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.  https://www.srnl.gov/research-areas/national-security/plutonium-pit-production-program/

The nuclear weapons budget for Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has increased to over five billion dollars!  LANL is tasked with the fabrication of  30 pits per year, but has never fabricated more than 11 in a year since its founding in 1943.

Both DOE sites would fabricate the pits, consume lots of water and electricity, and challenge surrounding communities with increased emissions into the air, ongoing storage and disposal of radioactive and hazardous waste, as well as continuing toxic contamination and worker exposures.

Four non-governmental organizations challenged the proposed expansion in federal court.  In 2024, the federal judge ordered that DOE is required to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, or PEIS, to examine the interconnections of the site operations, transportation, waste, etc.  https://nuclearactive.org/today-virtual-workshop-about-does-plans-for-expanded-plutonium-pit-production-at-lanl-for-the-next-50-years-public-meetings-next-week/

The first steps require DOE to provide a public notice, an opportunity for the public to tell DOE what the “scope” of the statement should be and to describe its concerns.  Surprisingly, DOE has stated in the public notice that, “For analytical purposes, this PEIS will evaluate potential impacts over a fifty-year period, through approximately 2075.”  DOE’s Notice of Intent to Prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production, published in the Federal Register.  https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/05/09/2025-08140/notice-of-intent-to-prepare-a-programmatic-environmental-impact-statement-for-plutonium-pit

What are your concerns about 50 more years of LANL operations?  You have the opportunity to express them now and ask DOE to fully respond to your comments in the draft PEIS that is scheduled for release in February or March 2026.

You could ask questions such as:  Does DOE plan to use the PEIS to cover fifty years of continuing operations?  If so, what is DOE’s vision for LANL over the next fifty years?  Will it be cleaned up by 2075?  Will the buried waste be removed from the volcanic tuff?  When will the groundwater and surface water be clean? When will the contaminated soils in the Rio Grande and Cochiti Lake be removed?

If you need to get your comments in earlier, please visit CCNS colleagues’ websites listed below for sample public comments and additional information.

Nuclear Watch New Mexico – https://nukewatch.org/home/

PeaceWorks KC Opinion by Ann Suellentrop, a member of the Physicians for Social Responsibility, in The Kansas City Star – https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article310244080.html

Savannah River Site Watch –  https://srswatch.org/please-submit-comments-by-july-14-2025-on-environmental-review-of-new-plutonium-bomb-factories/

Tewa Women United – https://tewawomenunited.org/2025/07/action-alert-july-14-deadline-to-submit-comments-on-lanl-plutonium-pit-production

Tri-Valley CAREs – https://trivalleycares.org/2025/public-comment-period-open-and-virtual-hearings-scheduled-in-the-court-ordered-plutonium-pit-production-plan-programmatic-environmental-review

Union of Concerned Scientists – New Report:  Plutonium Pit Production: The Risks and Costs of US Plans to Build New Nuclear Weapons –  https://www.ucs.org/resources/plutonium-pit-production

1. Friday, July 11^th from noon to 1 pm – Join your neighbors and friends at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.

2. Watch the “Television Event” 2:13 minute trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5RGRsTwjM It is about the television movie of the week during about nuclear war during the Reagan administration.

3. Friday, July 11^th from 6 pm to Saturday, July 12^th at 6 pm Mountain Time, World Beyond War will host the Fourth Annual 24-hour Peace Wave, which addresses the need to abolish nuclear weapons. Peace Wave is a 24-hour long Zoom that moves around the globe with the sun and features live peace actions in the streets and squares of the world, including rallies, concerts, production of artworks, blood drives, installations of peace poles, dances, speeches, and public demonstrations of all variety. To sign up, visit org

4. On Saturday, July 12^th from 6:30 to 8 pm Mountain Time, Back from the Brink will host its New Mexico Hub Kickoff at the Congregation Nahalat Shalom, 3606 Rio Grande Blvd. Northwest, in Albuquerque. This free, hybrid community-wide event marks the official launch of New Mexico’s involvement in the national Back from the Brink campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. Doors open at 6 pm. All are welcome.

 Speakers include: Melissa Parke, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons; Dr. Ira Helfand, co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility; and Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester.  Together, they will highlight the urgent need for action and the power of communities to create a world free of nuclear threats.

To register, visit    https://www.mobilize.us/backfromthebrink/event/804539/

5. Sunday, July 13^th at 2:30 to 5 pm Mountain Time, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and others host an Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test: 80 Years and Still Waiting, at St. Pius X School, 5301 St. Josephs Drive NW, in Albuquerque. For more information, visit https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/single-post/interfaith-remembrance-of-the-tirnity-test and https://www.mobilize.us/backfromthebrink/event/806202/

 Free event — all are welcome, pre-registration is encouraged. RSVP here.

6. Monday, July 14^th – public comments due to National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) about the scope of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production at Multiple Locations. https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2025-05/english-scoping-presentation-eis-0573-plutonium-pit-production-2025-05.pdf

7. Wednesday, July 16^th – 80^th Anniversary of the first atomic bomb test at the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico. See “80 Years of Struggle” to learn about the three events:

*    Sign dedication at the Stallion Gate Entrance to the Trinity Test at 11 am;

*    Mass and Dinner Reception at St. Francis de Paula Catholic Church in Tularosa at 6 pm; and

*    16^th Annual Candlelight Vigil at the Tularosa Veterans Park at 8:30 pm. 

For more information at https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/single-post/80-years-of-struggle-1   

8. Wednesday, July 16^th at 5 pm MT – Trinity Day 80^th Anniversary Zoom Event, hosted by the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom US Disarm Committee and the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee – for a teach-in on Trinity Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear test.  Register here: https://bit.ly/Trinity80thPanelists include: Hideko Tamura, a Hiroshima survivor and a leader of WILPF; Tina Cordova, founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium; Mary Yakaitis, a leader of the Downwinders; Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy & Environmental Research; and Professor Peter Kuznick, Director of the American University Nuclear Studies Institute. Following the presentations there will be a general discussion.

   Trinity laid the groundwork for the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and for the ensuing nuclear arms race that has repeatedly, and once again, brought the World to the precipice of nuclear annihilation.

   As we face yet another nuclear crisis, we will discuss the meaning of the Trinity Test and its implications for today.

   Please distribute this invitation widely. As the Anti Nuclear Movement again mobilizes to meet this latest crisis, it is important that we be fully informed.

