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A newly released independent review of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s 2025 tritium venting raises serious concerns about radiation risks to children and infants and highlights major gaps in LANL’s public reporting and decision-making process.
The review also questions LANL’s decision to proceed with venting despite no measurable pressure buildup in the waste containers — meaning the explosion risk used to justify the releases may not have existed. https://www.ccwnewmexico.org/tritium
Authored by Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (https://ieer.org/), the “Review of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s tritium venting reports – Volume 1 and Volume 2” provides a summary of the tritium venting as well as the data and estimates detailed in the two LANL reports.
FTWC Radioactive Air Emissions Summary, Volume 1: Stack Emissions & Off-Site Dose Consequence, LA-UR: 25-31093, November 14, 2025; and
FTWC Radioactive Air Emissions Summary, Volume 2: Environmental Sampling & Expanded Plume Modeling, LA-UR: 26-20967, February 17, 2026.
Notably, LANL formally acknowledged for the first time that estimated radiation doses to infants were more than three times higher than doses to adults — a change that came only after sustained public pressure and community participation in public meetings and hearings. Nevertheless, infant doses were not considered during the planning and modeling that took place prior to the tritium releases. LANL stated that infant doses would not be taken into account moving forward.
Dr. Makhijani responded by saying, “Had infant doses been considered during permitting, the operation would not have been allowed as planned, since infant doses under LANL’s appropriately conservative source term assumption would have been more than the regulatory limit of 10 [millirem]. This raises the question of whether EPA’s “standard practice” of enforcement for adults only is providing equal protection under the law to infants and children when infant doses are estimated to exceed the regulatory limit of 10 [millirem] but adult doses do not. The fact that the actual venting resulted in doses well below 10 [millirem] for infants is not relevant to the question of whether the permit was properly granted.”
The findings raise broader concerns about how federal agencies assess radiation risks to nearby communities, particularly for infants, children, pregnant women, and Indigenous communities living near nuclear facilities.
Kalyn Finnell, Coordinator for the Communities for Clean Water, stated, “Community members pushed for transparency every step of the way, and that pressure forced important admissions that were absent from LANL’s original planning. But serious questions remain about whether children and families are being adequately protected.”
Friday, May 22nd 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.
Friday, May 22nd through Monday, May 25th at 3 pm and 7:30 pm – showing of Amy Goodman’s film Steal This Story, Please, at The Guild in Albuquerque. BONUS * BUT SOLD OUT – at The Guild! Amy Goodman in person at the Sunday, May 24
Wednesday, June 3rd from 5 to 7 pm MDT at 10 Cities of Gold Road #A, Tribal Room, at the Cities of Gold Hotel in Pojoaque – hybrid MS Teams interactive public forum at which N3B and LANL discuss Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation with Q&A. In-person participants are invited to interact with N3B and LANL subject matter experts. For meeting information, including login details, visit: https://n3b-la.com/public-meeting/emcf-6-3-2026/.
Thursday, June 4th at 6 pm MDT – FREE online showing of Daniel Ellsberg on the Nuclear Threat at the premiere of An Ordinary Insanity – a 28-minute film by Oscar-nominated director Judith Ehrlich, filmed one year before Ellsberg’s death at age 92. To register: https://www.anordinaryinsanity.com/ The free premiere will include a panel featuring director Judith Ehrlich, Ellsberg family members, and nuclear weapons experts and activists, followed by a Q&A. After the premiere, the film will be available to view FREE online and to use for screenings and events to help build greater awareness of the threat we face and to encourage action.
Sunday, June 13th from 10 am to 11 am – Albuquerque Inaugural Women Veterans Celebration at New Mexico Veterans Memorial Park, 1100 Louisiana SE. Albuquerque Concert Band will begin music at 9:45 am. For more information, please call 505 768-4495.
On Thursday, April 23rd, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) issued a draft permit modification to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in order to speed up cleanup of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and focus on the disposal of legacy waste at WIPP. The draft Hazardous Waste Act permit proposes to require a minimum percentage of legacy waste shipments from LANL to WIPP during specific timeframes beginning on January 1, 2027.
NMED’s action would help stop LANL’s plans to leave one million cubic meters of radioactive and hazardous waste buried in unlined pits, trenches and shafts in the volcanic tuff in a seismic zone above the regional drinking water aquifer and the Rio Grande. The action, if approved, would limit waste from new plutonium pit production that could be shipped to WIPP.
CCNS and the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition support NMED’s action and urge you to submit your public comments by Monday, June 8th. The Stop Forever WIPP Coalition opposes the expansion of WIPP for newly generated LANL waste from plutonium pit production. CCNS is a member group. https://stopforeverwipp.org/home
Some of the NMED proposed permit provisions include:
From January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2031, at least 55 percent of the total volume of all waste shipped to WIPP for disposal must be LANL legacy waste;
Beginning January 1, 2032, at least 75 percent must be LANL legacy waste;
Legacy waste at LANL’s Area G that is stored above-ground must be shipped by July 1, 2028; and
If the requirements are not met, all non-LANL shipments must cease until all deficiencies are cured.
How did we get here? In June of 2023, members of the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition, NMED, DOE, the WIPP contractor, and other citizen groups and businesses met to negotiate permit conditions to ensure WIPP’s continued operations. Those provisions provided greater state oversight, required prioritization of legacy waste in New Mexico and protections for the People and Lands of New Mexico. For more information, go to https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/, scroll down to “WIPP News – 2023” and view the October 4, 2023 entry.
