NukeWatch Presentations

Presentation to the Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee on Discussion Topics Concerning LANL Jay Coghlan
Questionable Department of Energy benefits to New Mexico:

• DOE plans to spend $9.4 billion in New Mexico during this fiscal year 2023, 71% for nuclear weapons research and production while much of the rest is for related radioactive waste disposal. This is 10% more than the State’s entire operating budget of $8.5 billion. Forty-one percent of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nation-wide FY 2023 nuclear weapons research and production budget will be spent in the Land of Enchantment alone(1).

• How does this really benefit New Mexicans when the Land of Enchantment:

  • Has the third highest rate of poverty (18.2%) after Mississippi and Louisiana(2);
  • Is fourth lowest in per capita income in 2022, 3 down from 37th in 1959; and
  • Is ranked 46th in best states to live in, according to five criteria (affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life, and safety),4 dead last in quality of education(5) and dead last in quality of life for children?(6)

• At the same time, Los Alamos County is the 11th richest county in the USA(7), has the most millionaires per capita (11.6%)(8), and has been ranked the best county to live in(9). Clearly the economic benefits are for a privileged minority of the New Mexican population.

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there are no good scenarios in a nuclear war scenario

Sticky

“I attempt to demonstrate that there are no good scenarios in a nuclear war scenario. There are no good answers…We, the public, now know that no matter how nuclear war begins in various scenarios—whether NATO’s involved, whether China’s involved, whether it’s a tactical weapon or a strategic weapon—it ends in a nuclear apocalypse.”

– Here’s How Nuclear War Could Destroy Civilization in Just a Few Hours, Jon Skolnik, Vanity Fair