   In Peace and Solidarity,
   John Steinbach & Ellen Thomas  https://www.wilpf.org/

9. Saturday, July 19^th from 6 am to 4 pm – 46th Annual Uranium Tailings Spill Commemoration at the Red Water Pond Road Community, 12 miles North of Red Rock State Park on State Highway 566.

 YOU ARE INVITED to join the community on this journey to heal our Diné and Mother Earth and restore the Hozho’.  We begin at 6 am with breakfast and opening prayers in the teepee. The walk to the spill location will begin approximately at 6:30 am. We will return to lunch and speakers in our shaded arbor. There will be educational tables and a silent auction. Free t-shirts!

This historic event is open to all ages and will share the struggles people face in their daily lives, the healing yet to come for our people and Mother Earth, and the awareness and education required in the local area, tribally, statewide and on the national level. We would like the younger generation to be present, advocate and carry on these traditions of caring for Mother Earth.

Let us come together again and share these issues and concerns, collaborate and strategize, to push for clean up of these contaminated environments among our Diné people. Let’s collaborate to restore, preserve and protect our Mother Earth and to provide a life of balance and harmony for our people now and for the future generations.

It is said that The Four Sacred Mountains say to us,

“My child, I will feed you, give you good health, and I will give you strength and courage.  My child, I will give you clean air and clean water to drink. I am your Life.  My child, get ready now and educate yourself.  Improve yourself and don’t forget who you are. My child, what I am dressed with, is what you are dressed with. I am your home and your mother and father.”

For more info contact RWPRC Executive members: Edith Hood 505-728-9350, Terry Keyanna 505-979-0552, Jackie Jefferson Bell 505-728-7935
RSVP – Early Registration, Donations, Questions to email:
redwaterpondroad@gmail.com

10. Saturday, August 9^th – Nagasaki Day – New Mexico PeaceFest is planning a commemoration in Los Alamos, NM. It is developing and if you would like to help with the planning and publicizing, please join the planning meeting on Tuesday, July 8^th at 5 pm MT on zoom.  For more information, please email ccns@nuclearactive.org. 

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.

On Thursday, July 10^th from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm Mountain Time, the Arms Control Association and Win Without War will host a hybrid event, “From Trinity to Today: Nuclear Weapons and the Way Forward,” to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the atomic age.  Three panels will highlight the impacts of the bomb and showcase the role citizen campaigns have had in changing the course of nuclear history.  They are:

• Toxic and Radioactive Legacy of Nuclear Use, Production, Testing
• The Role of Citizens in Reducing the Nuclear Danger
• Today’s Nuclear Dangers/Consequences of Nuclear War

To register, go to https://www.armscontrol.org/From_Trinity_to_Today

On Friday, July 11^th from 6 pm to Saturday, July 12^th at 6 pm Mountain Time, World Beyond War will host the Fourth Annual 24-hour Peace Wave, which addresses the need to abolish nuclear weapons. Peace Wave is a 24-hour long Zoom that moves around the globe with the sun and features live peace actions in the streets and squares of the world, including rallies, concerts, production of artworks, blood drives, installations of peace poles, dances, speeches, and public demonstrations of all variety.

To sign up, visit https://worldbeyondwar.org/wave/

On Saturday, July 12^th from 6:30 to 8 pm Mountain Time, Back from the Brink will host its New Mexico Hub Kickoff at the Congregation Nahalat Shalom, 3606 Rio Grande Blvd. Northwest, in Albuquerque.  This free, hybrid community-wide event marks the official launch of New Mexico’s involvement in the national Back from the Brink campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. Doors open at 6 pm. All are welcome.

Speakers include: Melissa Parke, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons; Dr. Ira Helfand, co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility; and Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester.  Together, they will highlight the urgent need for action and the power of communities to create a world free of nuclear threats.

To register, visit https://www.mobilize.us/backfromthebrink/event/804539/

On Sunday, July 13^th at 2:30 to 5 pm Mountain Time, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and others host an Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test: 80 Years and Still Waiting, at St. Pius X School, 5301 St. Josephs Drive NW, in Albuquerque.  Doors open at 2 pm.  The event will also be live streamed.  Pre-registration is encouraged at https://www.jotform.com/form/251126623369053.  For more information, visit https://www.mobilize.us/backfromthebrink/event/806202/

1. Friday, July 4^th from noon to 1 pm – Join your neighbors and friends at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.

2. Watch the “Television Event” 2:13 minute trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5RGRsTwjM It is about the television movie of the week during about nuclear war during the Reagan administration.

3. Monday, July 14^th – public comments due to National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) about the scope of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production at Multiple Locations. https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2025-05/english-scoping-presentation-eis-0573-plutonium-pit-production-2025-05.pdf

4. Wednesday, July 16^th – 80^th Anniversary of the first atomic bomb test at the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico. See “80 Years of Struggle” to learn about the three events:

*    Sign dedication at the Stallion Gate Entrance to the Trinity Test at 11 am;

*    Mass and Dinner Reception at St. Francis de Paula Catholic Church in Tularosa at 6 pm; and

*    16^th Annual Candlelight Vigil at the Tularosa Veterans Park at 8:30 pm. 

 For more information at https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/single-post/80-years-of-struggle-1   

5. Wednesday, July 16^th at 5 pm MT – Trinity Day 80^th Anniversary Zoom Event, hosted by the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom US Disarm Committee and the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee – for a teach-in on Trinity Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear test.  Register here: https://bit.ly/Trinity80thPanelists include: Hideko Tamura, a Hiroshima survivor and a leader of WILPF; Tina Cordova, founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium; Mary Yakaitis, a leader of the Downwinders; Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy & Environmental Research; and Professor Peter Kuznick, Director of the American University Nuclear Studies Institute. Following the presentations there will be a general discussion.Trinity laid the groundwork for the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and for the ensuing nuclear arms race that has repeatedly, and once again, brought the World to the precipice of nuclear annihilation.

   As we face yet another nuclear crisis, we will discuss the meaning of the Trinity Test and its implications for today.

   Please distribute this invitation widely. As the Anti Nuclear Movement again mobilizes to meet this latest crisis, it is important that we be fully informed.

   In Peace and Solidarity,
   John Steinbach & Ellen Thomas  https://www.wilpf.org/

6. Saturday, July 19^th from 6 am to 4 pm – 46th Annual Uranium Tailings Spill Commemoration at the Red Water Pond Road Community, 12 miles North of Red Rock State Park on State Highway 566.

