WASHINGTON - March 25 - WHAT: News conference to release Danger Lurks Below: The Threat to Major Water Supplies from US Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Weapons Plants, the first comprehensive report analyzing threats to important rivers and aquifers from the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, including the Fernald, Hanford, Idaho, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Mound, Nevada, Oak Ridge, Paducah, Pantex, Portsmouth, Rocky Flats, and Savannah River sites.

WHEN: Monday, March 29, 2004 - - 10:00 am

WHERE: Room 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC

WHO: Leaders of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA), representing the concerns of communities downstream from U.S. nuclear weapons sites.

Susan Gordon -- Director, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, the national network of nearly three dozen organizations which sponsored the report

Marvin Resnikoff, Ph.D -- President, Radioactive Waste Management Associates, author of the report under a grant from a fund created through settlement of a lawsuit against DOE

Jeremy Maxand -- Executive Director, Snake River Alliance, watchdogs of the Idaho National Laboratory, where DOE wants to abandon radioactive waste above a major aquifer.

Lou Zeller - Program Director, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, monitors of the Savannah River Site, where DOE plans to build new, pollution generating weapons plants.

WHY: Cleaning up the radioactive and toxic legacy of U.S. nuclear weapons production is the largest environmental project in history. The most conservative cost estimates -- in excess of $200 billion -- dwarf those of endeavors such as Everglades restoration.

In 250+ pages of charts, maps and narratives, Danger Lurks Below explains the risk of radioactive and toxic contamination from the DOE nuclear weapons complex threatening crucial water resources. It is based on a detailed review of thousands of pages of reports from DOE and other federal agencies, as well as research from many ANA member groups.

Scores of ANA activists will present their concerns about the risk to water resources and other issues related to U.S. nuclear weapons policy to leaders of Congress and the Administration from March 29 through March 31. On Tuesday evening, March 30 at 6pm, ANA will host an Awards Reception in the National Guard Association Building, One Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. (across from the old Post Office).

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