Written public comments may be submitted until 5 pm Mountain Time on Monday, June 8, 2026. For more information about the NMED draft Permit, Public Notice and Fact Sheet, go to https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/, scroll down to “WIPP News – 2026” and view the April 23, 2026 entry.
Held and Upcoming DOE/NNSA PUBLIC HEARINGS about the draft Plutonium Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) (five public hearings in total)
1. North Augusta, South Carolina on Tuesday, May 5th – Completed with informed public opposition to DOE’s plans.
2. Kansas City, Missouri on Thursday, May 7th – no virtual meeting option – Completed with informed public opposition to DOE’s plans.
3. Livermore, California on Tuesday, May 12th – no virtual meeting option – Completed with informed public opposition to DOE’s plans.
4. Santa Fe, New Mexico on Thursday, May 14th from 5 pm to 8 pm MT – hybrid training and public hearing focused on LANL operations.
Public Hearing Location: Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute
1607 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Comment/Hearing Training for LANL:
Wednesday, May 13th – In-Person/Hybrid at 6:00 pm MT
Friday, May 15th 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.
Monday, April 27th to Friday, May 22nd – Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) at the United Nations in New York. At a time of renewed nuclear arms racing, increasing threats of nuclear weapons use, and risks of further nuclear proliferation, Legislators (mayors and parliamentarians) and civil society activists, including Abolition 2000 member groups, will also be at the 2026 NPT Review Conference advocating for concrete measures to reduce nuclear risks and advance nuclear abolition. Abolition 2000 is a global network to eliminate nuclear weapons: No Nukes, No War. You can participate virtually! A list of events available at: https://www.abolition2000.org/events/
Saturday, May 16 to Sunday, June 14th – the Pax Christi New England Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (PCAN) will host a virtual summit dialogue in four sessions. Each will feature four to six Catholic and other faith leaders who will speak briefly, exchange ideas and field audience questions on activating Catholics to work for the global abolition of nuclear weapons. For more information and to register, go to https://paxchristima.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/PCAN-Summits-Flyer-PDF.pdf
Our colleague, Hunter Noffsinger, an organizer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, crafted a three-minute public comment about the draft Plutonium Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) that you can use as a model for your comments at the Thursday, May 14th public hearing in Santa Fe. It will take place from 5 to 8 pm at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute at 1607 Paseo de Peralta and on MS Teams. https://www.ucs.org/resources/plutonium-pit-production
Noffsinger wrote, “The draft PEIS misses a lot of things raised in the scoping period last May, as well as a few bare minimum requirements. First, the PEIS as drafted does not include enough consideration for the impacts of plutonium pit production across other sites, such as the Kansas City plant, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Nevada National Security Site, and [the] Lawrence Livermore National Lab, as is the whole purpose of this programmatic environmental impact statement. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and [the] Department of Energy (DOE) must include the full impacts of the plutonium pit program in the final PEIS.
“Additionally, among many other concerns, I question the decision to move forward with plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site considering SRS has been deemed an [Environmental Protection Agency] Superfund site. Plutonium pit production carries danger to human and environmental health no matter where it happens. We know this from our history of pit production at Rocky Flats as well as from the current pit production already happening at Los Alamos National Lab. In the time since Los Alamos produced its first diamond stamped pit in December of 2024, there have been several safety issues involving plutonium. One can only expect these safety incidents to become more frequent as production ramps up.
“As it relates to safety: The draft PEIS as written does not fully consider the impacts for worst-case scenarios such as plutonium fires. The impact radius must be expanded beyond the 50-mile radius in order to accurately account for these worst-case scenarios and the impacts they could have well beyond the region.
Noffinger concluded, “I, among many others, share many more concerns than this that I hope the NNSA truly considers rather than checking a box to say you ‘heard from the community.’ The NNSA and DOE have a responsibility to ensure the safety of our community members. Under the guise of national security, [they] are instead putting more people unnecessarily in harm’s way.”
Wednesday, May 6th from 6 to 7:30 pm Mountain Time – Virtual training about submitting public comments for the draft Plutonium Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement by PeaceWorks Kansas City.Virtual on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/2nbGZ0CtQoux1mUEwM2mUw
If you can’t make it in person PeaceWorks Kansas City plans to livestream the teach-in on Facebook and the recording will be archived at https://peaceworkskc.org/plutonium/
Upcoming DOE/NNSA PUBLIC HEARINGS (five in total)
1. North Augusta, South Carolina on Tuesday, May 5th – Completed with informed public opposition to DOE’s plans.
2. Kansas City, Missouri on Thursday, May 7th – no virtual meeting option. See above for Wednesday, May 6th virtual training opportunity.
3. Livermore, California on Tuesday, May 12th – no virtual meeting option.
Meeting Location: Garré Vineyard & Winery
Santa Rosa Room
7986 Tesla Road
Livermore, CA 94550ß
Comment/Hearing Training for Livermore: Thursday, May 7 at 6:30 pm MT; 5:30 pm PT
Friday, May 8th 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.
