The Kansas City Plant Awareness Project
Kansas City NNSA/Honeywell Watch (Blog)
Home Grown Arms Race
by Donna Constantineau
When most people think of the Kansas City Plant located at 93rd and Troost, they immediately associate it with Bendix Corporation. In 1949 the Atomic Energy Commission asked the Bendix Corporation to manage the facility and began building non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons. Bendix and other predecessor companies have maintained this role over the past 50 years.
For more information, contact Ann Sullentrop, annsuellen@gmail.com, phone 913-342-0587
The President of Honeywell corporation stated that the non-nuclear components they produce comprise 85% of the parts manufactured within the Honeywell nuclear weapons complex as well as 85% of the components that constitute a nuclear weapon. Currently they are shipping an average of 5000 weapon packages monthly. In July 2005 the president of the Honeywell Corp. subsidiary that operates the Kansas City plant said the plant was experiencing its heaviest workoad in 20 years and was projecting that the pace would continue until 2015. We are left with a haunting question: "Why is the plant back to its old workoad of the Cold War years?" It is apparent that another nuclear weapons arms race is underway in our own community! With the U.S. accusing North Korea as being an egregious violator of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it's time we face our own complicity.
The 1980's was a time when peace activists made their presence known to Bendix. Brother Louis Rodemann recalls the "Bendix Conversion Project" which was an effort to challenge the corporation to use their facility for only civilian products and to stop manufacturing components for nuclear weapons that fueled the arms race. In the 1980's, there were also walks of 60 to 100 activists from Bendix to the Whiteman Air Force Base beginning on August 6th and ending August 9th to commemorate the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was said that if the dead bodies were lined up from the two U.S. bombings in Japan, it would equal the distance between Bendix and the Whiteman Air Force Base.
In the early 1990's, according to Brother Louis, the 150 minutemen missiles under the security of the Whiteman Air Force Base were taken out of commission and removed. This victory along with the waning of the Cold War in the early 1990's took the spotlight off the Kansas City Plant. Today, however, the National Nuclear Security Administration owns the plant that is managed by Honeywell Corporation.
On the plan's website (www.kcp.com) Steve Taylor, Kansas City Site Office Manager said, "Honeywell has always maintained its long-standing tradition of excellence in the supporting non-nuclear components for the nuclear weapon stockpiles." He adds, "In 2005, the NNSA challenged Honeywell to deliver a plan to transform the Kansas City Plant into a smaller, more cost-effective operation in order to meet the challenging demands of the nation's nuclear deterrent."
Our work here is in conjunction with the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability.
Toward a Sustainable Future
Talking Points Opposing Nuclear Weapons
With Recomendations
(A Kansas City Perspective)
Complex Transformation (CT) is the administration’s plan to seek funds to restructure and rebuild the Nuclear Weapons Complex. It is an attempt to build the next generation of nuclear weapons under the guise of making them more reliable and useable. The Honeywell Kansas City Plant (KCP) has been called “the lynchpin” of the nuclear weapons industry.
The whole concept of CT is based on lies generated to convince our elected officials and the public that useable nuclear weapons are needed and that production facilities should be updated. However, the nuclear weapons arsenal has been shown to be in tact and viable by the Scientific Advisory Group called JASON. CT has been explained as “consolidation” but takes the existing eight plants and moves them to eight new plants.
Employment has been sited by our elected officials for keeping these plants in operation. The KCP employed 8,000 in the 1980’s which has dwindled to 2650 and will be diminished to 2000 at the new plant. Also, building Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) is not only immoral and dangerous to the environment, but not sustainable. According to their website KCP can build anything. Why can’t this include good paying jobs in the production of technology for verification of nuclear security or alternative energy production? Their website also boasts of their commitment to the community and environmental protection proving a complete disconnect with reality.
All over the country hearings are being held where tens of thousands of citizen taxpayers are turning out and are expressing their opposition to CT. In KC the citizens have been left out of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement required by NEPA. Where the citizens have had a chance to express their opinion, it has been overwhelmingly opposed.
It seems obvious to state that nuclear weapons are not usable. Use of them would end the world as we know it. The devastating effects would be nuclear winter, famine and disease, plus the land would not be usable for thousands of years. Even a small regional nuclear war would kill thousands of millions indiscriminately. Using them would amount to suicide.
In the U.S., more than 15,600 square miles are occupied by the nuclear weapons industry. Loss of use due to spills and leaks are widespread. Beryllium contamination and pcbs have caused cancers, congenital defects and respiratory disease. Plans for waste disposal are not in place, money for clean-up is not in budget proposals and people who are sick are not being compensated.
Money is being diverted away from human needs. 12 Trillion dollars has been spent so far on Nuclear Weapons worldwide. Issues of poverty, education and healthcare could have been solved with a fraction of that money. Complex Transformation amounts to a “bailout” of the nuclear weapons industry. The cost has been grossly underestimated because cleanup has not been included. It is estimated at $300 Billion to clean up the entire complex.
The new plant in KC is estimated to cost $500 million, but the cost for clean-up at the old plant has been estimated at $287 million which has not been included in the budget. The Honeywell president in 2005 said that the plant was experiencing “it’s heaviest workload in 20 years.” (this, after the cold war is over) The Complex would produce 125 new nuclear weapons a year until 2030. The U.S. spends $110 million a day on its nuclear forces. We must halt the drain on our resources. Our unsustainable economy is based on violence and war. As an example, Costa Rica has an efficient humane economy based on peace.
Nuclear weapons are obsolete. Mutually assured destruction is not a reasonable deterrent in the age of terrorist bombs in suitcases. Fissel materials have been stolen, and bombs have been lost. 300 Kilograms of Plutonium _ has been lost from the Los Alamos Lab, enough to make 60 bombs. Keeping these materials safe is not 100% feasible. Accidental detonation is a looming threat because of the high alert status of many warheads. We are not safer due to nuclear weapons, on the contrary, the longer nuclear weapons are in existence the bigger is the chance that one will be detonated on purpose or by accident.
As long as the U.S. produces WMD’s others will want them. We can’t keep telling North Korea, Iran and others they cannot have them when we continue to produce and update them. This leads to worldwide instability. The U.S., being the most powerful nation, should lead by example. We should help other nations, not threaten them. By so doing we will regain the respect of the world. We should diminish the role of nuclear weapons in military doctrine and in foreign policy. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty committed the United States to work toward a goal of nuclear disarmament and is the law of the land. Complex Transformation undermines these agreements with the Global Community.
Recommendations:
Defund Complex Transformation; take all warheads off high alert to avoid false alarms and accidental detonation, investigate the “loss” of nuclear mateials; sign and adhere to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; stick to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and increase dismantlement; clean up sites and make reparations to those communities whose soil and water have been contaminated and whose people have been made ill; meet human needs for shelter, education and health care; retool for alternative energy that is non-nuclear to keep radioactive materials out of the environment and out of the hands of terrorists; create sustainable jobs; talk and use diplomacy to promote democratic openness. Support HR2641”Comprehensive Nuclear Security Plan”
We should heed the warnings of distinguished leaders as well. From all around the world hundreds have warned of the dangers inherent in relying on nuclear weapons for security. Let us leave a legacy of the sane values of democracy, accountability and sustainability that serve all of humanity.
Comments can be sent via email to Complex2030@nnsa.doe.gov or to Theordore A. Wyka, Complex 2030 SEIS Document Manager, Office of Transformation, U.S. Department of Energy, NA-1-1, 1000 Independence Ave. S.W., Washington DC 20585
