August 27, 2002

Hon. Guy Verhofstadt

Prime Minister of Belgium

Wetstraat 16

B-1000 Brussels

Belgium

Dear Prime Minister Verhofstadt:

Stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons-usable materials is extremely important and we share this goal with you. We ask that the Belgian government find that commitment to true nuclear non-proliferation is the basis to reject the US government request for Belgian participation in the US plutonium fuel (weapons grade mixed oxide -- MOX) program. The production and use of MOX nuclear fuel is not an effective means to accomplish the goal of making the world safer from nuclear weapons.

The dismantlement of nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia created the question of what to do with the “surplus” plutonium. It is vital that this material be secure and made unusable for nuclear weapons, and that this work is done in ways that do not introduce new security dangers or nuclear hazards. We must protect the health and environment of the communities that will be impacted in the process of accomplishing these goals. The best way to attain these goals is to treat plutonium as the waste that it is, not introduce it to general commerce as the MOX program would do in both the US and Russia.

Though MOX has been promoted by both the US and Russia as a means to accomplish nuclear non-proliferation, we believe that on closer examination, you will agree with the peoples of the United States and Russia who have been working together to tell our governments that MOX fuel is a grave mistake. MOX, particularly from weapons grade plutonium will not reduce dangers of nuclear proliferation due to the following points.

1. Weapons grade plutonium is today, more than ever, the object of theft and diversion. MOX fuel production and use in power generating reactors will make plutonium more vulnerable to loss, not less. MOX would involve extensive processing and transportation, as well as storing unused reactor fuel at reactor sites. Contrary to some reports, the plutonium in fresh MOX fuel can be separated and used for weapons purposes. Though efforts have been made to improve the situation, plutonium and highly enriched uranium in Russia is still not being managed in a responsible manner due to inadequate physical and administrative controls. While MOX is being billed as the solution to this situation, it would actually make it worse since the plutonium would become a commodity in commercial fuel, literally put on the road for decades to come. The option of treating plutonium as a waste could be accomplished within the boundaries of the federal security complex of both countries.

2. Claims are made that MOX is a way to get rid of plutonium and therefore part of the US and Russia’s commitment to nonproliferation. To the contrary, the Rand Corporation found that MOX fuel irradiation does not significantly reduce the overall inventory of plutonium; though it does make it highly radioactive, and does alter the isotopic array. Nonetheless, Russia has repeatedly stated that it will eventually reprocess the irradiated MOX fuel, recover the plutonium and intends to use it in plutonium breeder reactors. Similar plans can be seen in the current energy legislation pending in the United States.

3. If the United States were committed to disarmament and nuclear arms control, as it would seem with the promotion of the MOX program as a nuclear non-proliferation project, would it simultaneously announce a new plutonium pit factory for the production of new nuclear weapons, be contemplating a return to nuclear testing and have approved a multi-billion dollar upgrade and expansion of the last remaining nuclear weapons production factory in the United States (Y-12 at Oak Ridge)? All of these actions are part of the Bush administrations near term agenda.

4. MOX raises many unresolved technical and safety questions, since weapons-grade plutonium has never been used as a fuel in commercial reactors. It would complicate reactor operation and increase the consequences of a severe nuclear reactor accident compared to conventional low-enriched uranium. The Nuclear Control Institute (non-government organization) calculates that an increase of 25 per cent in latent cancer fatalities would result from a severe reactor accident with warhead-plutonium MOX fuel. In Russia the hazard would be even greater due to the plan to mix plutonium from reactor waste (even more toxic than weapons grade) with the bomb plutonium in order to hide the original isotopic composition of the military plutonium.

5. MOX fuel production and use is likely to take longer and cost more compared to the alternative of treating plutonium as a waste.

6. MOX would not prevent plutonium from entering the environment. It would merely incorporate it into high-level radioactive waste.

7. MOX would breach the barrier between civil and military nuclear activities and undermine global nonproliferation efforts. If the leaders of the nuclear age wish to retain any credibility in their efforts to stop other nations from bridging their civilian nuclear programs into military action, the US and Russia must not merge these programs, and we urge the Belgian government to abstain from this misappropriation of the nonproliferation effort.

We must pursue the goal of non-proliferation carefully. MOX fuel is the wrong way to accomplish this vital end. The US has abandoned its plutonium immobilization program; Russia never embraced this alternative at all. It is time that the world community enter this dialog and engage the US and Russia in real steps towards real non-proliferation. Steps must be taken now in both countries to improve plutonium storage conditions and security. All of this material should be placed under international safeguards immediately. In both countries there should be sound independent oversight of the program and all aspects of the program should adhere to all relevant environmental or public process laws.

