CCNS Update

On Monday, July 6 th , a South Carolina Environmental Law Project lawyer made a needed request for three Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) documents that should have been available at the start of the current public comment period for the draft Plutonium Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). Public comments about the draft PEI...

Mark your calendar for some important upcoming events: the PEIS comments are due on Thursday, July 16 th , then on Saturday, July 18 th , the Commemoration of the Church Rock Uranium Mill Tailings Spill, and on Sunday, July 19 th , the Commemoration of the Trinity Test. Details for each of these follows.

By June 22 nd , hundreds of New Mexicans submitted comments in support of the New Mexico Environment Department’s strong stand to protect the People of New Mexico by requiring Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to remove plutonium- contaminated waste “Off the Hill.”

The New Mexico Environment Department has taken a strong stand to protect the People of New Mexico by requiring Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to remove plutonium-contaminated waste “Off the Hill.” On April 23rd, the Environment Department released an essential modification to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Permit requring the cleanup of legacy waste stored at LANL in fabric tents o...

On Monday, May 8th, 2026, at a press conference in front of La Cieneguilla Petroglyphs, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and co-founder of the U.S. Senate Stewardship Caucus, and U.S. Representative Teresa Leger Fernández, Ranking Member of the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs, unveiled the...

Dr. Ghassan Shahrour, a medical doctor and human rights advocate, considers the need to choose limits over expansion of new weapons systems and provides historical examples.

On April 23rd, the New Mexico Environment Department issued an important permit modification to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in order to speed up cleanup of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and focus on the disposal of legacy waste at WIPP. The draft Hazardous Waste Act permit modification proposes to require a minimum percentage of legacy waste shipments from LANL to WIPP during sp...

A newly released independent review of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s 2025 tritium venting raises serious concerns about radiation risks to children and infants and highlights major gaps in LANL’s public reporting and decision-making process.  The review also questions LANL’s decision to proceed with venting despite no measurable pressure buildup in the waste containers — meaning the explosion r...

On Thursday, April 23rd, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) issued a draft permit modification to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in order to speed up cleanup of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and focus on the disposal of legacy waste at WIPP. The draft Hazardous Waste Act permit proposes to require a minimum percentage of legacy waste shipments from LANL to WIPP during spe...

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.