CCNS Update

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 weapons. Judge

Levi’s essay is entitled “Participatory Democracy in Action.”

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 - 74 have

ratified and 25 have signed. Such action sends a strong message to the nuclear-armed

states and their allies that they are now the minority and irresponsible actors threatening

global security.

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 quorum to operate. The

public needs the Board to continue its vital nuclear safety mission at the DOE nuclear

weapons facilities.

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 Safety Board’s work

continues unimpeded.

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 Wagon Mound butte, this village is

also located right off Interstate 25. This stretch is one of the routes used by the

Department of Energy (DOE) to transport legacy plutonium-contaminated waste from

making the triggers, or pits, for nuclear weapons to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

(WIPP), near Carlsbad, New Mexico.

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 participation and

timely access to important documents.

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.