Monday, April 27th to Friday, May 22nd – Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) at the United Nations in New York. At a time of renewed nuclear arms racing, increasing threats of nuclear weapons use, and risks of further nuclear proliferation, Legislators (mayors and parliamentarians) and civil society activists, including Abolition 2000 member groups, will also be at the 2026 NPT Review Conference advocating for concrete measures to reduce nuclear risks and advance nuclear abolition. Abolition 2000 is a global network to eliminate nuclear weapons: No Nukes, No War.
Last week’s Nuclear in New Mexico conference in Bernalillo continued the myth that expansion of the nuclear cycle in New Mexico would be welcomed here. Activities such as expanded uranium mining and milling, generating plutonium-contaminated waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), and transporting that waste through our communities would be good. https://nuclearinnewmexico.com/
While New Mexico does not have a nuclear power plant, the Public Service Company of New Mexico, or PNM, is invested in and receives energy from the second largest nuclear power plant in the United States – the Palo Verde Generating Station, located west of Phoenix, Arizona. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Verde_Nuclear_Generating_Station
40 years on we are still asking the wrong questions and getting a lot of wrong answers, writes Linda Pentz Gunter.
“Probably the most heinous crime, other than the avoidable accident itself and its immediate coverup, is the way that the Chornobyl (Ukrainian equivalent spelling) nuclear power disaster in Ukraine, 40 years old this week, has been used to downplay and normalize the long-lasting health impacts caused by that April 26, 1986 explosion.
“Still today, the myth is repeated that “no one died” — meaning no one in the public. Instead, we are told over and over that it was only a handful of liquidators, sent in to deal with the immediate crisis, who were killed by the massive release of radiation resulting from the reactor explosion.
“And still today, in part because of that myth, now so firmly cemented in the public and media narratives around the Chornobyl disaster, the true health effects of even just routine reactor operation, or the exposures suffered by communities living around active or abandoned uranium mines, or by those working in uranium enrichment or fuel fabrication facilities, are discounted and dismissed.
“Worse still, we are now facing a concerted effort by the Trump administration to emasculate already weak radiation protection standards, once again ignoring females who are most vulnerable to harm, and especially pregnant women, babies and children.
“Through yet another executive order accelerating nuclear power expansion while sparing the industry the costs it should incur to guarantee safety (an impossibility anyway), the White House wants to abandon the long-held Linear No Threshold (LNT) model.
“LNT holds that radiation damage increases with higher exposures, and that harm is posed by all radiation exposure no matter how small. But LNT itself is already unsatisfactory, since health studies continue to indicate that more — not less — protection is needed for non-cancer impacts, and for radionuclides taken internally, than is already provided by applying LNT.
“This is what makes the perpetual focus on ‘who died’ when it comes to major nuclear accidents, fundamentally the wrong question. We will likely never know who or how many died as a result of the Chornobyl disaster. Registries and statistics weren’t kept, people moved around, and, as is so often the case, illnesses were ascribed to other causes. Certainty is hard to achieve.
Nevertheless, perhaps one of the most important pieces of research on the health realities of the Chornobyl aftermath was done by historian Kate Brown in her book Manual For Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future. It looks like a ‘hefty tome,’ but it is anything but. Despite being nonfiction, it reads like a page-turning thriller and some of what she uncovers is eye-stretching. And, of course, by saying ‘uncovers,’ we immediately understand that this was indeed a cover-up, first by the then Soviet Union, and then compliantly perpetuated by the United States and other western allies eager to avoid any shocking realization by the general public that nuclear power technology is phenomenally dangerous and human beings are liable to lose control of it, with disastrous results.
“This returns us to the question about the protracted harm that can be caused if something goes very badly wrong at a nuclear power plant. And it returns us to dispensing with the wrong question, which is ‘how many people died?’
“That wrong question, a favorite of headline writers and spin doctors, sets us on a perpetual path to dispute. The health figures, especially fatalities, have become the most misrepresented statistic related to the Chornobyl disaster. But focusing only on fatalities also serves to diminish the disaster’s impact. Nuclear power plant accidents often do not kill people instantly and sometimes not at all. It can take years before fatal illnesses triggered by a nuclear accident take hold. This creates a challenge in calculating just who eventually died due to the accident and who suffered non-fatal consequences.
“Exposure to ionizing radiation released by a nuclear power plant (and not just from accidents but every day) can cause serious non-fatal illnesses as well. These should not be discounted. Arguably, neither should post-accident psychological trauma. Nuclear power plant accidents can and should be prevented. The only sure way to do so is to close them all down. Otherwise we risk another Chornobyl, or Three Mile Island, or Fukushima.
“In our Thunderbird newsletter of 2018, we examined some of the key myths around the impacts of the Chornobyl disaster now 40 years ago. Below, is a synopsis of some of the key points, as they bear repeating and remain perpetually true. The full document can be read here.
What happened?
“On April 26, 1986, Unit 4 at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant exploded. That explosion and the resulting fire, lofted huge amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere. Unit 4 was relatively new, having only been in service for just over two years. The accident occurred during what should have been a routine test to see how the plant would operate if it lost power. The test involved shutting down safety systems but a series of human errors, compounded by design flaws, instead set in motion a catastrophic chain of events.
“After shutting down the turbine system that provided the cooling water to the reactor, the water began boiling and workers desperately tried to re-insert control rods to slow down the nuclear reaction. But the rods jammed and control of Unit 4 was irrevocably lost. The explosion and fire — which took five months to put out — dispersed at least 200 times more radioactivity than that produced by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. The fallout contaminated several million square kilometers of land in the former Soviet Union and in Europe and was also detected in the US.
