CCNS Update

Nuclear weapons programs divert public funds from health care,

education, disaster relief and other vital humanitarian services. The nuclear-

armed countries spent over $91.4 billion [dollars] on their arsenals in 2023. At

the same time, the corporations fabricating these weapons of mass destruction

and their investors made billions in profit annually.

Daniel Ellsberg was a nuclear war planner – his plans are still in use

today in the United States. He has provided a stark warning about the

dangers of nuclear weapons and above all the intercontinental ballistic

missiles, or ICBMs and his work is being acknowledged this week. Join in

virtual and live activities.

It was announced at the June 5 th Los Alamos County Board of Public Utilities

meeting that there are two proposals to bring approximately 50 or more megawatts of

solar electricity to the County and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a federal

Department of Energy (DOE) facility. One of the County’s goals is to develop and

strengthen partnerships with Jemez Pueblo and Pueblo de San Ildefonso in their efforts

to develop solar farms.

The Austin newspaper, the Texas Observer, chose Searchlight reporter

Alicia Inez Guzmán, to receive its 2024 MOLLY Prize on May 30 th . Guzmán

holds a Ph.D. in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester

in New York. Her article, “Buried Secrets, Poisoned Bodies,” is exemplary

investigative journalism. The prize, awarded to only one journalist a year,

honors Molly Ivins, the Observer editor for six years in the 70’s.

Just as there were problems encountered with air monitoring during the February

14, 2014 explosion and release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a nuclear

bomb waste dump, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board continues to raise

questions about that issue.

On March 12 th , the Department of Energy (DOE) submitted its Planned Change

Request to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use new Panels 11 and 12 in

the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) underground nuclear waste facility. The Planned

Change Request also outlines the plans for seven additional panels for waste from

expanded plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the

Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the disposition of 34 metric tons of surplus

plutonium from that site.

Beginning on Monday, May 13 th , at an in-person and virtual public hearing in

Santa Fe, the New Mexico Environment Department will present its proposal to vastly

expand the reuse of produced water from the production of oil and gas to the New

Mexico Water Quality Control Commission.

Did you know the federal Departments of Defense and Energy, NASA and the

private industry sector currently operate more than 60 open burn pits across the U.S.

and its territories – causing the uncontrolled release of PFAS and other toxic chemicals

to the environment?

This week, CCNS highlights portions of a recent press release by Nuclear Watch

New Mexico, Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (Tri-Valley

CARES), and the Savannah River Site Watch about the National Nuclear Security

Administration (NNSA). Their piece suggests NNSA does not have its priorities straight

in neither producing up-to-date information on the way plutonium appears to age nor

providing this information in a timely manner to the public. The entire press release is

posted at nuclearactive.org

Recent monthly reports by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board relate

disturbing stories about near-miss operational incidents in the fifth shaft, under

construction, at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The underground federal

radioactive waste disposal site is located 2,150 feet below ground surface in a salt

formation almost 30 miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico. The Board has reported

broken cables, misaligned transport platforms for workers to reach the underground,

and workers stuck in the new shaft.