RockyFlatsFacts.com | Nuclear energy options and free enterprise

Time 2020-11-02 10:04:33

Web Name: RockyFlatsFacts.com | Nuclear energy options and free enterprise

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Nuclear deterrence has been a central element of American security policy since the Cold War began. The deterrence concept is straight-forward: persuade a potential adversary that the risks and costs of his proposed action far outweigh any gains that he might hope to achieve. To make deterrence credible, the United States built up powerful strategic, theater and tactical nuclear forces that could threaten any potential aggressor with the catastrophic risks and costs of a nuclear retaliatory strike against his homeland.During the Cold War, the primary focus of this deterrent was the Soviet Union. The Soviets built their own nuclear force targeting the United States, producing a situation of mutual deterrence, often referred to as “mutual assured destruction” or MAD. Many argue that MAD worked and kept the United States and Soviet Union from an all-out war—despite the intense political, economic and ideological competition between the two—as the horrific prospect of nuclear conflict gave both strong incentives to avoid conflict. Others note that it was too often a close thing: crises, such as those over Cuba and Berlin, brought the two countries perilously close to nuclear war.As the United States developed a post-war alliance system, the question of extended deterrence—the ability of U.S. military forces, particularly nuclear forces, to deter attack on U.S. allies and thereby reassure them—received greater attention. Extending deterrence in a credible way proved a more complicated proposition than deterring direct attack. It was entirely credible to threaten the Soviet Union with the use of nuclear weapons in response to a Soviet attack on the United States. But how could the United States make credible the threat to use nuclear weapons against the Soviet homeland in response to a Soviet attack on U.S. allies in Europe? Or, as it was often put, how could an American president credibly persuade his Soviet counterpart that he was prepared to risk Chicago for Hamburg?For more on U.S. Nuclear Deterrence please visit www.nucleardeterrence.netFromU.S. Nuclear and Extended Deterrence: Considerations and Challenges, abstract at: https://www.brookings.edu/research/u-s-nuclear-and-extended-deterrence-considerations-and-challenges/ An excerpt from the new book, U.S. Nuclear Deterrence: The Cold War and Colorado s Nuclear Weapons Factory by Farrel Hobbs. (Coming Soon to Amazon.com bookstore by Sept. 15, 2018.)Let’s start at the beginning, which, in the case of Rocky Flats, is about 4.5 billion years ago. The Rocky Flats Plant was known mostly for its role in producing plutonium components for nuclear weapons. Those of us who worked there knew that the plant did much more than that; many thousands of people who worked at the plant never came close to any plutonium. However, plutonium is what comes to mind for most people when they think of Rocky Flats. Activists who devoted themselves to protesting the place learned that they created more support against the plant when they focused on plutonium, and they began to declare that “plutonium was designed to kill.” That’s a very catchy phrase, but there weren’t many people around to be killed 4.5 billion years ago when plutonium first existed on Earth. I restrict my discussion to Earth and ignore what possibly happened in other galaxies.What is “Natural Plutonium?” Scientists working where uranium was being mined in the Gabon Republic in Africa realized there was something unusual about the isotopic concentration of the ore in what was called the Oklo uranium deposit. “In May 1972 a worker at a nuclear fuel-processing plant noticed something suspicious. He had been conducting a routine analysis of Oklo uranium from a seemingly ordinary source of ore. As is the case with all-natural uranium, the material under study contained three isotopes.” The analysis found there was less uranium 235 — the isotope required for running nuclear reactors and making nuclear weapons — than expected. The ore was far short on uranium 235; some 200 kilograms appeared to be missing. That was enough to make half a dozen or so nuclear weapons. Continue reading We are excited to announce a new book by Farrel Hobbs titled,  U.S. Nuclear Deterrence: The Cold War and Colorado s Nuclear Weapons Factory, arriving at Amazon.com by Sept. 15, 2018.In an extensively researched account seasoned with secrecy and espionage, Hobbs traces the emergence of nuclear technology through the development and testing of the first atomic weapons. Initially intended to crush the WWII Axis powers in Western Europe, atomic weapons were first deployed in the Pacific Ocean theater. But post-WWII events brought an unexpected change in tensions among the Western Allies and U.S.-Soviet relations, in particular.In late 1948 massive numbers of Soviet tanks and armed forces lined up in Eastern Europe facing a diminished and war-wearied Allied defenses. Stalin continued to amass combat forces and materiel that the Soviet military had prepared for a World War III.Stalin had been planning this offensive as he fought alongside Allied Forces during World War II. He was waiting for the moment that his increasingly powerful armies could sweep through Western Europe and initiate his visionary communist world domination.All Stalin needed to do was to give the order for his armored divisions to begin their rapid advance through Western Europe. There was only one thing deterring Stalin: the U.S. had a nuclear arsenal. And they had proven that they were willing to use it. Continue reading A big change is underway for Rocky Flats retiree s pension plan. To our other readers: please forgive the focus of this post but you might be curious about how your government treats the Cold War Warriors. The government is dumping the pension plan. No longer will your pension be guarenteed by the Fedral government. You must choose to receive a lump sum or a private annuity plan.I ve received my Plan Termination Benefit Kit and if you have not, call the Support Center at 1-800-709-7697.There are deadlines coming