From August 8-18, five of the stand-out interns, volunteers, and young allies of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Youth Empowerment Initiative will conduct the first-ever NAPF Nuclear Abolition Immersion trip.  The location: Los Alamos, New Mexico.  This two-week plunge into the “belly of the beast” of the global nuclear weapons complex will be an experience of disarmament activism in its most direct and concrete form, in a city that bases its existence on the research, design, production, testing and maintenance of nuclear weaponry.

The five Immersion participants, joined by the NAPF Youth Empowerment Director, will volunteer for the duration of the trip with the Los Alamos Study Group, a long-standing Albuquerque- and Los Alamos-based nuclear disarmament organization.  Among the Study Group’s primary current focuses is stopping the resumption of nuclear weapons production at LANL.  As Study Group Executive Director Greg Mello noted in an e-mail to University of California students on May 25, “There is no more pivotal issue, place, or time; and in many ways this is the historical moment of truth for U.S. nuclear weapons.”

Indeed, the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) has announced in multiple forums in recent months that Los Alamos is slated to be the primary site for manufacturing of new plutonium pits as part of a renewed US nuclear weapons production complex.  Not only will the trip be meaningful on a personal level for the participants, but it is one of strategic significance for the nuclear abolition movement.  If nuclear disarmament is to be achieved, Los Alamos is an essential site for resistance to nuclear weapons and militarization to be waged.

During the trip, participants will conduct extensive community outreach, engage in discussions with lab employees and their families, staff the Study Group’s Los Alamos-based Disarmament Center, and conduct research projects on behalf of the Study Group, among many other activities.

The trip is timed to coincide with the 61^st anniversaries of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which occurred on August 6th and 9th, 1945.  The timing symbolizes the need for a new generation of American citizens to act now to prevent another Hiroshima or Nagasaki – or worse. 

Funds for the trip are being provided entirely through the generous contributions of individual donors.  We ask that you consider giving to the Immersion trip. For more information on the trip, please e-mail us, or call (805) 965-3443.