There’s Still Time to Act: Sign Petition to Stop LANL Plans to Vent Radioactive Tritium

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

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