Court Overturns Sabotage Convictions for Y-12 Protestors
NS&D Monitor
5/15/2015
In a 2-1 decision, a federal appeals court has reversed the conviction of three Plowshares protesters on sabotage charges for the 2012 break-in at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and sent the case back to U.S. District Court in Knoxville, Tenn., for resentencing on the other charge of injuring government property. If the government doesn’t appeal the May 8 decision by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, it’s likely that the three defendants – Sister Megan Rice, an 85-year-old Catholic nun, and her two fellow protesters, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed – will be freed from federal prisons for their time already served. No date for resentencing has yet been scheduled. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Theodore, who prosecuted the case, said the government had no comment on the decision at this time.
Attorneys representing the Plowshares protesters late this week filed an “emergency motion” with the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking their immediate release from federal prison. The motion states that, as noted in the court decision, it appears that sentences for the remaining charges in the case would be “substantially less” than the time already served by Rice, Walli and Boertje-Obed. “Accordingly, Defendants request that the Court expeditiously issue an order either granting their release or, in the alternative, remanding the case to the district court . . . ,” the motion states. The legal team argues that the three peace activists are not a flight risk or a danger to the community.
The motion also cites Rice’s medical condition as another reason, as she is currently incarcerated at a federal prison in Brooklyn, N.Y. “She is suffering from a range of health problems, which, although not grave, have been causing her pain and discomfort for the past 12 months,” the emergency motion states. “She hopes for release so that she can seek medical attention to address these problems.”
Court: Sabotage Charge Doesn’t Hold Up
The three protesters, who called their actions at Y-12 the Transform Now Plowshares, broke into Y-12 in the early morning hours of July 28, 2012, cutting through multiple fences – including the sensor-laden fences of the Perimeter Intrusion Detection and Assessment System – to reach the plant’s storage facility for bomb-grade uranium. They defaced the exterior of the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility with painted messages and human blood and were on site for the better part of an hour before a guard showed up to put them under detention and, later, arrest.
The court’s decision said that the sabotage charge didn’t hold up in this case, noting that there was no clear evidence that the protesters actually intended to interfere with the nation’s defense or that their actions actually resulted in any damage to the nation’s security. “We reject the government’s argument that the defendants intended to interfere with the national defense by seeking to create ‘bad publicity’ for Y-12. First Amendment issues aside, it takes more than bad publicity to injure the national defense,” the court’s conclusion stated. The majority judges noted, “Y-12 houses not a single weapon of any kind (other than the guards’ firearms, presumably), much less any weapons whose brief incapacitation would affect the nation’s ability to wage war or defend against attack.” The decision also noted that the 15-day shutdown of operations at the Oak Ridge plant did not have any effect on the size or the effectiveness of the nation’s nuclear arsenal.
ORNL Designated Lead Lab on Pu-238 Program
NS&D Monitor
5/15/2015
Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been designated the Department of Energy’s lead lab on the budding program to rebuild a domestic supply of plutonium-238 for the space program, and full-scale production could begin as early as 2019, depending on the funding, according to Oak Ridge officials. The current year’s funding at ORNL is $17 million, and about $15 million is expected in 2016. “We anticipate similar levels of support in the coming years,” said John Krueger, the program manager at Oak Ridge.
Over the past couple of years during pilot activities at Oak Ridge, the High Flux Isotope Reactor produced about 130 grams of the unique radioisotope that’s used as a fuel for RTGs (radioisotope thermoelectric generators) that help produce electricity for deep-space missions where solar power is not a viable option. NASA is funding the Pu-238 work that’s being carried out at DOE labs, including Idaho and Los Alamos.
The U.S. has not a domestic source of non-fissile Pu-238 since 1988. At least part of the current stockpile of Pu-238, which is estimated to be about 35 kilograms, was purchased from Russia, and given the current state of U.S.-Russia relations that’s no longer considered to be a solid source for the future. The goal of the program is to produce an average of 1.5 kilograms of Pu-238 per year. Each radioisotope thermoelectric generator uses about 4.8 kilograms of plutonium-238. That means it will take about three years of production for a single mission, based on the current scenarios envisioned for the program.
At Oak Ridge, the isotope is produced by inserting targets of neptunium-237 in slots outside the HFIR’s reactor core along the beryllium reflector. The neptunium targets are irradiated in the reactor for three operating cycles to produce the optimum amount of plutonium-238. There also are plans to use Idaho’s Advanced Test Reactor for production of the plutonium isotope.
Although the ATF had a potential for producing greater quantities of the material, it will provide only about a third if the target goal remains at 1.5 kilograms a year, according to Krueger and Bob Wham, the technical lead on the project. After being removed from the reactor, the targets are then dissolved with acid and chemically processed to remove the plutonium, which is then purified and eventually treated to produce an oxide in powder form.
Once the plutonium has been produced, extracted and purified, it will be shipped to Los Alamos, where the Pu-238 oxide will be pressed into pellets for the space fuel sources. Currently, ORNL is receiving quantities of neptunium from Idaho National Laboratory (where the Savannah River-produced material has been stored). The targets are manufactured in lab’s Radiochemical Engineering Development Center, a hot cell facility that’s located near the HFIR. The existing U.S. inventory of Pu-238 is expected to last until 2024, but Oak Ridge officials said they hope to provide new material before then to augment the supply. High-purity material could also improve the quality of the current inventory, they said.
Y-12 Security Increased, Access Restricted to New Hope Center
NS&D Monitor
5/15/2015
The National Nuclear Security Administration this week increased the “security awareness and vigilance” at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and restricted access to the plant’s New Hope Center – the plant’s most publicly accessible facility. Steven Wyatt, public affairs chief for the NNSA’s Production Office, said the security response was not due to any specific threat but rather the “overall threat” of terrorism at government facilities in the current climate.
New Hope Center, which houses a history museum, visitor center and large auditorium often used for public events, was locked during business hours and available only to badged employees or those coming to previously scheduled events. “We are currently limiting access of the New Hope Center as part of the steps we’ve taken in recent days to heighten overall site security awareness,” Wyatt said in response to questions. “This is not a response to any specific threat, but because of the overall threat of potential terrorism that currently exists against all U.S. government facilities and assets.” The NNSA spokesman did not comment on what other security actions have been taken.
Besides the visitor check-in facilities, etc., New Hope Center also has offices that provide a home base for a number of Y-12 employees and some small research laboratories. Wyatt said that an event to be hosted by Cold War Patriots would go forward as scheduled. In addition, the facility would serve as the launching point for June 12 public tours associated with the Oak Ridge’s annual Secret City Festival. The NNSA would not comment on how long the security changes would remain in place.
The Department of Energy’s public bus tours, which typically include a stop at the New Hope Center, continued as usual on Monday and Wednesday, but did not include the normal stop at Y-12. However, there were indications that the visit to New Hope Center would be included again in a tour late this week. Wyatt said Y-12 has not formally changed its security level, even though some changes have been made in recent days.