 YOU ARE INVITED to join the community on this journey to heal our Diné and Mother Earth and restore the Hozho’.  We begin at 6 am with breakfast and opening prayers in the teepee. The walk to the spill location will begin approximately at 6:30 am. We will return to lunch and speakers in our shaded arbor. There will be educational tables and a silent auction. Free t-shirts!

This historic event is open to all ages and will share the struggles people face in their daily lives, the healing yet to come for our people and Mother Earth, and the awareness and education required in the local area, tribally, statewide and on the national level. We would like the younger generation to be present, advocate and carry on these traditions of caring for Mother Earth.

Let us come together again and share these issues and concerns, collaborate and strategize, to push for clean up of these contaminated environments among our Diné people. Let’s collaborate to restore, preserve and protect our Mother Earth and to provide a life of balance and harmony for our people now and for the future generations.

It is said that The Four Sacred Mountains say to us,

“My child, I will feed you, give you good health, and I will give you strength and courage.  My child, I will give you clean air and clean water to drink.

  I am your Life.  My child, get ready now and educate yourself.  Improve yourself and don’t forget who you are. My child, what I am dressed with, is what you are dressed with. I am your home and your mother and father.”

For more info contact RWPRC Executive members: Edith Hood 505-728-9350, Terry Keyanna 505-979-0552, Jackie Jefferson Bell 505-728-7935
RSVP – Early Registration, Donations, Questions to email: redwaterpondroad@gmail.com

7. Saturday, August 9^th – Nagasaki Day – New Mexico PeaceFest is planning a commemoration in Los Alamos, NM.  The plans are developing and if you would like to help with the planning and publicizing, please join the planning meeting on Tuesday, July 8^th at 5 pm MT on zoom.  For more information, please email ccns@nuclearactive.org. 

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.

The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, a group seeking justice for the harms downwinders have suffered through the generations from exposures to the Trinity Test, is sponsoring three occasions of commemoration on Wednesday, July 16th.  The day begins with the dedication of a permanent sign at the Stallion Gate Entrance to the White Sands Missile Range; then there will be a mass and dinner reception at the St. Francis de Paula Catholic Church in Tularosa; and last comes the 16th Annual Candlelight Vigil at the Tularosa Veterans Park.

The Candlelight Vigil will be livestreamed.  The link will be posted closer to the July 16th date.

For more information, please visit https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/

The second event is the 46th anniversary of the Church Rock Uranium Tailings Spill on July 16th, 1979 on the Navajo Nation.  The Red Water Pond Road Community invites you to attend a historic commemoration on Saturday, July 19th from 6 am to 4 pm, 12 miles north of Red Rock State Park on State Highway 566.   Breakfast and lunch will be provided under a shaded arbor.  After opening prayers, a walk to the spill location will take place.  There will also be speakers, educational tables, and a silent auction.

In 1968, the United Nuclear Corporation began mining operations in the largest underground uranium mine in the United States. Mining wastes were disposed of in three lined lagoons behind a dam that United Nuclear Corporation and state and federal agencies knew was subject to failure.  When, on July 16th, the dam was breached, 1,100 tons of uranium waste and 94 million gallons of radioactive water flowed into and contaminated about 80 miles of the Rio Puerco.  Many Navajos relied on the Puerco River for living and watering livestock.  Uranium workers, their families and others have suffered for decades because of the unremediated radioactive and chemical spill.

For more information, please visit https://swuraniumimpacts.org/

These are but two of the many upcoming commemorative events to remember those harmed by the atomic industries.

1. Thursday, June 26th from 4 to 5 pm MT – Union of Concerned Scientists invites you to a training webinar on how to submit a comment to ensure NNSA fully considers the public and environmental risks that come with planned expanded plutonium pit production.

Comment periods help increase transparency to the public, and it is crucial that the NNSA and the US Department of Energy hear from scientists, experts, and community members like you.  See UCS’s 4-page fact sheet at:  https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-05/Plutonium%20Pit%20Production_ES.pdf

Training webinar registration at:  https://secure.ucs.org/a/2025-6-26-peis-comment-training-2

2. Friday, June 27^th from noon to 1 pm – Join your neighbors and friends at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.

3. Watch the “Television Event” 2:13 minute trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5RGRsTwjM It is about the television movie of the week during about nuclear war during the Reagan administration.

4. Thursday, July 10^th from 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm ET; 10:30 am to 3:30 pm MT – From Trinity to Today: Nuclear Weapons and the Way Forward, a hybrid event hosted by the Arms Control Association and Win Without War.   Registration is required to attend. You can register to attend in-person or on-line

The Arms Control Association and Win Without War invite you to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the atomic age through a three panel series that highlights the impacts of the bomb and showcases the role citizen campaigns have had in changing the course of nuclear history.

Join one or all the three panel series:

• • Toxic and Radioactive Legacy of Nuclear Use, Production, Testing
  • The Role of Citizens in Reducing the Nuclear Danger
  • Today’s Nuclear Dangers/Consequences of Nuclear War

For more information and registration:  https://www.armscontrol.org/From_Trinity_to_Today

5. Friday, July 11^th from 6 pm MT to Saturday, July 12^th to 6 pm – Fourth Annual 24-hour Peace Wave – addressing the need to abolish nuclear weapons. Peace Wave is a 24-hour long Zoom featuring live peace actions in the streets and squares of the world, moving around the globe with the sun. The Peace Wave visits dozens of location around the globe and includes rallies, concerts, production of artworks, blood drives, installations of peace poles, dances, speeches, and public demonstrations of all variety.

 To sign up to watch Peace Wave, to embed the sign-up on your website, to watch the past three years’ peace waves, and to answer most questions, go to https://24hourpeacewave.org   To discuss including your live event in the Peace Wave, email info@worldbeyondwar.org

6. Saturday, July 12^th at 6:30 pm at Congregation Nahalat Shalom, 3606 Rio Grande Blvd. NW, Albuquerque. – Back from the Brink New Mexico Hub Kickoff.  This free, community-wide event marks the official launch of New Mexico’s involvement in the national Back from the Brink campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. Doors open at 6:00 pm. All are welcome.

The evening will feature compelling speakers dedicated to nuclear disarmament and justice, including:

• • Eddie Laiche, steering committee member of Students for Nuclear Disarmament, a national, non-partisan, student-led organization seeking to develop the grassroots nuclear abolition movement through high school and college students
  • Ira Helfand, co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Immediate Past President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and member of the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
  • Myrriah Gomez, UNM professor and author of Nuclear Nuevo Mexico: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos
  • Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium and tire less advocate working to secure healthcare coverage and partial restitution for the people of New Mexico who have suffered from the negative health effects of overexposure to radiation since 1945.