In the year 2000, non-government organizations and individuals in Russia and the United States signed a joint statement which concluded: “We pledge to expand a united international movement that will challenge every effort to develop, encourage, or use MOX fuel as a means of plutonium disposition, will work toward the goal of having all plutonium declared surplus, and vow to continue our efforts to ensure the isolation of plutonium from the environment.” We invite the Belgian Government to join us in this commitment and reject the United States request for help in making MOX fuel.

Sincerely,

Michael Mariotte

Executive Director

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

Washington, DC

Mary Olson, Director Southeast Office

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

Asheville, North Carolina

Scott Denman

Executive Director

Safe Energy Communication Council

Washington DC

Jim Riccio

Greenpeace US

Washington, DC

Susan R. Gordon, Director

Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

Seattle, Washington

Alice Slater

Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)

New York, New York

Janet Marsh Zeller

Executive Director

Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League

Glendale Springs, North Carolina

Gerald Rudolph

Carolina Peace Resource Center

Columbia, South Carolina

Gregg Jocoy

York County SC Green Party

Fort Mill, South Carolina

Karen Miley

South Carolina Upstate Greens

Anna Shockley

South Carolina United Citizens party

Jamestown, South Carolina

Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Gainesville, Florida

Glenn Carroll, Coordinator

GANE - Georgians Against Nuclear Energy

Atlanta, Georgia

Rebecca Em Campbell

Southeast Network for Intentional Communities

Asheville, North Carolina

Judy Treichel, Executive Director

Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force

Las Vegas, Nevada

Sally Light, Executive Director

Nevada Desert Experience

Offices in Las Vegas, Nevada and Berkeley, California

Donald Keesing, Nuclear Issues Coordinator &

Juanita Mendoza Keesing, Health & Public Policy Coordinator

Voices Opposed To Environmental Racism

Washington, D.C.

Ernest Goitein - Coordinator & Claire Feder - Coordinator

Californians for Radioactive Safeguards

Atherton, California

Aroza Simpson, Convenor

Gray Panthers of San Francisco

San Francisco, California

Klaus Schumann, Mary Jane Adams

SLO GREEN Party

Paso Robles, California

Annie Wildwood

Bay Area Nuclear Waste

San Francisco, California

Jan Provost

Grandmothers for Peace (Northland Chapter)

Superior, Wisconsin

George Crocker, Executive Director

North American Water Office

Lake Elmo Minnesota

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Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Citizen's Action for a Safe Environment

Leechburg, Pennsylvania

Angie Zelter

Reforest the Earth

East Runton, Cromer, Norfolk

Deb Katz

Citizens Awareness Network

Rowe, Massachusetts

David Pyles

New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution

Brattleboro, Vermont

Susu Jeffrey

MN-WEB (Minnesota-WEB)

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Reinard Knutsen

Shundahai Network

Salt Lake City, Utah

Coila Ash, Executive Director

New Mexico Toxics Coalition

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Will Bigger

The Liberal Interest Group at Francis Marion University

Florence, South Carolina

Alan Burns

Charlotte Area Green Party

Charlotte, North Carolina

Adele Kushner

Action for a Clean Environment

Alto, Georgia

Corinne Carey

Grand Rapids coordinator

Don't Waste Michigan

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Carol Mosley

Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice

Graham, Florida

Mary Lampert

Massachusetts Citizens for Safe Energy

Boston, Massachusetts

Scott Mathern-Jacobson

Loaves & Fishes Catholic Worker

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Michael J. Keegan

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Alice Hirt

Don't Waste Michigan

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Keith Gunter

Citizens' Resistance at Fermi Two

Monroe, Michigan

Becky Bornhorst

Downwinders at Risk

Duncanville, Texas

Nina Bell, J.D.

Executive Director

Northwest Environmental Advocates

Portland, Oregon

Dave Kraft

Nuclear Energy Information Service

Evanston, Illinois

Chris Trepal
Earth Day Coalition
Cleveland, Ohio

Alan Muller, Executive Director
Green Delaware
Port Penn, Delaware

Marylia Kelley

Executive Director,

Tri-Valley CAREs

(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)

Livermore, California

Michael Welch, volunteer

Redwood Alliance & REEI

Arcata, California

Bernice Kring

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Sacramento, California

Harvey Wasserman

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Three Mile Island Alert

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Frank C. Subjeck

AIR, WATER, EARTH

Lake Havasu City, Arizona

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Peace Resource Center of San Diego

San Diego, California

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Executive Director

Waste Action Project

Seattle, Washington

Jim Boland

Peace Resource Center

Wilmington, Ohio

Dawn Pietrykowski
University of Toledo Campus Greens

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Greg Mello

Los Alamos Study Group

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Gladys Schmitz

Mankato Area Environmentalists

Mankato, Minnesota

Roger Herried

Abalone Alliance

San Francisco, California

Sandra Gavutis

Executive Director

C-10 Research and Education Foundation, Inc.

