New Mexico Environment Department Must Reject LANL’s Request for Temporary Authorization to Vent Tritium

Following the 80 th year since the bombings of Trinity, Hiroshima and Nagasaki,did you know that 2025 is also the 80 th year since the formation of the United Nations?The General Assembly’s first resolution recognized nuclear disarmament as theprincipal goal of the United Nations.

On Saturday, August 30 th , after a beautiful drive across the plains of NortheasternNew Mexico, members of the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition arrived in the Village ofWagon Mound. With a population of less than 300, this rural community feels tight-knit,with many friends and families gathering to celebrate the mighty Pinto Bean every LaborDay. In addition to being next door to the beautiful Wagon Mound butte, this village isalso located right off Interstate 25. This stretch is one of the routes used by theDepartment of Energy (DOE) to transport legacy plutonium-contaminated waste frommaking the triggers, or pits, for nuclear weapons to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant(WIPP), near Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Given the recent data dumps by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) aboutits proposed venting of large quantities of radioactive tritium from four Flanged TritiumWaste Containers, the New Mexico Environment Department must reject LANL’sAugust 22 nd regulatory request for temporary authorization to vent. This Updatedescribes some of the obstacles LANL put in place to obstruct public participation andtimely access to important documents.

This week’s so-called public meeting about the proposed venting of radioactivetritium into the air from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) showed once again howLANL silences communities while fast-tracking nuclear weapons projects.

Over 24,000 people provided public comments to the Department of Energy(DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in opposition to theproposed Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade (EPCU) Project during a convoluted multi-federal agency and multi-year review process to expand electric power to Los AlamosNational Laboratory (LANL). Nevertheless, on Wednesday, DOE and NNSA issued itsFinding of No Significant Impact, or a FONSI.

Dr. Ghasson Shahrour, a medical expert and a Campaigner with the InternationalCampaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, wrote the following.

To prepare for a public meeting with the U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities SafetyBoard (“the Board”) in Santa Fe on Monday evening, CCNS followed its policy ofreviewing at least the last eight weeks of the Board’s reports for Los Alamos NationalLaboratory (LANL) and used that as a basis for questions and comments to present tothe Board. What we found:

All are welcome to join peacemakers and activists on Saturday, August 9 th at 10am in Los Alamos to commemorate the 80 th year since the U.S. bombing of Nagasaki,Japan on that day in 1945.At 10 am, a vigil and protest will begin in the Manhattan Project National HistoricPark at Ashley Pond. We’ll come together to sing songs of peace and against nuclearweapons, to honor the victims and survivors of nuclear bombs development, testing anduse around the world. We’ll vow to never allow another nuclear atrocity.

The Red Water Pond Road Community Association and the Pipeline RoadCommunity invite you to attend the historic 46th commemoration of the Church RockUranium Tailings Spill on Saturday, July 19th beginning at 6 am near the tailings spilllocation, 12 miles north of Red Rock State Park on State Highway 566. Free t-shirts willbe available for the first 100 participants.

As you may know, the recent federal reconciliation bill increased the budget forexpanded plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site, located in SouthCarolina, by one billion dollars. Yes, one billion dollars in one year! A “pit” is theplutonium core of a nuclear weapon. The Department of Energy (DOE) plans tofabricate 50 plutonium pits per year there.