Together they will highlight the urgent need for action and the power of communities to create a world free from nuclear threats.

Registration – https://www.mobilize.us/backfromthebrink/event/804539/

7. Sunday, July 13^th – Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test: 80 Years and Still Waiting – doors open at 2 pm and event starts at 2:30 to 5 pm, at St. Pius X School, 5301 St. Josephs Drive NW, Albuquerque, NM. 80 year ago the U.S. government did not warn New Mexicans about the atomic bomb Trinity Test. To this day, downwinders of the first atomic bomb test have never been acknowledged or compensated. Today we are locked in a second nuclear arms race and again New Mexico plays a crucial role. It is long overdue that the nuclear powers honor their promises in international treaties to rid the world of the most dangerous weapons.

 Free event — all are welcome, pre-registration is encouraged. RSVP here.

8. Monday, July 14^th – public comments due to NNSA about the scope of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production.

9. Wednesday, July 16^th – 80^th Anniversary of the first atomic bomb test at the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico. Visit https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/ for more information. 

10. Wednesday, July 16^th at 5 pm MT – Trinity Day 80^th Anniversary Zoom Event, hosted by the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom US Disarm Committee and the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee – for a teach-in on Trinity Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear test.  Register here: https://bit.ly/Trinity80th

    Panelists include: Hideko Tamura, a Hiroshima survivor and a leader of WILPF; Tina Cordova, founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium; Mary Yakaitis, a leader of the Downwinders; Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy & Environmental Research; and Professor Peter Kuznick, Director of the American University Nuclear Studies Institute. Following the presentations there will be a general discussion.

    Trinity laid the groundwork for the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and for the ensuing nuclear arms race that has repeatedly, and once again, brought the World to the precipice of nuclear annihilation.

    As we face yet another nuclear crisis, we will discuss the meaning of the Trinity Test and its implications for today.

    Please distribute this invitation widely. As the Anti Nuclear Movement again mobilizes to meet this latest crisis, it is important that we be fully informed.

    In Peace and Solidarity,
    John Steinbach & Ellen Thomas  https://www.wilpf.org/

11. Saturday, July 19^th – 46^th Anniversary of United Nuclear Corporation Church Rock Uranium Mill Tailings Spill. For more information, visit https://swuraniumimpacts.org/

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.

The coalition of attorneys general issued its Multi-State Guidance Affirming the Importance and Legality of Environmental Justice Inititative.  https://www.mass.gov/doc/multi-state-guidance-affirming-the-importance-and-legality-of-environmental-justice-initiatives/download

In part, they write:

The federal actions attacking environmental justice have created concerns about – but do not impact – the continued legality and importance of environmental justice efforts. These actions include several executive orders issued by President Trump, as well as memoranda issued by United States Attorney General Pam Bondi. These federal actions inaccurately label environmental justice and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility activities as “illegal discrimination.” They rescind prior executive orders embedding environmental justice principles throughout federal administrative programs. They discontinue enforcement actions aimed at addressing disproportionate environmental burdens and terminate federal environmental justice programs and funding.  The recent federal actions also direct the United States Department of Justice to de-prioritize environmental justice in its enforcement work and to take actions to stop the enforcement of state environmental justice laws that the United States Attorney General deems illegal. These actions cloud the meaning of environmental justice and the legality of the work itself. But the limited effect of these actions is clear: the President cannot alter the laws passed by Congress, nor can his executive orders or agency memoranda change the protections afforded by the Constitution or state law. Additionally, while complementary, environmental justice is a distinct concept that addresses distinct challenges from diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Like the best practices for workplace diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility addressed in the February 2025 guidance from multiple state attorneys general, the advancement of environmental justice is not only lawful but also benefits the public.

The Attorneys General of California, Massachusetts and New York led the effort to issue the multi-state guidance.  The Attorneys General of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont joined to form the 13-member coalition.  Together, they stand “committed to pursuing environmental justice and enforcing related laws in our jurisdictions.”

1. Join your neighbors and friends on Friday, June 20th from noon to 1 pm at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.

2. Watch the “Television Event” 2:13 minute trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5RGRsTwjM It is about the television movie of the week during about nuclear war during the Reagan administration.

3. Thursday, June 26th from 4 to 5 pm MT – Union of Concerned Scientists invites you to a training webinar on how to submit a comment to ensure NNSA fully considers the public and environmental risks that come with planned expanded plutonium pit production.

Comment periods help increase transparency to the public, and it is crucial that the NNSA and the US Department of Energy hear from scientists, experts, and community members like you.  See UCS’s 4-page fact sheet at:  https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-05/Plutonium%20Pit%20Production_ES.pdf

Training webinar registration at:  https://secure.ucs.org/a/2025-6-26-peis-comment-training-2

4. Thursday, July 10^th from 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm ET; 10:30 am to 3:30 pm MT – From Trinity to Today: Nuclear Weapons and the Way Forward, a hybrid event. Registration is required to attend. You can register to attend in-person or on-line

The Arms Control Association and Win Without War invite you to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the atomic age through a three panel series that highlights the impacts of the bomb and showcases the role citizen campaigns have had in changing the course of nuclear history.

Join one or all the three panel series:

• • Toxic and Radioactive Legacy of Nuclear Use, Production, Testing
  • The Role of Citizens in Reducing the Nuclear Danger
  • Today’s Nuclear Dangers/Consequences of Nuclear War

For more information and registration:  https://www.armscontrol.org/From_Trinity_to_Today

5. Friday, July 11^th from 6 pm MT to Saturday, July 12^th to 6 pm – Fourth Annual 24-hour Peace Wave – addressing the need to abolish nuclear weapons. Peace Wave is a 24-hour long Zoom featuring live peace actions in the streets and squares of the world, moving around the globe with the sun. The Peace Wave visits dozens of location around the globe and includes rallies, concerts, production of artworks, blood drives, installations of peace poles, dances, speeches, and public demonstrations of all variety.