up the end of May for corrections. Check your information. My spouse was listed as deceased. He assures me he is not now and has never been deceased, so I had to submit a correction.There s a lot of detail in the kit and I won t try to summarize it. Get your kit, read your kit, and make your decisions. Don t delay. There are various financial instruments to research. There are forms to fill out, some need to be notorized, and if you are divorced there are extra forms. Did I mention, don t delay.Whatever you decide, your paperwork must be postmarked by the end of June or you get whatever the default option is.I m not qualified to offer recommendations. Heck, I haven t decided what I m going to do.Here s the commentary part of this post, and remember it s just me ruminating. I liked my pension the way it was, so I m not happy. Diversifying seems like a good idea to me, and the pension was something guarenteed and therefore different from other retirement investments. Buying an annuity is not the same thing. States differ in regulations, but no one offers a guarentee as reliable as what I m losing.I could get worked up about this. My pension was part of my compensation at Rocky Flats. I stayed at the plant for years, providing the government with my experience and continuity, and saving them the expense of hiring, training, and obtaining clearances for a replacement. I stayed until they decided to lay me off, only to rehire me as a subcontractor at reduced compensation. They the Federal government still wanted my efforts, just not to pay me the same. The Cold War fizzling out devalued me as a worker. I was part of the Peace Dividend.Like thoughts and prayers, thanks are cheap. Cold War Warriors turn into drones sucking up taxpayer dollars. What have you done for me lately? I could get worked up, but what s the point? I m hardly alone among Americans, and many private companies make similar decisions. Times change, standards change, and valued employees become legacy liabilities on the debit side of the leger. Lifetime empoyment at a single company sounds quaint today. What good would it do anyone past workers or present to bankrupt a company, or saddle the next generation with crushing debt? The past is a different world.I can t completely condemn the attitude. But as Rocky Flats retirees experience the legacy side of the situation, it may inform our opinions about the treatment union and government employees Federal, State, and Local should expect, and should accept. No, not bicyclesTo put your foot down is to be unyielding and insistent. Phrases.com offers no citations, but saysThis expression is thought to have originated in 16th century but it actually became popular and common in 18th century. It is observable that when you clump or tramp your foot on ground, it means to demand someone’s attention.A commenter on actuarialoutpost wonders if the origin started around the time the bicycle was invented. In order to stop, you had to put your foot down. But wikipedia says bicycles were introduced in the late 19th century which is incompatible with a 16th century origin. Though it is an inventive hypothesis. It s a shame to miss the story behind science. With The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story you don t have to the book offers a fascinating tale of discovery.Since the first Europeans set foot in the Americas, they chased rumors of lost cities of gold. The first third of his book, Douglas Preston recounts an amazing group of, generally, con-artists claiming to have found the Monkey God City in an inaccessible jungle, and would rich donors just give them more money to prove it. These characters make for fun reading.But there are real ruins in Honduras, and the Monkey God City legend is a conglomeration of real places. Space age technology and changing politics in Honduras enabled a scientific team to take up the search. Deadly snakes, deadly insects, drug cartels, dense jungle, and sucking mud all provide a thrilling backdrop to the expedition.Scientists must be brave sometimes, and it helps to hire ex-military survival experts.Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization.Read about the history of the Americas. Read about their discovery as exciting as any tale spun by one of those early con-artists.By the middle of the book I thought the story was done, but there s more coming. Preston recounts what is known today of the first contacts between Americans and Europeans. I have read before that European diseases spread ahead of the Spanish, but had no grasp of the magnitude of the disaster. Current studies indicate that about 90% of the Native Americans were killed, most before they ever saw a European.Those deaths tie into the aftermath of Preston s Honduras trip. An horrid disease spread by sand flies infected many of his group.This disease is worthy of a scifi horror movie it can eat your face away, right into the bones. They required care by federal government infectious disease experts, and even the latest treatments can only put the disease into remission. There s irony in comparing the modern and historical experiences.Danger has not stopped the research in Honduras. The team has returned and expanded. Watch the news for more about this ancient Honduran civilization. And in the meantime, read this book.What others are sayingWith 4.4 stars and over 1400 reviews on Amazon, the book deserves its place as #1 in its Archeology category. Some reviewers didn t want to read about the history, or modern Honduran politics, or other topics that surround the Lost City itself. Others thought the technologies used to discover the city were covered in too much detail.If all you want is the archeology, the book may be too long for you. But if you enjoy the gem of a Lost City placed in a magnificent setting, this is for you. GET NEW BOOK Nuclear Deterrence          In late 1940s Soviet forces threatened war in Europe. A superior U.S. nuclear capability and Colorado’s Nuclear Weapons Factory would be a deterrence to a looming World War III. U.S. Nuclear Deterrence: The Cold War and Colorado's Nuclear Weapons Factory is available in paperback ($12.95) and Kindle ebook ($5.99) formats from Amazon.com

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