Dispute Over US Nuke in the Netherlands: Who Pays For An Accident?

汉斯·克里斯滕森（Hans M. Kristensen）

Only a few years before U.S. nuclear bombs deployed at Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands are scheduled to be airlifted back to the United States and replaced with an improved bomb with greater accuracy, the U.S. and Dutch governments are in a dispute over how to deal with the environmental consequences of a potential accident.

The Dutch government wants environmental remediation to be discussed in the Netherlands United States Operational Group (NUSOG), a special bilateral group established in 2003 to discuss matters relating to the U.S. deployment of nuclear weapons in the Netherlands.

But the United States has refused, arguing that NUSOG is the wrong forum to discuss the issue and that environmental remediation is covered by the standard Status of Forces Agreement from 1951.

The disagreement at one point got so heated that a Dutch officials threatened that his government might have to consider reviewing US Air Force nuclear overflight rights of the Netherlands if the United States continue to block the issue from being discussed within the NUSOG.

The dispute was uncovered by theBrandpunt Reporterof the TV station KRO (seevideoand alsothis report), who discovered three secret documents previously released by WikiLeaks (文档1,文档2, anddocument 3).

The documents not only describe the Dutch government’s attempts to discuss – and U.S. efforts to block – the issue within NUSOG, but also confirm what is officially secret buteveryone knows: that the United States stores nuclear weapons at Volkel Air Base.

Michael Gallagher, the U.S. Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Hague, informed the U.S. State Department that environmental remediation is “primarily an issue of financial liability” and discussing it “potentially a slippery slope.” During on e NUSOG meeting, Dutch civilian and military participants were visibly agitated about the U.S. refusal to discuss the issue, and Gallagher warned that “a policy of absolute non-engagement is untenable, and will negatively impact our bilateral relationship with a strong ally.”

加拉格尔（Gallagher）预测，荷兰人将继续提出这一问题，并说荷兰领先于其他欧洲国家，他们在其领土上签署并实施了Nusog，在其领土上占据了美国核武器。与德国，比利时，意大利和土耳其不同，荷兰是唯一一个在Nusog等论坛上提出修复问题的国家，但Gallagher警告说，其他国家将来将在未来作为类似的核武器运营的情况提出补救问题建立了小组。

The United States has deployed nuclear weapons in the Netherlands since April 1960 and currently deploysan estimated10-20 nuclear B61 bombs in underground vaults inside 11 aircraft shelters at Volkel Air Base. The weapons are under the custody of the US Air Force’s703rd Munitions Support Squadron(MUNSS), a 140-personnel unit that secures and maintains the weapons at Volkel.

在一场战争中，沃尔克尔的美国核弹将移交给荷兰空军，以由16名F-16战斗机炸弹袭击者交付^stFighter Wing. The Netherlands is one of five non-nuclear NATO countries (Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey) that have this nuclear strike mission, which clearly violates the spirit of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

From 2019 (although delays are expected), the U.S. Air Force would begin to deploy the new B61-12 nuclear bomb to Volkel and the five other bases in Europe that currently store the old B61 types. The B61-12, which is scheduled for production under a $10 billion-plus program, will have提高了军事能力与目前存储在基地的武器相比。

The U.S.-Dutch dispute over remediation is but the latest political irritant in the deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe, a deployment nearly 200 B61 bombs at five bases in six countries that costs about $100 million a year but with few benefits. President Obama haspromised“bold reductions” in U.S. and Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. Volkel Air Base would be a good place to start.

This publication was made possible by grants from the New-Land Foundation and Ploughshares Fund. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author.