 To sign up to watch Peace Wave, to embed the sign-up on your website, to watch the past three years’ peace waves, and to answer most questions, go to https://24hourpeacewave.org   To discuss including your live event in the Peace Wave, email info@worldbeyondwar.org

6. Sunday, July 13^th – Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test: 80 Years and Still Waiting – doors open at 2 pm and event starts at 2:30 to 5 pm, at St. Pius X School, 5301 St. Josephs Drive NW, Albuquerque, NM. 80 year ago the U.S. government did not warn New Mexicans about the atomic bomb Trinity Test. To this day, downwinders of the first atomic bomb test have never been acknowledged or compensated. Today we are locked in a second nuclear arms race and again New Mexico plays a crucial role. It is long overdue that the nuclear powers honor their promises in international treaties to rid the world of the most dangerous weapons.

 Free event — all are welcome, pre-registration is encouraged. RSVP here.

7. Monday, July 14^th – public comments due to NNSA about the scope of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production.

8. Wednesday, July 16^th – 80^th Anniversary of the first atomic bomb test at the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico. See Chapter 10, “The Trinity Test,” in the Final Report of the Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment (LAHDRA) Project at https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/131522  Chapter 10 provides one of the most comprehensive reports of the Trinity Test written by the scientists who reviewed actual LANL documentation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

9. Wednesday, July 16^th – 46^th Anniversary of United Nuclear Corporation Church Rock Uranium Mill Tailings Spill. For more information, see  https://ananuclear.org/church-rock-uranium-spill-july-16-1979/

10. SAVE THE DATE – SATURDAY, JULY 19^TH at 7:30 am – 46^TH ANNUAL URANIUM MILL TAILINGS SPILL COMMEMORATION HELD IN RED WATER POND ROAD COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION. https://swuraniumimpacts.org/

 Each year, the community of Red Water Pond hosts a commemoration of the uranium mill tailings spill that took place 46 years ago and continues to impact local community members. These gatherings include speakers, tabling, a silent auction, and a walk commemorating the spill.  https://swuraniumimpacts.org/red-water-pond-road-community-association/

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.

In a June 9, 2025 letter to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its contractor, Triad National Security, LLC, Kenney describes four new conditions that would have to be “successfully met” by the federal entities before he would consider whether to issue a temporary authorization to vent four tritium canisters. 2025-06-09 – NMED RPD HWB NNSA Temporary Authorization Letter

The four conditions are:

• an independent, third-party technical review of alternatives to vent the canisters;
• a public meeting with interested stakeholders to examine the independent, third-party technical review of alternatives. The meeting will provide opportunities to make comments and a period for questions and answers;
• a hazardous waste compliance audit by an independent, third-party auditor;
• The resulting three reports are required to be submitted to the Environment Department and will be made available to the public on LANL’s website.

The fourth condition requires LANL to host consultation with interested tribes. The consultation will focus on the reports as well as protection of cultural practices, human health and the environment.

The current outcome is the result of a six year effort by Tewa Women United, Communities for Clean Water, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, technical experts and many individuals who signed petitions, attended meetings and communicated their health and safety concerns about the proposed venting.

Importantly, Secretary Kenney concluded his letter by stating:

“In closing, the historical gross mismanagement of these waste streams by DOE and NNSA have placed NMED in an untenable situation. Now, the risk of inaction poses a far greater threat than a technical solution, but no technical solution is free from risk. Your disregard of state laws and rules governing these wastes for almost 20 years greatly exacerbated this situation and put New Mexicans, tribal communities, and our environment at risk. Given your failure to comply with New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act and its regulations codified at 20.4.1 of the New Mexico Administrative Code, you are hereby notified that NMED is separately commencing a civil enforcement action pursuant to this matter.”

1. Join us on Friday, June 13th from noon to 1 pm at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.

2. Watch the “Television Event” 2:13 minute trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5RGRsTwjM It is about the television movie of the week during about nuclear war during the Reagan administration.

3. June 10^th through June 14^th – Atomic 66: A convergence of Space, Art, Tech, and Culture, Albuquerque, NM.  A special pop-up exhibit of the Atomic Art by Tony Price is included in the immersive events at Lobo Theatre as part of Atomic 66 – billed as a “gathering of innovators, creative, the curious, and the ones bold enough to think they can reshape tomorrow.”  For more information:  https://tonypriceatomicartist.com/ ,  https://www.atomic66.org/

4. Monday, June 16^th from 2 to 3 pm MT – Union of Concerned Scientists invites you to a training webinar on how to submit a comment to ensure NNSA fully considers the public and environmental risks that come with planned expanded plutonium pit production.

Comment periods help increase transparency to the public, and it is crucial that the NNSA and the US Department of Energy hear from scientists, experts, and community members like you.  Register at:  https://secure.ucs.org/a/2025-6-16-peis-comment-training-1

5. Thursday, July 10^th from 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm ET; 10:30 am to 3:30 pm MT – From Trinity to Today: Nuclear Weapons and the Way Forward, a hybrid event. Registration is required to attend. You can register to attend in-person or on-line

The Arms Control Association and Win Without War invite you to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the atomic age through a three panel series that highlights the impacts of the bomb and showcases the role citizen campaigns have had in changing the course of nuclear history.

Join one or all the three panel series:

• • Toxic and Radioactive Legacy of Nuclear Use, Production, Testing
  • The Role of Citizens in Reducing the Nuclear Danger
  • Today’s Nuclear Dangers/Consequences of Nuclear War

For more information and registration:  https://www.armscontrol.org/From_Trinity_to_Today

6. Friday, July 11^th from 6 pm MT to Saturday, July 12^th to 6 pm – Fourth Annual 24-hour Peace Wave – addressing the need to abolish nuclear weapons. Peace Wave is a 24-hour long Zoom featuring live peace actions in the streets and squares of the world, moving around the globe with the sun. The Peace Wave visits dozens of location around the globe and includes rallies, concerts, production of artworks, blood drives, installations of peace poles, dances, speeches, and public demonstrations of all variety.

 To sign up to watch Peace Wave, to embed the sign-up on your website, to watch the past three years’ peace waves, and to answer most questions, go to https://24hourpeacewave.org   To discuss including your live event in the Peace Wave, email info@worldbeyondwar.org

7. Sunday, July 13^th – Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test: 80 Years and Still Waiting – doors open at 2 pm and event starts at 2:30 to 5 pm, at St. Pius X School, 5301 St. Josephs Drive NW, Albuquerque, NM. 80 year ago the U.S. government did not warn New Mexicans about the atomic bomb Trinity Test. To this day, downwinders of the first atomic bomb test have never been acknowledged or compensated. Today we are locked in a second nuclear arms race and again New Mexico plays a crucial role. It is long overdue that the nuclear powers honor their promises in international treaties to rid the world of the most dangerous weapons.

