CCNS Update

Saturday January 22nd from 1 - 3 PM at Ashley Pond in Los Alamos join CCNS, Veterans for Peace, Nuclear Watch New Mexico and others for a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. and the first anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Visit Nuclear Ban Treaty Days of Action facebook Page for information. ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/336042507972854 ) For information on Dr....

The New Year will begin with the NM Environment Department's virtual public meeting about the annual cleanup plan for legacy waste at LANL.

Two appeals have been filed in the NM Court of Appeals to challenge the decision by NM Environment Dept. Secretary James Kenney to approve the new shaft at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

At 1:00p.m. Mountain Time Sunday December 19th, the Archbishop of Santa Fe, John C Wester, will hold an Unveiling and Blessing of a Sign of Peace at The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In a stunning bipartisan vote, this week the U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2021 on a vote of 25 to 8.

Tuesday November 30th, the DOE held a press conference to announce a third attempt to find communities, sovereign tribal nations, or local or state governments to host an interim federal storage facility for high-level radioactive waste from commercial nuclear reactors.

DOE has raised the height of the underground waste disposal Panel 8 from 13 feet to 16 feet in violation of the Permit.

On October 27th, New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney granted the DOE and its contractor, Nuclear Waste Partnership, the latest approval requested to expand WIPP.

The public learned this week that DOE asked the LANL cleanup contractor, N3B, to request that the NM Environment Department move 19 hazardous wast sites from one part of the hazardous waste permit to another.

Our colleague, Linda Pentz Gunter, has written a brilliant piece about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

NMED granted the Department of Energy approval to excavate and use new Shaft No. 5 and its associated drifts in the WIPP Underground. Essentially ensuring Forever WIPP.

Due to on-going maintenance problems in the underground disposal facility, WIPP requested an extension of time from NMED to store waste in the Waste Handling Building.

In response to community concerns about the proposed increased shipments of more dangerous forms of plutonium along New Mexico State Road 599, Santa Fe County District 2 Commissioner Anna Hansen will host a Nuclear Waste Emergency Response Town Hall Tuesday October 19th from 6 - 7:30 PM.

For the first time in 3 years, the New Mexico Governor's WIPP Task Force met October 6th. WIPP = Waste Isolation Pilot Plant DOE = Department of Energy NAS = National Academies of Science GAO = Government Accountability Office

When will the New Mexico Environment Department acknowledge the DOE's proposals for WIPP as expansion?

A deadline of July 10th, 2022 is looming for continuing the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) and associated programs.

In a rare bi-partisan effort, the Texas legislature passed a nearly unanimous bill prohibiting the future storage or disposal of high-level radioactive waste, however, the NRC licensed construction and operation of a Consolidated Interim Storage Facility in Andrews County, Texas.

DOE's plan to expand WIPP without public comment underway. https://stopforeverwipp.org/home http://nuclearactive.org

Beginning at noon on Tuesday September 7th, the New Mexico Environment Department will hold a virtual public hearing for a groundwater discharge permit for WIPP.

NMED is holding a virtual public hearing for a groundwater discharge permit that would allow the construction and use of a Salt Cell 5 and Salt Storage Pond 5, It is scheduled for Tuesday September 7th at noon.

Publicly denying plans to double the size of WIPP, the DOE continues to ask for a new "west wing"

On August 6th and 9th, 1945 the U.S. Government dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Commemoration events were held in Los Alamos and Taos. To listen to the panel discussion, courtesy of KCEI-FM go to - https://culturalenergy.org/listenlinks.htm#aug2021

Over 60 people attended a town hall to learn about Santa Fe County's emergency preparedness and response capabilities. 

Near the end of WWII on August 6th, the U.S. Government dropped a uranium atomic bomb on Hiroshima and 3 days later on August 9th dropped a plutonium atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.

Even though Sandia National Laboratory stated it could completely excavate the Mixed Waste Landfill, NMED replied sampling and monitoring would be sufficient to address potential risks.