“Soviet authorities were slow to react. The accident was first detected by monitors in Sweden. The nearby city of Pripyat was not evacuated immediately. By the time they did so, radioactivity levels were 60,000 times higher than ‘normal.’
“The financial cost of the accident, while difficult to calculate given the many unknowns, is estimated to be in the region of $700 billion and is expected to keep rising.
The Liquidators
“The Chornobyl liquidators were dispatched to the stricken nuclear plant in the immediate aftermath, as well as for at least the subsequent two years, to manage and endeavor to ‘clean up’ the disaster. They included military as well as civilian personnel such as firefighters, nuclear plant workers and other skilled professionals.
“While estimates of the number of liquidators varies, the generally accepted figure is around 800,000. However, evaluating their fate has been difficult. Only a small portion of them were subject to medical examinations.
“Yet, by 1992 it was estimated that 70,000 liquidators were invalids and 13,000 had died. These estimates rose to 50,000 then to 100,000 deaths among liquidators in 2006. By 2010, Yablokov et al. estimated a death toll of 112,000 to 125,000 liquidators.
“Even the Russian authorities admit findings of liquidators aging prematurely, with a higher than average number having developed various forms of cancer, leukemia, somatic and neurological problems, psychiatric illnesses and cataracts.
“The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs found a statistically significant increase of leukemia among Russian liquidators who were in service at Chernobyl in 1986 and 1987.
General populations inside and outside the former Soviet Union
“As with the liquidators, tracking the health of general populations exposed to the plume pathway of Chornobyl has been problematic. Within the Soviet Union, people moved away and neither they nor many living in other affected countries were tracked or monitored. While countless numbers may have died from their Chornobyl-related illnesses, equal or even greater numbers may have survived with debilitating or chronic physical as well as mental illnesses caused by the accident.
“Establishing exact numbers may never be possible. Media reports often rely on the 2003-2005 Chernobyl Forum report produced by the nuclear promoting International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency ignored its own data that indicated there would be 9,000 future fatal future cancers in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, claiming there would be no more than 4,000. Both numbers are gross underestimations. The report focused only on the most heavily exposed areas in making its predictions. It ignored the much larger populations in the affected countries as a whole, and in the rest of the world, who have been exposed to lower but chronic levels of radiation from Chornobyl.
“In contrast, a comprehensive analysis by the late Soviet scientist, Alexey Yablokov and colleagues, examined more than 5,000 Russian studies. They concluded that almost a million premature deaths would result from Chornobyl. Meanwhile, the TORCH report (The Other Report on Chernobyl), by Dr. Ian Fairlie, predicts between 30,000 and 60,000 excess cancer deaths worldwide due to the accident.
“More than half the Chornobyl fallout landed outside of the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia — in Europe, Asia and North America. Fallout from Chornobyl contaminated about 40% of Europe’s surface. Immediately after the accident, thyroid cancer was particularly rampant in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, where no prophylactic remedy in the form of potassium iodide pills was offered. Consequently, as Baverstock and Williams found in 2006, ‘by far, the most prominent health consequence of the accident is the increase in thyroid cancer among those exposed as children . . . particularly in children living close to the reactor.’
“In contrast, Poland, where potassium iodide was distributed, experienced relatively low rates of thyroid cancers. While thyroid cancer is considered one of the more treatable kinds of cancers, this does not mean it should be viewed as an acceptable consequence of a nuclear power plant accident. Such diseases — especially among children — impact emotional, social, and physical wellbeing. In the former Soviet Union, those operated on bear a scare referred to grimly as the ‘Chornobyl necklace.’
“Dr. Wladimir Wertelecki, a physician and geneticist, has conducted research, particularly focused on Polissia, Ukraine. There he found clear indications of altered child development patterns, or teratogenesis. Wertelecki noted birth defects and other health disturbances among not only those who were adults at the time of the Chornobyl disaster, but their children who were in utero at the time and, most disturbingly, their later offspring.
“Important research has also been conducted on psychological effects. Pierre Flor-Henry and others examined some of the psychological disorders resulting from Chornobyl and found a clinical pathology related to radiation exposure. Flor-Henry found that schizophrenia and chronic fatigue syndrome among a high percentage of liquidators were accompanied by organic changes in the brain. This suggested that various neurological and psychological illnesses could be caused by exposure to radiation levels between 0.15 and 0.5 sieverts.
“There are of course many other non-cancerous diseases caused by nuclear accidents that release radioactivity. A peak in Down Syndrome cases was observed in newborns born in 1987 in Belarus, one year after the Chornobyl nuclear accident. This phenomenon has been found around other nuclear sites. Abnormally high rates of Down Syndrome were found in the Dundalk, Ireland population possibly tied to the operation of the Sellafield nuclear waste reprocessing plant across the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England.
Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 3:30 pm Mountain Time – Virtual training about submitting public comments for the draft Plutonium Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement by the Union of Concerned Scientists, Nuclear Watch New Mexico and Tri-Valley CARES.
Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 6 pm Mountain Time – David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer, nuclear safety expert, consultant and author, will speak about Executive Order 14300 – Asked and Answered: Exposing Trump’s efforts to relax radiation protection regulations protecting nuclear workers and the public. Registration for the Zoom link is required:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/le67EG8XRLGmDKpcPPq7mg#/registration
Friday, May 1st 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.
Monday, April 27th to Friday, May 22nd – Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) at the United Nations in New York. At a time of renewed nuclear arms racing, increasing threats of nuclear weapons use, and risks of further nuclear proliferation, Legislators (mayors and parliamentarians) and civil society activists, including Abolition 2000 member groups, will also be at the 2026 NPT Review Conference advocating for concrete measures to reduce nuclear risks and advance nuclear abolition. Abolition 2000 is a global network to eliminate nuclear weapons: No Nukes, No War. You can participate virtually! A list of events available at: https://www.abolition2000.org/events/
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.
Friday, April 24th 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.
Friday, April 24th 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.
Saturday, April 25th 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.
Saturday, May 9th at 4 pm at SOMOS, 108 Civic Plaza Drive, Taos
Wednesday, May 20th, time to be determined, Collected Works, 202 Galisteo, Santa Fe.
Tuesday, April 28th 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
First, New Mexico is being targeted for new uranium and nuclear projects backed by billionaires, big tech, nuclear lobbyists and government entities. In 2025, the New Mexico Nuclear Alliance was established to push a pro-nuclear energy agenda. https://www.nmnuclearalliance.org/ Working in tandem, the Clean Energy Association of New Mexico, or Clean NM, an industry organization, also formed to push its pro-uranium agenda. CleanNM fronts as “good stewards of the environment,” respecting “community engagement” and “cultural traditions” while its member company, Grants Energy, proposes in-situ leach uranium mining on Sacred Mount Taylor, claiming those activities “safe” and “eco-friendly.” https://cleannm.org/
Beginning on Monday, April 20th through Wednesday, April 22nd, Clean NM will host a three-day industry conference at the Tamaya Resort on Indigenous lands. Peaceful protests are scheduled for Monday, April 20th from 8 am to 10 am and on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22nd from noon to 2 pm. Both events will take place in Bernalillo at the northeast corner of Highway 550 and Tamaya Boulevard.
Secondly, on or before Friday, April 24th, tell the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to reopen public input on the Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Los Alamos National Laboratory, or the Final LANL SWEIS, and the concurrent Record of Decision. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-doe-nnsa-to-reopen-public-input-on-lanl-expansion
On March 25th, 2026, the federal agencies released their sweeping, long-term plan that will shape nuclear weapons production, waste management, environmental contamination, sacred site protection, and public health impacts in Northern New Mexico for years, if not decades, to come.
Despite the scale and significance of these decisions, DOE NNSA has not provided an opportunity for the public and affected communities to review and respond to the Final LANL SWEIS analysis before moving toward a decision. This undermines the core purpose of the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires informed, transparent decision-making grounded in meaningful public participation.
Further, key issues – including the integration of connected actions, such as the Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade (EPCU) Project, meaningful Tribal consultation, and the full scope of impacts from expanded plutonium pit production – remain inadequately analyzed or deferred.
Friday, April 17th 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.
Thursday, April 23rd at noon to 2 pm MDT – What I Want You to Know: Film Screening and Discussion on Morality of War – A documentary film about the post-9/11 wars that features Iraq and Afghanistan veterans sharing personal stories from their deployments and exploring the tragedy of their wars – including moral injury, which results from the violation of one’s sense of what’s right. After the screening, a Q&A will feature the film’s producer/director and a veteran from the film. Hosted by Religions for Peace USA at https://rfpusa.org/
Friday, April 24th 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.
Saturday, April 25th 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.
Saturday, May 9th at 4 pm at SOMOS, 108 Civic Plaza Drive, Taos
Wednesday, May 20th, time to be determined, Collected Works, 202 Galisteo, Santa Fe.
Tuesday, April 28th 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
Did you know that the president, with the issuance of a new Executive Order, eliminated the opportunity for the public to comment on the Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Record of Decision? Nevertheless, the rules of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allow the public to provide comments on the Final LANL SWEIS and the related Record of Decision, or the ROD.
Prior to January 8, 2026, the public had an official opportunity to review and provide comments about those documents to the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Those opportunities evaporated under the president’s January 8, 2026 Executive Order 14154, titled Unleashing American Energy, which revoked the NEPA implementing regulations.
At that time, DOE and NNSA were a mere 68 days from the end of a four-year NEPA process about their contentious plans to expand the fabrication of plutonium triggers, or pits, for nuclear weapons. Public hearings were held in Northern New Mexico, including in Santa Fe where the Most Reverend John Wester, the Archbishop of Santa Fe, spoke in opposition to the expansion plans.
In early 2025, the Draft LANL SWEIS was released for public comment under the NEPA implementing regulations that guide federal agencies and the public through the process.
One has to wonder why the administration could not have waited to rescind the regulations until after the LANL SWEIS administrative processes were completed.
Nevertheless, the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for filing environmental impact statements, or EISs, in the EPA’s database and publishing that information in a weekly Notice of Availability in the Federal Register.
Please note: the EPA’s Environmental Impact Statement Filing Guidance was last updated on January 21, 2026 – AFTER the January 8, 2026 Executive Order was issued – thus providing the public with the mandated opportunity to submit comments on the Final LANL SWEIS and ROD for 30 calendar days after March 27, 2026, the date EPA published the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. 91 FR 14843. 260121 last updated EPA EIS Filing Guidance
According to the EPA, the public now has until Monday, April 27, 2026 to submit their comments. CCNS is preparing sample public comments you can personalize and use. They will be available next week.