 Free event — all are welcome, pre-registration is encouraged. RSVP here.

8. SAVE THE DATE – SATURDAY, JULY 19^TH at 7:30 am – 46^TH ANNUAL URANIUM MILL TAILINGS SPILL COMMEMORATION HELD IN RED WATER POND ROAD COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION. https://swuraniumimpacts.org/

 Each year, the community of Red Water Pond hosts a commemoration of the uranium mill tailings spill that took place 46 years ago and continues to impact local community members. These gatherings include speakers, tabling, a silent auction, and a walk commemorating the spill.  https://swuraniumimpacts.org/red-water-pond-road-community-association/

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. 

Thirty thousand curies is about three grams of tritium.  This is the same amount of tritium as Japan is dumping into the Pacific Ocean over the span of 30 years from the 2011 tsunami and nuclear reactor explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.  https://www.npr.org/2023/08/24/1195419846/fukushima-radioactive-water-japan

But the U.S. Department of Energy, which owns and operates LANL, estimates there are 100,000 curies in the four containers.  The proposed venting could occur over a period of years.  https://www.lanl.gov/engage/environment/ftwc, anwer to question No. 11.  It states there are “approximately 114,000 curies.”

This is an example of DOE not updating its website about the latest information about the venting.  It is also an example of the growing need for DOE to host in person and virtual public meetings in the villages, towns and communities downwind and downstream of LANL where there are opportunities to communicate about concerns, alternatives to venting and associated issues.

The draft LANL SWEIS states:  “The actual release of tritium would be dependent on the efficiency of the tritium capture system but not exceed 30,000 curies for any 12-month period. NNSA would limit annual tritium releases from FTWC venting to ensure that the total annual MEI dose (considering all sitewide releases) would remain less than 10 millirem/year.”  Draft LANL SWEIS, Volume 2, PDF p. 281, parentheses in the original. The acronym MEI is for “maximally exposed individual” of the public (not workers).  https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/draft-eis-0552-lanl-site-wide-vol2-2025-01_0.pdf

DOE admitted that there is no urgency to vent.  It stated, “There is no urgency for this project beyond the broader mission goals to reduce onsite waste liabilities.”  https://www.lanl.gov/engage/environment/ftwc

In a 2023 response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Dallas, Texas, DOE stated, “The currently controlled venting process will be unfeasible at some point in the near future.  Based on modeling, that time is likely less than 4 [to] 5 years, [or 2028].”  https://cdn.lanl.gov/files/ftwc-epa-response-attachment_3e0de.pdf

The draft LANL Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) speaks of “a one-time release of up to 30,000 curies of tritium from venting flanged tritium waste containers.”  Draft LANL SWEIS, Volume 1, page 5-44.  https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/draft-eis-0552-lanl-site-wide-vol1-2025-01_0.pdf

There are 11 references to 30,000 curies in the draft SWEIS.

It is estimated that the four containers hold 100,000 curies of tritium.  But we don’t know because DOE has yet to sample the gas in the headspace of the containers.  It is unconscionable for DOE to vent the containers without sampling the headspace gas first to determine the contents and the amount of tritium. 

Further, DOE is required by its own regulations to conduct an ALARA review.  ALARA stands for “as low as reasonably achievable,” a guide for reducing exposure to radiation.  Such a review is essential to understand the potential exposures to all living beings.  DOE has refused to conduct an ALARA review.   DOE Order 458.1.   https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6418a35a30fed803c21f2bb1/t/67f56186a8839051f6ccd219/1744134535700/Rainfall+implications+of+Los+Alamos+tritium+venting+proposal+-+interpretation+of+modeling+results+Arjun+Makhijani+final+2024-03-28.pdf, pp. 6-8

Tewa Women United and Communities for Clean Water have commissioned four studies by three technical experts about the proposed venting.  The reports are available at https://tewawomenunited.org/2024/11/action-alert-stop-tritium-venting-and-protect-the-most-vulnerable and https://www.ccwnewmexico.org/general-2

Take action today!  Please sign the Action Network petition opposing the proposed venting at https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/petition-to-deny-lanls-request-to-release-radioactive-tritium-into-the-air

Then write a letter to the editor asking how you will be informed if and when may NMED approves the temporary authorization to vent the tritium.  Please include how much notice you will need – hours, days or weeks – before the venting could occur.

1. Join us on Friday, June 6^th from noon to 1 pm at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.

2. Watch the “Television Event” 2:13 minute trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5RGRsTwjM It is about the television movie of the week during about nuclear war during the Reagan administration.

3. Thursday, June 12^th from 5 to 7 pm – in person and virtual LANL Environmental Management Cleanup Forum at Cities of Gold, Tribal Room, 10 Cities of Gold Road, Pojoaque.

Virtual Meeting Information

Microsoft Teams

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 289 358 365 894

Meeting Password: c7XX7Zx2

Or

Dial in by phone

+1 323-486-1924,,593496135#

Find a local number

United States, Los Angeles

Phone Conference ID: 593 496 135#

If you have any questions, please contact N3Boutreach@em-la.doe.gov.

4. Sunday, July 13^th – Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test: 80 Years and Still Waiting – doors open at 2pm and event starts at 2:30, St. Pius X School, 5301 St. Josephs Drive NW, Albuquerque, NM. 80 year ago the U.S. government did not warn New Mexicans about the atomic bomb Trinity Test. To this day, downwinders of the first atomic bomb test have never been acknowledged or compensated. Today we are locked in a second nuclear arms race and again New Mexico plays a crucial role. It is long overdue that the nuclear powers honor their promises in international treaties to rid the world of the most dangerous weapons.

 Free event — all are welcome, reservations recommended. RSVP here.

5. SAVE THE DATE – SATURDAY, JULY 19^TH at 7:30 am – 46^TH ANNUAL URANIUM MILL TAILINGS SPILL COMMEMORATION HELD IN RED WATER POND ROAD COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION. https://swuraniumimpacts.org/

Each year, the community of Red Water Pond hosts a commemoration of the uranium mill tailings spill that took place 46 years ago and continues to impact local community members. These gatherings include speakers, tabling, a silent auction, and a walk commemorating the spill.  https://swuraniumimpacts.org/red-water-pond-road-community-association/

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.  https://www.ucs.org/about/people/dylan-spaulding

The report was released this week while the Department of Energy held two virtual public meetings to receive comments about the scope of the court-mandated Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production.  With the current deadline for public scoping comments on Monday, July 14, 2025, now is the time to read Spaulding’s informative and damming report about the increasing risks and costs of DOE’s 60 year plan to build new nuclear weapons.  Many sections are devoted to on-going and cumulative issues at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  Through interviews with downwind and downstream Peoples, the impacts of past, present and future impacts are discussed.

Spaulding provides an overview of the report by stating:

“The United States is planning a $1.7 trillion overhaul of its entire nuclear arsenal, designing new warheads and investing in new bombers, missiles, and submarines to carry them. The new warheads, in turn, are driving demand for new plutonium “pits”—the bomb cores that begin the chain reaction in every US thermonuclear weapon—despite the fact that the United States has thousands of surplus pits in reserve.

“Producing new pits would not only be expensive, time consuming, and logistically challenging, but is also technically unnecessary and politically destabilizing. It would actually decrease national security by encouraging a new arms race. In addition, a rushed program will likely increase health risks to workers and communities.

“Science shows we can count on the reliability of existing plutonium pits. There are other ways to improve security without the risks and costs of producing new pits.”  https://www.ucs.org/resources/plutonium-pit-production in English and Español.

IMPORTANTLY:  DOE’s future plans for expanded plutonium pit production will not maintain the safety and reliability of the existing nuclear weapons stockpile.  Expanded pit production will be for new design nuclear weapons and a costly and deadly nuclear arms race.

The Union of Concerned Scientists is requesting DOE to conduct a thorough evaluation of all plutonium pits in the current stockpile, provide an inventory of those pits, and conduct a new study about how plutonium “ages,” among other issues.

For more information about submitting comments:  https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/05/09/2025-08140/notice-of-intent-to-prepare-a-programmatic-environmental-impact-statement-for-plutonium-pit

1. Join us on Friday, May 30^rd from noon to 1 pm at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.

2. APPLY BEFORE JUNE 1, 2025:

#Hiroshima Prefecture and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (#ICAN) will hold the Hiroshima-ICAN Academy on Nuclear Weapons and Global Security 2025.  This year’s overall theme is “Building peace in times of change,” as armed conflict rages in many places around the world today.

Application process is open till June 1, 2025.  https://www.icanw.org/2025_hiroshima_ican_academy

3. SAVE THE DATE – SATURDAY, JULY 19^TH – 46^TH ANNUAL URANIUM TAILINGS SPILL COMMEMORATION. https://swuraniumimpacts.org/

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.  DOE’s Notice of Intent to Prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production, published in the Federal Register.  https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/05/09/2025-08140/notice-of-intent-to-prepare-a-programmatic-environmental-impact-statement-for-plutonium-pit

You have the opportunity to learn more about the DOE’s plans TODAY, May 22^nd, from 4 pm to 5:30 pm Mountain Time.  Our colleagues at Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Savannah River Site Watch, Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (Tri-Valley CAREs) and the Union of Concerned Scientists will present DOE’s plans and what you can do about it.  The virtual workshop will be held on zoom at https://tinyurl.com/3tta9vey

The virtual workshop will feature:

• Talking points
• Suggested scoping comments
• Explanation of the procedural process
• Questions and answers with subject matter experts.

With this information, you can speak your mind at one or both of the upcoming meetings on the government’s plan to produce up to 120 new plutonium pits per year for nuclear weapons for the next 50 years.

The May 27^th and May 28^th public meetings are important because this is the first time since the 2006 to 2008 timeframe when the public will have the opportunity to comment on DOE’s nationwide plans for pit production. Over 100,000 public comments were submitted then.

Generally, the public has the opportunity to provide comments on DOE’s plan at the site level.  A recent example is the LANL Draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement.

Here’s some background on this process.  Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act – https://www.energy.gov/nepa/nepa-documents, Nuclear Watch New Mexico – https://nukewatch.org/home/ , Savannah River Site Watch –  https://srswatch.org/ and Tri-Valley CAREs – https://trivalleycares.org/ successfully sued the NNSA over its failure to complete a required nationwide PEIS for its most costly program ever, the expanded production of plutonium “pit” bomb cores.  https://nukewatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Lawsuit-Compels-Nationwide-Public-Review-of-Plutonium-Bomb-Core-Production.pdf

PLEASE NOTE:  No future production is to maintain the safety and reliability of the existing nuclear weapons stockpile. Instead, all pit production will be for new design nuclear weapons.

To meet its enforced legal obligation, the DOE is holding two virtual “scoping” meetings on Tuesday, May 27^th from 3:00 pm – 5:30 pm Mountain Time and Wednesday, May 28^th from 5 pm – 7:30 pm Mountain Time.

The current deadline for comments is Monday, July 14, 2025.  According to the Federal Register notice, these dates and times may change.

1. Join us on Friday, May 23^rd from noon to 1 pm at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.

2. STREAMING FREE ON PBS – THE VOW FROM HIROSHIMA with Setsuko Thurlow who survived the 1945 atomic destruction of her hometown, Hiroshima, and vowed to help rid the world of those weapons and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). https://www.pbs.org/video/the-vow-from-hiroshima-awxbyw/

3. Saturday, May 31^st from 7 to 10 am – Defend the U.S. Constitution Rally at 5006 Gibson Blvd. SE, Albuquerque. Rally in solidarity alongside Veterans for Peace, AFGE Local 2063, 50501 Veterans, American Opposition, and Indivisible ABQ.  Bring signs showing your support for the U.S. Constitution, our VA, and LGBTQIA2S+ involvement in our military. Stand along both sides of Gibson between San Mateo & Truman, waving signs at traffic as the annual Air Fiesta commences on Kirtland Air Force Base.

 ARRIVE EARLY. Gates open at 8am.  Link to VFP Memorial Day weekend events—- https://mobilize.us/s/7HVkUT

4. Sunday, June 1^st – Save Our VA Rally with VA Unions on Gibson in Albuquerque. See this post next Friday, May 30^th for more information. 

5. APPLY BEFORE JUNE 1, 2025:

#Hiroshima Prefecture and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (#ICAN) will hold the Hiroshima-ICAN Academy on Nuclear Weapons and Global Security 2025.  This year’s overall theme is “Building peace in times of change,” as armed conflict rages in many places around the world today.

Application process is open till June 1, 2025.
https://www.icanw.org/2025_hiroshima_ican_academy

6. SAVE THE DATE – SATURDAY, JULY 19^TH – 46^TH ANNUAL URANIUM TAILINGS SPILL COMMEMORATION. https://swuraniumimpacts.org/

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 https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/petition-to-deny-lanls-request-to-release-radioactive-tritium-into-the-air  The text of the petition is also available at https://nuclearactive.org/sign-electronic-petition-to-halt-lanl-plans-to-vent-radioactive-tritium-in-early-june/

Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, and the Communities for Clean Water created the petition directed to New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney.  Currently, the only roadblock to venting is that LANL needs a “Temporary Authorization” from the Environment Department, which could happen soon.

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.  To read the three reports commissioned by Tewa Women United and the Communities for Clean Water about the proposed venting, go to:  https://www.ccwnewmexico.org/general-2

Further, on May 14^th, the Communities for Clean Water sent a five-page letter to Secretary Kenney requesting a 60-day public comment period about LANL’s request for a temporary authorization.  They argue that five years have passed since LANL initially made the request, the publicly available information needs to be updated and the data is insufficient to determine the need for and risks associated with the venting.

Virtual Scoping Meetings for Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production on May 27^th and May 28^th

In the meantime, on May 9^th the Department of Energy (DOE) and the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration issued its Notice of Intent to Prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, or PEIS, for Plutonium Pit Production.  The proposed PEIS would cover plutonium pit production operations at LANL; the Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina; the Pantex Site near Amarillo, Texas; the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and the Nevada Test Site, north of Las Vegas, Nevada.  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0573-plutonium-pit-production-multiple-locations and https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/05/09/2025-08140/notice-of-intent-to-prepare-a-programmatic-environmental-impact-statement-for-plutonium-pit

The first step is for DOE to solicit public comments on the scope of the review, the environmental issues associated with pit production, and alternatives to it.

The virtual public scoping meeting dates and times, with hyper links and dial in by phone, are:

• Tuesday, May 27, 2025, 3 – 5:30 p.m. Mountain Time – https://bit.ly/​PuPEISMtg1.  Dial in by Phone: (571) 429-4592. Phone conference ID: 808 821 801#.
• Wednesday, May 28, 2025, 5 – 7:30 p.m. Mountain time – https://bit.ly/​PuPEISMtg2. Dial in by Phone: (571) 429-4592. Phone conference ID: 989 289 432#.

The current deadline for comments is Monday, July 14, 2025.  According to the Federal Register notice, these dates and times may change.

1. Join us on Friday, May 16^th from noon to 1 pm at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.

2. STREAMING FREE ON PBS – THE VOW FROM HIROSHIMA with Setsuko Thurlow who survived the 1945 atomic destruction of her hometown, Hiroshima, and vowed to help rid the world of those weapons and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). https://www.pbs.org/video/the-vow-from-hiroshima-awxbyw/

3. APPLY BEFORE JUNE 1, 2025:

#Hiroshima Prefecture and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (#ICAN) will hold the Hiroshima-ICAN Academy on Nuclear Weapons and Global Security 2025.  This year’s overall theme is “Building peace in times of change,” as armed conflict rages in many places around the world today.

Application process is open till June 1, 2025.
https://www.icanw.org/2025_hiroshima_ican_academy

4. Launching the 2025 Global Anti-Militarism Agenda Campaign: Join the #Stillhere-Coalition virtually on May 16 and May 18!!

   Wars of aggression, military occupations, severe sanctions, and a staggering rise in military posturing and base construction around the world are a defining aspect of the world today. But the world is also full of rising militancy and mass actions for peace against the aggressive US-led war machine.

   In light of the ever-growing militarization of US-led war and the ever-growing resistance to militarism around the world, the Resist US-Led War Movement will re-launch its Anti-Militarism Agenda, a broad-ranged and multi-issue campaign platform constructed over years of experience and collaboration with its members and partners as a road map for strengthening the global peace movement through shared campaigns.

   The launch will feature speakers from the organizations whose struggles have given life to the agenda and to global anti-militarism struggles.

 Learn about how we can work on the campaign together and how the Anti Militarism Agenda will be carried out through collaborative and coordinated campaigns on the ground against global targets that, together, we can defeat!

   There will be two launch events to accommodate different time zones:

   Launch 1 on Friday May 16 at 7pm Mountain
   tinyurl.com/amalaunchmay16

   Launch 2 on Sunday May 18 at 9am Mountain
   tinyurl.com/amalaunchmay18

Share with your networks:
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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.   

The New Mexico Environment Department is currently reviewing LANL’s request to vent.

Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, and the Communities for Clean Water have created an electronic Action Network petition you can sign to halt the proposed plan. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/petition-to-deny-lanls-request-to-release-radioactive-tritium-into-the-air

The petition is directed to New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney.  It reads as follows:

“Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) plans to begin large releases of radioactive tritium gas any time after June 2, 2025. The only roadblock is that LANL needs a ‘Temporary Authorization’ from the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), which could happen soon. Below are the facts:

“Why the rush? LANL has explicitly stated, ‘There is no urgency for this project beyond the broader mission goals to reduce onsite waste liabilities.’
“LANL claims need the need to vent based on modeling, not physical sampling of container headspace.
“LANL proposes to vent up to 3 grams of tritium, [or approximately 30,000 curies] over the span of a few days and possibly over a single day. This is THE SAME AMOUNT of tritium as Japan is dumping into the Pacific Ocean over the span of 30 years from the tsunami and nuclear reactor explosions at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. In total, as much as 90,000 curies, three times the Fukushima amount – may be emitted, though not more than 30,000 curies in any single year.
“One teaspoon of tritiated water, [or HTO] can contaminate around 100 billion gallons of water.
   “When calculating the risk, LANL only does so for adults – they are not required to do so for children, infants or pregnant women/fetuses – ignoring the real impact on our communities. The author of one report, Bernd Franke, stated, ‘In the case of tritium, infants and small children get a radiation dose about three times greater than adults, with the same concentrations of tritium in air, water, and food.’”

It is time for action!  Please sign the Action Network petition opposing the proposed venting TODAY!

Please share this Update with your contacts and encourage them to sign the Action Network on-line petition.  https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/petition-to-deny-lanls-request-to-release-radioactive-tritium-into-the-air

1. Join us on Friday, May 9^th from noon to 1 pm at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.

2. STREAMING FREE ON PBS – THE VOW FROM HIROSHIMA with Setsuko Thurlow who survived the 1945 atomic destruction of her hometown, Hiroshima, and vowed to help rid the world of those weapons and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). https://www.pbs.org/video/the-vow-from-hiroshima-awxbyw/