CCNS Update

Our colleague, Hunter Noffsinger, an organizer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, crafted a three-minute public comment about the draft Plutonium Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) that you can use as a model for your comments at the Thursday, May 14 th public hearing in Santa Fe. It will take place from 5 to 8 pm at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute at 160...

Last week’s Nuclear in New Mexico conference in Bernalillo continued the myth that expansion of the nuclear cycle in New Mexico would be welcomed here. Activities such as expanded uranium mining and milling, generating plutonium-contaminated waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot

Raise your voice on Thursday, May 14th from 5 pm to 8 pm about the proposed expansion of plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory, or LANL, annually from 30 to possibly 100 pits, or triggers, for nuclear weapons. The hybrid public hearing will take place at the Santa Fe Farmers Market Institute, located at 1507 Paseo de Peralta, in Santa Fe.

First, New Mexico is being targeted for new uranium and nuclear projects backed by billionaires, big tech, nuclear lobbyists and government entities. In 2025, the New Mexico Nuclear Alliance was established to push a pro-nuclear energy agenda. Working in tandem, the Clean Energy Association of New Mexico, or Clean NM, an industry organization, also formed to push its pro-uranium agenda. CleanNM fr...

Did you know that the president, with the issuance of a new Executive Order, eliminated the opportunity for the public to comment on the Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Record of Decision? Nevertheless, the rules of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allow the public to provide comments on the Final LANL SWEIS...

On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, the Department of Energy (DOE) released the Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory, or the Final LANL SWEIS, and its Record of Decision, or ROD. Key to DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration plans are to expand production of the triggers for nuclear weapons, or the pits, at LANL until at...

On Wednesday, the Department of Energy (DOE) released the final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory, or the LANL SWEIS, and its Record of Decision, or ROD. Expanded production of triggers for nuclear weapons, or the pits, would highlight future operations at LANL until at least 2038.

On Friday, March 13th, the Department of Energy (DOE) and Newport News Nuclear BWXT--Los Alamos, LLC, known as “N3B,” answered the February 11, 2026 Administrative Compliance Orders issued by the New Mexico Environment Department about the hexavalent chromium plume that has migrated across the boundary of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) onto Pueblo de San Ildefonso. When a new well was drill...

On November 18th, 2025, the New Mexico Environment Department withdrew its temporary authorization to the U.S. Department of Energy and ordered it to cease the injection of “treated” groundwater back into the regional sole source drinking water aquifer. Elevated levels of hexavalent chromium above regulatory standards had been detected for the first time in the deep regional drinking water aquifer...

Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation, and Board member, John Burroughs, provide analyses of the current situation in the Middle East. Read the entire OpEd at nuclearactive.org.

After a careful review of the inconsistent public notices for the proposed Doña Ana County East and West Microgrids Air Quality Construction Permits for Project Jupiter, CCNS found them to be defective. The discrepancies require a restart of the public comment periods for the proposed $165 billion microgrid facilities that will emit up to 13 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually – more...

Today’s Update is continuation of our reporting on the diligent and thorough work done by the New Mexico Environment Department to hold Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) accountable for not responsibly addressing the hexavalent chromium plume beneath LANL that has now spread beneath Pueblo de San Ildefonso.

On Tuesday, February 11 th , the New Mexico Environment Department took bold actions to hold the Department of Energy (DOE) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) accountable for the release and distribution of hexavalent chromium contamination into the regional drinking water aquifer and onto Pueblo de San Ildefonso lands. The Environment Department released two administrative compliance order...

Last week, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a legislative message for House Bill 207, which calls for the discharge of “produced water” to New Mexico’s rivers, streams and groundwater. Produced water is a highly toxic waste byproduct of oil and gas operations. No treatment technologies currently exist that might allow for the safe discharge of produced water to water resources.

We have just a few days to ensure the last remaining arms control treaty between the United States and Russia continues with its numerical cap of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear weapons for each country. The New START treaty is set to expire after Wednesday, February 4 th . Please contact Republican U.S. Senators. Request that President Trump respond to President Putin’s proposal to informally ex...

The last remaining arms control treaty between the United States and Russia will expire on Wednesday, February 4 th . Without this treaty, there will be nothing stopping a new, dangerous and wasteful nuclear arms race. Now is the time to demand that both countries agree to Save New START.

On Thursday, January 22 th , the world and New Mexicans will mark five years since the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons became international law. Nuclear weapons are now illegal.

The last remaining arms control treaty between the United States and Russia will expire on Wednesday, February 4 th . Without this treaty, there will be nothing stopping a new, dangerous and wasteful nuclear arms race. Now is the time to demand that both countries agree to save New START.

For over eighty years, the People of New Mexico have borne the burden of the 1943 establishment of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Through the Congressional continuing resolution process, LANL may receive an additional $1 billion dollars to support expansion of the number of plutonium triggers, or plutonium pits, fabricated for nuclear weapons. The people of northern New Mexico are unaware...

Please allow us to state the obvious: 2025 has been a busy year in terms of addressing proposals for MORE to support the growing nuclear weapons complex in New Mexico. From Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration have big plans. Specifically, we’ll continue to oppose them.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or the New START Agreement, is set to expire on Thursday, February 5 th , 2026 – in less than 50 days. The New START Agreement is the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, is set to expire on Thursday, February 5 th , 2026. In late September, President Putin proposed to extend the treaty for one year. President Trump has yet to formerly respond. On October 5th, he said, “[It] sounds like a good idea to me.”

In a Truth Social post that reverberated around the world, on October 29 President Donald Trump wrote: “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.”

In a protective move, on Friday, November 18th, the New Mexico Environment Department required the Department of Energy (DOE) to cease all injection operations of treated waters back into the sole source regional drinking water aquifer shared by Pueblo de San Ildefonso, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and others.

For over 25 years, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) has fought to protect surface and groundwater from radioactive, toxic and hazardous contamination from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In 2004, that campaign expanded to contain the co-located perchlorate and chromium plume – contamination that migrated into the top of the 1,000 foot deep aquifer below LANL, Pueblo de San Ildef...