CCNS Update

On Thursday, January 22 th , the world and New Mexicans will mark five years since the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons became international law. Nuclear weapons are now illegal.

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.

For over eighty years, the People of New Mexico have borne the burden of the 1943 establishment of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Through the Congressional continuing resolution process, LANL may receive an additional $1 billion dollars to support expansion of the number of plutonium triggers, or plutonium pits, fabricated for nuclear weapons. The people of northern New Mexico are unaware...

Please allow us to state the obvious: 2025 has been a busy year in terms of addressing proposals for MORE to support the growing nuclear weapons complex in New Mexico. From Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration have big plans. Specifically, we’ll continue to oppose them.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or the New START Agreement, is set to expire on Thursday, February 5 th , 2026 – in less than 50 days. The New START Agreement is the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, is set to expire on Thursday, February 5 th , 2026. In late September, President Putin proposed to extend the treaty for one year. President Trump has yet to formerly respond. On October 5th, he said, “[It] sounds like a good idea to me.”

In a Truth Social post that reverberated around the world, on October 29 President Donald Trump wrote: “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.”

In a protective move, on Friday, November 18th, the New Mexico Environment Department required the Department of Energy (DOE) to cease all injection operations of treated waters back into the sole source regional drinking water aquifer shared by Pueblo de San Ildefonso, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and others.

For over 25 years, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) has fought to protect surface and groundwater from radioactive, toxic and hazardous contamination from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In 2004, that campaign expanded to contain the co-located perchlorate and chromium plume – contamination that migrated into the top of the 1,000 foot deep aquifer below LANL, Pueblo de San Ildef...

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: