[Peace-discuss] nucs once more

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030510/1/3awan.html

Agence France-Presse
May 10, 2003

US Senate committee agrees to lift ban on development
of small-scale nukes

-The panel also approved 15 million dollars for
development of Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, also
known as a "bunker-buster" for its ability to
penetrate and destroy underground bunkers.
The new bunker-buster would be a redesign of an
existing nuclear weapon, and would have yields six
times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, The Los
Angeles Times said.
-"We have tried for 50-plus years to make these
weapons unthinkable," Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat
from Rhode Island, told The New York Times. "And now
we're talking about giving them a tactical
application. It's a dangerous departure."





The US Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to
lift a ban on research and development of low-yield
nuclear weapons in the United States.

A provision repealing the 10-year-old ban was included
in the 2004 national defense authorization bill, which
the Senate committee passed Friday.

The bill must still pass through the US House Armed
Services Committee, the full House and the Senate and
can be amended at each stage. US President George W.
Bush, whose administration had requested the repeal,
would then have to sign the bill to enact it into law.

But critics of the repeal, who consider the ban a
pillar of arms control in the United States, have said
that the best place to block it would have been during
deliberations by the influential Senate committee.

The 1993 ban, called the Spratt-Furse Amendment,
prohibits research and development leading to
production of low-yield nuclear weapons, defined as a
weapon with an explosive force of less than five
kilotonnes, or 5,000 tonnes of TNT.

The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was measured at
15 kilotonnes, according to media reports here.

In a statement, the committee said it had "authorized
a provision to repeal the ban on research and
development of low yield nuclear weapons," and stated
that nothing in the repeal shall be construed as
"authorizing the testing, acquisition or deployment of
a low-yield nuclear weapon."

Proponents say the measure is necessary to counter
emerging threats and because countries such as North
Korea, India and Pakistan do not observe
non-proliferation treaties.

"Without committing to deployment, research on
low-yield nuclear warheads is a prudent step to
safeguard America from emerging threats and enemies
who go deeper and deeper underground," Senator John
Warner, chairman of the committee, was quoted as
saying in The New York Times.

The panel also approved 15 million dollars for
development of Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, also
known as a "bunker-buster" for its ability to
penetrate and destroy underground bunkers.

The new bunker-buster would be a redesign of an
existing nuclear weapon, and would have yields six
times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, The Los
Angeles Times said.

The Senate committee's version of the bill authorizes
400.5 billion dollars in military spending in fiscal
year 2004, including 9.1 billion dollars for ballistic
missile defense research, development and procurement,
and a 3.7 percent across-the-board pay raise for
uniformed service personnel.

The panel also backed a provision requiring the US
Energy Department to "achieve and maintain the ability
to conduct an underground nuclear test within 18
months, should it become necessary for the president
to order such a test."

The committee was sharply divided on the lifting the
nuclear ban.

"We have tried for 50-plus years to make these weapons
unthinkable," Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode
Island, told The New York Times. "And now we're
talking about giving them a tactical application. It's
a dangerous departure."