CCNS Update

A newly released independent review of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s 2025

tritium venting raises serious concerns about radiation risks to children and infants and

highlights major gaps in LANL’s public reporting and decision-making process. 

The review also questions LANL’s decision to proceed with venting despite no

measurable pressure buildup in the waste containers — meaning the explosion risk

used to justify the releases may not have existed.

On Thursday, April 23rd, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED)

issued a draft permit modification to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in order to

speed up cleanup of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and focus on the disposal

of legacy waste at WIPP. The draft Hazardous Waste Act permit proposes to require a

minimum percentage of legacy waste shipments from LANL to WIPP during specific

timeframes beginning on January 1, 2027.

Our colleague, Hunter Noffsinger, an organizer with the Union of Concerned

Scientists, crafted a three-minute public comment about the draft Plutonium Pit

Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) that you can use as

a model for your comments at the Thursday, May 14 th public hearing in Santa Fe. It will

take place from 5 to 8 pm at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute at 1607 Paseo de

Peralta and on MS Teams.

Last week’s Nuclear in New Mexico conference in Bernalillo continued the myth

that expansion of the nuclear cycle in New Mexico would be welcomed here. Activities

such as expanded uranium mining and milling, generating plutonium-contaminated

waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot

Raise your voice on Thursday, May 14th from 5 pm to 8 pm about the proposed

expansion of plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory, or LANL,

annually from 30 to possibly 100 pits, or triggers, for nuclear weapons. The hybrid public

hearing will take place at the Santa Fe Farmers Market Institute, located at 1507 Paseo

de Peralta, in Santa Fe.

First, New Mexico is being targeted for new uranium and nuclear projects

backed by billionaires, big tech, nuclear lobbyists and government entities. In 2025, the

New Mexico Nuclear Alliance was established to push a pro-nuclear energy agenda.

Working in tandem, the Clean Energy Association of New Mexico, or Clean NM, an

industry organization, also formed to push its pro-uranium agenda. CleanNM fronts as

good stewards of the environment, respecting community engagement and cultural

traditions while its member company, Grants Energy, proposes in-situ leach uranium

Did you know that the president, with the issuance of a new Executive Order,

eliminated the opportunity for the public to comment on the Final Site-Wide

Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National

Laboratory and the Record of Decision? Nevertheless, the rules of the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) allow the public to provide comments on the Final LANL

SWEIS and the related Record of Decision, or the ROD.

On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, the Department of Energy (DOE) released the

Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los

Alamos National Laboratory, or the Final LANL SWEIS, and its Record of Decision, or

ROD. Key to DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration plans are to expand

production of the triggers for nuclear weapons, or the pits, at LANL until at least 2038.

On Wednesday, the Department of Energy (DOE) released the final Site-Wide

Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National

Laboratory, or the LANL SWEIS, and its Record of Decision, or ROD. Expanded

production of triggers for nuclear weapons, or the pits, would highlight future operations

at LANL until at least 2038.

On Friday, March 13th, the Department of Energy (DOE) and Newport News

Nuclear BWXT--Los Alamos, LLC, known as “N3B,” answered the February 11, 2026

Administrative Compliance Orders issued by the New Mexico Environment Department

about the hexavalent chromium plume that has migrated across the boundary of Los

Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) onto Pueblo de San Ildefonso. When a new well

was drilled on the Pueblo, the migration was discovered to reach the top of the deep

drinking water aquifer approximately 1,000 feet below ground surface. The release has

brought the plume to a new level of regulatory oversight by the Environment

Department that now includes the New Mexico Water Quality Act and the New Mexico

Hazardous Waste Act. DOE and N3B have requested the New Mexico Environment

Department hold public hearings about the Orders.