Most people think with the Cold War over, nuclear weapons, and, the nuclear industry as a whole, will simply become a thing of the past. This is NOT the perspective of the people who run the nuclear weapons labs--the heart of the nuclear industry. DOE plans for creating an "assembly line" for international commerce in enriched uranium for foreign atomic power plants are swinging into high gear at the same time the justification for the existence of the nuclear establishment over the past 50 years--communism--is no more.

The following Fact Sheet by the Western States Legal Foundation is only one indicator of what the DOE and the Nuclear Weapons Complex intend to do to create a "thriving" international commerce in enriched high-level radioactive materials, the most long-lived biologically toxic matter existent on earth. And, as has consistently happened throughout the history of the development of nuclear technology in the United States, all this is being done in secret without ANY meaningful public debate. Who's interests are truly being served here?

Teaching all people in the industrial nations how hemp IS our lifeline to the future--how it IS the renewable, cheap, and clean vegetable source to meet humanity's energy needs instead of the astronomically expensive and lethally polluting source that nuclear technology is--this is what we must be about.

And when people respond by saying, "Yes, but what are you going to use if we don't further develop and employ nuclear?--Petroleum and coal are too dirty and solar isn't technologically feasible yet." That's when you respond by explaining why alcohol prohibition of the 1920s was rescinded by FDR in the 30s, why hemp prohibition must be rescinded now, and how hemp is THE world's premier renewable natural resource that is only waiting for us to re-exercise our own best intelligence to employ it to solve our energy "crisis".

WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATI0N
1440 BROADWAY, SUITE #500, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA 94612
PHONE: 510/839-5877 FAX: 510/839-5397

FACTSHEET
-----------

URANIUM-ATOMIC VAPOR LASER ISOTOPE SEPARATION
(U-AVLIS)
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY

This factsheet is prepared by the Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF), a non-profit environmental and peace organization which has actively monitored Department of Energy (DOE) operations at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) since 1982. WSLF, in association with other public interest organizations, is evaluating DOE's proposal to commence commercial-scale demonstration of a uranium-enrichment facility known as U-AVLIS. DOE recently announced that U-AVLIS operations pose "no significant environmental impact" to the surrounding community.

What Is U-AVLIS?
---------------

Over the past sixteen years, DOE has conducted research into the expansion of commercial production of enriched uranium for export and use in foreign atomic power plants. Alarmed by increasing competition in the uranium export market by France and Japan (and possible entry into the market by the Soviet Union), DOE has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a new technology to enrich fuel-grade uranium. The objective of the commercial AVLIS program is to generate a market capable of contributing over one billion dollars to the U.S. balance of trade.

AVLIS, which stands for Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation, is a technology capable of enriching uranium and plutonium for weapons use as well as for nuclear fuel. LLNL recently operated a pilot Special Isotope Separation (SIS) facility designed to vaporize and refine plutonium (for weapons use), utilizing AVLIS technology. U-AVLIS is the commercial counterpart to the weapons-related SIS program.

In the U-AVLIS facility, uranium is vaporized and ionized with high energy lasers. The desirable U-235 isotope is then collected in the separator, and the remaining U-238 ("depleted uranium") is discarded. In 1991, DOE completed construction of the Uranium Demonstration system (UDS), a plant-scale pilot U-AVLIS facility for demonstration of "large scale, integrated uranium enrichment." Should the program prove successful, DOE plans to start full scale plant construction in 1993 and production by 1997.

What Are The Possible Environmental Impacts from U-AVLIS?
--------------------------------------------------

The United States still has no effective long-term solution to the disposal of radioactive waste associated with nuclear power plants. The end product of AVLIS' vast subsidy to the nuclear power industry is thousands of tons of more radioactive waste, with nowhere to go. The problem of nuclear waste disposal is even more acute in foreign nations which are to be the primary end-user of AVLIS-produced enriched uranium.

