Healing Our World Commentary: Nuclear Submarines: Grim Reminder of a Dark Secret

By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

Nuclear Submarines: Grim Reminder of a Dark Secret

We who have lost our sense and our senses
Our touch, our smell, our vision of who we are;
we who frantically force and press all things,
without rest for body or spirit,
hurting our Earth and injuring ourselves;
We call a halt.
-- Daniel Martin

The tragedy of the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk off the coast of Norway's northeastern tip on Sunday is a grim reminder that nuclear weapons and nuclear technologies still present as much a threat as they ever did. In fact, the threat may be greater than at any other time in history.

The potential for environmental catastrophe from this massive program is enormous.

The threat is aimed at human lives - the lives of people defined as enemies. The threat is environmental because of the widespread radioactive contamination that would occur if any of these nuclear weapons is used or if an accident damages the power reactors aboard these vessels, allowing radiation to escape into the environment.

Five countries have nuclear powered naval vessels. The United States has 101 nuclear subs in its fleet and Russia has 109. There are 241 nuclear subs in the world! This deadly arsenal is evidence that the world is constantly on the brink of war and environmental devastation.

New Virginia class of modern U.S. Nuclear Submarine (Photo courtesy http://www.shima.demon.co.uk/)

Scotland is estimated to have as many as 266 Trident submarine warheads - many purchased from the U.S. - each one a powerful nuclear weapon. It is estimated that Britain builds a new nuclear bomb every eight days.

Five countries have nuclear powered naval vessels: Russia, the United States, Great Britain, France and China. India is currently building a nuclear sub.

The submarines of the Western countries typically have only one reactor on board, whereas two reactors power most Russian submarines. Excluding Russia, these nations have more than 132 nuclear submarines. Britain has 13 nuclear subs, France has 11, and China has six. The United States, the country of "peace," has a staggering 101 nuclear submarines.

The environmental consequences of nuclear submarine disasters are substantial. Each of the two reactors on the Kursk is likely to contain around 600 kilograms of uranium. It is estimated that there may be 1.2 to 3 metric tons of uranium on board.

There are already five nuclear powered submarines on the floor of the world's oceans. Two of them are American and three are Russian. Each is leaking radioactivity into the ocean and, ultimately, into the food chain and the web of life.

And we are still building more! Nine nuclear submarines are under construction in the U.S. alone and more have been ordered. So much for peace. In fact, in some U.S. Department of Defense documents, the word "peace" is never used. Instead, they use the chilling phrase "permanent, pre-hostility."

U.S. nuclear subs that have been retired are sent to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. When the nuclear ship or sub arrives, the core of its nuclear reactor is removed, if the reactor is still on board, and the vessel is placed in line for recycling of its metal or packaging of its radioactive parts for shipment to the Hanford Nuclear Facility in southeast Washington.

The inevitable consequence. A "small" 23 kiloton nuclear explosion. Today's warheads yield 100 kilotons and more. (Photo courtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory)

Although rarely reported in the mainstream media, large numbers of protests against this nuclear proliferation occur regularly around the world. On August 14, 161 people were arrested in 27 actions in Europe calling for disarmament of nuclear submarines in the United Kingdom. Since 1982, the Falsane Peace Camp has been in operation, protesting the Trident Submarine base at Dunbartonshire, Scotland.

Conservative estimates suggest that the U.S. has 13,000 nuclear warheads and that Russia has 11,000. Most of these are ground or submarine launched Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. It is estimated that the UK has 260 nuclear warheads, France 450 and China 400. It is impossible to get accurate estimates.

Plans continue for future submarine construction. The U.S. Navy purchased 12 Trident II submarines in the FY 2000 budget, and 12 more were requested in the FY 2001 budget. Over $24 billion has been allocated in the 2000 budget. Each submarine can carry 192 missiles and each missile can have as many as eight nuclear warheads. It is estimated that 3,456 warheads are deployed in the U.S. nuclear submarine weapons systems.

These submarines are not defensive weapons designed to fight other subs. Their sole purpose is to go undetected throughout the world's oceans and remain hidden until nuclear missiles are launched by another nation. They then surface and counter launch with as many multiple warhead nuclear missiles as they can before their position is discovered and they are destroyed.

The skies above us are littered with war machines as well. The U.S. expects to expand its B-52 bomber fleet to 76 in the year 2001, carrying over 800 air launched cruise missiles and advanced cruise missiles, with hundreds more in reserve. Combined with the warheads carried by the B-2 bombers, the total number of warheads in our skies is a staggering 1,750.

Do you still believe our politicians' rhetoric that we are at peace, or does it sound more like we are in a constant state of readiness for war?

Enough is enough. U.S. citizens must join the worldwide protests against this weapons buildup. No longer can we allow ourselves to believe that the Cold War is a thing of the past.

The environmental devastation that would result from an explosion of one of the many warheads on the planet is clear. The insidious leakage of radiation and the consequences of the spent nuclear submarine reactors is less obvious, yet just as dangerous.

Get your children to join you in protesting this ridiculous roller coaster ride to oblivion.

RESOURCES

1. For a report detailing the possible radiation hazards from the stranded Russian Kursk submarine, visit http://ds.dial.pipex.com/cndscot/news/000815b.html#sunk

2. Visit the website of Trident Plowshares, a group working to end the British nuclear submarine race, at http://www.gn.apc.org/tp2000/

3. Learn about the current state of the world’s nuclear arsenal from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at http://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/nukenotes/mj00nukenote.html

4. For a summary of the nuclear arsenals around the world, visit http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/index.html

5. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. Demand that they immediately stop approving funding for nuclear weapons construction. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html or you can search by state at http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html. You can also find your representatives at http://congress.nw.dc.us/innovate/index.html

6. Get involved. The following sites will help you become an anti-nuclear weapons activist:

• The War Resistors League at http://www.nonviolence.org/wrl/nva.htm
  
• The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation at http://www.napf.org/
  
• The Nonviolence Web at http://www.nonviolence.org/
  
• The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at http://www.cnduk.org/welcome.htm
  
• Physicians for Social Responsibility at http://www.psr.org/securhol.htm
  
• Union of Concerned Scientists at http://www.ucsusa.org/arms/index.html

[Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle. He can be found marveling at all the tourists visiting warships stationed here, oblivious to the destruction they represent. Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his web site at http://www.healingourworld.com]