, Jun 16, 2010: John Bretzke - presentation, (pdf 1.29MB)
Tom McKinney - presentation, (pdf 1.29MB)
LANL's construction website unveiled at the Española construction forum, Jun 16, 2010
LANL to unveil proposed plutonium project to Española business community Wednesday, press release, Jun 15, 2010
Large portions of Recovery Act spending fail to stimulate New Mexico's economy, press release, Jun 15, 2010 (also published in the Rio Grande Tribune.)
Nuclear and Military Maldistribution
and Inefficient Use of Recovery Act Funds in New Mexico, (pdf 1MB), Jun 15, 2010
Articles, bulletins, press releases, interviews and other information
2010
- Presentation by Rick Holmes, LANL CMRR Division Leader to ETEBA, Energy Technology and Environmental Association, Jun 10, 2010
- LANL's latest needs closer look, Santa Fe New Mexican, Malten, Letter, Jun 9, 2010
- Please RSVP and attend LANL’s public discussion of its proposed
plutonium warhead core (“pit”) factory annex, Bulletin #95, Jun 7, 2010
- A Hole Lot of Nothing, Environmental News for New Mexicans, Snodgrass, guest blog entry, Jun 7, 2010
- Mello comment on Santa Fe New Mexican, NNSA/Winchell op-ed, Jun 7, 2010
- Senate Armed Services Committee questions CMRR size, cart-before-horse approach; wants "truly independent" cost review.
The committee continues to believe that replacing the existing Chemical and Metallurgical Research facility is essential but that the new Chemical and Metallurgical Research Replacement (CMRR) facility has many unresolved issues including the appropriate size of the facility. CMRR will be a category I facility supporting pit operations in building PF–4. Now that the Nuclear Posture Review is completed the NNSA and the Department of Defense (DOD) are in a better position to ensure that the facility is appropriately sized. Elsewhere in this act the committee has recommended a provision to require construction project baselines and to track cost and schedule issues. The committee is very concerned that the NNSA follow the DOE 413 order series and project management and guidance. The NNSA is also directed to conduct a true independent cost estimate for the CMRR Nuclear Facility [CMRR-NF], phase III of the CMRR project. The committee is concerned that the phase III project [CMRR-NF] is being divided into multiple sub-projects. Notwithstanding this management approach the committee directs the CMRR baseline to reflect all phases and subprojects for the purposes of the cost and schedule baseline provision and to be accounted for as a single project.
FY2011 Defense Authorization Act Senate Report (pdf 2.3MB) pg. 274, May 27, 2010. This is report language, not law. Stay tuned.
- Bunker mentality: Is NNSA digging itself into a hole at Los Alamos?, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Mello, article, May 26, 2010
- Rep. Ben Ray Lujan answers a question on the CMRR at a public meeting in Taos, MP3 1.6MB, courtesy of Cultural Energy, (transcript in Word 14KB) May 22, 2010
- The US-Russia START Treaty:
Just What Does "Arms Control" Really Mean?, MRZine, BondGraham, article, May 20, 2010
- CMRR Executive Summary, May 11, 2010, LASG paper, (pdf 988KB)
- Bad Faith, NPT News in Review, pg 10 (pdf 1.3MB) Ray Acheson, article, May 11, 2010
- If you Love this Planet, weekly radio show with Helen Caldicott, Mello, (MP3, 54MB) May 10, 2010
- Obama Administration Requests Funding to Upgrade Several Types of Nuclear Bombs, press remarks, May 7, 2010
- Meditations for managers of the warhead complex, with emphasis on CMRR (2009), Mello, posted Apr 30.
- Against Treaties, Against All Postures, BondGraham, blog, Apr 29, (see also: Deepshit Horizon: Earth Day began with a blow-out, will it end with one?, Energy Bulletin, BondGraham, blog, Apr 23)
- LANL Rebuild More Than U.S. Nuke System Needs, ABQ Journal, Mello, Op-Ed, Apr 21, 2010
- Feds should stop “Taj Majal,” Los Alamos Monitor, Mello, Gessing, Op-Ed, Apr 18, 2010
- Los Alamos Lab's CMRR-NF project would send wrong message to world, Santa Fe New Mexican, Willem Malten, Op-Ed, Apr 17, 2010
- End funding for the nuclear facility at Los Alamos, information sheet on CMRR, (pdf 62KB) Apr 16, 2010
- The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plows ahead with a more or less $4.7B program of replacement and expansion of plutonium facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Why it must be stopped.
