KC “Is Preparing for Nuclear War,” says KC Star column

Ann Suellentrop holds out hope as she speaks before protesting at Savannah River Site.
-- Ann Suellentrop addresses peace activists before protesting at Savannah River Site in December. Photo by Kimmy Igla

The Kansas City Star headlined the Jan. 20 column “Kansas City Is Preparing for Nuclear War. We Don’t Have To Sit By and Watch It Happen.” See https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article298718513.html

PeaceWorks KC Vice Chair Ann Suellentrop, MSRN, a board member of the national Physicians for Social Responsibility, wrote the column. She details the new nuclear weapon projects coming to the KC National Security Campus. She says, “The Kansas City projects listed in the Department of Energy’s budget laboratory tables include the following weapons:

  • The B61-12, a gravity bomb that the U.S. shares with five European air force bases. It has a Boeing tail kit that makes it a maneuverable “smart” bomb. This bomb costs more than its weight in gold.
  • The W88 ALT 370 warhead, used in the Navy’s Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
  • The W80-4 warhead, the Air Force’s long-range standoff weapon.
  • The W87-1 modification program that replaces the W78 warhead.
  • The W93/MK7 program, used in submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
  • The Enterprise Pit Production-Plutonium Modernization and Plutonium Disposition program.”

Suellentrop comments: After the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, interest in the nuclear threat waned. But we are now experiencing a new nuclear arms race that is proceeding without much fanfare.”

She adds, “Negotiations are underway for public government hearings to allow citizens to weigh in on the use of our tax money for this provocative and dangerous new nuclear arms race. Kansas City could possibly host one of these hearings.”

You can comment online on Suellentrop’s column, via the link to the story. Note the photo The KC Star chose from its archive, from April 2024—three persons under arrest for trespassing at the site of the property being levelled for the massive new building to come at the KC National Security Campus.

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