Friday, April 10th 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.
Sunday, April 5th to Saturday, April 11th – Spring Action Week – Shut Down Drone Warfare at Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, Southern NM. Nonviolent Resistance to Military Drones & War. For more information: https://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/, Nmvetsforpeace@gmail.com
In this presentation, Myrriah Gómez will discuss how New Mexican Chicano author, Rudolfo Anaya, wrote about the atomic bomb and nuclear culture in much of his work. As one of the world’s most recognized Chicano authors, Myrriah seeks to frame Anaya’s writing in the larger context of nuclear cultural production, specifically literature about atomic weapons.
By interrogating Anaya’s presence in nuclear culture, Myrriah is asking important questions about what his writing conveys about New Mexican Hispanic culture and whether or not nuclear weapons can be considered part of the querencia of nuevomexicanos– that is, the place where one feels most safe, often associated with a deep love of place. Myrriah will discuss several of Anaya’s writings as well as her recent findings from his archival collection held at the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico.
Tuesday, April 28th 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
On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, the Department of Energy (DOE) released the Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory, or the Final LANL SWEIS, and its Record of Decision, or ROD. Key to DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans are to expand production of the triggers for nuclear weapons, or the pits, at LANL until at least 2038.
DOE has released this Final LANL SWEIS nearly a decade after it was first due in 2018. Between 2018 and 2026, LANL’s annual congressional budget request has more than doubled from approximately $2.4 billion to $6 billion. Over this time, the focus has been to rebuild and expand plutonium pit production and reduce cleanup activities. The 2026 final SWEIS follows these trends. https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/doeeis-0552-final-environmental-impact-statement-march-2026
Now is the time to prepare your comments on DOE’s ROD to continue its expanded pit production operations at LANL. Next week CCNS will have sample comments you can use as a base for your comments. They will focus on how in 2025 DOE began the public comment process for the Draft LANL SWEIS as required by the National Environmental Protection Act, or NEPA.
We quote from the Final LANL SWEIS Summary:
The Draft SWEIS was published on January 10, 2025. On January 20, 2025, the U.S. President signed several [Executive Orders] that rescinded previous EOs directly affecting analysis presented in the Draft SWEIS (e.g., EO 12898, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations,” and EO 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad”). Text related to the rescinded EOs was removed.
On January 20, 2025, the U.S. President issued EO 14154, “Unleashing American Energy,” which directed the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to “propose rescinding” its NEPA regulations in their entirety (i.e., 40 CFR Parts 1500 – 1508). On February 25, 2025, CEQ published an interim final rule rescinding its NEPA regulations. The recisission went into effect on April 11, 2025. References to the CEQ NEPA regulations remain for contextual purposes, as the Draft SWEIS was written in compliance with those regulations.
On June 30, 2025, DOE rescinded most of 10 CFR Part 1021 and published its new NEPA implementing procedures, a copy of which is available at DOE (2025). NNSA prepared this Final SWEIS in accordance with these new DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures. Reference to 10 CFR Part 1021 as it existed prior to June 30, 2025, remains for contextual purposes, as the Draft SWEIS was written in compliance with those regulations. The new procedures and the NEPA statute include a page limit of 300 pages, not including appendices or citations. This Final SWEIS reflects adjustments to accommodate this page limit.
After publication of the Draft SWEIS, LANL published the SWEIS Yearbook for 2023 (LANL 2025). The baseline information in Chapter 4 of this SWEIS has been updated to include the 2023 data as part of the baseline.
Some of the information used for the development of analytical parameters (see Section 3.5) of the Draft SWEIS was updated in this Final SWEIS as a result of the 2023 data, modeling, and improved understanding (e.g., total workforce, radiological worker exposure estimates, and radiological waste generation). The updated parameters have been consistently applied to the appropriate resource area analyses in Chapter 5.
The Draft SWEIS included an evaluation of the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program in the Expanded Operations Alternative. On May 23, 2025, U.S. President issued Executive Order 14302, “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base,” which states, “The Secretary of Energy shall halt the surplus plutonium dilute and dispose program except with respect to the Department of Energy’s legal obligations to the State of South Carolina.” Therefore, the Final SWEIS removed the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program from consideration under the Expanded Operations Alternative. https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/eis-0552-lanl-site-wide-summary-2026-03.pdf , p. S-7, pdf page 12.
Through the use of Executive Orders, this administration has cut off access to a full NEPA process to the Peoples of New Mexico that began in January 2025, while at the same time assuming and projecting the assumption that it knows best.
These are but a few of the striking examples of why your comments on the ROD are essential. There is no formal comment period, but your voice is needed now. Sample public comments you can use will be available next week.
Friday, April 3rd 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.
Sunday, April 5th to Saturday, April 11th – Spring Action Week – Shut Down Drone Warfare at Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, Southern NM. Nonviolent Resistance to Military Drones & War. For more information: https://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/, Nmvetsforpeace@gmail.com
In this presentation, Myrriah Gómez will discuss how New Mexican Chicano author, Rudolfo Anaya, wrote about the atomic bomb and nuclear culture in much of his work. As one of the world’s most recognized Chicano authors, Myrriah seeks to frame Anaya’s writing in the larger context of nuclear cultural production, specifically literature about atomic weapons.
