May 14th Public Hearing about the Draft Plutonium Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement in Santa Fe; What About Sandia?

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. https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/articles/nnsa-issues-notice-availability-draft-programmatic-environmental-impact-statement-its ; https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/articles/nnsa-issues-notice-availability-draft-programmatic-environmental-impact-statement-its ; https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/doeeis-0573-draft-environmental-impact-statement-april-2026 [links here to the Draft PEIS Summary, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2].

For decades, the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration has been working to increase the production of plutonium pits at LANL. The most ever fabricated was 11 and that was in the year 2011.

There has been little opportunity for public review and comment about the DOE NNSA plans. By court order, DOE NNSA is required to review its “programmatic” approach to expanding their operations across the country.

DOE NNSA is required to hold five public hearings not only in New Mexico, but also in North Augusta, South Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Livermore, California; and Washington, DC to hear the concerns about the proposed increased plutonium inventories and non-radioactive activities associated with expanded pit production.  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0573-plutonium-pit-production-multiple-locations

To learn more and get links to the virtual meetings, go to the non-governmental organizational PEIS central information hub at https://pitpeis.com

One important draft PEIS oversight is that Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico was omitted from analyses, even though the draft PEIS states Sandia’s “primary mission is to function as a nuclear weapons research, development, and engineering laboratory,” which is very similar to LANL’s mission. https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0573-plutonium-pit-production-multiple-locations , e.g., p. 207 of the pdf; p. 5-2 of the document.

Sandia and LANL are located approximately 60 miles from one another as the crow flies. A 50-mile Region of Influence radius from the center of each of the two sites overlap and cover lands and resources of Indigenous Peoples, Hispanic Peoples and others. As a result, by omitting Sandia as a key site from the draft PEIS, DOE NNSA did not conduct the necessary dual analyses of the impacts of their plans within the overlap area. For example,  https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2026-04/draft-eis-0573-plutonium-pit-production-vol-1-2026-04.pdf , e.g., pp. 68-69 of pdf, p. 3-1 and 3-2 of the document.

Further, the last Sandia Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement was finalized in 1999, or 27 years ago. Even though Sandia works in conjunction with LANL on nuclear weapons research, development and engineering, there is no valid and timely Sandia environmental impact statement in place – all to the detriment of those within the 50-mile radius.  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0573-plutonium-pit-production-multiple-locations , e.g., p. 207 of the pdf; p. 5-2 of the document.

In 2011, DOE attempted to update its environmental impact statement. It was never completed.

The draft PEIS must be withdrawn so that the proper and thorough impact analyses in the LANL / Sandia overlap area are conducted.

1. Friday, April 24^th from noon to 1 pm – Join the nuclear disarmament community at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval in Santa Fe for the weekly peaceful protest in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. 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.

2. Friday, April 24^th at 1 pm MDT on zoom – 2026 Scholar Series about What is ALARA? How does it help protect public health and the environment? With Dr. Arjun Makhijani, the President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Takoma Park, Maryland. Zoom, register here

Dr. Makhijani will describe the provisions of DOE Order 458.1, which establishes radiation protections for the public and the environment by keeping exposures “As Low As Reasonably Achievable” (ALARA), below the limits. He will illustrate the requirements in detail with an example from Los Alamos (where, in his analysis, the DOE Order 458.1 was not followed). He will also discuss how ALARA serves to protect public health and the environment.

3. Saturday, April 25^th at 1 pm MDT at the Cruz Gallery, 500 Paseo de Oñate, Española, NM – Luis Peña and Kay Matthews are hosting a reading/discussion of Kay’s new book Antonio “Ike” DeVargas – Norteño Warrior: The Politics of Land, Power, and Justice in Northern New Mexico.

 To read Lucy Lippard’s thoughts about the book, see https://lajicarita.wordpress.com/2026/04/12/events-for-the-book-release-of-antonio-ike-devargas-norteno-warrior/

 Additional Readings/Discussions:

 Saturday, May 9^th at 4 pm at SOMOS, 108 Civic Plaza Drive, Taos

Wednesday, May 20^th, time to be determined, Collected Works, 202 Galisteo, Santa Fe.

4. Tuesday, April 28^th from noon to 1:30 pm – WIPP Community Forum, U.S. Department of Energy, Carlsbad Field Office and Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO). To register, https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20260324.asp

Tags: Department of Energy, DOE, DOE/EIS-0573, LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, Non-governmental organizational PEIS central information hub at https://pitpeis.com, overlap area, PEIS, Plutonium Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons, region of influence, ROI, Sandia National Laboratories, Sandia Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement, Santa Fe Farmers Market Institute