According to DOE's recent environmental assessment for the U-AVLIS demonstration project, the U-AVLIS facility will annually generate up to 40,000 kilograms of solid radioactive waste, 20,000 liters of liquid radioactive waste, and 60,000 liters of mixed liquid radioactive and non-radioactive hazardous waste. U-AVLIS will triple the amount of liquid radioactive waste produced at LLNL, and will account for roughly one out of three barrels of "mixed" waste to accumulate at LLNL without any effective means at disposal. U-AVLIS itself is anticipated to use thousands of gallons of hazardous laser dye solutions, and process thousands of kilograms of uranium. The maximum capacity of molten uranium in U-AVLIS is 600 kilograms, and some 5000 kilograms will be stored in the facility at any one time. Transportation of uranium in and out of LLNL is conservatively estimated to quadruple during U-AVLIS operations.

LLNL is listed on the National Priorities List as a Superfund site based on serious groundwater contamination. Throughout its operation, LLNL has had a documented record of releasing radioactive and hazardous materials into the air, water and soil. The Department of Health Services has repeatedly cited LLNL for numerous violations of hazardous waste laws. The state of Nevada has threatened to return thousands of barrels of waste illegally shipped for storage to the Nevada Test site. In 1990, an internal DOE investigation (the "Tiger Team") pinpointed numerous failures of management to effectively handle the serious hazardous waste problems associated with LLNL operations. U-AVLIS presents its own special risks of accidents, including accidental spillage of laser dyes, and spontaneous combustion of molten uranium, in close proximity to the Livermore population of 56,000 and a greater Bay Area population of 5 million.

Proliferation Risks
---------------

WSLF believes that the planned export of thousands of pounds of enriched uranium will encourage the proliferation not only of risky atomic power technology, but nuclear weapons as well. The United States, in concert with the AVLIS program, is actively encouraging the market for enriched uranium through "safe" atomic power programs abroad. AVLIS itself is also subject to copying by other nations, where it can be used to develop plutonium or uranium based bombs.

What Environmental Review Has Been Done?
------------------------------------

Almost none. DOE has prepared three brief "environmental assessments" under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the U-AVLIS program. The two earlier assessments are "classified" and not available to the public. In May 1991, DOE released a cursory assessment for the demonstration phase of the U-AVLIS, concluding that the project was without significant environmental impacts. No public hearing has ever been held concerning U-AVLIS. DOE's current position is that it need not prepare a full environmental impact statement (EIS) or conduct a public hearing until it is ready to "deploy U-AVLIS on a commercial scale." WSLF demands that DOE prepare a full environmental impact statement and hold public hearings on the environmental risks associated with U-AVLIS.

Transcript of the original 1942 United States Department of Agriculture Film, Hemp for Victory extolling some of the many uses of this ancient plant and premier world resource:

HEMP FOR VICTORY
-- 1942 --
Reprinted from High Times, October 1989

Long ago when these ancient Grecian temples were new, hemp was already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in China and elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850 all the ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen rope and sails. For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was indispensable.

A 44-gun frigate like our cherished Old Ironsides took over 60 tons of hemp for rigging, including an anchor cable 25 inches in circumference. The Conestoga wagons and prairie schooners of pioneer days were covered with hemp canvas. Indeed the very word canvas comes from the Arabic word for hemp. In those days hemp was an important crop in Kentucky and Missouri. Then came cheaper imported fibers for cordage, like jute, sisal and Manila hemp, and the culture of hemp in America declined.

But now with Philippine and East Indian sources of hemp in the hands of the Japanese, and shipment of jute from India curtailed, American hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as of our Industry. In 1942, patriotic farmers at the government's request planted 36,000 acres of seed hemp, an increase of several thousand percent. The goal for 1943 is 50,000 acres of seed hemp.

In Kentucky much of the seed hemp acreage is on river bottom land such as this. Some of these fields are inaccessible except by boat. Thus plans are afoot for a great expansion of a hemp industry as a part of the war program. This film is designed to tell farmers how to handle this ancient crop now little known outside Kentucky and Wisconsin.

