CCNS Update

Los Alamos National Laboratory plans to prepare an environmental assessment to address the hexavalent chromium contamination in the deep regional drinking water aquifer. In comments submitted this week, the Communities for Clean Water recommended that LANL conduct a more detailed environmental impact statement in order to protect the regional drinking water aquifer and the Environmental Protection...

You are invited to join the Ohio Nuclear Free Network for its important virtual public forum, Radioactive Contamination, Environment and Public Health and the Future of the Portsmouth Nuclear Site, on Saturday, June 10 th beginning at 10:45 am Mountain Time. The in-person and virtual forum offers an opportunity to learn from world-renowned experts about contamination at the Piketon, Ohio site and...

CCNS has prepared sample public comments you can modify about the scope of a new draft site-wide environmental impact statement for Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. Comments may be submitted electronically to SNL- SWEIS@nnsa.doe.gov through Monday, June 5 th , 2023.

In response to the lack of concrete progress on nuclear disarmament by the G7 leaders in Hiroshima last week, Ivana Nikolić Hughes, Ph. D., and President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, wrote the following op-ed in Common Dreams. We provide excerpts:

On May 15 th , four Archbishops, including Archbishop John C. Wester of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, sent a letter to the Group of Seven leaders gathering for a three-day summit in Hiroshima, Japan to urge the leaders to take concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament.

The New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission not only denied Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) and CCNS standing to challenge the groundwater discharge permit DP-1132, but also denied the public any opportunity to provide comment during Tuesday’s hearing.

The health of the Rio Grande watershed in the area of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is at stake. The protection of the 3,000 square mile sole source drinking water aquifer is at stake. LANL has contaminated it with hexavalent chromium and the plume is migrating towards the Pueblo de San Ildefonso, the Rio Grande, and the Buckman wells and diversion facility. Every drop of water is precious...

Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) and CCNS will be before the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission on Tuesday, May 9 th at the New Mexico State Capitol to argue that they have standing to challenge the groundwater discharge permit, DP-1132, for the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The Hearing Officer, who reports to the Commission, recomm...

There has not been an adequate examination of the seismic vulnerabilities and increasing risk of seismic activity in the area of Valles Caldera, with Los Alamos National Laboratory on the eastern slope.

It was revealed at the Tuesday, April 11 th monthly meeting of the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission that the Department of Energy (DOE) had approached Kelsey Rader, an at-large member of the Commission, on Good Friday about a job with DOE. If Commissioner Rader took a position with DOE, she would be the third official who was hired away by DOE during the Commission’s review of DOE’s New...

It’s time to break the silence about the permitting of the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Since 1963, the Facility has handled, treated and stored radioactive and hazardous liquid waste generated at the Plutonium Facility, where the triggers, or plutonium pits, for nuclear weapons are fabricated.

The National Nuclear Security Administrator Jill Hruby and Senior Advisor to the Department of Energy Office of Environment Management Ike White will be in Santa Fe next week for a public town hall. It is essential that they hear from you!

For nearly three years, the public has requested a town hall type of event in which officials from the Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would answer questions about the plans to expand operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

As if there is not enough going on, it’s time to get your personalized comments into the Department of Energy (DOE). It has published its unsupported draft environmental impact statement about DOE’s proposal for handling more than 48 metric tons of surplus plutonium – and maybe more – for decades to come.

A review of the Department of Energy (DOE) National Environmental Policy Act website shows that it is behind schedule in providing the public with up-to-date  site-wide environmental impact statements, or SWEISs, for the four main sites involved in DOE’s proposed surplus plutonium plans.

What would you do with more than 30 metric tons of “surplus” plutonium in the form of triggers for nuclear weapons? The Department of Energy (DOE) has been working to find a solution for at least 30 years.

CCNS and Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) filed a Verified Petition for An Original Writ of Mandamus with the New Mexico Supreme Court about the improper regulation by the Water Quality Control Commission of the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

On February 14 th , 2014, radioactive waste exploded at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground disposal site. To raise public awareness of the Valentine’s Day anniversary and the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) expansion plans, individuals and organizations held a press conference at the New Mexico State Capitol.

On February 14 th , 2014, one or more drums of radioactive and hazardous waste exploded in the deep underground disposal site of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). To raise public awareness, non-government organizations are joining together on Tuesday, February 14 th at 1:15 in the Rotunda at the New Mexico State Capitol for a press conference.

On Wednesday night, the Santa Fe City Council heard from dozens of people, both in person and virtually, about the proposed rezoning of 22 acres of open space on South Meadows to housing. Dave Englert, a retired New Mexico Environment Department geologist, and Joni Arends, CCNS Executive Director, urged the City Council to prioritize cleanup of the Eberline site that borders the 22 acres to the so...

The Santa Fe City Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, February 1 st at 7 pm to consider the proposed rezoning of the 22 acres of open space on South Meadows. CCNS urges you to contact your city councilors and encourage them to vote no on the rezoning proposal. There are too many unanswered questions about possible contamination of the open space remaining from decades of operations o...

On Tuesday, January 24 th and Thursday, January 26 th , the Department of Energy will hold in-person public hearings in Carlsbad and Los Alamos, respectively, about their plans to handle, treat and dispose of surplus plutonium in New Mexico.

Two in-person public hearings in New Mexico and one virtual public hearing will be held about the Department of Energy’s plan to ship more than 30 tons of surplus radioactive plutonium for processing at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

On Tuesday, January 10 th , CCNS and Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) will return to the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission to ask it to vacate the decisions in which former Commission Chair Stephanie Stringer was involved. CCNS and HOPE have appealed the issuance of the groundwater discharge permit, DP-1132, for the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Labo...

In May 2022, CCNS, Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE), and Veterans for Peace appealed the federal Clean Water Act discharge permit for Outfall 051, which is connected to the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory, to the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB). On December 28 th , the three-judge panel in Washington, DC ruled unanimously to remand the federal...