CCNS Update

Did you know that the Department of Energy (DOE) plans to continue disposing of plutonium-contaminated radioactive and hazardous waste in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) essentially forever? In filings submitted to the New Mexico Environment Department on Monday, DOE stated, “[the] final facility closure could begin no earlier than [Calendar Year] 2083.”

This week before the start of the First Meeting of States Parties for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna, three countries deposited their ratification documents with the United Nations. Grenada, Cabot Verde, and Timor Leste joined 62 countries to ratify the treaty,  for a total of 65. One-third of the world’s 195 countries have now ratified the Treaty.

If you were in charge of allocating U.S. taxpayer money, would you invest $84,094 [dollars] per minute for nuclear weapons? What would your priorities be?

While you may not be able to travel to Vienna, Austria for the First Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, you can sign the online Statement on the Existential Threat of Nuclear Weapons . 

Decisions being made by federal and state agencies about the plutonium-contaminated waste stored at the Waste Control Specialists facility located on the Texas-New Mexico border may foreshadow how non-compliant waste may be stranded in the future.

In November 2021, Los Alamos National Laboratory applied to the Environmental Protection Agency to begin construction of a new radioactive liquid waste treatment facility for transuranic, or plutonium contaminated, liquid waste from the Plutonium Facility.

Plutonium operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory's Technical Area 55 are centered in the middle of the 36 square mile national nuclear weapons facility.

Recently released Biden Administration budget documents reveal that for Fiscal Year 2023, beginning on October 1st, the Administration is proposing a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) budget of $4.6 billion, an overall increase o 21 percent.

As of Wednesday evening May 4th, the Cerro Pelado wildland fire was about five miles from the "back gate" of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

Nearly 30 years ago, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board began communications with the DOE about ventilation systems in nuclear facilities, saying that they must contain or confine radioactive materials during an accident or seismic event that might be followed by a fire. 

Exploding Biden Administration budgets for the three Department of Energy (DOE) sites in New Mexico fully support the dangerous trend to develop more provocative nuclear weapons. 

Eight years after the 2014 explosion of one or more waste containers disposed in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) underground, on Saturday, April 9 th , WIPP announced that one or more waste containers had leaked radioactive liquids while being unloaded from a TRUPACT-II shipping container in the Waste Handling Building.

Last week we quoted Cynthia Lazaroff about the nuclear dangers in Ukraine and her call to come forward that "Our work is more important now that ever." This week we quote the call to come forward from Ralph Hutchison, Coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, to all those working for the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty, that this is our time.

This week the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation held a virtual presentation by Cynthia Lazaroff and Richard Falk about the nuclear dangers in Ukraine. www.wagingpeace.org

This week Nuclear Watch New Mexico announced the successful settlement of its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) about its slow cleanup of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

Please join the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service to acknowledge Robert Alvarez, one of the bedrock founders of the national movement to unmask the human and environmental carnage that resulted directly from the U.S. effort to create a massive nuclear arsenal. The live virtual event runs from 1 to 2:30 pm Mountain Daylight Time this Saturday March...

Last week, the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission met to deliberate and make final decisions about the state's Surface Water Quality Standards.

Excerpts from Cindy Wheeler's speech during the March 1,2022 press conference at the New Mexico Capitol explains why you should care about the expanding mission for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. 

If you are concerned about proposed expansion of beryllium machining operations at LANL, now is the time to express your interest to the New Mexico Environment Depart Air Quality Bureau! Find sample public comment letter on our website http://nuclearactive.org

Despite receiving comments from 19 non-governmental and business organizations representing tens of thousands of New Mexicans, the New Mexico Environment Department has permitted the use of the underground disposal Panel 8 at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with 16-foot high ceilings.

This week Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) asked the New Mexico Environment Department to withdraw its draft groundwater permit DP-1132 for the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) because of the confusing, incomplete and defective documents released for public review and comment.

The NMED is again trying to skirt proper regulation of the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at LANL as required by the New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act.

The independent Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recently reported that Triad National Security LLC, the nuclear weapons contractor at LANL, wants the DOE to accept the risk of bringing large shipments of plutonium-238 in uncertified containers for repackaging in the Plutonium Facility.

Saturday January 22, 2022, marks the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Join us for a wonderful event from 1 to 3pm at Ashley Pond in Los Alamos.

January 11th, Archbishop of Santa Fe John C Wester released his historic pastoral letter Living in the Light of Christ's Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament.