SAN FRANCISCO, USA, Dec 2 2025 (IPS-Inter Press Service News Agency) – In a Truth Social post that reverberated around the world, on October 29 President Donald Trump wrote: “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.”

A month later, it remains unclear what “testing programs” Trump had in mind. Other than North Korea, which last tested in 2017, no country has carried out nuclear-explosive testing since 1998.

Some commentators speculated that Trump was referring to tests of nuclear weapons delivery systems, since Russia had just carried out tests of innovative systems, a long-range torpedo and a nuclear-powered cruise missile.

Perhaps to underline that the United States too tests delivery systems, in an unusual November 13 press release Sandia National Laboratories announced an August test in which an F-35 aircraft dropped inert nuclear bombs.

It appears, though, that the testing in question concerns nuclear warheads. In what was clearly an effort to contain the implications of Trump’s announcement, on November 2, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said regarding US plans that “I think the tests we’re talking about right now” involve “noncritical” rather than “nuclear” explosions. The Energy Department is responsible for development and maintenance of the nuclear arsenal.

In contrast, Trump’s remarks in an interview taped on October 31 point toward alleged underground nuclear-explosive testing by Russia, China, and other countries as the basis for parallel US testing. His remarks perhaps were sparked by years-old US intelligence assessments that Russia and China may have conducted extremely low-yield experiments that cannot be detected remotely.

The prudent approach is to assume that Trump is talking about a US return to nuclear-explosive testing. That assumption is reinforced by the fact that a few days after Trump’s social media post, the United States was the sole country to vote against a UN General Assembly resolution supporting the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

The Russian government is taking this approach. On November 5, President Vladimir Putin ordered relevant agencies to study the possible start of preparations for explosive testing of nuclear warheads.

US resumption of nuclear-explosive testing would be a disastrous policy. It would elevate the role of nuclear arms in international affairs, making nuclear conflict more likely. Indeed, nuclear tests can function as a kind of threat.

It likely would also stimulate and facilitate nuclear arms racing already underway among the United States, Russia, and China. Over the longer term nuclear-explosive testing would encourage additional countries to acquire nuclear weapons, as they come to terms with deeper reliance on nuclear arms by the major powers.

Resumption of nuclear test explosions would also be contrary to US international obligations. The United States and China have signed but not ratified the CTBT. Russia is in the same position, having withdrawn its ratification in 2023 to maintain parity with the United States. Due to the lack of necessary ratifications, the CTBT has not entered into force. Since the CTBT was negotiated in 1996, the three countries have observed a moratorium on nuclear-explosive testing.

That posture is consistent with the international law obligation, set forth in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, of a signatory state to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a treaty.

The object and purpose of the CTBT is perfectly clear: to prevent and prohibit the carrying out of a nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion.

The CTBT is a major multilateral agreement with an active implementing organization that operates a multi-faceted world-wide system to verify the testing prohibition. It stands as a precedent for a future global agreement or agreements that would control fissile materials used to make nuclear weapons, control missiles and other delivery systems, and reduce and eliminate nuclear arsenals.

The sidelining or evisceration of the CTBT due to an outbreak of nuclear-explosive testing would reverse decades of progress towards establishing a nuclear-weapons-free world.

A return to nuclear-explosive testing would similarly be incompatible with compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Its Article VI requires the negotiation of “cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date.”

Nuclear-explosive testing has long been understood as a driver of nuclear arms racing. The preamble to the NPT recalls the determination expressed in the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits above-ground nuclear tests, “to seek to achieve the discontinuance of all test explosions of nuclear weapons for all time and to continue negotiations to this end.”

In 1995, as part of a package enabling the NPT’s indefinite extension, a review conference committed to completion of negotiations on the CTBT by 1996, which was accomplished. In 2000 and 2010, review conferences called for bringing the CTBT into force.

To resume nuclear-explosive testing though a comprehensive ban has been negotiated, and to support design and development of nuclear weapons through such testing, would be a thoroughgoing repudiation of a key aim of the NPT, the cessation of the nuclear arms race.

That would erode the legitimacy of the NPT, which since 1970 has served as an important barrier to the spread of nuclear arms. The next review conference will be held in the spring of 2026. Resumption of nuclear-explosive testing, or intensified preparations to do so, would severely undermine any prospect of an agreed outcome.

It is imperative that the United States not resume explosive testing of nuclear weapons. It would be a very hard blow to the web of agreements and norms that limit nuclear arms and lay the groundwork for their elimination, and it could even lead toward the truly catastrophic consequences of a nuclear conflict.  https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/12/resumption-of-nuclear-explosive-testing-a-dangerous-path/

              Dr John Burroughs is Senior Analyst, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy. https://www.lcnp.org/

1. Friday, December 5^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. Watch A House of Dynamite on Netflix. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has published a resource guide to viewing “A House of Dynamite.”  https://thebulletin.org/2025/10/a-bulletin-resource-guide-to-viewing-a-house-of-dynamite/

3. Friday, December 5^th from 3 to 5 pm – Healing Sacred Relations: Counter-Mapping Nuclear Colonialism in New Mexico for launch of the Story Map in the Frank Waters Room in UNM’s Zimmerman Library.  A cross-disciplinary, cross-departmental collaboration between Faculty and Students in UNM Department of Art [Art & Ecology RAVEL Spring 2025, lead by Kaitlin Bryson and Rachel Bordeleau] and UNM Geography & Environmental Studies Department [Critical Cartography Fall 2025, lead by Tybur Casuse].

Students and Faculty from both courses worked closely and collaboratively with our community partners:  Communities for Clean Water, Tewa Women United, Honor Our Pueblo Existence, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety and the Northern New Mexico College and Northern Stewards Program.  Refreshments provided.

4. Monday, December 8^th – Last Day to register for YUCCA’s We Got Us Bootcamp or Youth Summit. In January, YUCCA will host We Got Us –a weekend of training, solidarity and collective action that will culminate in a mass mobilization at the State Capitol on the Opening day of the 2026 Legislative Session.  https://www.yuccanm.org/post/we-got-us-train-up-and-take-action-with-us-in-january

5. Tuesday, December 9^th from 5:30 pm to 7 pm at the SALA Event Center, 2551 Central Avenue, Los Alamos – NNSA schedules HYBRID public meeting to discuss data from LANL flanged tritium waste containers (FTWC) venting. https://losalamosreporter.com/2025/11/29/nnsa-public-meeting-set-for-dec-9-to-discuss-data-from-lanl-flanged-tritium-waste-containers-depressurization/ and https://www.ccwnewmexico.org/tritium

Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86235824828?pwd=zCBisrAgasSL2ZnhuiRlZw67azyXEE.1

Meeting ID: 862 3582 4828; Passcode: 463520

On November 14^th, NNSA shipped the fourth FTWC offsite for permanent storage and posted Volume 1 of the FTWC Radioactive Air Emissions Summary, Volume 1 Stack Emissions & Off-Site Dose Consequence report

6. Wednesday, December 10^th from noon to 1:30 pm MT, Sovereign Tea Community Conversations on Environmental Justice on Zoom. Learn how to support New Mexico Environmental Justice movements. SovereignTea Dec 2025 flyer  We’ll hear about:

• the recent Water Quality Control Commission vote
• updates in the NM LAWS case
• new information on the growing hexavalent chromium plume
• a new campaign from Healthy Climate New Mexico

Questions? Chenoa@tewawomenunited.org

Please register here: https://bit.ly/EJ-Winter-Workshops

 Join Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83070117493

Meeting ID: 830 7011 7493

7. Saturday, December 13^th through Monday, December 15^th from 11 am to 3 pm – Site Santa Fe is hosting Exposure: Portraits at the Edge of the Nuclear

 As part of the Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange (CIPX), Diné artist Will Wilson invites participants with lived, inherited, or visionary relationships to nuclear culture—uranium mining, atomic testing, environmental cleanup, and speculative futures—for a portrait session using the historic wet plate collodion process.

Created on-site at SITE SANTA FE, these tintype portraits become a living archive of those who have been affected by, have resisted, or continue to dream through the legacy of nuclear colonialism. Wilson’s process foregrounds Indigenous visual sovereignty and ecological witnessing, positioning photography as a relational act and a tool for historical redress.

On the 13th and 14th they will have a discussion at 2pm where activists (including Terry on Sunday and Laura on Saturday) will discuss current nuclear affairs.  https://www.sitesantafe.org/en/events/exposure-portraits-at-the-edge-of-the-nuclear/

8. Wednesday, December 17^th from 5 to 7 pm at SALA Event Center and Via Microsoft Teams – EM-LA and N3B to Present a Year-in-Review and Discuss Hexavalent Chromium Plume – LANL Environmental Management Cleanup Forum – with public Q&A. https://n3b-la.com/emcf-12-17-2025/

In a protective move, on Friday, November 18th, the New Mexico Environment Department required the Department of Energy (DOE) to cease all injection operations of treated waters back into the sole source regional drinking water aquifer shared by Pueblo de San Ildefonso, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and others.  2025-11-18-WPD-GWQB-NMED-Withdrawal-of-Temporary-Authorization-for-DP-1835-Final and EMID-704003_EMLA-26-BF028-2-1_Resp_DP-1835_Temp_Auth_WD_112125

In October, hexavalent chromium contamination was found beneath Pueblo de San Ildefonso while LANL was drilling a new well on the Pueblo, called San Ildefonso Regional Monitoring Well 3, or SIMR-3, in Mortandad Canyon. The Pueblo and LANL share borders in the area of Mortandad Canyon.

In Friday’s letter, the Environment Department wrote to LANL that “[S]ince 2021, DOE has neither complied with [the Environment Department’s] regulatory directives nor made substantial progress towards ensuring the protection of the regional aquifer. The latest sampling results from SIMR-3 prove that DOE’s refusal to take appropriate steps to ensure that contamination does not migrate further in the regional aquifer or offsite has created the harm to the environment that [the Environment Department] sought to prevent.”

Further, “DOE’s actions, as well as its inactions, in ignoring [the Environment Department’s] years-long insistence that DOE comply with regulations, look at the alarming contaminant trends, and take actions to reduce and reverse the contaminant trends, show that DOE apparently does not value preservation of the sole source regional aquifer, and instead prioritizes costs and effort minimization to the detriment of the environment and human health.”

The Environment Department’s strong language enforces why we must raise our voices in support of thorough cleanup of LANL watersheds and the dumps located near or in them. The contaminant pathways to the regional aquifer have been established.  They cannot be ignored.  They must be addressed now.

The New Mexico Environment Department permit that allows LANL to extract contaminated waters from the aquifer for treatment and to inject the treated waters back into the aquifer is called Discharge Permit 1835, or DP-1835.

CCNS led the Communities for Clean Water (CCW) effort for a more protective DP-1835 permit.  Together we participated in the early negotiations, in public meetings and provided public education materials.  We argued for lower chromium standards.  The permit requires LANL to comply with chromium standards that are less than 90 percent of New Mexico’s numeric standard of 0.05 milligrams per liter (mg/l) – or set at or less than 0.045 milligrams per liter (mg/l).  We celebrate the change as it sets a precedent for more protective chromium standards for other water quality permits.  2016-08-21 – WPD GWQB DP-1835 Final DP

1. Thursday, November 27^th from 10 am to 3 pm – Thanksgiving Potluck at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, 202 Harvard Drive SE, Albuquerque at the intersection of Harvard and Silver. https://www.abqpeaceandjustice.org/events/at-the-center

2. Friday, November 28th 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.

3. Watch A House of Dynamite on Netflix. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has published a resource guide to viewing “A House of Dynamite.”  https://thebulletin.org/2025/10/a-bulletin-resource-guide-to-viewing-a-house-of-dynamite/

4. Tuesday, December 2^nd at 7 pm at Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos – An Evening With: The Nagasaki Hibakusha Friendship Association.  Chiyoko Motomura and Dr. Masao Tomonaga will speak about their childhood memories of the 1945 bombings, the lessons learned from those events and how to move forward in more constructive ways of peacemaking and diplomacy.  https://ladailypost.com/lanl-and-community-invited-to-attend-historic-talk-by-two-survivors-from-nagasaki-dec-2-at-fuller-lodge/

5. Friday, December 5^th from 3 to 5 pm – Healing Sacred Relations: Counter-Mapping Nuclear Colonialism in New Mexico for launch of the Story Map in the Frank Waters Room in UNM’s Zimmerman Library.  A cross-disciplinary, cross-departmental collaboration between Faculty and Students in UNM Department of Art [Art & Ecology RAVEL Spring 2025, lead by Kaitlin Bryson and Rachel Bordeleau] and UNM Geography & Environmental Studies Department [Critical Cartography Fall 2025, lead by Tybur Casuse].  Students and Faculty from both courses worked closely and collaboratively with our community partners:  Communities for Clean Water, Tewa Women United, Honor Our Pueblo Existence, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety and the Northern New Mexico College and Northern Stewards Program.  Refreshments provided.

6. Monday, December 8^th – Last Day to register for YUCCA’s We Got Us Bootcamp or Youth Summit. In January, YUCCA will host We Got Us –a weekend of training, solidarity and collective action that will culminate in a mass mobilization at the State Capitol on the Opening day of the 2026 Legislative Session.  https://www.yuccanm.org/post/we-got-us-train-up-and-take-action-with-us-in-january

7. Saturday, December 13^th through Monday, December 15^th from 11 am to 3 pm – Site Santa Fe is hosting Exposure: Portraits at the Edge of the Nuclear

As part of the Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange (CIPX), Diné artist Will Wilson invites participants with lived, inherited, or visionary relationships to nuclear culture—uranium mining, atomic testing, environmental cleanup, and speculative futures—for a portrait session using the historic wet plate collodion process.

Created on-site at SITE SANTA FE, these tintype portraits become a living archive of those who have been affected by, have resisted, or continue to dream through the legacy of nuclear colonialism. Wilson’s process foregrounds Indigenous visual sovereignty and ecological witnessing, positioning photography as a relational act and a tool for historical redress.

On the 13th and 14th they will have a discussion at 2pm where activists (including Terry on Sunday and Laura on Saturday) will discuss current nuclear affairs.  https://www.sitesantafe.org/en/events/exposure-portraits-at-the-edge-of-the-nuclear/

For over 25 years, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) has fought to protect surface and groundwater from radioactive, toxic and hazardous contamination from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).  In 2004, that campaign expanded to contain the co-located perchlorate and chromium plume – contamination that migrated into the top of the 1,000 foot deep aquifer below LANL, Pueblo de San Ildefonso and the Española Basin Sole Source Drinking Water Aquifer.  https://www.epa.gov/dwssa/overview-drinking-water-sole-source-aquifer-program#What_Is_SSA Despite federal assurances and repeated promises of a solution, the plume remains unresolved.

That history should be a flashing red warning light for every Rio Rancho and Sandoval County resident now facing Project Ranger, a proposed hypersonic rocket motor and detonation facility approved without baseline science, transparency, or lawful process. https://www.castelion.com/news/castelion-announces-project-ranger/ The same patterns that delayed accountability at LANL are reappearing on the West Mesa—only this time the risks include perchlorate, hazardous propellants, explosive residues, and the wildfire threats of a high-hazard industrial site.

For more information, visit the informative website of Common Ground Rising. https://commongroundrising.org/  Its mission is to to educate, organize, and implement community grassroots committees to take action that protects our environment against the drivers of climate change, that impacts watershed, air, public health and safety.

Project Ranger Claims: “The site is 1,000 feet above groundwater.”  The project’s contractor, Ron Bohannon, has repeatedly used this statement with no scientific meaning to reassure residents.

Being “1,000 feet above groundwater” does not prevent contamination when dealing with PFAS, ammonium perchlorate, explosive waste, or chemical runoff. Decades of Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Department of Defense research show that perchlorate in arid soils migrates laterally, moving through shallow and intermediate aquifer layers—just as chromium migrated laterally from LANL into Pueblo lands.

And the most critical fact remains:  Project Ranger did not provide baseline groundwater, air, soil, or wildfire assessments before the City of Rio Rancho and Sandoval County approved Project Ranger.  One cannot declare minimal risk when the science investigation has been deliberately skipped.

We Cannot Repeat the Mistakes of Los Alamos. Once contamination begins, it moves, grows, and becomes exponentially more difficult to contain. CCNS’s decades-long struggle proves this. Project Ranger without scientific review is not national security; it is reckless public endangerment.

The Bottom Line.  Before a single rocket motor is mixed or a single detonation occurs, residents must demand full hydrology studies, wildfire analyses, contamination modeling, lawful public hearings, and independent citizen based oversight of Project Ranger.

New Mexico cannot afford another groundwater disaster.

1. Friday, November 21st 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. Watch A House of Dynamite on Netflix. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has published a resource guide to viewing “A House of Dynamite.”  https://thebulletin.org/2025/10/a-bulletin-resource-guide-to-viewing-a-house-of-dynamite/

3. Thursday, November 27^th from 10 am to 3 pm – Thanksgiving Potluck at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, 202 Harvard Drive SE, Albuquerque at the intersection of Harvard and Silver. https://www.abqpeaceandjustice.org/events/at-the-center

4. Tuesday, December 2^nd at 7 pm at Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos –An Evening With: The Nagasaki Hibakusha Friendship Association.  Chiyoko Motomura and Dr. Masao Tomonaga will speak about their childhood memories of the 1945 bombings, the lessons learned from those events and how to move forward in more constructive ways of peacemaking and diplomacy.  https://ladailypost.com/lanl-and-community-invited-to-attend-historic-talk-by-two-survivors-from-nagasaki-dec-2-at-fuller-lodge/

5. Saturday, December 13^th through Monday, December 15^th from 11 am to 3 pm – Site Santa Fe is hosting Exposure: Portraits at the Edge of the Nuclear

As part of the Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange (CIPX), Diné artist Will Wilson invites participants with lived, inherited, or visionary relationships to nuclear culture—uranium mining, atomic testing, environmental cleanup, and speculative futures—for a portrait session using the historic wet plate collodion process.

Created on-site at SITE SANTA FE, these tintype portraits become a living archive of those who have been affected by, have resisted, or continue to dream through the legacy of nuclear colonialism. Wilson’s process foregrounds Indigenous visual sovereignty and ecological witnessing, positioning photography as a relational act and a tool for historical redress.

On the 13th and 14th they will have a discussion at 2pm where activists (including Terry on Sunday and Laura on Saturday) will discuss current nuclear affairs.  https://www.sitesantafe.org/en/events/exposure-portraits-at-the-edge-of-the-nuclear/

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) continues to neglect its obligations to safely operate its nuclear weapons facilities in a manner required by laws, orders, guidance and common sense.

A recent report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB or the Board) details the threats from the release of plutonium contaminated air during a seismic event from the LANL Plutonium Facility, or PF-4.  For over 20 years, the Board has recommended that LANL establish active confinement ventilation systems for PF-4, and LANL agreed.  https://www.dnfsb.gov/content/review-los-alamos-plutonium-facility-documented-safety-analysis

Active confinement ventilation systems require negative air pressure in rooms and buildings where plutonium is stored, handled and processed.  In the event of seismic activity, or other possible catastrophic events, the negative air pressure would keep the contamination inside where it could be held and filtered before being released.

The converse, which is called passive confinement systems, would do nothing.  No filtration would occur.  Contaminated air would move out of the building and into the air we breathe.  Depending on the wind direction, radioactive plutonium particles would be deposited in neighborhoods, on hiking trails, fields, school grounds, and in the Rio Grande.

The first major report about the Board’s recommendations for active confinement systems was in 2004 – over 20 years ago.  In a case of fits and starts, progress to establish active confinement systems moved forward and then were delayed.  The Board has been consistent in its nuclear safety recommendations for active confinement systems, not less.

In 2009, the Board again recognized on-going safety issues at the Plutonium Facility because of the lack of active confinement systems.  The Board described the very large potential doses the public may receive following seismic events.  The Board and LANL continued the conversation for years.

In March 2022, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator reversed the commitment for active confinement systems.  The Administrator wrote to the Board stating that its focus would shift from active confinement systems to passive confinement systems where NNSA would manage obsolescence, do incremental upgrades and install replacements as needed.  The NNSA commitment to active confinement systems was out the window, like plutonium blowing in the wind.  The Administrator wrote an active confinement ventilation system “would require substantial facility upgrades for in excess to those that are currently planned.”

NNSA’s priorities remain – to ignore common sense.  NNSA’s shift to passive confinement systems would deny the public the protection needed from the anticipated very large radioactive plutonium doses from the Plutonium Facility in a seismic event.

1. Friday, November 14^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. Watch A House of Dynamite on Netflix. Read Joe Cirincione’s article A House of Dynamite Explodes the Missile Defense Myth: It is no wonder the interceptors fail in the film. This is an accurate portrayal of what is likely to happen in a crisis in New Republic (October 15, 2025). Cirincione is a national security analyst and author in Washington, D.C.

3. Thursday, November 13^th and Friday, November 14^th – International Uranium Film Festival at the Navajo National Museum in Window Rock, Arizona. The IUFF showcases an array of compelling films and explores the detrimental impacts of the uranium fuel chain on communities around the world. Organizers believe the films are a necessary part of the ongoing resistance to nuclear, specifically for public health and harm reduction efforts. For more information, visit: https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/

In 1963 John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev signed the ban on atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, which was extended to a moratorium in 1992 and secured as the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. The Treaty has been signed by 187 states. On October 31^st, United Nations member states voted on a resolution in support of the Treaty and the global nuclear test moratorium. The United States was the only “no” vote.

Donald Trump is now threatening to resume nuclear testing because “he believes others are doing it.” They aren’t. The threat came after Vladimir Putin announced that the Kremlin had successfully experimented with a torpedo capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.  But if the United States does, they will, too.  https://www.reuters.com/world/china/putin-says-russia-tested-poseidon-nuclear-capable-super-torpedo-2025-10-29/

Tied to this is the situation at Los Alamos National Laboratory, or LANL, the heart of the new trillion-dollar modernization program that will rebuild every nuclear warhead in the planned stockpile with new military capabilities and produce new-design nuclear weapons as well. LANL will fabricate plutonium pits, or triggers, for these nuclear warheads, along with the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

A Nuclear Watch New Mexico press release stated: “The underlying point is that new-design plutonium pits for new-design nuclear weapons may create inexorable pressures for resumed nuclear weapons testing by the United States. This would be sure to set off a chain reaction of testing by other nuclear weapons powers [ ]. The final result is a dramatically accelerating nuclear arms race, arguably more dangerous than the first arms race given multiple nuclear actors, new hypersonic and cyber weapons, and the rise of artificial intelligence.”  https://nukewatch.org/press-release-item/trump-orders-nuclear-weapons-testing-for-new-nuclear-arms-race-new-plutonium-pit-bomb-cores-at-los-alamos-lab-could-make-it-real/

According to the Arms Control Association, it would take 18 to 36 months to establish a contained, full-scale underground nuclear test in the Nevada desert. The association notes, “In 1992, Congress acted to end U.S. testing and can do so again. Thirty-six hours after Trump’s pronouncement, Congresswoman Dina Titus, of Nevada, backed by her delegation and the Arms Control Association, introduced a bill to block resumption of U.S. nuclear testing.” https://www.armscontrol.org/2025-11/take-action-tell-congress-you-oppose-resumption-nuclear-explosive-testing

As a result of the lawsuit filed by Nuclear Watch, Savannah River Site Watch, and Tri-Valley CAREs, the Department of Energy will release a draft Plutonium Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement around March 2026. Public hearings will be held around the country, including in Santa Fe.  Once again, the public will need to express its strong opposition to plutonium pit production.

This has been the CCNS News Update, which was adapted from La Jicarita News. https://lajicarita.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/trumps-knee-jerk-threat-to-resume-nuclear-testing/

Contact your two Senators to stop resumption of nuclear weapons testing.

1. Friday, November 7^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. Watch A House of Dynamite on Netflix. Read Joe Cirincione’s article A House of Dynamite Explodes the Missile Defense Myth: It is no wonder the interceptors fail in the film. This is an accurate portrayal of what is likely to happen in a crisis in New Republic (October 15, 2025). Cirincione is a national security analyst and author in Washington, D.C.

3. Thursday, November 6th from 4 to 6 pm – HYBRID WIPP Community Forum at Southwest New Mexico College, Room 103, Main Building, 1500 University Drive, Carlsbad, NM, hosted by U.S. Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office and Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO). There will be a short update about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with a question and answer period to follow.  Bring your questions about getting the Waste Off the Hill.  To register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/uNCfTOvqS6-62wVIx6ATGA#/registration

4. Saturday, November 8th from noon to 3:30 pm PT – Virtual afternoon sharing memories and tributes to the life and legacy of Dan Hirsch. RSVP to committeetobridgethegap@gmail.com, indicating if you are able to attend in person and the number in your party. If you can’t make it to Simi Valley, there will be a Zoom option starting at 1 pm.  Please click here if you’d like to register for the Zoom; once you’ve registered, you’ll be sent the Zoom info.  Dan’s obituary may be found here.

5. Monday, November 10th – Meeting of the NM Legislature Radioactive & Hazardous Waste Committee at Roundhouse in Santa Fe. The agenda will be posted when available at https://www.nmlegis.gov/Committee/Interim_Committee?CommitteeCode=RHMC

6. Tuesday, November 11th, beginning at 10:30 am on the Santa Fe Plaza. Please join Veterans For Peace Santa Fe chapter for an Armistice Day Peace Vigil.  Bell ringing at 11 am.  Peace songs sing-along with the Santa Fe Raging Grannies. This Armistice Day, Veterans For Peace calls on you to say NO to more wars and to demand justice and peace, at home and abroad. We demand equality for all people and an end to all oppressive and violent policies. We call for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Let’s begin to build a culture of peace, not a culture of war.

7. Wednesday, November 12th from 3 to 5 pm – LANL Public Training Session for the Electronic Public Reading Room and IntellusNM public environmental data portal on MS Teams. IntellusNM is the data portal that provides continuous public access to the environmental data collect on and around LANL.  It is jointly managed by the New Mexico Environment Department DOE Oversight Bureau (NMED-OB) and LANL contractors, N3B and Triad.  For more information:  envoutreach@lanl.gov or call 505-551-4514.

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8. Thursday, November 13^th and Friday, November 14^th – International Uranium Film Festival at the Navajo National Museum in Window Rock, Arizona. The IUFF showcases an array of compelling films and explores the detrimental impacts of the uranium fuel chain on communities around the world. Organizers believe the films are a necessary part of the ongoing resistance to nuclear, specifically for public health and harm reduction efforts. For more information, visit: https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/

In response to the president’s call to resume testing of nuclear weapons, contact  your two United States Senators to support Senate Resolution 323 that urges the United States to lead a global effort to halt and reverse the nuclear arms race.  https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/sres323/BILLS-119sres323is.pdf

Introduced on July 16, 2025 – 80 years since the first atomic bomb test at the Trinity Test Site – Senate Resolution 323 calls for the leadership of the United States to prevent testing of nuclear weapons again. To learn more about the Resolution and its sponsors – https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-resolution/323

It recognizes that in less than 100 days, the 2010 Treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, or the New START Treaty, is set to expire on February 5, 2026.  The Resolution recognizes that fact and states in part:

Resolved, That the Senate calls on the President to

actively pursue a world free of nuclear weapons as a national security imperative; and

lead a global effort to halt and reverse a global nuclear arms race and prevent nuclear war by—

engaging in good faith negotiations with—

the other 8 nuclear armed countries to—

halt any further buildup of nuclear arsenals; and

aggressively pursue a verifiable and irreversible agreement or agreements to verifiably reduce and eliminate their nuclear arsenals according to negotiated timetables;

the Russian Federation to pursue and conclude new nuclear arms control and disarmament arrangements with the Russian Federation to prevent a buildup of nuclear forces beyond current levels; and

the People’s Republic of China on mutual nuclear risk reduction and arms control measures;

leading the effort to have all nuclear-armed countries renounce the option of using nuclear weapons first;

implementing effective checks and balances on the sole authority of the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to order the use of United States nuclear weapons;

ending the Cold War-era ‘‘hair-trigger alert’’ posture, which increases the risk of catastrophic miscalculation in a crisis;

ending plans to produce and deploy new nuclear warheads and delivery systems, which would reduce the burden on taxpayers in the United States;

maintaining the de facto global moratorium on nuclear explosive testing;

protecting communities and workers affected by nuclear weapons by –

fully remediating the deadly legacy of environmental contamination from past and current nuclear weapons testing, development, production, storage, and maintenance activities;

providing health monitoring, compensation, and medical care to those who have and will be harmed by nuclear weapons research, testing, and production, including through an expanded program under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Public Law 101–426; 42 U.S.C. 2210 note); and

actively planning a just economic transition for the civilian and military workforce involved in the development, testing, production, management, and dismantlement of nuclear weapons and for the communities that are economically dependent on nuclear weapons laboratories, production facilities, and military bases.

1. Friday, October 31^st 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. Watch A House of Dynamite on Netflix. Read Joe Cirincione’s article A House of Dynamite Explodes the Missile Defense Myth: It is no wonder the interceptors fail in the film. This is an accurate portrayal of what is likely to happen in a crisis in New Republic (October 15, 2025). Cirincione is a national security analyst and author in Washington, D.C.

3. New 11-Week ONLINE Course from Monday, November 3, 2025 to Monday, February 2, 2026 about Nuclear Weapons & Radiation – Health Risks & Advocacy Training by Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and Generational Radiation Impact Project (GRIP) to prepare you to testify in the hearings next spring about the proposed plutonium pit production for new nuclear weapons.  We need a massive turnout by people to oppose this escalation of a new nuclear arms race. PSR and GRIP are looking to enlist a new generation of health professionals and activists who are equipped to step forward with the medical / health voice on social decisions like whether to make new nuclear weapons… whether to resume testing…

For more information, and to register on or before Friday, October 31st with sliding scale and scholarship option at

https://psr.org/radiation-and-nuclear-weapons-health-risks-and-advocacy-training/

4. Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at 9 am MT – Open Seminar with the authors of “What is ‘Restorative Justice’ after the Church Rock Uranium Spill?” The article was recently published in the Journal of Disaster Studies (JDS). Event hosted by JDS and University of California EcoGovLab. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/971161

 The article’s authors are: Teracita Keyanna (Red Water Pond Community Association, Navajo Nation) | Thomas De Pree & Cheryl Jim (Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute) | Chris Shuey  & Kirena E. Y. Tsosie (Southwest Research and Information Center) | Mallery Quetawki (University of New Mexico). Zoom registration at https://uci.zoom.us/meeting/register/C6-uxA-bTXmKuN6E_stf8w#/registration

5. Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 10:30 am MT – Experts React: Netflix’s ‘A House of Dynamite,’ hosted by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Hear from the experts about the film, the questions it raises and how the film can spark more conversation about arms control and deterrence. Registration at https://pages.thebulletin.org/ahod

6. Subject to rescheduling due to federal government shutdown – Thursday, November 6 from 4 to 6 pm – HYBRID WIPP Community Forum at Southwest New Mexico College, Room 103, Main Building, 1500 University Drive, Carlsbad, NM, hosted by U.S. Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office and Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO). There will be a short update about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with a question and answer period to follow.  Bring your questions about getting the Waste Off the Hill.  To register:  https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20251001.asp   

7. Subject to rescheduling due to federal government shutdown – Wednesday, November 12 from 3 to 5 pm – LANL Public Training Session for the Electronic Public Reading Room and IntellusNM public environmental data portal on MS Teams. IntellusNM is the data portal that provides continuous public access to the environmental data collect on and around LANL.  It is jointly managed by the New Mexico Environment Department DOE Oversight Bureau (NMED-OB) and LANL contractors, N3B and Triad.  For more information:  envoutreach@lanl.gov or call 505-551-4514.

8. Thursday, November 13^th and Friday, November 14^th – International Uranium Film Festival at the Navajo National Museum in Window Rock, Arizona. The IUFF showcases an array of compelling films and explores the detrimental impacts of the uranium fuel chain on communities around the world. Organizers believe the films are a necessary part of the ongoing resistance to nuclear, specifically for public health and harm reduction efforts. For more information, visit: https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/

The Communities for Clean Water (CCW) coalition is calling on the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) to immediately release all data, monitoring results, and analytical records from the recent tritium venting operation at LANL.  https://www.ccwnewmexico.org

CCW is also calling for the release of the final report and supporting air monitoring data be made public at least two weeks prior to any announced public meeting, to allow Tribes, local governments, independent experts, and community members adequate time for review.

The coalition’s call follows LANL’s recent press statement claiming “successful depressurization” of the four flanged tritium waste containers (FTWCs), “no health or environmental consequences,” and a total tritium release of “less than 123 curies.”

“LANL is congratulating itself for cleaning up its own negligence,” said Chenoa Scippio, Project Coordinator with Tewa Women United. “This operation wasn’t a success story — it was the outcome of 20 years of mismanagement that NMED itself acknowledged. Despite years of preparing to vent radioactive tritium into the environment, LANL has yet to provide real data or independent verification of that data.”  https://tewawomenunited.org/

Contradictory Statements and Misleading Assurances

LANL’s official updates [ https://www.lanl.gov/engage/environment/ftwc ] and press release [ https://losalamosreporter.com/2025/10/14/lanl-flanged-tritium-waste-containers-successfully-depressurized/ ] following the conclusion of the operations contain multiple inconsistencies and omissions that raise serious concerns.  CCW provides the following examples:

• No Pressure, Yet “Depressurization”:
  LANL’s daily reports showed no internal pressure in all four containers. This implies no measurable buildup of gas or explosion risk. Yet the lab continues to describe the operation as “depressurization,” contradicting its own data and the emergency justification used to obtain NMED’s expedited temporary authorization. No internal pressure indicates that LANL’s calculations on which it based the urgency of venting were wrong. It also implies that the FTWCs could have been transported without depressurization. In that case the emission of any tritium would violate DOE Order 458.1 – to keep radiation exposure As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA).
• Ambiguous “Background” Claims:
  LANL’s statement that offsite impacts were “indistinguishable from background” offers reassurance without real information. LANL has not disclosed the detection limits of its instruments or the raw data necessary for independent verification.
• Compliance Is Not Safety:
  The reported offsite dose of “0.0123 millirem” is calculated for a hypothetical “maximally exposed individual (MEI)”— a 30-year-old, 150 lb white male with a Western diet — not infants, pregnant people, or Pueblo communities who rely on land-based practices. Compliance with outdated federal models does not guarantee protection for vulnerable populations.
• Unverified “Independent” Review:
  The so-called independent technical review was led by [the] DOE NNSA’s own Office of Environment, Safety, and Health, with only one outside reviewer.

“LANL’s claim that offsite impacts were ‘indistinguishable from background’ is meaningless without knowing the detection limits,” said Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER). “Despite requests, LANL has failed to disclose key details, including why any tritium was released if there was no pressure in the FTWCs.”  https://ieer.org/

Outstanding Technical Questions

CCW continues to seek clear, verifiable answers to the following:

• What was the measured pressure in the headspace of each FTWC prior to venting? How does the measured pressure in each FTWC compare to the 5 psi per year increase that LANL modeled?
• What was the full chemical composition of the gases in each FTWC?
• Did any container exhibit an explosive gas mixture, and if so, what were the measured concentrations of hydrogen, tritium, and other gases?
• How was the venting compatible with ALARA for the FTWCs that did not have explosive gas mixtures in the headspace??
• Where and how was atmospheric tritium monitored for each FTWC, given LANL’s claim that levels were “consistent with background”?
• Were stack emissions measured in real time as previously stated? If so, what instruments were used and where were they located?
• If emissions were estimated, what was the method of estimation?
• Was tritium captured in molecular sieves for each FTWC? If not, why not? If so, what quantities were retained, and where will the captured material be managed?
• What were the minimum detectable limits (MDL) of tritium for the atmospheric and stack air sampling instruments?
• What specific instruments, calibration records, and Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) documentation were used for real-time detection?
• What is the local background concentration of tritium at and near Technical Area 54 (TA-54) and the Weapons Engineering Tritium Facility (WETF) prior to venting?
• How and when will all raw monitoring data and corresponding meteorological data be disclosed to the public and affected Tribal governments?

Key Concerns and Coalition Positions

• LANL did not meet NMED’s prerequisites for authorization.
  The required public meeting and “independent” technical review were both deficient and failed to meet standards for public participation or scientific integrity.
• There was no true emergency.
  LANL has previously stated that venting could wait until 2028. Its own data now confirm that all containers were unpressurized, disproving the claimed urgency.
• Alternatives remain obscured.
  LANL has acknowledged identifying 53 alternatives to venting in communications with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6, yet it has never released the technical analysis explaining why they were rejected.
• Dose modeling excluded vulnerable populations.
  Independent experts (Dr. Arjun Makhijani, IEER; Dr. Bernd Franke, ifeu – Institut für Energie und Umweltforschung, Heidelberg gGmbH – https://www.ifeu.de/en/ ) found that LANL’s modeling ignored infants, pregnant people, and cumulative community exposures. LANL admitted that infant doses could be three times higher than adult doses, exceeding regulatory limits.
• ALARA compliance has not been demonstrated.
  LANL failed to meet DOE Order 458.1 requirements to keep radiation exposure as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA), and did not account for cultural or land-based exposure pathways critical to Pueblo communities. The fact that there was no internal pressure also indicates ALARA non-compliance, since the lowest emission indicated would appear to be zero.

Demands for Transparency and Accountability

CCW calls on DOE, NNSA, LANL, and NMED to:

1. Release the full final report and all supporting data for the September and October venting operations at least two weeks before the public meeting.
2. Disclose raw, time-stamped emission data and meteorological readings correlated with each venting event.
3. Make public the headspace modeling and alternatives analysis that justified venting.
4. Commit to independent third-party verification of air monitoring results by EPA Region 6 or the New Mexico Department of Health.
5. Engage in government-to-government consultation with affected Pueblos and include public health agencies in post-operation evaluation.

Conclusion

LANL and NNSA’s “successful completion” narrative does not substitute for transparency, accountability, or truth. Communities deserve verified data — not public relations spin. Until LANL provides full disclosure and independent review, its assurances of safety remain unsubstantiated and unacceptable.

1. Friday, October 24^th from noon to 1 pm – Join the nuclear disarmament community at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour 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, October 24 through Saturday, October 25 – Ways of Knowing: A Navajo Nuclear History film showing at the Institute of American Indian Arts (campus), 83 Avan Nu Po Road, Santa Fe, NM. Limited to 18 seats per screening in the FullDome Theater.  For more information and FREE tickets:   https://www.waysofknowing.us/

3. Monday, October 27 at 5 pm – Ways of Knowing: A Navajo Nuclear History film showing at UNM Sub Theatre at UNM – Albuquerque. FREE admission.  https://www.waysofknowing.us/

4. Monday, October 27^th from 6 to 8 pm – Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament – at Santa Maria de la Paz Catholic Community, 11 College Avenue, Santa Fe, NM. Join Archbishop John C. Wester for a special HYBRID evening where he will share reflections from his pastoral letter, Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace, and speak about the importance of dialogue and hope in working toward nuclear disarmament.  Livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/@SMDLP/streams  For more information, contact the Santa Fe Ecumenical Conversations Toward Nuclear Disarmament Committee at

5. Tuesday, October 28^th – Public comment period ends for the draft NM Environment Department amendments to the NM Standards for Ground and Surface Water Protection at 20.6.2 NMAC and the new NM draft regulations known as the New Mexico Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NMPDES) at 20.6.5 NMAC.

 For more information:  https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D189342697

This month, the International Uranium Film Festival in Berlin honored uranium weapons expert and activist Damacio A. Lopez with the festival’s Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award. For over thirty years, the US Air Force veteran from Socorro, New Mexico has campaigned for an international ban on depleted uranium munitions and weapons.  https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/

His community in central New Mexico was an open air testing ground for DU weapons from 1972 to 1993.  Lopez has dedicated his life to educating people about the harmful effects. Many people in the Socorro area have suffered health effects similar to those who served in the Persian Gulf War and in Yugoslavia.  DU is a highly toxic heavy metal with a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years.  Despite its name, DU has more than half the radioactivity of natural uranium.

The Film Festival’s general director, Norbert Suchanek, said of Lopez, “The 82-year-old is probably the world-wide most experienced and most interviewed scholar and activist on uranium weapons. His recently published dossier `My Last Battle: Ban Uranium Weapons´ is after all a profound investigation of the military use of depleted uranium. The serious consequences of the use of uranium ammunition on battlefields and military firing ranges should be known to everyone.”  https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/files/2025_iuff_window_rock_program_folder_us_long_kopie.pdf

Lopez declared, “We must move quickly to stop this senseless tragedy by supporting a global call to action to ban the use of uranium munitions.“

Founded in Rio de Janeiro in 2010, the International Uranium Film Festival was named one of the “25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” last year by MovieMaker Magazine in Hollywood. https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/coolest-film-festival-in-the-world-2024

The festival founders, Márcia Gomes de Oliveira and Norbert Suchanek, also received the prestigious Nuclear-Free Future Award this year.  https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/about-us

The Film Festival’s trophy was presented to French director and investigative TV journalist Cédric Picaud for his 2024 documentary “The Polygon (Le Polygone, Un Secret D’État).” The documentary exposes radioactive contamination during the Cold War in the region of Pontfaverger-Moronvilliers in northeastern France. Scientists there tested the detonators of French atomic bombs with radioactive elements for decades. To this day, these elements contaminate the region’s subsoil and threaten the drinking water resources.  For more information about this film, see pages 14 and 15 of the preliminary program at: https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/files/2025_iuff_las_vegas_program_proposal_1.pdf

The next two scheduled showings of the 2025 International Uranium Film Festival will be in Window Rock, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Window Rock showings are from Thursday, November 13^th through Friday, November 14^th at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona.  The preliminary schedule is available here:  https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/files/2025_iuff_window_rock_program_folder_us_long_kopie.pdf

The Las Vegas showings are from Friday, November 21^st through Sunday, November 23^rd in Las Vegas, Nevada, this time in cooperation with Principal Man Ian Zabarte, Secretary of State Western Shoshone National Council of the of the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation of Indians.  The preliminary schedule is available here:  https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/files/2025_iuff_las_vegas_program_proposal_1.pdf

The Fall Meeting of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) will also take place at the International Uranium Film Festival in Las Vegas.  To learn more and to register, go to: https://ananuclear.org/ana-fall-meeting-registration/

1. Friday, October 17^7h from noon to 1 pm – Join us 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 and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

2. Saturday, October 18^th from 8 am to 2 pm with the gate closing and the event ending at 3:30 pm – Trinity Site Open House. Entry only through the Stallion Gate located off U.S. Highway 380.  https://home.army.mil/wsmr/contact/public-affairs-office/trinity-site-open-house

3. Saturday, October 18^th – No Kings Day – the next nationwide day of protest and resistance. At 10 am a march will begin at the USPS on South Federal Place in Santa Fe to the Plaza and onto the State Capitol (Roundhouse).  https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/843563/  

4. Thursday, October 23^rd – Public comment period ends for the draft Decommissioning Plan Thermo-Eberline Facility on Airport Road, Santa Fe. For more information, scroll down to the bottom of this page:  https://www.env.nm.gov/rcb/public-notices-of-radioactive-materials-licensing-actions-and-rulemakings/  

5. Tuesday, October 28^th –Public comment period ends for the draft NM Environment Department amendments to the NM Standards for Ground and Surface Water Protection at 20.6.2 NMAC and the new NM draft regulations known as the New Mexico Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NMPDES) at 20.6.5 NMAC. For more information:

https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D189342697

6. New 11-Week ONLINE Course from Monday, November 3, 2025 to Monday, February 2, 2026 about Nuclear Weapons & Radiation – Health Risks & Advocacy Training by Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and Generational Radiation Impact Project (GRIP) to prepare you to testify in the hearings next spring about the proposed plutonium pit production for new nuclear weapons.  We need a massive turnout by people to oppose this escalation of a new nuclear arms race. PSR and GRIP are looking to enlist a new generation of health professionals and activists who are equipped to step forward with the medical / health voice on social decisions like whether to make new nuclear weapons… whether to resume testing…

For more information, and to register

https://psr.org/radiation-and-nuclear-weapons-health-risks-and-advocacy-training/

Program Updates are coming–Registration closes at the end of this month–sliding scale and scholarship option.

7. Thursday, November 6 from 4 to 6 pm – HYBRID WIPP Community Forum at Southwest New Mexico College, Room 103, Main Building, 1500 University Drive, Carlsbad, NM, hosted by U.S. Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office and Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO). There will be a short update about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with a question and answer period to follow.  Bring your questions about getting the Waste Off the Hill.  To register:  https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20251001.asp   

8. Wednesday, November 12 from 3 to 5 pm – LANL Public Training Session for the Electronic Public Reading Room and IntellusNM public environmental data portal on MS Teams. IntellusNM is the data portal that provides continuous public access to the environmental data collect on and around LANL.  It is jointly managed by the New Mexico Environment Department DOE Oversight Bureau (NMED-OB) and LANL contractors, N3B and Triad.  For more information:  envoutreach@lanl.gov or call 505-551-4514.

In an essay for NYU’s Democracy Project, David F. Levi, a former federal judge and director emeritus of the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law, reflected on the negotiations he facilitated in New Mexico about the renewal of the hazardous waste permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a deep geologic repository for plutonium-contaminated waste generated in the fabrication of nuclear weapons.  Judge Levi’s essay is entitled “Participatory Democracy in Action.”  He wrote:

“A couple of years ago, I was asked to mediate a dispute between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) concerning the renewal of a required state permit for DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the nation’s only deep underground nuclear waste storage facility, located outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico. I thought I could help the two government entities but quickly came to realize that under the mediation procedures followed by New Mexico, the mediation would also involve citizen groups whose ultimate concurrence was essential to any complete resolution. This was entirely new to me.

“In this case, there were seven such citizen groups entitled to participate and representing a variety of points of view. There was one group representing some of the government and business leaders of the town of Carlsbad who favored permit renewal on terms ensuring the continued long-term operation of WIPP. There were six groups expressing a variety of concerns about nuclear waste coming to New Mexico. They sought a more restrictive permit.

“To my astonishment, over the course of four full days, we worked through the multitude of issues and came to complete agreement. Something magical had happened. Thanks to the goodwill of the DOE and its contractor, the remarkable daily attendance and attentiveness of the NMED Secretary and the measured and well-informed way in which the various citizen groups made their points, we were able to find consensus and craft permit language that was acceptable to everyone.

“For me, as a former judge and mediator, the experience was thrilling. It was an experience of participatory democracy in action that made me proud of our fellow citizens and our government.  Three aspects of the experience stand out. First, everyone in the room had taken responsibility for the way in which our nation’s only deep underground nuclear storage facility would be operated for the next 10 years. The citizen participants were not just making suggestions; they were assuming many of the attributes of decision makers. Second, all participants were advocating, compromising, and collaborating on behalf of what they saw as the public interest. These are the essential skills of democracy—the civic virtues so central to the Founders’ vision of what would make democracy work in America—and they require practice. Finally, over four days around a table, the citizens were able to take the measure of the DOE and NMED representatives. They came to realize, as I did, that these public servants, as well as the DOE contractor, were very well-informed, experienced, and intentioned. The government representatives had a similar experience of coming to appreciate the citizen questions and points of view. A government that relies on trust needs this kind of interaction to maintain that trust.

“It seems our democracy would be strengthened if we could extend the benefits of this kind of participatory structure to other areas of our legal and regulatory systems.”

“In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville made some of these points in reference to the jury trial in civil cases. He emphasized the importance of the civil jury trial as a free “public school” [https://contextus.org/Tocqueville,_Democracy_in_America_(1835),_Book_I,_Chapter_XVI_Causes_Mitigating_Tyranny_In_The_United_States_(Part_II).13?ven=Gutenberg&lang=en] educating jurors in the democratic virtues and skills and teaching them to assume responsibility. In the same vein, every trial judge I know would attest to the importance of the jury experience for building confidence in the courts. After a trial, judges often hear words of gratitude from jurors who are deeply impressed by the legal process and are honored to have participated despite their initial dismay at being called to jury service. Sadly, the number of jury trials has diminished, particularly in federal court. Reversing that trend is a worthy goal, particularly for a branch of government that depends so heavily on public confidence.

“As a final reflection:  any persons involved as litigants will have an experience of the legal system. The experience can advance their sense of agency and participation, their ability to disagree civilly, and their trust in the courts. But how can these objectives be obtained when so many Americans cannot afford a lawyer? We can do so much better to provide understanding of and access to our justice system.”

The six New Mexico based non-governmental organizations were Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping (CARD), Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS), Conservation Voters New Mexico (CVNM), Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Southwest Alliance for a Safe Future (SAFE), and Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC).  The individual was Steve Zappe, a grandfather and former NMED WIPP Program Manager.

1. Friday, October 10^th from noon to 1 pm – Join us 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 and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

2. Tuesday, October 14^th – Public comment period ends for the NMED’s draft amendments to the NM Standards for Interstate and Intrastate Surface Waters, 20.6.4 New Mexico Administrative Code (NMAC), which is also named the “2026 Triennial Review,” an administrative process run by the NMED Surface Water Quality Bureau (SWQB),

 In accordance with Section 303(c)(1) of the CWA and 20.6.4.10 NMAC, States are required to hold public hearings at least once every three years to review, amend, and adopt water quality standards, as applicable. This is referred to as a “Triennial Review.” Pursuant to Section 74-6-4(F) of the WQA, the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) delegated NMED the responsibility for organizing and proposing amendments to the state’s surface water quality standards. NMED is initiating the 2026 Triennial Review process by providing NMED’s draft amendments to the public for comment.  For more information:  https://www.env.nm.gov/surface-water-quality/2026-triennial-review/ You may also sign up for the Surface Water Quality Bureau’s email list at: https://www.env.nm.gov/surface-water-quality and click on the “Subscribe to SWQB News” button on the bottom of the home page.

3. Tuesday, October 14^th from 7 to 9 pm in Pajarito Room at Fuller Lodge – Los Alamos Historical Society hosts Dr. James Nolan, Washington Gladden 1859 Professor of Sociology at Williams College, about his latest book, Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age. Nolan’s grandfather, Dr. James F. Nolan, was an ob-gyn radiologist in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. He “cared for scientists in Los Alamos, organized safety and evacuation plans for the Trinity test, escorted the ‘Little Boy’ bomb to the Pacific, and was among the first Americans to enter Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings.”  Nolan, Jr. learned about his grandfather’s involvement when his mother brought him a box of documents….

 Three days after the presentation, a YouTube video will be posted on the Los Alamos Historical Society webpage at https://www.youtube.com/@LosAlamosHistoricalSociety/videos

4. Wednesday, October 15^th (new meeting date) at 9 am – New Mexico Radioactive & Hazardous Materials Committee hybrid meeting at the Barbara Hubbard Room of the Pan American Center at 1810 East University Avenue in Las Cruces. The agenda will be posted when available at:  https://www.nmlegis.gov/Committee/Interim_Committee?CommitteeCode=RHMC

5. Saturday, October 18^th – No Kings Day – the next nationwide day of protest and resistance.

6. Saturday, October 18^th from 8 am to 2 pm with the gate closing and the event ending at 3:30 pm – Trinity Site Open House. Entry only through the Stallion Gate located off U.S. Highway 380.  https://home.army.mil/wsmr/contact/public-affairs-office/trinity-site-open-house

7. Thursday, October 23^rd – Public comment period ends for the draft Decommissioning Plan Thermo-Eberline Facility on Airport Road, Santa Fe. For more information, scroll down to the bottom of this page:  https://www.env.nm.gov/rcb/public-notices-of-radioactive-materials-licensing-actions-and-rulemakings/  

8. Tuesday, October 28^th – Public comment period ends for the draft NM Environment Department amendments to the NM Standards for Ground and Surface Water Protection at 20.6.2 NMAC and the new NM draft regulations known as the New Mexico Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NMPDES) at 20.6.5 NMAC. For more information: https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D189342697

9. Thursday, November 13^th and Friday, November 14^th – International Uranium Film Festival at the Navajo National Museum in Window Rock. For more information, visit: https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/

On September 26^th, 2025, during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the Republic of Ghana ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), and the Country of Kyrgyzstan signed on.  With these actions, a global majority of countries have signed onto the United Nations nuclear weapons ban treaty.  A total of 99 out of the 197 eligible states have taken legal action – 74 have ratified and 25 have signed.  Such action sends a strong message to the nuclear-armed states and their allies that they are now the minority and irresponsible actors threatening global security.  https://www.icanw.org/global_majority_now_signed_onto_nuclear_ban_treaty

The United Nations adopted the treaty eight years ago.  It came into force on January 22, 2021 and its influence grows every day as people recognize the threat of nuclear weapons. The treaty prohibits the development, testing, production, acquisition, possession, stockpiling, transferring, stationing, and use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.

The TPNW also provides that states parties assist individuals and communities that have been affected by the testing or use of nuclear weapons and engage in environmental remediation in areas where the testing or use of nuclear weapons has resulted in contamination.  https://www.icanw.org/the_treaty

CCNS is grateful for the leadership, perseverance and global coordination of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN.

Many others acknowledge its work.  On December 10, 2017, ICAN was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its work “to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons” and the “ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.”  https://www.icanw.org/nobel_prize

In response to the news that a global majority of states have joined the treaty, ICAN’s Executive Director, Melissa Parke, welcomed the news.  She said, “I warmly congratulate Kyrgyzstan and Ghana on their actions today. The TPNW is the best way to ensure real security from the existential threat nuclear weapons pose to the future of humanity, because as long as they exist, nuclear weapons are bound to be used, intentionally or by accident.”

She continued, “The nuclear-armed countries and their allies that endorse the use of nuclear weapons are a distinct minority and they have no right to continue to threaten the future of the rest of the world.  The TPNW is the pathway under international law to the fair and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons so these nine countries have no excuse to continue to defy the majority here at the [United Nations].”

1. Friday, October 3^rd from noon to 1 pm – Join us 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 and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

2. Friday, October 3^rd – New Mexico Radioactive & Hazardous Materials Committee hybrid meeting from Las Cruces. The agenda will be posted when available:  https://www.nmlegis.gov/Committee/Interim_Committee?CommitteeCode=RHMC

3. Saturday, October 4 to Saturday, October 11 – Keep Space for Peace Week – Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. This year could be one of the most important times ever since the 1992 founding of the Global Network, especially with Trump’s recent declaration for the “Golden Dome” over North America.  It is time to resist this boondoggle scheme.  Projected Congressional costs:  $550 billion to trillions over 20 years.  https://space4peace.org/keep-space-for-peace-week/   

4. Tuesday, October 14^th – Public comment period ends for the NMED’s draft amendments to the NM Standards for Interstate and Intrastate Surface Waters, 20.6.4 New Mexico Administrative Code (NMAC), which is also named the “2026 Triennial Review,” an administrative process run by the NMED Surface Water Quality Bureau (SWQB),

 In accordance with Section 303(c)(1) of the CWA and 20.6.4.10 NMAC, States are required to hold public hearings at least once every three years to review, amend, and adopt water quality standards, as applicable. This is referred to as a “Triennial Review.” Pursuant to Section 74-6-4(F) of the WQA, the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) delegated NMED the responsibility for organizing and proposing amendments to the state’s surface water quality standards. NMED is initiating the 2026 Triennial Review process by providing NMED’s draft amendments to the public for comment.  For more information:  https://www.env.nm.gov/surface-water-quality/2026-triennial-review/   You may also sign up for the Surface Water Quality Bureau’s email list at: https://www.env.nm.gov/surface-water-quality and click on the “Subscribe to SWQB News” button on the bottom of the home page.

5. Saturday, October 18^th – No Kings Day – the next nationwide day of protest and resistance.

6. Saturday, October 18^th from 8 am to 2 pm – with the gate closing and the event ending at 3:30 pm – Trinity Site Open House. Entry only through the Stallion Gate located off U.S. Highway 380.  https://home.army.mil/wsmr/contact/public-affairs-office/trinity-site-open-house

7. Thursday, October 23^rd – Public comment period ends for the draft Decommissioning Plan Thermo-Eberline Facility on Airport Road, Santa Fe. For more information, scroll down to the bottom of this page:https://www.env.nm.gov/rcb/public-notices-of-radioactive-materials-licensing-actions-and-rulemakings/  

8. Tuesday, October 28^th – Public comment period ends for the draft NM Environment Department amendments to the NM Standards for Ground and Surface Water Protection at 20.6.2 NMAC and the new NM draft regulations known as the New Mexico Pollutant Discharge Elimination System(NMPDES) at 20.6.5 NMAC.

For more information:  https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D189342697

9. Thursday, November 13^th and Friday, November 14^th – International Uranium Film Festival at the Navajo National Museum in Window Rock. For more information, visit: https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/