| Leader wants atomic force AIKEN - America needs a new generation of nuclear weapons both to fight the war on terrorism and to serve as a deterrent to China's emerging atomic might, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Monday. He called on supporters of the Savannah River Site to help him make that argument to Washington decision-makers reluctant to support a proposed atomic trigger factory that could bring 1,500 new jobs to the South Carolina nuclear reservation. "The nuclear deterrent force we have today is irrelevant to the war on terrorism," Mr. Graham said during a luncheon speech to the Aiken Rotary Club. "We need to redesign our nuclear weapons system so that it is an effective deterrent in the war on terrorism. ... We need to replenish our Cold War nuclear deterrent force because China will be a threat in this century." To address the terrorist threat, Mr. Graham called for the design of small, tactical nuclear weapons that could destroy a bunker buried deep in a mountaintop. To meet the military threat of China, Mr. Graham called for the development of cutting-edge but more conventional nuclear warheads. The atomic guts for both types could be developed and built at SRS, Mr. Graham said, and would justify spending money on the Modern Pit Facility at a time when America is also junking nuclear weapons that helped win the Cold War. "The Cold War is over," he said. "You can't get everything you ask for anymore." Even if Mr. Graham sells his argument, there's no guarantee SRS will win the Modern Pit Facility. Five federal nuclear reservations are in the running for a selection process that's been stalled by budget cuts and a congressional prohibition against the U.S. Department of Energy making a choice. Mounting an effective argument for the need for new nuclear weapons was part of Mr. Graham's call for a radical redesign of jobs and missions at SRS, which could lose at least 4,500 jobs by 2017 as environmental cleanup of Cold War-era radioactive waste winds down. "I want to redesign the site," said Mr. Graham, noting that job losses at SRS are inevitable and that new programs are needed. "It's going to be leaner. It's going to be more efficient, and it's not going to dominate our economy anymore." The senator and SRS' other political supporters in Georgia and South Carolina have tough times ahead. Three of the four programs outlined by Mr. Graham as crucial to the transformation of the site took major hits in a recently passed House energy appropriations bill. On the fourth point - hydrogen fuel cell research - neither SRS nor the Savannah River National Laboratory has been designated by the U.S. Department of Energy as a major center for research into this new energy technology.
Reach Jim Nesbitt at (803) 648-1395, ext. 111, or jim.nesbitt@augustachronicle.com.
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