Nuclear Watch New Mexico Presents a Virtual Workshop about draft LANL SWEIS on February 6th
You are invited to participate in a virtual Nuclear Watch New Mexico workshop about the draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) on Thursday, February 6th from 5:30 pm to 7 pm Mountain Time. Zoom in at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87823838942
With LANL expanding its nuclear weapons programs—despite a long history of environmental contamination and nuclear safety issues—the draft SWEIS represents a vital opportunity for the public to demand transparency, accountability and environmental justice.
Public hearings will begin on Tuesday, February 11th in Santa Fe, followed by a Wednesday, February 12th hearing in Española, and a Thursday, February 13th hearing in Los Alamos. For more information, please visit: https://nuclearactive.org/draft-lanl-site-wide-environmental-impact-statement-to-be-released-on-friday-january-10th/
The draft SWEIS is required by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. It provides for public review and comment of the potential environmental impacts of continuing operations of LANL for the next 15 years. Now is the time to get involved and have your voice heard!
During the workshop, Nuclear Watch will present about the following five key LANL issues:
- Expanded Plutonium “Pit” Bomb Core Production: LANL’s role in expanded nuclear weapons production conflicts with global disarmament efforts and pushes us deeper into the new, increasingly dangerous nuclear arms race.
- Proposed BioSafety Level-3 Facility: LANL’s plans for a facility to handle dangerous pathogens, like anthrax, raise serious safety and transparency concerns.
- Proposed Tritium Releases: LANL’s controversial proposal to release up to 100,000 curies of gaseous tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, poses significant environmental and public health risks.
- New Transmission Line Across Caja del Rio: A proposed electrical transmission line for LANL’s growing Artificial Intelligence work would cross the environmentally and culturally sensitive Caja del Rio.
- Nuclear Waste Cleanup: LANL plans to “cap and cover” and leave some 800,000 cubic yards of radioactive, hazardous and toxic wastes permanently buried in unlined pits and shafts is a long-term threat to the Española Sole Source Drinking Water Aquifer. The public must demand comprehensive cleanup.
This workshop will include opening remarks by Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester on the need for global nuclear disarmament. Dylan Spaulding, a Senior Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, will follow the Archbishop. 
Spaulding will address how expanded plutonium “pit” production is not to maintain the safety and reliability of the existing stockpile but is instead for new-design nuclear weapons.
The presentations on these issues and more will be followed by ample time for Q&A.
See the draft LANL SWEIS here: https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/articles/nnsa-publishes-draft-site-wide-environmental-impact-statement-los-alamos-national or https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/doeeis-0552-draft-environmental-impact-statement
Comments on the draft LANL SWEIS may be submitted:
- by email to: LANLSWEIS@nnsa.doe.gov. ***Mark emails as: SWEIS Comments***
- in writing to:
Mr. Stephen Hoffman, LANL SWEIS Document Manager
DOE/NNSA
3747 West Jemez Road
Los Alamos, NM 87544
***Mark envelopes as: SWEIS Comments***
- verbally at one of the public hearings
- in written form at one of the public hearings
Comments must be received/postmarked by Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of our dear friend and colleague Kenneth Mayers, Presenté. Ken co-founded the Santa Fe chapter of Veterans for Peace, a global organization that relies on the voices and experiences of military veterans to advocate for peaceful solutions to conflicts. He believed that working together we could build a world beyond war. Ken Mayers said that apart from family, his social activism was the most inherently satisfying part of his life….”going to the streets to support causes I believe in is where it’s at.” He could be seen on the corner of Cerrillos and St Francis, and Alameda and Sandoval, with CCNS and other peace activists waving banners calling for the end of war and nuclear weapons. There will always be a place for you there Ken, as well as in our hearts.
- Join us on Friday, January 31st from noon to 1 pm
at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and Kenneth Mayers, Presenté. 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 and join in the conversation for nuclear disarmament.
- Tuesday, February 11th from 1 to 4 pm and 5 to 9 pm
at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, Sweeney Room – virtual and in person draft LANL SWEIS public hearing.
There will be a virtual option for these two meeting. Virtual hearing access instructions (e.g., website link or phone number) will be announced at least 15 days before the hearing and will be published in local newspapers, noticed to the GovDelivery mailing list, and available on the following websites: /nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room and /nepa/public-comment-opportunities.
- Wednesday, February 12th from 5 to 8 pm at Mision y Convento in Española.
This public hearing is in person ONLY. It remains unclear why this public hearing is not available virtually.
- Thursday, February 13th from 5 to 8 pm at Fuller Lodge, Pajarito Room, in Los Alamos.
This public hearing is in-person ONLY. It remains unclear why this public hearing is not available virtually.
Tags: Department of Energy (DOE), Dylan Spaulding Ph.D., LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Environmental Policy Act, National Nuclear Security Administration, NEPA, NNSA, Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester, Senior Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, site-wide environmental impact statement, SWEIS
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