Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

A national network of organizations working to address issues of

nuclear weapons production and waste cleanup

for further information, contact:

Susan Gordon: (206) 853-6399

or local contacts listed at end of advisory.

for immediate release, Monday, October 15, 2007

PUBLIC FORUM – FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19:

National network puts nuclear weapons production at the Kansas City Plant in perspective

Friday, October 19 – 7pm to 9:30pm

All Souls Unitarian Church

4501 Walnut Street

Kansas City, MO

On Friday, October 19, the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, a network of national and grassroots organizations whose members live downwind and downstream from the major U.S. nuclear weapons facilities, will host a public forum detailing the central role of the Kansas City Plant in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex.

Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security, P.R.E.S.S., Inc. is a member group of the ANA. Portsmouth resident, Joni Fearing, will be attending this meeting for P.R.E.S.S., as part of a three day ANA conference, in Kansas City, MO. “I am proud to be able to represent the people and concerns of Southern Ohio at

this ANA meeting,” Ms. Fearing said. “My father died from cancer as a result of working at the A-Plant in Piketon, Ohio, and my hope is that workers will not have to continue to work in this dangerous industry.” Vina Colley, president of P.R.E.S.S., understands the concerns of the Kansas City area. “Piketon was part of the Cold War effort for decades and we are still suffering the effects of that work,” states Ms. Colley.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is pushing a reluctant Congress to completely overhaul nuclear weapons design and production facilities at eight major facilities. A new $500 million facility is planned for the Kansas City Plant (KCP) as part of DOE’s provocative “Complex Transformation” plan (formerly Complex 2030).

Every other DOE nuclear weapons site involved in the Complex Transformation plan will be evaluated through a legally required “Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement” process. But at KCP, the Energy Department is preparing a far less rigorous “Environmental Assessment.” The Assessment will not consider the new plant within the national context of DOE’s planned future nuclear weapons complex.

“The people of Kansas City are being denied a basic legal right that DOE knows it has to observe at all of its other nuclear weapons sites,” says Jay Coghlan, Executive Director of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico. “While the Bush Administration talks about a smaller arsenal, it specifically plans to increase nuclear weapons components production at KCP and woefully underfund environmental restoration. We’re here to tell DOE to cleanup, not build up nuclear weapons!”

Marylia Kelley, Executive Director of Tri-Valley CAREs, adds, “The weapons components currently coming out of the Kansas City Plant and the new generation of nukes that DOE wants so badly are undermining our security. We can’t dictate to other nations that they must not have these weapons when we are actively upgrading our own and planning on a new production complex for nukes.”

Donna Constantineau, Project Coordinator at PeaceWorks Kansas City and the local host of Friday’s public forum welcomes her colleagues from around the country. “PeaceWorks is a proud new member of ANA and we are using this opportunity to raise the profile of KCP within the weapons complex. The stakes are high and it’s time for everyone to be aware of what’s going on here.”

At the same time that ANA is focusing on the Kansas City Plant, a report is being released by the Director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation that details the role of KCP in the Energy Department’s plans to resume industrial scale production of nuclear weapons. William Hartung’s “To Build or Not to Build” describes DOE’s plans for new facilities and capabilities and highlights the central role of the Kansas City Plant in Complex Transformation. “It’s time that the Kansas City Plant is recognized by the public and the nuclear policy community for what it truly is: the lynchpin of the weapons complex.”

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Additional Contacts

Donna Constantineau, PeaceWorks Kansas City

Kansas City, MO – (913) 281-5499

Jay Coghlan, Executive Director, Nuclear Watch of New Mexico

Santa Fe, NM – (505) 989-7342, cell (505) 920-7118

Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment

Livermore, CA – (925) 443-7148, cell (925) 255-3589

William D. Hartung – Director, Arms and Security Initiative; New America Foundation

New York, NY – (212) 431-5808 ex. 201