Newburyport, Massachusetts

Bobbie Paul
Atlanta WAND (Women's Action for New Directions)
Atlanta, Georgia

Peggy Prince, Director

Peace Action New Mexico

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Jessica Hiemenz

Taking Responsibility for the Earth and the Environment

Blacksburg, Virginia

Sidney Goodman

SJG Design, Inc.

Paramus, New Jersey

Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa
The Nuclear Resister
Tucson, Arizona

Philip Tymon

Occidental Arts and Ecology Center

Occidental, California

Jennifer Olaranna Viereck

Director
HOME: Healing Ourselves & Mother Earth
Tecopa, California

Philip M. Klasky
Co-director

Bay Area Nuclear Waste Coalition
San Francisco, California

Natalie Davis

The Armchair Activist

Baltimore, Maryland

Elinor Weiss

Social Action Committee of Temple Sinai

East Amherst, New York

Gilly Birlingham

Regional Action Group for the Environment

Perry, New York

Lorraine Krofchok

Director

Grandmothers for Peace International

Elk Grove, California

Katharine Dodge

Energy Chair

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Honesdale, Pennsylvania

Pat Birnie

Tucson Branch

WILPF

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Arizona Safe Energy Coalition

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Citizen Alert

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Bob Darby

Food Not Bombs

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Susan Bloomfield, Nuclear Issues Chair

Georgia Sierra Club

Augusta, Georgia

Robert Eidus

North Carolina Ginseng & Goldenseal Co.

Marshall, North Carolina

Tom Turnipseed

Turnipseed & Associates, Attorneys at Law

Columbia, South Carolina

Ellen Thomas

Proposition One Committee

Washington, DC

Judith Johnsrud

Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power

State College, Pennsylvania

Sandy C. Smith for

York Co. Sludge Busters

Brogue, Pennsylvania

Hollis Zelinsky

Central Pennsylvania Citizens for Survival

State College, Pennsylvania

Brian Laverty

Pennsylvania Environmental Network

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Judy Rock & Martha Wickenham

PEACE

Western Pennsylvania

James Syfer, PhD

Professors for Democratic Education

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, California

Dr.. D.K. Cinquemani

Safe Earth Alliance

Largo, Florida

Mark Donham

Coalition for Nuclear Justice

Brookport, Illinois

E.M.T. O'Nan

Director

Protect All Children's Environment

Marion, North Carolina

Joshua Bills

Appalachia--Science in the Public Interest

Mt. Vernon, Kentucky

Peg Ryglisyn

Connecticut Opposed to Waste

Broad Brook, Connecticut

Maryna Harrison

New York City Women's Action for New Directions

New York, New York

David Krieger, President

Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Santa Barbara, California

Susan Clark

Americans For A Safe Future

Los Angeles, California

Judi Friedman

PACE People's Action for Clean Energy

Canton, Connecticut

Jocelyn Harimon

PEACE group @ Long Island University

Southampton, New York

Stephanie Mertens, ASC

Coordinator, US ASC Justice and Peace Office

Red Bud, Illinois

INTERNATIONAL

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Australian Peace Committee

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Denis Doherty

National Co-ordinator

Dr Hannah Middleton

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Nic Maclellan

Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP)

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Thorben Becker

GLOBAL 2000

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Centre for Environmental Information & Education

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Urgewald e.V.
Sassenberg, NRW
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BARSEBACKSOFFENSIV Germany
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Gewaltfreie Aktion Atomwaffen Abschaffen

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Ashok Sharma

World Peace & Nuclear Disarmament

Puram, New Delhi, India

Behzad Haghighi

Iranian Environmental NGOs Network

Tehran, Iran

Nick Armstrong,

Chairperson,

Earthwatch/Friends of the Earth Ireland.

Dublin, Ireland

Ak Malten

Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance

The Hague, Netherlands

Frank van Schaik

A SEED Europe

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Willem VanLeenhoff

VMD-Leiden (FoE-NL)

Leiden, Netherlands

Peer De Rijk

WISE Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Alexey Yablokov,

President

The Center for Russian Environmental Policy

Moscow, Russia

Lydia Popova

Director

Center for Nuclear Ecology and Energy Policy

Socio-Ecological Union International

Moscow, Russia

Vladimir Mikheev

Director

Citizens' Center on Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Krasnoyarsk, Russia

Olga Podosenova

Coordinator of the antinuclear programs

The Ural Ecological Union

Ekaterinburg, Russia

Jaume Morron

WISE-Spain

Tarragona, Spain

Jorma Kahanpää

Swedish Anti Nuclear Movement.
Stockholm, Sweden

Tanya Murza

Ecoclub

Rivne, Ukraine

Serghiy Fedorynchyk,

Director of Zeleny Svit Information Centre,

Ukrainian Environmental Association Zeleny Svit,

Kyiv, Ukraine

Yury Urbansky

National Ecological Centre of Ukraine

Kyiv, Ukraine