CCNS Update

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) continues to neglect its obligations to safely operate its nuclear weapons facilities in a manner required by laws, orders, guidance and common sense.

In 1963 John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev signed the ban on atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, which was extended to a moratorium in 1992 and secured as the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. The Treaty has been signed by 187 states. On October 31 st , United Nations member states voted on a resolution in support of the Treaty and the global nuclear test moratorium. The United States was th...

In response to the president’s call to resume testing of nuclear weapons, contact your two United States Senators to support Senate Resolution 323 that urges the United States to lead a global effort to halt and reverse the nuclear arms race.

The Communities for Clean Water (CCW) coalition is calling on the Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) to immediately release all data, monitoring results, and analytical records from the recent tritium venting operation at LANL.

This month, the International Uranium Film Festival in Berlin honored uranium weapons expert and activist Damacio A. Lopez with the festival's Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award. For over thirty years, the US Air Force veteran from Socorro, New Mexico has campaigned for an international ban on depleted uranium munitions and weapons.

In an essay for NYU’s Democracy Project, David F. Levi, a former federal judge and director emeritus of the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law, reflected on the negotiations he facilitated in New Mexico about the renewal of the hazardous waste permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a deep geologic repository for plutonium-contaminated waste generated in the fabrication of nuclear wea...

On September 26 th , 2025, during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the Republic of Ghana ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), and the Country of Kyrgyzstan signed on. With these actions, a global majority of countries have signed onto the United Nations nuclear weapons ban treaty. A total of 99 out of the 197 eligible states have taken legal action...

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is a small, independent federal agency that serves as a watchdog for the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons complex. It is supposed to have five members, but it currently has only two. And one member’s term expires on October 18 th . If one or more board positions aren’t filled on or before October 18 th , the Safety Board will no longer have a quoru...

The independent Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has been dwindling from a five-member board to one member and may disappear if we, the People, do not raise our voices to support its essential nuclear safety work. The Safety Board needs at least two new members. And that needs to get done by October 16th. New Mexico U.S. Senators Heinrich and Lujan have key roles to play to ensure the Safet...

Following the 80 th year since the bombings of Trinity, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, did you know that 2025 is also the 80 th year since the formation of the United Nations? The General Assembly’s first resolution recognized nuclear disarmament as the principal goal of the United Nations.

On Saturday, August 30 th , after a beautiful drive across the plains of Northeastern New Mexico, members of the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition arrived in the Village of Wagon Mound. With a population of less than 300, this rural community feels tight-knit, with many friends and families gathering to celebrate the mighty Pinto Bean every Labor Day. In addition to being next door to the beautiful Wago...

Given the recent data dumps by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) about its proposed venting of large quantities of radioactive tritium from four Flanged Tritium Waste Containers, the New Mexico Environment Department must reject LANL’s August 22 nd regulatory request for temporary authorization to vent. This Update describes some of the obstacles LANL put in place to obstruct public participat...

This week’s so-called public meeting about the proposed venting of radioactive tritium into the air from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) showed once again how LANL silences communities while fast-tracking nuclear weapons projects.

Over 24,000 people provided public comments to the Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in opposition to the proposed Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade (EPCU) Project during a convoluted multi- federal agency and multi-year review process to expand electric power to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Nevertheless, on Wednesday, DOE and NNSA issued its...

Dr. Ghasson Shahrour, a medical expert and a Campaigner with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, wrote the following.

To prepare for a public meeting with the U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (“the Board”) in Santa Fe on Monday evening, CCNS followed its policy of reviewing at least the last eight weeks of the Board’s reports for Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and used that as a basis for questions and comments to present to the Board. What we found:

All are welcome to join peacemakers and activists on Saturday, August 9 th at 10 am in Los Alamos to commemorate the 80 th year since the U.S. bombing of Nagasaki, Japan on that day in 1945. At 10 am, a vigil and protest will begin in the Manhattan Project National Historic Park at Ashley Pond. We’ll come together to sing songs of peace and against nuclear weapons, to honor the victims and survivo...

The Red Water Pond Road Community Association and the Pipeline Road Community invite you to attend the historic 46th commemoration of the Church Rock Uranium Tailings Spill on Saturday, July 19th beginning at 6 am near the tailings spill location, 12 miles north of Red Rock State Park on State Highway 566. Free t-shirts will be available for the first 100 participants.

As you may know, the recent federal reconciliation bill increased the budget for expanded plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site, located in South Carolina, by one billion dollars. Yes, one billion dollars in one year! A “pit” is the plutonium core of a nuclear weapon. The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to fabricate 50 plutonium pits per year there.

In anticipation of the 80th anniversaries of the 1945 atomic bombings in the USA and Japan, a number of hybrid educational events will be held next week.

In this week’s Update CCNS provides information about the upcoming commemorations of two harmful atomic events that both occurred in New Mexico on July 16th. The first is the 80th commemoration of the plutonium bomb test at the Trinity Test Site on July 16, 1945 at the White Sands Missile Range.

This week, a coalition of 13 attorneys general issued Multistate Guidance affirming the necessity and legality of environmental justice initiatives to ensure a healthy environment for all people to live, play, learn, work and worship. Despite attempts by the Trump administration to eliminate this critical work by businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations as illegal through the use of Executi...

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) planned to vent 30,000 curies of radioactive tritium into the air during several weekends this summer but it must have approval from the New Mexico Environment Department. James Kenney, Environment Department Secretary, citing significant public interest in the proposed plan, determined that prior to the Environment Department making any final decision, LANL w...

It has been raining in Northern New Mexico this week, providing many blessings of moisture and delaying the proposed venting of radioactive tritium from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), at least for now. Importantly, the New Mexico Environment Department continues its review of LANL’s application for “temporary authorization” to vent up to 30,000 curies of tritium into the air from four Flan...

Dylan K. Spaulding, author of the new report, is a senior scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists Global Security Program. He holds an undergraduate degree in physics from Brown University and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. His work focuses on technical issues related to nuclear stockpile stewardship and policies that can reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons.