CCNS Update

Just a few days ago, on May 9 th , the Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Nuclear Security Administration announced that virtual public “scoping” meetings would be held next week about their plans to prepare a nationwide Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production (PEIS). DOE and NNSA are working to turn Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) into a manufacturi...

If you haven’t already signed the electronic petition to STOP Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) plans to vent large quantities of radioactive tritium into the air beginning on or after June 2 nd , 2025, there’s still time. Access the petition at actionnetwork.org/petitions/petition-to-deny-lanls-request- to-release-radioactive-tritium-into-the-air The text of the petition is also available at...

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) plans to vent large quantities of radioactive tritium into the air beginning on or after June 2 nd , 2025. Tritium is a form of hydrogen that forms radioactive water in the environment. It can cross the placenta and fetuses, babies and children may receive a radiation dose about three times greater than adults.

During the early days of the pandemic, on March 10, 2020, LANL mailed a notice to people on the facility mailing list about the proposed venting of radioactive tritium into the air from four metal containers stored at Area G. LANL’s request provided information about its plan to seek temporary authorization to vent from the New Mexico Environment Department, specifically from the Hazardous Waste B...

the bomb is a groundbreaking multimedia installation that immerses audiences in the strange, compelling and unsettling reality of nuclear weapons. Since General Groves and Robert Oppenheimer arrived in New Mexico in late 1942 to establish the Manhattan Project, the danger has only increased. The world is confronted by the nine nations that possess about 12,000 nuclear weapons. And those nations ar...

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) promised the People of New Mexico that it would cleanup and dispose of its plutonium-contaminated nuclear bomb waste by depositing it into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) over 25 years and close. DOE broke its promise when that deadline passed on March 26 th , 2024. But DOE has a new plan to keep the deep geologic nuclear waste disposal facility at WIPP o...

The Department of Energy (DOE) promised the People of New Mexico that they would cleanup and dispose of its plutonium-contaminated nuclear bomb wastes by depositing waste into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) over 25 years and close. DOE broke its promise when that deadline passed on March 26, 2024. But DOE has a new plan to keep the deep geologic nuclear waste disposal facility at WIPP open...

Community members and Tribal advocates are standing together to say NO to the proposed expansion of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). As part of a growing movement for environmental justice and accountability, local community organizations including Tewa Women United, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Communities for Clean Water, Honor Our Pueblo Existence, and Three Sisters Collective l...

Community members and Tribal advocates are standing together to say NO to the proposed expansion of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). As part of a growing movement for environmental justice and accountability, local community organizations including Tewa Women United, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Communities for Clean Water, Honor Our Pueblo Existence, and Three Sisters Collective a...

Public comments for the draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory are currently due on Thursday, April 10th. Tewa Women United, Honor Our Pueblo Existence, CCNS, Communities for Clean Water, and the Union of Concerned Scientists will host workshops to assist you in the preparation and submission of your comments. Comments may be submi...

Public comments for the draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory are currently due on Thursday, April 10th. CCNS, Tewa Women United, Three Sisters Collective, Communities for Clean Water and others will host two workshops to assist you in preparing your comments.

Did you know that the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the U.S. and Russia, known as the New START, expires on February 5, 2026? It’s time for the U.S. and Russia to get back to the table to negotiate for a world without nuclear weapons!

Monday, March 3 rd begins the weeklong Third Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations in New York City. Government representatives, civil society organizations, non- governmental organizations, artists, health and justice workers and more from around the world will gather to take stock of the progress achieved by the States...

On Wednesday, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) extended the public comment period by 30 days for the draft Site Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) for Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The comment period was extended from March 11 th to Thursday, April 10 th , 2025.

On Thursday, February 20 th , Lindsay A. Lovejoy, Jr., the attorney for Honor Our Pueblo Existence and CCNS, will argue before the New Mexico Court of Appeals that the non-government organizations have standing to challenge the misregulation of the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, a key facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The RLWTF treats liquid radioactive and hazardous...

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), operated by the Department of Energy, plays a critical role in maintaining the safety and reliability of the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Central to this mission is the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility (RLWTF), which was constructed in the early 1960s to treat, store, and dispose of radioactive and hazardous liquids

You are invited to participate in a virtual Nuclear Watch New Mexico workshop about the draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) on Thursday, February 6 th from 5:30 pm to 7 pm Mountain Time. With LANL expanding its nuclear weapons programs—despite a long history of environmental contamination and nuclear safety issues—the draft SWEIS rep...

This Update relates to historic and important resources that can be useful for your participation in the public hearings about draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and its proposed operations in the next 15 years or so. Public hearings under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) will begin on Tuesday, February 11th in Santa Fe, followed by...

Earlier this week the U.S. Forest Service admitted that it has limited authority and oversight of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s proposed Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project, or EPCU, that would transmit 173 megawatts of energy across sacred National Forest System lands. The admission made in its 35-page Response to Comments document to complete its role in the environmental assessment pro...

More than two years after the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sought public input about the scope of a site- wide environmental impact statement (SWEIS) for Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) operations, a draft LANL SWEIS will be released for a 60-day public review and comment period on Friday, January 10th. Public hearings will be held during...

The New Mexico Environment Department’s hazardous waste permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to submit a Legacy Transuranic, or TRU, Waste Disposal Plan to the Environment Department. DOE submitted its inadequate Plan on November 4 th for a 60-day public comment period, which ends on Friday, January 3 rd , 2025. A sample public comment letter yo...

A new condition in the New Mexico Environment Department’s hazardous waste permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to submit a Legacy Transuranic Waste Disposal Plan to the Environment Department. DOE submitted its Plan on November 4 th , 2024 for a 60-day public comment period.

There is a unique opportunity to provide your comments about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s Legacy Transuranic Waste Disposal Plan. The disposal plan describes WIPP’s strategies to keep the disposal site for plutonium-contaminated hazardous wastes open for 60 more years, despite WIPP’s promises to New Mexicans to close in 2024.

On Friday, November 1st, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) adopted Resolution LV-24-061 opposing the proposed Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project “bisecting the Caja del Rio, highlighting the adverse impacts on Tribal cultural resources and sacred sites” to construct and operate a 115 kilovolt- transmission line to operate Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) supercomputers.

The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to the Japanese non-governmental organization, Nihon Hidankyo, for its 68-years of education and advocacy. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee recognized Nihon Hidankyo “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.” Nihon Hidankyo is the Japanese Confe...