By interrogating Anaya’s presence in nuclear culture, Myrriah is asking important questions about what his writing conveys about New Mexican Hispanic culture and whether or not nuclear weapons can be considered part of the querencia of nuevomexicanos– that is, the place where one feels most safe, often associated with a deep love of place. Myrriah will discuss several of Anaya’s writings as well as her recent findings from his archival collection held at the Center for Southwest Research.
4. Tuesday, April 28th 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
On Wednesday, the Department of Energy (DOE) released the final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory, or the LANL SWEIS, and its Record of Decision, or ROD. Expanded production of triggers for nuclear weapons, or the pits, would highlight future operations at LANL until at least 2038. https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/doeeis-0552-final-environmental-impact-statement-march-2026
Importantly, the process is flawed. In early January, 2026, the President signed a new Executive Order to eliminate a 30-day opportunity for the public to provide comments about the final SWEIS and the ROD, as formerly required by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Those comments were documented in the Federal Register, a daily journal of the federal government, which is published every business day. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/01/08/2026-00178/removal-of-national-environmental-policy-act-implementing-regulations
Specifically, in 2008, Santa Clara Pueblo and many non-governmental organizations, including CCNS and Robert H. Gilkeson, provided informed public comments about the final SWEIS and the ROD. DOE responded to the public’s comments, which provided a historic record of the 2008 LANL SWEIS process, and were published in the Federal Register. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-09-26/pdf/E8-22678.pdf
Your efforts will set the stage to respond to the next comment period for the draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Plutonium Pit Production, or the draft PEIS. It will include analyses of future LANL operations, but also operations at DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, the Pantex Plant north of Amarillo, Texas, the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the Nevada Test Site (now named the Nevada National Security Site), north of Las Vegas, Nevada, all in support of expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. As background, see 2025 Notice of Intent to Prepare a PEIS for Plutonium Pit Production at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/05/09/2025-08140/notice-of-intent-to-prepare-a-programmatic-environmental-impact-statement-for-plutonium-pit
The draft PEIS may be released in May or June. Public hearings may take place shortly after its release. Your preparations now will help in the big push to encourage the public to get involved and to prepare public comments for the hearings and in written form. The goal is to create a unified voice saying NO to expanded plutonium pit production.
As Jay Coghlan, of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, has said, “The PEIS should be a referendum against a new nuclear arms race.”
Friday, March 27th 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.
Saturday, March 28th at 11 am at NM State Capitol Roundhouse for NO KINGS! NO NUKES! The Clamshell Alliance is calling on all activists to carry NO KINGS! NO NUKES! signs in recognition of the March 28, 1979 nuclear power meltdown at Three Mile Island and to oppose nuclear power. For more information see Karl Grossman and Harvey Wasserman’s article that explains how the resistance to the current push for nuclear power is connected to NO KINGS. https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/27/on-march-28-lets-say-no-kings-and-no-nukes/
Let’s carry signs to raise up this issue:
NO KINGS! NO NUKES!
Remember the 3/28/79 MELTDOWN at Three Mile Island!
DEMOCRACY, NO NUKES, SAFE ENERGY
NO NUKES! REMEMBER TMI MELTDOWN 3/28/79.
DEMOCRACY NEEDS CLEAN ENERGY. NO NUKES!
CLIMATE Sí! SAFE ENERGY Sí! NO NUKES!
Sunday, April 5th to Saturday, April 11th – Spring Action Week – Shut Down Drone Warfare at Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, Southern NM. Nonviolent Resistance to Military Drones & War. For more information: https://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/, Nmvetsforpeace@gmail.com
On Friday, March 13th, the Department of Energy (DOE) and Newport News Nuclear BWXT–Los Alamos, LLC, known as “N3B,” answered the February 11, 2026 Administrative Compliance Orders issued by the New Mexico Environment Department about the hexavalent chromium plume that has migrated across the boundary of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) onto Pueblo de San Ildefonso. When a new well was drilled on the Pueblo, the migration was discovered to reach the top of the deep drinking water aquifer approximately 1,000 feet below ground surface. The release has brought the plume to a new level of regulatory oversight by the Environment Department that now includes the New Mexico Water Quality Act and the New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act. DOE and N3B have requested the New Mexico Environment Department hold public hearings about the Orders.
Let’s recall that hexavalent chromium is the contaminant of concern in the Erin Brockovich film about the community of Hinkley, California when PG&E used chromium to keep its cooling towers from scaling. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Brockovich
Similarly, hexavalent chromium was used in LANL’s cooling towers and has migrated through the volcanic tuff for miles towards the Rio Grande.
Hexavalent chromium is a heavy metal, is carcinogenic and causes cancer, among other illnesses. People in Hinkley got sick living with it. Hinkley is but one community dealing with dangerous hexavalent chromium contamination.
The plume in New Mexico is within the Española Basin Sole Source Aquifer, which was designated by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2008. The aquifer covers about 3,000 square miles in Northern New Mexico and is the sole source of water for over 135,000 people, their animals, fields and businesses. There is no replacement water. If the hexavalent chromium migrates further through the aquifer, more people will eventually be exposed.
LANL was removing hexavalent chromium from the aquifer under an Environment Department groundwater permit for the extraction, treatment and re-injection of the “cleaned” waters back into the aquifer. LANL claims that the treated water has been “polished” down to levels of three parts per billion, or 3 ppb, before re-injection. The current water quality standard is 50 ppb. Reinjection stopped in November when contamination was found off the LANL site in the new well drilled on the Pueblo, as noted above, raising concerns about contamination being driven deeper into the aquifer.
LANL has been drilling deep wells into the aquifer for decades. Some have worked; others have not. All to what end?
Friday, March 20th 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.
Monday, March 23 – Wednesday, March 25th at New Mexico State Capitol in Santa Fe – New Mexico Environment Department, Air Quality Bureau, virtual public hearing before the Environmental Improvement Board to increase the permitting fees for oil & gas operations. The fees have not been increased in 20 years and 70% of the increased fees would go for accountability for industry for air pollution. Case No. EIB 25-77 (R) – Repeal and Replacement of 20.2.71 NMAC, Operating Permit Emissions Fees, and 20.2.75 NMAC, Construction Permit Fees. For more information, go to https://www.env.nm.gov/public-notices/ and click on the tab for “Statewide/Across Multiple Counties” and scroll down to EIB 25-77 (R).
Tuesday, March 24th from noon to 2 pm MST – hybrid WIPP Pre-Submittal Meeting of the U.S. Department of Energy, Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) and contractors, Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO) about four proposed changes to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) permit. For more information: https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20260311.asp
Thursday, March 26 at 10 am Mountain Time – Religions for Peace USA will host a free virtual screening of What I Want You to Know, the documentary film about post 9/11 veterans and their wars. The Q&A after the film will feature veteran Garett Reppenhagen, who served in Iraq as a scout sniper, and director Catie Foertsch. What can we do as individuals if we feel guilt or shame because our country is involved in yet another Middle East war? What can we do as congregations? Why aren’t we seeing mass protests when most Americans oppose this war?
Saturday, March 28th at 11 am at NM State Capitol Roundhouse for NO KINGS! NO NUKES! The Clamshell Alliance is calling on all activists to carry NO KINGS! NO NUKES! signs in recognition of the March 28, 1979 nuclear power meltdown at Three Mile Island and to oppose nuclear power. For more information see Karl Grossman and Harvey Wasserman’s article that explains how the resistance to the current push for nuclear power is connected to NO KINGS. https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/27/on-march-28-lets-say-no-kings-and-no-nukes/
Let’s all carry signs to raise up this issue:
NO KINGS! NO NUKES!
Remember the 3/28/79 MELTDOWN at Three Mile Island!
DEMOCRACY, NO NUKES, SAFE ENERGY
NO NUKES! REMEMBER TMI MELTDOWN 3/28/79.
DEMOCRACY NEEDS CLEAN ENERGY. NO NUKES!
CLIMATE Sí! SAFE ENERGY Sí! NO NUKES!
Sunday, April 5th to Saturday, April 11th – Spring Action Week – Shut Down Drone Warfare at Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, Southern NM. Nonviolent Resistance to Military Drones & War. For more information: https://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/, Nmvetsforpeace@gmail.com
A newly released independent review of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s 2025 tritium venting raises serious concerns about radiation risks to children and infants and highlights major gaps in LANL’s public reporting and decision-making process. 
Authored by Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (https://ieer.org/), the “Review of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s tritium venting reports – Volume 1 and Volume 2” provides a summary of the tritium venting as well as the data and estimates detailed in the two LANL reports.
This raises the question of whether EPA’s “standard practice” of enforcement for adults only is providing equal protection under the law to infants and children when infant doses are estimated to exceed the regulatory limit of 10 [millirem] but adult doses do not. The fact that the actual venting resulted in doses well below 10 [millirem] for infants is not relevant to the question of whether the permit was properly granted.”
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.
showing of Amy Goodman’s film Steal This Story, Please, at The Guild in Albuquerque. BONUS * BUT SOLD OUT – at The Guild! Amy Goodman in person at the Sunday, May 24
at 10 Cities of Gold Road #A, Tribal Room, at the Cities of Gold Hotel in Pojoaque – hybrid MS Teams interactive public forum at which N3B and LANL discuss Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation with Q&A. In-person participants are invited to interact with N3B and LANL subject matter experts. For meeting information, including login details, visit: https://n3b-la.com/public-meeting/emcf-6-3-2026/.
FREE online showing of Daniel Ellsberg on the Nuclear Threat at the premiere of An Ordinary Insanity – a 28-minute film by Oscar-nominated director Judith Ehrlich, filmed one year before Ellsberg’s death at age 92. To register: https://www.anordinaryinsanity.com/ The free premiere will include a panel featuring director Judith Ehrlich, Ellsberg family members, and nuclear weapons experts and activists, followed by a Q&A. After the premiere, the film will be available to view FREE online and to use for screenings and events to help build greater awareness of the threat we face and to encourage action.
Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester, Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, will present on his 2022 pastoral letter,Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament to a virtual summit dialogue to activate Catholics to work for the global abolition of nuclear weapons. For more information about the Pax Christi New England Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (PCAN) and to register, go to https://paxchristima.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/PCAN-Summits-Flyer-PDF.pdf
Water Quality Control Commission Public Rulemaking Hearing for the Proposed Surface Water Quality State Permitting Program (WQCC 25-74(R)). For more information: https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D199647881
Albuquerque Inaugural Women Veterans Celebration at New Mexico Veterans Memorial Park, 1100 Louisiana SE. Albuquerque Concert Band will begin music at 9:45 am. For more information, please call 505 768-4495.
