CCNS Update

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

Finding of No Significant Impact, or a FONSI.

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:

All are welcome to join peacemakers and activists on Saturday, August 9 th at 10

am in Los Alamos to commemorate the 80 th year since the U.S. bombing of Nagasaki,

Japan on that day in 1945.

At 10 am, a vigil and protest will begin in the Manhattan Project National Historic

Park at Ashley Pond. We’ll come together to sing songs of peace and against nuclear

weapons, to honor the victims and survivors of nuclear bombs development, testing and

use around the world. We’ll vow to never allow another nuclear atrocity.

The Red Water Pond Road Community Association and the Pipeline Road

Community invite you to attend the historic 46th commemoration of the Church Rock

Uranium Tailings Spill on Saturday, July 19th beginning at 6 am near the tailings spill

location, 12 miles north of Red Rock State Park on State Highway 566. Free t-shirts will

be available for the first 100 participants.

As you may know, the recent federal reconciliation bill increased the budget for

expanded plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site, located in South

Carolina, by one billion dollars. Yes, one billion dollars in one year! A “pit” is the

plutonium core of a nuclear weapon. The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to

fabricate 50 plutonium pits per year there.

In anticipation of the 80th anniversaries of the 1945 atomic bombings in the USA

and Japan, a number of hybrid educational events will be held next week.

In this week’s Update CCNS provides information about the upcoming

commemorations of two harmful atomic events that both occurred in New Mexico on

July 16th. The first is the 80th commemoration of the plutonium bomb test at the Trinity

Test Site on July 16, 1945 at the White Sands Missile Range.

This week, a coalition of 13 attorneys general issued Multistate Guidance

affirming the necessity and legality of environmental justice initiatives to ensure a

healthy environment for all people to live, play, learn, work and worship. Despite

attempts by the Trump administration to eliminate this critical work by businesses,

nonprofits, and other organizations as illegal through the use of Executive Orders, the

attorneys general are pushing back.

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) planned to vent 30,000 curies of

radioactive tritium into the air during several weekends this summer but it must have

approval from the New Mexico Environment Department. James Kenney, Environment

Department Secretary, citing significant public interest in the proposed plan, determined

that prior to the Environment Department making any final decision, LANL would be

required to perform four additional steps.