CCNS Update

“When the Cold War ended in 1991 and the Doomsday Clock was at its furthest

from midnight, the world sighed in relief… . It was a moment of hope where many

believed this low tension between the military and economic powers of the world would

lead to peace talks and nuclear disarmament.. . . So, why didn’t nuclear disarmament

happen when the iron curtain fell?. . .” This question is at the center of “Making Nuclear

Weapons Taboo,” a 2023 address by Dr. Carlos Umaña, Co-President of International

Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

On Wednesday evening the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition held a webinar to alert

people about the opportunity to voice their concerns to the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) next week about the Department of Energy (DOE) proposal to expand

the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). DOE wants to keep WIPP open until at least

2083 for disposal of radioactive and hazardous wastes generated from fabricating

triggers, or pits, for nuclear weapons at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico

and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

On August 13th, U.S. Congressman John Garamendi of California delivered a

speech at the United States Strategic Command 2024 Strategic Deterrence Amidst

Global Transformation Symposium in which he asked “Why?” as in “Why does

America need nuclear weapons?” and mostly importantly asked, “How do we deter in a

way that ensures there is a tomorrow worth protecting? Must we continue a 50-year-old

triad strategy without considering the alternatives? Why, why are we stuck in a logic

silo with the blast door closed?”

The Department of Energy (DOE) wants to expand its operations at the Waste

Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for plutonium-contaminated waste from the fabrication of

nuclear weapons. In March, DOE submitted a Planned Change Request to the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking permission to mine and operate two

underground disposal panels in the WIPP underground disposal facility. EPA wants to

hear from you and is hosting public meetings in Carlsbad and Santa Fe the week of

August 26th.

All are welcome to join the Veterans For Peace, New Mexico PeaceFests and

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety on Friday, August 9 th at 11 am on the Santa Fe

Plaza to commemorate the events leading up to the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and

Nagasaki, Japan in early August 1945.

Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester wrote a statement for last Monday’s Town

Hall concerning plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)

hosted by National Nuclear Security Administrator Jill Hruby and the Department of

Energy (DOE) Senior Advisor of the Office of Environmental Management, Candice

Robertson. Jay Coghlan, of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, read the Archbishop’s

statement aloud.

On Thursday, July 18 th at 8 am, you will have an informative opportunity to hear

from two experts, Don Hancock and Myrriah Gómez, when they discuss the major

public concerns regarding the plans of the Department of Energy (DOE) to expand

operations at two of their facilities in New Mexico.

A follow-up to the Department of Energy (DOE) town hall in April 2023 at the

Santa Fe Community Convention Center that nearly 500 people attended in-person or

virtually, will be held Monday, July 22 nd from 6 pm to 7:30 pm at the Hilton Santa Fe

Buffalo Thunder, 13 miles north of downtown Santa Fe on U.S. 84 / 285.

On July 16 th in New Mexico, people commemorate two devastating events: the

first atomic bomb test at the Trinity Site in 1945 in south central New Mexico, and the

world’s largest uranium spill in 1979 when an earthen dam broke at the United Nuclear

Corporation’s uranium mill tailing pond, releasing 1,100 tons of radioactive waste and

94 million gallons of radioactive water into the Rio Puerco, which flowed to Sanders,

Arizona. Both events left sick and dying people, environmental destruction and still

unresolved concerns today.

One of the most beautiful and majestic sights is found by looking across

and down into the Grand Canyon at the spread of the red walls, the patches of

green and the glorious Colorado River. All of this is threatened by an exemption

from a federal law banning uranium mining in the watershed that feeds the

complex river system. Uranium mining is allowed on U.S. Forest Service lands

where the Pinyon Plains Uranium Mine is located less than ten miles from the

Grand Canyon’s south rim.