This is hemp seed. Be careful how you use it. For to grow hemp legally you must have a federal registration and tax stamp. This is provided for in your contract. Ask your county agent about it. Don't forget.

Hemp demands a rich, well-drained soil such as is found here in the Blue Grass region of Kentucky or in central Wisconsin. It must be loose and rich in organic matter. Poor soils won't do. Soil that will grow good corn will usually grow hemp.

Hemp is not hard on the soil. In Kentucky it has been grown for several years on the same ground, though this practice is not recommended. A dense and shady crop, hemp tends to choke out weeds. Here's a Canada thistle that couldn't stand the competition, dead as a dodo. Thus hemp leaves the ground in good condition for the following crop.

For fiber, hemp should be sewn closely, the closer the rows, the better. These rows are spaced about four inches. This hemp has been broadcast. Either way it should be sewn thick enough to grow a slender stalk. Here's an ideal stand: the right height to be harvested easily, thick enough to grow slender stalks that are easy to cut and process.

Stalks like these here on the left wield the most fiber and the best. Those on the right are too coarse and woody. For seed, hemp is planted in hills like corn. Sometimes by hand. Hemp is a dioecious plant. The female flower is inconspicuous. But the male flower is easily spotted. In seed production after the pollen has been shed, these male plants are cut out. These are the seeds on a female plant.

Hemp for fiber is ready to harvest when the pollen is shedding and the leaves are falling. In Kentucky, hemp harvest comes in August. Here the old standby has been the self-rake reaper, which has been used for a generation or more.

Hemp grows so luxuriantly in Kentucky that harvesting is sometimes difficult, which may account for the popularity of the self-rake with its lateral stroke. A modified rice binder has been used to some extent. This machine works well on average hemp. Recently, the improved hemp harvester, used for many years in Wisconsin, has been introduced in Kentucky. This machine spreads the hemp in a continuous swath. It is a far cry from this fast and efficient modern harvester, that doesn't stall in the heaviest hemp.

In Kentucky, hand cutting is practicing in opening fields for the machine. In Kentucky, hemp is shucked as soon as safe, after cutting, to be spread out for retting later in the fall.

In Wisconsin, hemp is harvested in September. Here the hemp harvester with automatic spreader is standard equipment. Note how smoothly the rotating apron lays the swaths preparatory to retting. Here it is a common and essential practice to leave headlands around hemp fields. These strips may be planted with other crops, preferably small grain. Thus the harvester has room to make its first round without preparatory hand cutting. The other machine is running over corn stubble. When the cutter bar is much shorter than the hemp is tall, overlapping occurs. Not so good for retting. The standard cut is eight to nine feet.

The length of time hemp is left on the ground to ret depends on the weather. The swaths must be turned to get a uniform ret. When the woody core breaks away readily like this, the hemp is about ready to pick up and bind into bundles. Well-retted hemp is light to dark grey. The fiber tends to pull away from the stalks. The presence of stalks in the bough-string stage indicates that retting is well underway. When hemp is short or tangled or when the ground is too wet for machines, it's bound by hand. A wooden bucket is used. Twine will do for tying, but the hemp itself makes a good band.

When conditions are favorable, the pickup binder is commonly used. The swaths should lie smooth and even with the stalks parallel. The picker won't work well in tangled hemp. After binding, hemp is shucked as soon as possible to stop further retting. In 1942, 14,000 acres of fiber hemp were harvested in the United States. The goal for the old standby cordage fiber, is staging a strong comeback.

This is Kentucky hemp going into the dryer over mill at Versailles. In the old days braking was done by hand. One of the hardest jobs known to man. Now the power braker makes quick work of it.

Spinning American hemp into rope yarn or twine in the old Kentucky river mill at Frankfort, Kentucky. Another pioneer plant that has been making cordage for more than a century. All such plants will presently be turning out products spun from American-grown hemp: twine of various kinds for tying and upholster's work; rope for marine rigging and towing; for hay forks, derricks, and heavy duty tackle; light duty firehose; thread for shoes for millions of American soldiers; and parachute webbing for our paratroopers.

As for the United States Navy, every battleship requires 34,000 feet of rope. Here in the Boston Navy Yard, where cables for frigates were made long ago, crews are now working night and day making cordage for the fleet. In the old days rope yarn was spun by hand. The rope yarn feeds through holes in an iron plate. This is Manila hemp from the Navy's rapidly dwindling reserves. When it is gone, American hemp will go on duty again: hemp for mooring ships; hemp for tow lines; hemp for tackle and gear; hemp for countless naval uses both on ship and shore. Just as in the days when Old Ironsides sailed the seas victorious with her hempen shrouds and hempen sails. Hemp for victory.

THE FARMING COMMUNITY is our linchpin, linking the Northwest, Midwest and South. It is in financial trouble and will be the first major beneficiary of hemp commerce.

TEXTILE, FUEL, PAPER INDUSTRIES AND MARKETS, MEDICAL AND RECREATIONAL USERS are concentrated in coastal and urbanized population centers.

SHIPPING, INVESTORS, COMMODITIES MARKETS AND BANKS link these regions, create a role for the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in deregulating hemp and add to the financial pressure for reform.

We anticipate strong resistance in pharmaceuticals and plastics, where entrenched forces stand to lose a share of the market when hemp products come into common use.
But this pressure will soon be offset by the support of hemp industry consumers, investors and workers who benefit from new spin-off industries.

PHASE ONE: ORGANIZATION: Develop and target literature and lobby campaigns, alert our consituency, explain the economic and social significance of this reform to potential allies and win "celebrity" endorsements. We need to demonstrate an interstate supply and demand network to establish the economic vitality of hemp commerce, thereby drawing financial and political support and setting the stage for ICC intervention against state laws that impede trade.

PHASE TWO: PUBLIC RELATIONS: Launch a program of speaking engagements and advertisments (PSAs and paid) to redefine the hemp debate, sway the general public and create a climate of support based on people's self-interest. Our goal is to disassociate hemp from "drugs" and align it with jobs, prosperity and traditional American self-sufficiency.

PHASE THREE: DEREGULATION: Introduce non-threatening deregulation legislation, support initiatives/referenda, set up test cases to pursue legalization through the courts and use business pressure to win ICC action.

   BACH  Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp
         P.O. Box 71903, Los Angeles, CA  90071-0093  
         310/288-4152

---

"We are able to inform you that ancient grandfathers, the great stands of cedar and redwoods, are in danger of extinction by chainsaws. The maple, chief of trees, is dying from the top down, as was prophesied by Ganiodaiio, Handsome Lake, in 1799. Great rivers and streams are filled with chemicals and filth, and these great veins of life are being used as sewers.

"We were told the female is sacred and carries the gift of life as our Mother Earth, the family is the center of our life and that we must build our communities with life and respect for one another.

"We were told the Creator loves children the most, and we can tell the state of affairs of the nation by how the children are being treated.

"When we return to Onondaga, we will begin our Great Midwinter ceremonies. We will tie the past year in a bundle and give thanks once again for another year on this earth.

"This was given to us, and we have despoiled and polluted it. If we are to survive, dear friends and colleagues, we must clean it up now or suffer its consequences.

. . . But Lyons also remembered turning to Leon Shenandoah, chief of the Grand Council of the Six Nations Confederacy. "My chief, he doesn't say much, but I asked and he said, `They're not taking it serious enough. I don't think they realize what's going to happen to them. What's coming.' He would have liked to see less posturing. We have our prophecies. We know what is coming down the road.'"

-- Onondaga Chief Oren Lyons, on the Global Forum he
helped organize on Environment and Development for
Survival held in Moscow, January 15 to 19, 1990.