New Mexico's Largest Public Infrastructure Investments
in Relation to Estimated CMRR Costs
(Costs are best available; dates mostly at completion; CMRR assumed to cost $4.2B)
|
Project |
Year |
Cost Then ($M) |
Cost in 2010 ($M)1 |
Percent CMRR |
| Elephant Butte Dam, NM |
1916 |
5.2 |
222 |
5% |
| Golden Gate Bridge, CA |
1937 |
35 |
850 |
20% |
| San Juan Chama Diversion |
1964 |
>35 |
>272 |
>6% |
| Cochiti Dam, NM |
1975 |
94.4 |
344 |
8% |
| LANL TA-55 PF-4 |
1978 |
75 |
213 |
5% |
| I-40 + I-25 highways, NM (treated here as one project) |
1956-1995 |
~7.4 M/mile, 2006 dollars |
Ballpark 6,666 |
159% |
| Big I Interchange, Albuquerque |
2001 |
290 |
386 |
9% |
| San Juan Chama drinking water project, Albuquerque |
2008 |
280 |
283 |
7% |
| Railrunner Heavy Rail Extension to Santa Fe (incl. track lease) |
2008 |
~400 |
~404 |
10% |
| LANL DARHT (very approximate) |
~2008 |
~400 |
~404 |
~10% |
| SNL MESA Complex |
2008 |
516.5 |
522 |
12% |
| [1] Costs inflated to 2008 using the "Building Cost Index," from Engineering News-Record, Which began in 1923. Elephant Butte Dam costs were inflated from 1916 to 1923 using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). CPI used from 2008 to 2010. References are omitted here; inquire for details. |
- KPFA, 94.1, hard-hitting Bay area radio interview, Mello, (MP3, 5.1MB) Apr 11, 2010
- Jim Bohannon radio show, Mello, (MP3, 28.7MB) Apr 7, 2010
- Thom Hartmann radio show, Mello, (MP3, 18.7MB), Apr 4, 2010
- Letter from Representatives Pete Stark, Edward Markey, et.al. about cutting the CMRR and the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at Y-12 in favor of dismantlement,
(pdf 38KB) Mar 31, 2010
- Rethinking Obama's Nuclear Policy, Chicago Public Radio, WBEZ, Mello, (MP3, 11.6MB) Mar 3, 2010
This was the groundbreaking for the RLUOB which when completed will account for less than 10% of the total CMRR cost. Neither NNSA nor Congress have approved CMRR-NF construction.
2009
- Chemistry Metallurgy Research Replacement (CMRR) Project Primer (pdf 388KB), Dec 21, 2009 updated edition. This is the single most complete resource on CMRR we have.
- Defense Safety Board Strongly Criticizes Seismic Safety at Los Alamos Plutonium Facility, LASG press release, Oct 27, 2009
- Don't Build a Plutonium "Bridge to Nowhere," Albuquerque Journal, Mello, Op-Ed, May 17, 2009
- Administration to Slow LANL Plutonium "Pit" Factory, Cut Nuke Weapons Budget at LANL, LASG press release, May 7, 2009
- Obama Administration to Release First Nuclear Weapons Budget, LASG press release, May 7, 2009
- Nuclear “Consolidation” Network Proposes
Southwest Nuclear Weapons Complex, LASG press release, Apr 7, 2009
- Brief Partial Update on the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement (CMRR) Project at LANL, Mello, paper, Jan 28,2009
2008
- Administration Signals Nuclear Weapons Complex Preferences; Plan Calls for Billions in Weapons Plant Construction, LASG press release, Oct 9, 2008
- House, Senate Largely Endorse Bush Nuke Plans in Defense Authorization Bill, LASG press release, Sep 24, 2008
- Senate energy and water panel faces today's national security and economic emergencies largely on autopilot, LASG press release, Jul 8, 2008
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