CCNS Update

It has been raining in Northern New Mexico this week, providing many blessings

of moisture and delaying the proposed venting of radioactive tritium from Los Alamos

National Laboratory (LANL), at least for now. Importantly, the New Mexico Environment

Department continues its review of LANL’s application for “temporary authorization” to

vent up to 30,000 curies of tritium into the air from four Flanged Tritium Waste

Containers, or FTWCs.

Dylan K. Spaulding, author of the new report, is a senior scientist in the Union of

Concerned Scientists Global Security Program. He holds an undergraduate degree in

physics from Brown University and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

His work focuses on technical issues related to nuclear stockpile stewardship and

policies that can reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons.

Just a few days ago, on May 9 th , the Department of Energy (DOE) and its

National Nuclear Security Administration announced that virtual public “scoping”

meetings would be held next week about their plans to prepare a nationwide

Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production (PEIS).

DOE and NNSA are working to turn Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) into a

manufacturing facility for plutonium triggers, or pits, for nuclear weapons.

If you haven’t already signed the electronic petition to STOP Los Alamos

National Laboratory (LANL) plans to vent large quantities of radioactive tritium into the

air beginning on or after June 2 nd , 2025, there’s still time.

Access the petition at actionnetwork.org/petitions/petition-to-deny-lanls-request-

to-release-radioactive-tritium-into-the-air The text of the petition is also available at

nuclearactive.org

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) plans to vent large quantities of

radioactive tritium into the air beginning on or after June 2 nd , 2025. Tritium is a form of

hydrogen that forms radioactive water in the environment. It can cross the placenta and

fetuses, babies and children may receive a radiation dose about three times greater

than adults.

During the early days of the pandemic, on March 10, 2020, LANL mailed a notice

to people on the facility mailing list about the proposed venting of radioactive tritium into

the air from four metal containers stored at Area G. LANL’s request provided

information about its plan to seek temporary authorization to vent from the New Mexico

Environment Department, specifically from the Hazardous Waste Bureau.

the bomb is a groundbreaking multimedia installation that immerses audiences in

the strange, compelling and unsettling reality of nuclear weapons. Since General

Groves and Robert Oppenheimer arrived in New Mexico in late 1942 to establish the

Manhattan Project, the danger has only increased. The world is confronted by the nine

nations that possess about 12,000 nuclear weapons. And those nations are

modernizing their arsenals, including the United States at Los Alamos National

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) promised the People of New Mexico that

it would cleanup and dispose of its plutonium-contaminated nuclear bomb waste by

depositing it into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) over 25 years and close. DOE

broke its promise when that deadline passed on March 26 th , 2024. But DOE has a new

plan to keep the deep geologic nuclear waste disposal facility at WIPP open for 60 more

years for legacy bomb waste and for newly-generated bomb waste from fabricating new

weapons.

The Department of Energy (DOE) promised the People of New Mexico that they

would cleanup and dispose of its plutonium-contaminated nuclear bomb wastes by

depositing waste into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) over 25 years and close.

DOE broke its promise when that deadline passed on March 26, 2024. But DOE has a

new plan to keep the deep geologic nuclear waste disposal facility at WIPP open for 60

more years for legacy bomb waste.

Community members and Tribal advocates are standing together to say NO to

the proposed expansion of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). As part of a

growing movement for environmental justice and accountability, local community

organizations including Tewa Women United, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety,

Communities for Clean Water, Honor Our Pueblo Existence, and Three Sisters

Collective launched the 2025 SovereignTea Community Conversations series that will

end with a powerful hybrid session that will center public education, dialogue, and action

around LANL’s ongoing and proposed nuclear weapons activities.